The purpose of a trading account is to ascertain the gross profit or loss made by a company during a specific period of time, usually a year.
In simple terms, a trading account is a financial statement that shows the revenue generated from the sale of goods or services and the cost of producing or purchasing those goods or services. It includes the cost of goods sold, which is the total cost of all the goods sold during the period, and the revenue from sales. The difference between these two figures is the gross profit or loss.
The gross profit or loss is an important measure of a company's profitability and provides valuable information for decision-making. If a company has a high gross profit, it means that it is generating a significant amount of revenue from its sales and is able to cover its costs of production. On the other hand, if a company has a low or negative gross profit, it may indicate that it is not generating enough revenue from sales to cover its costs, which can have implications for its long-term viability.
Therefore, the purpose of a trading account is to provide information about a company's revenue and expenses related to the sale of goods or services, and to calculate the gross profit or loss made during a specific period, which is a crucial measure of a company's financial performance.