profit and loss report

[Mike or Penny Novack]

>It was renamed sometime early in the 2.x series -- I don't recall when
>exactly, but it was from a major set of reports rewriting that happened
>around that time to make it more "accounting compliant". 
>
Explanation?

While the report is essentially the same in all cases the name that it 
is given depends upon the nature of the entity for which the books are 
being kept. The old name "Profit and Loss" is the usual name only when 
the entity is a "for profit" business. But when I show that report to 
the board of a non-profit I have relabeled it "Statement of Revenues" 
(or "Revenue Statement"), the usual name used instead of the full 
"Statement of Revenues and Expenses". Similarly for a set of personal 
books the full name would be "Statement of Income and Expenses" for 
which the usual short form is "Statement of Income" (or "Income Statement").

A non-profit isn't making "profit". An excess of revenue over expenses 
may be a good thing or an indication that the non-profit could be doing 
more of its intended work. Similarly for a private person, an excess of 
income over expenses means savings are increasing (or possibly more 
fixed assets owned) and a deficiency means that savings/long term assets 
are being depleted. That may be bad or not. Compared to a business for 
profit where losses all the time would be bad in the case of  "life" you 
would be more concerned with the rate of depletion of savings/assets 
relative to your expected life time.

Michael