Income of a news paper agent commission or sales

Calculating a business's income is essentially deducting the costs and expenses from its profits. The Securities and Exchange Commission recommends that you think of it as a set of stairs, where you start at the top with the total amount of sales made during the accounting period, and with each step down you make a deduction for certain costs or other operating expenses associated with earning the revenue. At the bottom of the stairs, after deducting all of the expenses, you learn how much the company earned or lost during the accounting period. Most accounting software, such as QuickBooks, calculates the business income automatically based on the information you enter throughout the accounting period.