Other Comprehensive Income

Revenues, expenses, gains, and losses excluded from net income

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What is Other Comprehensive Income?

Other comprehensive income consists of revenues, expenses, gains, and losses that, according to the GAAP and IFRS standards, are excluded from net income on the income statement. Revenues, expenses, gains, and losses that are reported as other comprehensive income are amounts that have not been realized yet.

Other Comprehensive Income in Balance Sheet

What’s included in Other Comprehensive Income?

Other comprehensive income is shown on a company’s balance sheet.  It is similar to retained earnings, which is impacted by net income, except it includes those items that are excluded from net income. This helps reduce the volatility of net income as the value of unrealized gains/losses moves up and down.

Common items included in the account  include:

  • Gains or losses on investments available for sale
  • Gains or losses on derivatives held as cash flow hedges
  • Foreign currency exchange gains or losses
  • Pension plan gains or losses

Reporting Standards for Other Comprehensive Income

According to accounting standards, other comprehensive income cannot be reported as part of a company’s net income and cannot be included in its income statement. Instead, the figures are reported as accumulated other comprehensive income under shareholders’ equity on the company’s balance sheet.

Only unrealized items are recorded as other comprehensive income. Once the transaction has been realized (e.g., the company’s investments have been sold), it must be removed from the company’s balance sheet and recognized as a realized gain/loss on the income statement.

Importance of Other Comprehensive Income

Other comprehensive income is a crucial financial analysis metric for a more inclusive evaluation of a company’s earnings and overall profitability. While the income statement remains a primary indicator of the company’s profitability, other comprehensive income improves the reliability and transparency of financial reporting.

The other income information cannot uncover the company’s day-to-day operations, but it can provide insight on other essential items. For example, an analyst can obtain insight regarding the management of the company’s investments. The reported investments’ unrealized gains/losses may forecast the company’s actual, realized gains or losses on its investments.

Also, if a company runs overseas operations, the other income section can contribute to the understanding of the dynamics of the company’s foreign operations and assess the impact of foreign exchange fluctuations. Finally, it helps determine the extent to which a company’s future pension liabilities may affect unrealized profits.

Related Readings

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Additional Resources

CFI is a global provider of financial modeling courses and of the FMVA Certification. CFI’s mission is to help all professionals improve their technical skills. If you are a student or looking for a career change, the CFI website has many free resources to help you jumpstart your Career in Finance. If you are seeking to improve your technical skills, check out some of our most popular courses. Below are some additional resources for you to further explore:

The Financial Modeling Certification

Analyst Certification FMVA® Program

CFI is a global provider of financial modeling courses and of the FMVA Certification. CFI’s mission is to help all professionals improve their technical skills. If you are a student or looking for a career change, the CFI website has many free resources to help you jumpstart your Career in Finance. If you are seeking to improve your technical skills, check out some of our most popular courses. Below are some additional resources for you to further explore:

The Financial Modeling Certification

Below is a break down of subject weightings in the FMVA® financial analyst program. As you can see there is a heavy focus on financial modeling, finance, Excel, business valuation, budgeting/forecasting, PowerPoint presentations, accounting and business strategy.

 

Financial Analyst certification curriculum

 

A well rounded financial analyst possesses all of the above skills!

 

Additional Questions & Answers

CFI is the global institution behind the financial modeling and valuation analyst FMVA® Designation. CFI is on a mission to enable anyone to be a great financial analyst and have a great career path. In order to help you advance your career, CFI has compiled many resources to assist you along the path.

In order to become a great financial analyst, here are some more questions and answers for you to discover:

 

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