SUBDIVISION OF CAPITAL ACCOUNT 



Loss and Gain 



47 



The Loss and Gain account is created temporarily in the 

 ledger at the close of a year or other fiscal period, as a 

 summary account, into which is brought the aggregate re- 

 sults of each of the other accounts that show expenses or 

 incomes. It should not be confused with the Loss and Gain 

 statement, as the latter is not a ledger account, but is a 

 supplementary analysis of some of the facts shown in the 

 ledger. It is true that in its simplest form, as already 

 illustrated, the Loss and Gain Statement looks very much 

 like a Loss and Gain account, but in a more elaborate 

 and elucidating form its similarity to the account is less 

 noticeable. In the exercise at hand, the Loss and Gain 

 statement would be merely a copy of the Loss and Gain 

 account. 



The Loss and Gain account, then, is a sort of place 

 for the bringing together of figures which affect the loss 

 or gain of a business. From it may be seen in one account, 

 the last one in Illustration 10, that the expense for rent 

 is $400, for labor $300, for general expense $300, and that 

 the income from milk is $300, from corn $1200, from oats 

 $400, and from miscellaneous items $100. In order to find 

 the resulting net gain or loss from these several items it is 

 necessary to bring them together and perform certain 



