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Institute of Advanced Technological and Commercial Studies

Glossary

Income statement: what the activity produced

The income statement traces the income and expenses of a period, then derives the result. It answers the director's question: did this year's activity create value. It reads through successive balances, each answering a distinct question.

A period, not a date

The income statement gathers the income and expenses of a financial year and derives the result. It reads through successive balances: trading margin first, then value added, operating surplus, financial result and net result. Each balance answers a distinct question, and it is their sequence that shows where the company genuinely earns.

  • It covers a whole period, where the balance sheet photographs a date
  • Margin, value added, operating surplus, net result
  • Each balance answers a distinct question for the director

The balances that carry the reading

The Finance and Accounting programme has candidates build the balances one by one and shows what each reveals. The Entrepreneurship programme uses it differently: building a forecast income statement, testing it against three revenue scenarios and checking the level at which the activity holds.

  1. 01

    1 — Trading margin

    What resale leaves once the purchase is deducted: the first signal of the model's viability.

  2. 02

    2 — Value added

    What the company genuinely creates, after external purchases: this is the wealth then shared out.

  3. 03

    3 — Operating surplus

    What the core business generates, once wages and operating taxes are met.

  4. 04

    4 — Net result

    What remains after financing and tax: the share going to shareholders or back into the business.

Programmes that have you analyse it

2 catalogue programmes put “Income statement” to work: 180 credits and 1800 taught hours in total. The official rule holds throughout — one credit stands for 25 hours of work, 10 of them taught. Every line below is recomputed from the programme page: level, duration, credits, taught volume and fees in Guinean francs appear exactly as filed in the official catalogue.

ProgrammeLevelDurationVolumeFees
Finance and Accounting programme — Bac+5 levelMaster's degree2 years120 credits · 1200 taught hours6 800 000 GNF per year
EntrepreneurshipBachelor's degree18 months60 credits · 600 taught hours4 400 000 GNF per year
Income statement: what the activity produced — Glossary | IHETC — IHETC