Skip to content
The Techno Tricks
The Techno Tricks

  • Social Media Tricks
  • Tips & Tricks
  • Blog
The Techno Tricks

Difference Between Revenue and Profit

Revenue vs. Profit: What’s the Difference?

Ben Ryder, July 25, 2025

Profit is the net income remaining after all costs have been deducted from revenues, which is the income generated by business operations. Sales, income from fees, and income from property are just a few examples of the various ways in which revenue can be generated. Large revenue can be generated by a business, but if expenses outpace income, there won’t be any profit left over. To learn more about how revenue and profit differ, Bernard Oz of link house will in this article delve deeper into this subject.

The term “revenue” refers to the money that comes in from operations. Although a company’s income is primarily derived through sales, it can also come from a variety of sources, including fees, interest, real estate, taxes, gifts, grants, investments, and other types of income.

The whole amount of proceeds a business generates is its gross revenue. Gross income for a manufacturing business would include all goods sold, regardless of the cost to make them. Gross revenue for a non-profit would include all monies raised through fundraising, gifts, grants, etc. Operating revenue and non-operating revenue, which refers to supplemental or incidental sources of income, are two categories of revenue. 

The gap between gross revenue and directly connected costs is known as net revenue. Gross revenue is equal to total sales for a garment manufacturing and retailing business.

Revenue

Revenue, which is often referred to as sales, is a rise in a company’s equity brought about by the selling of a good or service. Revenue is the top line, or gross income, from which costs are deducted in order to calculate your net profit.

For a brief period, revenue is a factor that will raise a company’s overall equity. Depending on the accounting method the company employs, there are numerous ways to compute revenue. 

Income from operations and money from sources other than operations are the two categories of income.

Revenue is the top line, or gross income, from which costs are deducted to determine the amount of your net profit. The bottom line is referred to as your net income. Sales for the business are another name for revenue. 

There will be a profit on the income statement if the revenue for that fiscal year is higher than the business’s expenses. A corporation must either raise revenue or cut costs to increase profit. To decide whether a company would be a viable investment, investors look at its revenue. 

Even if your revenue stays the same, you can increase your net income; however, you will need to reduce your costs to do so. But it doesn’t help.

The formula for Revenue : Revenue = No. of units sold * Selling price per unit

Revenue calculation

Due to the fact that the method of accounting utilized can have an impact on how revenue is calculated, there is no one correct method. The number of units sold times the average price per unit is often multiplied to compute revenue. It may also be necessary to take into account additional aspects like returns and discounts.

Depending on the company’s accounting system, there are various ways to measure revenue. Sales made on credit will be included in the revenue if the company uses accrual accounting. You can tell how effectively a business collects debts owed to it from clients by looking at its cash flow statement. 

If a cash accounting system is in place, a company will only report sales as revenue once they have been paid for. A receipt is the term used to describe a payment made in cash to a business. A company may issue receipts without any associated revenue. In certain circumstances, the client has typically already paid, yet the good or service

Types of Revenues

Two types of revenues can be earned:

Operating revenue

This  is derived from the company’s main business activities. Specifically, this refers to the goods or services that the business sells.

Non-operating revenue

Non-operating revenue is income derived from pursuits that are not essential to the running of the firm; these pursuits are frequently side endeavors. Rent, interest, dividends, and royalties are examples of extracurricular activities.

Profit

It is the sum that remains after subtracting expenses from revenue.

It is the sum that remains after subtracting expenses from revenue.Profit can basically be of two types – net and gross profit.

The income statement includes profit. Instead, the last line on the income statement is the net profit.

The formula for Profit : Profit = Revenue – Expenses

Types of profit

Gross profit

Gross profit is the amount of money a business makes after deducting costs for producing, distributing, and selling its goods or services. A company’s income statement will show gross profit, which is derived by deducting the cost of goods sold (COGS) from revenue (sales). The income statement of a business will contain these numbers. Sales profit or gross income are other names for gross profit.

The cost of products sold is subtracted from revenue to calculate gross profit, also known as gross income. In general, fixed costs are not taken into account when calculating gross profit; only variable costs are. 

