Accounting Dictionary

Bottom Line

Bottom line is a slang term meaning the last line in an income statement or balance sheet. It also means after all the embellishment; this is the cold hard truth.

If a company lost $50,000 and they gave an hour speech explaining why, someone might say, ”Bottom line you lost $50,000 and you’re in trouble.” The $50,000 loss would be the bottom line of their income statement. If a company had total assets of $5,000,000 and $4,500,000 was in cash, someone might say,”Bottom line you had a fantastic year and you’re flush with cash.” The bottom line of their balance sheet would be $5,000,000.

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