Income Summary Account How to use & close income summary account?

It is also possible that no income summary account will appear in the chart of accounts. The income summary account is an intermediate point at which revenue and expense totals are accumulated before the resulting profit or loss passes through to the retained earnings account. However, it can provide a useful audit trail, showing how these aggregate amounts were passed through to retained earnings. Notice that the balances in the expense accounts are now zero and are ready to accumulate expenses in the next period. The Income Summary account has a new credit balance of $4,665, which is the difference between revenues and expenses in Figure 1.29.

• Are the value of your assets and liabilities now zero because of the start of a new year?
• Allow me to jump in and share information about closing your books in QuickBooks Online (QBO).
• An income summary account is effectively a T-account of the income statement.
• Transferring funds from temporary to permanent accounts also updates your small business retained earnings account.
• The assumption is that all income from the company in one year is held onto for future use.
• Our discussion here begins with journalizing and posting the closing entries (Figure 1.26).
• In this particular case, the net income is not closing to Retained Earnings, it is closing to a different account – Owners Equity.

Income summary account is a temporary account used in the closing stage of the accounting cycle to compile all income and expense balances and determine net income or net loss for the period. The net balance of the income summary account is closed to the retained earnings account. On the other hand, if the company makes a net loss, it can make the income summary journal entry by debiting retained earnings account and crediting the income summary account instead. The expense accounts have debit balances so to get rid of their balances we will do the opposite or credit the accounts. Just like in step 1, we will use Income Summary as the offset account but this time we will debit income summary. The total debit to income summary should match total expenses from the income statement.

Financial and Managerial Accounting

The balance in Income Summary is the same figure as what is reported on Printing Plus’s Income Statement. The income summary account is an intermediary between revenues and expenses, and the Retained Earnings account. It stores all of the closing information for revenues and expenses, resulting in a “summary” of income or loss for the period. The balance in the Income Summary account equals the net income or loss for the period.

• After the closing entries have been posted, only the permanent accounts in the ledger will have non-zero balances.
• Once this process is complete, a post-closing trial balance is prepared which helps in preparation of the balance sheet.
• Temporary accounts are those that are closed at the end of an accounting cycle.
• After this entry is made, all temporary accounts, including the income summary account, should have a zero balance.
• This gives you the balance to compare to the income statement, and allows you to double check that all income statement accounts are closed and have correct amounts.
• When you compare the retained earnings ledger (T-account) to the statement of retained earnings, the figures must match.
• The credit balance of the revenue account is transferred by debiting the revenue account and crediting the income summary account.
• For this reason, these types of accounts are called temporary or nominal accounts.

The fourth entry requires Dividends to close to the Retained Earnings account. Remember from your past studies that dividends are not expenses, such as salaries paid to your employees or staff. Instead, declaring and paying dividends is a method utilized by corporations to return part of the profits generated by the company to the owners of the company—in this case, its shareholders.

Income Summary Account:

The closing entry will debit both interest revenue and service revenue, and credit Income Summary. Closing entries  prepare a company for the next accounting period by clearing any outstanding balances in certain accounts that should not transfer over to the next period. Closing, or clearing the balances, means returning the account to a zero balance. Having a zero balance in these accounts is important so a company can compare performance across periods, particularly with income.

To update the balance in the owner’s capital account, accountants close revenue, expense, and drawing accounts at the end of each fiscal year or, occasionally, at the end of each accounting period. For this reason, these types of accounts are called temporary or nominal accounts. When an accountant closes an account, the account balance returns to zero. Starting with zero balances in the temporary accounts each year makes it easier to track revenues, expenses, and withdrawals and to compare them from one year to the next.

Closing Entries

First, transfer the $5,000 in your revenue account to your income summary account. Whether you credit or debit your income summary account will depend on whether your revenue is more than your expenses. You need to create closing journal entries by debiting and crediting the right accounts. Use the chart below to determine which accounts are decreased by debits and which are decreased by credits. If you don’t have accounting software, you must manually create closing entries each accounting period. For example, if your accounting periods last one month, use month-end closing entries.

• Any amounts transferred from the income statement are debited’ from the accounts and credited in the income summary account.
• Additionally, it is important to note that the income summary account plays both roles of the debit and the credit at the same time when the company closes the income statement at the end of the period.
• It is entirely possible that there will not even be a visible income summary account in the computer records.
• The Income Summary account has a credit balance of $10,240 (the revenue sum).
• What are your total expenses for rent, electricity, cable and internet, gas, and food for the current year?

The income summary account is only used in closing process accounting. Basically, the income summary account is the amount of your revenues minus expenses. You will close the income summary account after you transfer the amount into the retained earnings account, which is a permanent account.