Comparative Income Statement

A comparative income statement is an income statement that presents revenues, expenses and profit for two or more periods in side-by-side columns, usually the current year and one or more prior years. It shows whether sales are growing, whether costs are rising faster than revenue and whether margins are holding up. If revenue was $2.0 million last year and $2.4 million this year, the change is $400,000, or 20 percent, and the same calculation can be run for every line. US public companies generally present audited income statements for each of the three most recent fiscal years in their annual reports, while smaller reporting companies present two. Quarterly reports compare the current quarter with the same quarter a year earlier, which removes seasonal effects. Also see Comparative Financial Statements and Horizontal Analysis.