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In accounting, the gross margin refers to sales minus cost of goods sold. It is not necessarily profit as other expenses such as sales, administrative, and financial costs must be deducted. And it means companies are reducing their cost of production or passing their cost to customers.
Gross sales are the sum of all sales during a time period. Net sales are gross sales minus sales returns, sales allowances, and sales discounts. Gross sales do not normally appear on an income statement. The sales figures reported on an income statement are net sales. [4] sales returns are refunds to customers for returned merchandise / credit ...
The installment sales method, is used to recognize revenue after the sale has occurred and when sales are stipulated under very extended cash collection terms. [3] In general, when the risk of not being able to collect is reasonably high and when there is no reasonable basis for estimating the proportion of installment accounts, revenue recognition is deferred, and the installment sales method ...
Using the example above, we can clearly determine all three variables (sales, cost of sales, and gross profit), as all of the information is provided in the question. If for instance, the question did not stipulate both the sales and the cost of sales figures, though the gross profit figure was given, a ratio calculation can then be performed.
The accounting for long term contracts using the percentage of completion method is an exception to the basic realization principle. This method is used wherein the revenues are determined based on the costs incurred so far. The percentage of completion method is used when: Collections are assured; The accounting system can: Estimate profitability
Alternative systems may be used in some countries, such as last-in-first-out (LIFO), gross profit method, retail method, or a combinations of these. Cost of goods sold may be the same or different for accounting and tax purposes, depending on the rules of the particular jurisdiction. Certain expenses are included in COGS.
Two very popular methods are 1)- retail inventory method, and 2)- gross profit (or gross margin) method. The retail inventory method uses a cost to retail price ratio. The physical inventory is valued at retail, and it is multiplied by the cost ratio (or percentage) to determine the estimated cost of the ending inventory.
Calculating the contribution margin is an excellent tool for managers to help determine whether to keep or drop certain aspects of the business. For example, a production line with positive contribution margin should be kept even if it causes negative total profit, when the contribution margin offsets part of the fixed cost.