This article will talk about the finance terms “Direct and indirect income” and present direct and indirect income list examples.
Introduction
The main aim of starting a business is to make profits. Profits are classified under the broader category of revenues or incomes. Income refers to all the money a company receives from directly offering its products and services or through other means unrelated to the day-to-day operations. This explains why the word income is often used interchangeably with profits.
You must determine the total revenues and expenses to calculate your business’s total income/net income. Then, you subtract total expenses from total revenues. A positive figure means the company has made profits, while a negative figure denotes losses.
Business incomes are divided into two broader categories: direct and indirect.
How do you differentiate direct income from indirect income?
Direct income refers to a business’s income through activities directly related to its day-to-day operations (for example, Income from selling products or services). On the other hand, indirect income is the revenue that a business generates through channels that are not directly related to its day-to-day operations (for example, old newspaper sales, old bottle sales, etc.)
If you run a coffee shop, you probably have a manager, employees, and suppliers. The profits you get directly from selling coffee, snacks, and other beverages in such a store constitute direct income. Therefore, immediate income can be termed an active income a business generates. This explains why any shrewd businessperson will quickly tell drastic changes in their direct income patterns. For instance, if your coffee shop causes around $800 per month of immediate income, which drops to $400 in a given month, you will automatically know something is amiss.
Therefore, direct expenses are easy to track because the entire business depends on them. For example, if your coffee shop registered a loss in a given month, you would adopt drastic measures to bring it back to profit-making. Conversely, your business could easily collapse if direct income is not well-tracked. And remember, whether your business performs well or dismally, you would still need to pay rent, pay your employees and suppliers, and renew all municipality licenses. In essence, direct incomes are significant for a business’s existence, so much so that a little lapse could cause the company to head south.
What is indirect income?
Now, in the same coffee shop, you probably have newspapers, old cutlery you no longer use, bottles and cans, etc. You may decide to keep them or dispose of them. Usually, many businesses would not worry about disposing of old newspapers until they have made heaps in their offices and are consuming space unduly. Then, of course, a business person will not just discard them. Instead, he will assess their value and then sell them. The kind of revenue generated this way is what constitutes indirect income.
Indirect income is not something your business needs to operate. You can consider it an extra cash stream or, better yet, passive income. However, indirect income can salvage a company in dire straits. For instance, it would be unreasonable to sit back and watch your business make losses when you have a whole carton of cutlery you don’t use or an old delivery cart just lying around.
How To Calculate Direct and Indirect Income
You must know all the elements that constitute expenses to determine your direct income. Expenses can be extensive, and if not tracked, you might lose so much money through loopholes that you could easily have avoided. For example, suppose you are a coffee shop owner. In that case, the most significant expenses you probably incur include purchasing and maintaining equipment such as coffee makers, coffee grinders, Espresso machines, refrigerators, ovens, toasters, and other relevant utensils. And even if you already have these in place, there are beverage supplies you will need to pay for from time to time, pay your employees, and renew all municipality licenses.
Expenses can be very diverse, but the channels may be fewer when it comes to revenue. So, after determining your total costs, you expect to realize profits from the sales made on coffee drinks and snacks. The difference between sales and expenses incurred over time constitutes your direct income. If the difference is positive, you have made profits; if the difference is negative, you made losses. When it comes to indirect revenue, the formula is more or less the same. However, the difference is the fact that there are probably fewer expenditures. That expenditure might have already been factored in when calculating your direct income.
For instance, if you buy a newspaper today and sell it two years later as part of a bundle, the initial expenses incurred in purchasing the newspaper must have already been considered earlier when determining your direct income. So, typically, indirect incomes do not involve lots of lengthy computations. Usually, there is only the transportation cost depending on where you plan to locate the buyer. The next chapter will see examples of direct and indirect income and expenses.
Direct and indirect income list
Examples of direct income are Income from selling products, Income from business services. Examples of indirect income are the sale of old newspapers (non-business), sale of carton boxes (non-business), sale of old bottles (non-business), sale of any Fixed Asset (non-business), etc.
Direct income list
- Income from selling products (business)
- Income from business services
Indirect income list
- Sale of old newspapers (non-business)
- Sale of carton boxes (non-business)
- Sale of old bottles (non-business)
- Sale of any Fixed Asset (non-business)
Direct and indirect expenses list
Here below are lists (just examples) of direct and indirect expenses.
Direct expenses are direct labor and direct materials, including raw materials, commissions, and manufacturing supplies.
Direct expenses list example.
- carriage inward
- fuel, heating lighting
- carriage on purchase
- grease
- carriage
- gas, water& oil
- custom duty of import
- manufacture
- dock charge(inward) expenses
- factory duty
- motive power, coal
- factory expenses
- freight inward
- wages
- wages salary
What are indirect expenses?
Indirect expenses in business are salaries, insurance, equipment maintenance, equipment depreciation, facility rent, office supplies, utilities, advertising, and marketing.
Indirect expenses list
- Facility rent
- Facility Insurance
- Salaried compensation
- Secretarial wages
- Depreciation and amortization
- Research and development
- Advertisement Audit fees
- Distributive expenses
- Entertainment expenses
- Establishment expenses
- General expenses
- Hospital charges
- Insurance Interest on capital Interest
- Legal costs & law fess
- License fees
- Office expenses
- Office lighting Packing expenses
- Postage & telegram Provision
- Rent Repair & renewals
- Salary Stable expenses
- Telephone expenses
- Traveling expenses
Let us now see indirect income examples in the Tally and other accounting software:
Tally ERP 9 is one of India’s most popular accounting software. Direct income in Tally can be easily defined by creating a ledger and then choosing from the list of groups. See the video:
What is the difference between Tally and accounting?
Computer Accounting is the general concept of software that helps businesses manage significant financial transactions, data, reports, and statements efficiently, while Tally is accounting software. Tally is the only software for computer accounting.
Another excellent USA accounting software is Quickbooks. Quickbooks income statements can be created using the Report Tab in the toolbar at the top of the user screen and scrolling down to the “Company & Financial” option. Direct and indirect income can be seen in the video below:
Direct and indirect income can be defined in Xero account software as well. See How to Create an Income Statement in Xero below in the video:
Why Should I Care About Both Incomes?
We have already determined that every business owner should keep track of their direct incomes. This comes naturally. However, not very many entrepreneurs are so successful when it comes to tracking their indirect incomes. This does not mean you shouldn’t. Indirect incomes are just as significant to the operations of your business as direct incomes are. First, it is a way of gaining total value for your money. Though you will often sell the asset at a relatively lower price than the initial purchase price, it is way better than tucking it into the trash. Also, putting up old assets for sale proves to your employees that you are in charge of your company’s inventory. No business is immune to pilferage, and as you know, employees will often target the least-utilized stuff. But when they occasionally see you selling them [or just moving them], they resist all temptations to steal.
Also, as we mentioned earlier, indirect incomes can salvage your business. The revenue earned will be helpful when you are deep in debt or have outstanding payments.
Lastly, it is essential to remember that indirect income needs not only proceeds from selling old assets. Other areas include offering consultancy services in your line of work and charging for it, starting and monetizing a blog about your company or industry, etc.
Conclusion
And there goes our detailed analysis of direct and indirect income. We hope you will find it helpful, especially if you are a startup struggling with keeping tabs on your revenues, expenses, and assets.
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