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The Daily Insight Hub

Are cost of sales and net sales the same?

Author

Matthew Harrington

Updated on December 31, 2025

Net sales is the result of gross revenue minus applicable sales returns, allowances, and discounts. Costs associated with net sales will affect a company’s gross profit and gross profit margin but net sales does not include cost of goods sold which is usually a primary driver of gross profit margins.

Is net sales and turnover the same thing?

Turnover is the net sales generated by a business, while profit is the residual earnings of a business after all expenses have been charged against net sales.

Is turnover gross or net sales?

Turnover in business is not the same as profit, although people often confuse the two: turnover is your total business income during a set period of time – in other words, the net sales figure. profit, on the other hand, refers to your earnings that are left after expenses have been deducted.

How do you find cost of net sales?

So, the formula for net sales is:

  1. Net Sales = Gross Sales – Returns – Allowances – Discounts.
  2. Gross sales: the total unadjusted sales of a business before discounts, allowance and returns.
  3. Returns: the return of goods for a refund of payment.
  4. Allowances: price reductions for defective or damaged goods.

What does cost of sales mean?

1 in retailing : the purchase cost or inventory value of merchandise sold during a stated period plus the cost of direct work thereon (as alterations or workroom charges) 2 in manufacturing : the production cost or inventory value of goods sold during a stated period.

Does turnover include cost of sales?

Turnover is the total amount of money your business receives as a result of the sales from your goods and/or services over a certain period of time. The calculation doesn’t deduct things like VAT or discounts, which is why it’s also referred to as ‘gross revenue’ or ‘income’.

What goes in cost of sales?

Cost of goods sold (COGS) refers to the direct costs of producing the goods sold by a company. This amount includes the cost of the materials and labor directly used to create the good. Cost of goods sold is also referred to as “cost of sales.”

How do you explain cost of sales?

Cost of sales (also known as “cost of goods sold”) refers to the cost required to manufacture or purchase a product that is then sold to a customer. Essentially, the cost of sales refers to what the seller has to pay in order to create the product and get it into the hands of a paying customer.

What is the difference between sales and sales turnover?

Sales refer to the total value of goods and services sold by a business. Turnover is the income that a firm generates through trading its goods and services.

What is sales turnover example?

Overview of Sales Turnover In some cases, sales turnover, or simply turnover, refers to a company’s sales from its regular business operations. For example, a business with $1 million in inventory that has a cost of goods sold of $3 million per year, has a sales or inventory turnover rate of three times.

What is sales or turnover?

Sales turnover is the total amount of revenue generated by a business during the calculation period. The calculation period is usually one year. The revenue included in this calculation is from both cash sales and credit sales.