---
title: "What Is Profit and loss statement? Dental Practice Glossary"
description: "A profit and loss statement, also called an income statement, reports a practice's revenue, expenses and resulting profit or loss for a set period, such as a..."
url: https://joncopeland.multisites.ai/glossary/profit-and-loss-statement
publisher: Copeland Consulting Services
email: drcopeland@joncopelanddds.com
contact: https://joncopeland.multisites.ai/contact
---

Finance and valuation

# Profit and loss statement

A profit and loss statement, also called an income statement, reports a practice's revenue, expenses and resulting profit or loss for a set period, such as a month or year.

A profit and loss statement shows how the practice did over a period. The SEC's beginner guide says income statements show how much money a company made and spent over a period of time. The SBA's glossary describes the income statement as showing the entity's income and expenses, similar to a profit and loss statement. For a dental practice the statement lists collections as income and groups costs such as payroll, [lab fees](https://joncopeland.multisites.ai/glossary/lab-fees) and [supply costs](https://joncopeland.multisites.ai/glossary/supply-costs). The bottom line is profit or loss, which feeds [practice profitability](https://joncopeland.multisites.ai/glossary/practice-profitability). Cash-basis and accrual-basis reports can show different results, so ask a CPA which one a report uses.

[Next stepPractice consulting with Dr. Copeland](https://joncopeland.multisites.ai/contact?topic=consulting)

## Related terms

-   [Balance sheet](https://joncopeland.multisites.ai/glossary/balance-sheet)
-   [Cash flow](https://joncopeland.multisites.ai/glossary/cash-flow)
-   [Practice profitability](https://joncopeland.multisites.ai/glossary/practice-profitability)
-   [Practice financial statements](https://joncopeland.multisites.ai/glossary/practice-financial-statements)

## Sources

1.  [SEC, Beginners' Guide to Financial Statement](https://www.sec.gov/investor/pubs/begfinstmtguide.htm)
2.  [SBA, Glossary of Business Financial Terms](https://www.sba.gov/document/support--glossary-business-financial-terms)

## Talk with Dr. Copeland

[Contact Dr. Copeland](https://joncopeland.multisites.ai/contact)[Email](mailto:drcopeland@joncopelanddds.com)