SG&A expenses appear on your profit and loss (P&L) statement under the expenses category. Depending on how your financial books are configured, SG&A may be broken down into subcategories (e.g., rent, utilities) to show what comprises the sum of your SG&A expenses. In many instances, SG&A expenses and operating expenses are one and the same. Both encompass the expenses necessary to operate a business independent of the costs to manufacture goods.

The SG&A to sales ratio (also sometimes called the percent-of-sales method) is what you get when you divide your total SG&A costs by your total sales revenue. It tells you what percent of every dollar your company earned gets sucked up by SG&A costs. SG&A costs are reported on the income statement, the financial statement that your business prepares to figure out how profitable it is.

Selling, General & Administrative (SG&A) Expense

This will tell you if you’re comparing companies on the same basis. That’s still a high number by small business standards, but it’s not good enough if fixed costs are $900,000. A firm with high fixed costs is said to have high operating leverage. Differences exist between a company that has a mostly variable cost structure and one that has a mainly fixed cost structure.

• When you apply for business funding, lenders look at your income-to-expense ratio.
• Once she calculates the SG & A before depreciation, she deducts the depreciation of the office building, the depreciation of the office equipment, and the depreciation of the vehicles.
• If you don’t know where you’re spending money, you can’t make strategic business decisions.
• The decision to list SG&A and operating expenses separately on the income statement is up to the company’s management.
• Though working as a consultant, most of her career has been spent in corporate finance.

Selling, general & administrative expenses (SG&A), also known as operating expenses, are the costs involved in daily business operations. In an income statement, gross profit less SG&A (and depreciation expense) equals the operating profit, also known as earnings before interest and tax (EBIT). Net revenue is always reported at the top, then COGS is deducted to arrive at the gross margin. The ABC executives also squandered shareholders’ capital through out-of-control expenses. It was later revealed that ABC had artificially padded its earnings by selling the original Jackson Pollack and Willem de Kooning paintings it owned. The sales kept the figures up so the company could avoid cutting spending.

What is Selling, General & Administrative Expense (SG&A)?

Bench’s easy-to-use software let’s you quickly see how your business is doing so you can make smarter decisions with your money and master your spending. They work with our client research team to get the answers you need to make informed decisions for your business strategy. SG&A costs are typically the second expense category recorded on an income statement after COGS, like on this simple income statement for XYZ Soaps Inc. Bookkeeping software like Lendio’s software can help you to track and categorize your expenses properly. Understanding where you’re spending money is the first step in making strategic decisions (e.g., should you spend more on social media advertising next month?).

General expenses

As part of its Q financial reporting, Apple reported $12.809 billion of operating expenses for the quarter. Of this, $6.797 billion was research and development, while $6.012 billion was selling, general, and administrative. Although the company does state that increases to SG&A from prior periods relates to headcount, advertising, and professional services, there is little more transparency beyond these notes. When these expenses are deducted from the gross margin, the result is operating profit. It’s important to note that not all expenses have been recorded when calculating operating expenses. Some expenses such as interest expense or tax expense are reported below operating income.

Start with a free account to explore 20+ always-free courses and hundreds of finance templates and cheat sheets. SG&A plays a key role in a company’s profitability and the calculation of its break-even point. SG&A is also one of the first places managers look to when reducing redundancies after mergers or acquisitions. That makes it an easy target for a management team looking to quickly boost profits.

SG&A Can Be Fixed or Variable Costs

On the other hand, advertising expenses will vary with the strategic decisions a company makes during the given period. SG&A is both critical to the success of a business and vulnerable to cost-cutting. Cutting the cost of goods sold (COGS) can be tough to do without damaging the quality of the product. Cutting operating expenses can be less damaging to the core business. SG&A costs are typically reduced after a company merger or acquisition makes it possible to reduce redundancies. SG&A includes almost every business expense that isn’t included in the cost of goods sold (COGS).

General and administrative costs are rarely reported separately; it’s fairly common to see these two costs reported together. High SG&A costs in relation to revenue can be a problem for almost any business. Management often attempts to keep SG&A costs limited https://personal-accounting.org/why-sg-a-doesnt-always-work/ to a certain percentage of revenue, but that figure may vary a great deal, depending on sector and industry. Like any expense, usually “the less, the better” is wise for SG&A expenses so long as your long-term goals and strategies aren’t impacted.

How does SG&A appear on the income statement?

Once SG&A is deducted from gross profit – assuming there are no other operating expenses – operating income (EBIT) remains. Operating expenses, or OPEX for short, are the costs involved in running the day-to-day operations of a company; they typically make up the majority of a company’s expenses. For example, when a unit is sold, there may be packaging and shipping costs and sales commission payable to the salesperson. COGS expenses are expenses that come with the production of goods.

In contrast, the cost of goods sold (COGS) is the actual cost incurred to produce and deliver a product. It ranges from the raw materials to make the product, to the shipping costs and taxes required to get it to the buyer. Our bookkeeping team completes your books and generates a monthly income statement and balance sheet for you.