ASC 225 is the primary guidance that provides the requirements for information included in the income statement. This includes ASC 225-10-S45 and ASC 225-10-S99, which capture the guidance also included in Articles 3, 4, and 5 of Regulation S-X. For purposes of this guide, we have focused on commercial and industrial companies, which are subject to Article 5. Reporting entities subject to other SEC regulations include registered investment companies (Article 6), employee stock purchase, savings, and similar plans (Article 6A), insurance companies (Article 7), smaller reporting companies (Article 8), bank holding companies (Article 9) and brokers and dealers that file Form X-17A-5, which are not addressed in this guide.

An income statement is typically presented for at least two fiscal years in a comparative format, as described in ASC 205-10-45. Presenting a single fiscal year would also comply with US GAAP. However, ASC 205-10-45-2 states that comparative statements are “desirable.”

The guidance for SEC registrants is more explicit regarding the required reporting periods for income statements. S-X 3-02 requires that SEC registrants present the most recent three fiscal years of audited income statements, except for qualifying emerging growth companies and smaller reporting companies, which are permitted to present only two years of audited income statements.

Prior year amounts presented in a comparative format are expected to be comparable to those shown in the most recent fiscal year. There may be instances where changes to prior year amounts are necessary to achieve comparability, such as changes in accounting principles. See FSP 30 for further discussion of such changes.