Net income is equal to the income that a firm has after subtracting costs and expenses from the total revenue. Expenses will typically include tax expense. For a merchandising company, subtracted costs may be the cost of goods sold, sales discounts, and sales returns and allowances. For a product company advertising, manufacturing, and design and development costs are included. Income, generally defined, is the money that is received as a result of the normal business activities of an individual or a business. ... In accounting, an expense represents an event in which an asset is used up or a liability is incurred. ... Revenue is a U.S. business term for the amount of money that a company earns from its activities in a given period, mostly from sales of products and/or services to customers. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Pope Benedict XVI merchandise One definition of Merchandising is a marketing practice in which the brand or image from one product or service is used to sell another. ... Look up company in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Billboards and street advertising in Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan, (2005) Advertising is drawing public attention to goods and services by promoting businesses, and is performed through a variety of media. ... Manufacturing, a branch of industry which accounts for about one-quarter of the worlds economic activity, is the application of tools and a processing medium to the transformation of raw materials into finished goods for sale. ...

Net income is sometimes called the bottom line because it is typically found on the last line of a company's income statement. Income statements for companies indicate how Net Revenue (money received from the sale of products and services before expenses are taken out, also known as the top line) is transformed into Net Income (the result after all revenues and expenses have been accounted for, also known as the bottom line...

An equation for net income in merchandising:

Net income or Net loss = Revenue - Cost of goods sold - Sales discounts - Sales returns and allowances - Expenses = Profit

Another term that is closely related to this is top line. As the Total Revenue forms the first line of the account statement, it is often called top line.