Gross profit measures how effectively a business uses its labor force and resources to produce goods and services. In contrast to net profit, which takes into account all company-wide expenses, gross profit only accounts for the cost of goods sold.

Operating profit 

The net income generated by a business’s main operations is known as operating profit. In other words, it is the amount of money that a business has remaining after paying its operating expenses (gross profit) but before paying taxes.

Operating profit margin is a crucial margin to monitor and a very helpful financial KPI. The factors that go into determining an organization’s operating profit are all important to its financial stability.

Operating profit is a crucial margin to monitor along with gross profit and net profit. It offers a trustworthy gauge of the company’s overall health and profitability of day-to-day activities. This is due to the fact that it only takes into account the revenues and costs necessary for regular business operations.

Your company’s revenue for a specific time period is used as the starting point to determine operating profitability. Subtract your COGS from this total, along with any other operational expenditures related to core business operations, like marketing and sales charges. Depreciation and amortization expenses are then subtracted. 

You may then calculate the operating profit for the time period for your business using the resulting number.

Net profit 

Net profit is the amount that remains after all other costs have been paid. This includes one-time expenses like legal settlements, taxes, and interest costs. These costs can differ significantly from year to year. 

The other costs are also unrelated to the essential functions of the business, so they don’t fall under the operating or cost of goods sold categories. The metric that the stock market pays the most attention to is net profit (and its EPS variant). You can have an advantage over other investors by realizing that net profit can fluctuate even while gross and operating profit are stable

Differences Between Revenue and Profit

The primary distinction between revenue and profit is that revenue describes the income a business entity generates from the sale of its products or the provision of its services during an accounting period as part of its normal business operations, whereas profit describes the amount realized by the business after deducting expenses from the total amount of revenue.

  • If there is no revenue, there can be no profit. Profit is not a requirement for revenue. Instead, revenue can still exist without it (for example, if a start-up has more expenses than revenue, then there would be no profit, but revenue would exist).
  • Revenue indicates the capacity of an organization to make money from its goods and services, whereas profit is a sign of financial efficiency.
  • Revenue once expenses are subtracted from it equals profit. By dividing the quantity of goods sold by the selling price per unit, on the other hand, we can determine revenue.
  • The whole amount of money a business makes after all costs is its revenue. In addition, one can determine the profit as net income by subtracting all costs from the revenues received over the same time period.

FAQs

Is revenue the same as profit?

No, revenue is the total sum of money a business earns, whereas profit is the sum of money it makes after deducting costs. For instance, a business’s profit would be $25,000 if its sales was $30,000 and its expenses were $5,000.

What Percentage of Sales Is Profit?

Whatever is left over from the revenue after a corporation deducts expenses, debts, new income, and operating costs is referred to as profit.

Is Revenue the Same As Sales?

Sales are a typical name for revenue. Yet, sales are the money a company makes through offering goods and services to clients, whereas revenue is whatever cash a corporation generates before expenses are deducted.

How Much of Revenue Is Profit?

Whatever is left over from the revenue after a corporation deducts expenses, debts, new income, and operating costs is referred to as profit.

Which Is More Important, Profit or Revenue?

Although both are critical, profit paints a clearer picture of a company’s financial situation. This is due to the fact that a company’s liabilities and other costs, such payroll, are already taken into account when determining its profit.

Conclusion

Two crucial financial concepts that are employed in many circumstances are profit and revenue. Profit is the term used to describe a company’s net earnings, or the difference between its sales and expenses. Revenue is the money a business makes from the sale of its goods or services. 

Although there is a significant distinction between profit and revenue, you must comprehend what each term means in order to properly employ it in your organization.

The idea that higher profits automatically translate into higher revenue is a widespread one. This is only occasionally the case, though. Profit and revenue are two separate financial indicators that track several performance facets. Revenue is the whole amount earned before any deductions are made, whereas profit is the amount that remains after all costs have been paid. 

As a result, if a company’s cost base is high compared to its turnover, it may report higher profits but lower revenue. For instance, a business with minimal sales but high costs would still turn a profit thanks to strict cost controls, but the modest size of their operations would cause their overall revenue to be lower than anticipated.

Finance

Post navigation

Previous post
Next post

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

©2025 The Techno Tricks | WordPress Theme by SuperbThemes