Sundry income is a nonmaterial source of income and is generally trivial in relation to a company’s income from operations. Even though sundry income may not make up a large part of a business’s income, this does not mean the amounts are negligible. There is no limit to the amount of income that may qualify as sundry income because the defining characteristic is based on the irregularity of the fund source and not the amount of funds generated. As mentioned above these types of expenses do not usually have a separate ledger account however they can be grouped together and clubbed together as sundry expenses. There are no hard and fast rules for categorizing expenses as sundries but they should definitely not include any regular payments or capital expenses. Sundry income must be recorded on financial statements and balance sheets, as it has an effect on a business’s net worth and needs to be reported to shareholders.
- Additionally, sundry income may come with tax implications that must be addressed by the business.
- Sundry expenses are shown on the expenses side (left) of a profit and loss account (Income statement).
- By listing small, irregular amounts under sundry expenses, a company’s accounting department saves itself the effort of having to precisely allocate each expense.
- Sundry income may include income from a variety of sources, the nature of which may change from one accounting period to the next.
- Instead, they will need to be reported separately with a precise description in the balance sheet.
On the income statement or balance sheet, sundry income may also be listed as miscellaneous income or other operating income. These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word ‘sundry.’ Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. They are comparatively small, miscellaneous in nature & can not be classified under a specific day-to-day expense ledger. They can be related to a particular area within a business such as sundry office expenses, sundry retail expenses, etc.
Examples of sundry in a Sentence
Sundry expenses are costs incurred during business operations that are not listed separately because they are usually small, rare, and do not relate to other general expenditures. Sundry assets, frequently known as other current assets (OCA), are uncommon or insignificant things of value a company owns, such as a piece of unimproved land or restricted cash. A company may list and describe these assets in its financial statement footnotes.
This includes any income not generated by the sale of the company’s products and services. Back in the days of manual bookkeeping, there was a greater need for such classifications since having a particular ledger account made for every little expense would not feasible. Now with ERPs and modern computer systems, the need to reclass dozens of small expenses as sundry expenses has been greatly reduced. Sundry expenses are shown on the expenses side (left) of a profit and loss account (Income statement). Size, industry practice & nature of an expense plays an important role to determine whether it should be included in sundries or be given a separate ledger account.
Sundry Income: Definition, How It Works in Business, and Examples
If the company sells these assets, it will record the resulting income as sundry or miscellaneous income on its income statement. However, if these expenses become regular and include larger amounts, they will no longer qualify as sundry. Instead, they will need to be reported separately with a precise description in the balance sheet. Sundry income is generated from sources other than a company’s normal income-generating business operations.
Sundry income may include income from a variety of sources, the nature of which may change from one accounting period to the next. For example, late fees, royalties, profits on the sales of minor assets, or foreign exchange gains may qualify as sundry income depending on the nature of the business involved. Income from sources such as interest may be included in sundry income depending on whether a company has substantial interest income due to large cash balances. In those instances, interest income may be shown as a line item separate from sundry income. While sundry income includes all the miscellaneous sources of income a business may generate, sundry expenses encompass the irregular, small expenses that are not otherwise assigned within the account. By listing small, irregular amounts under sundry expenses, a company’s accounting department saves itself the effort of having to precisely allocate each expense.
More from Merriam-Webster on sundry
Additionally, sundry income may come with tax implications that must be addressed by the business. The income must be reported to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) along with the income generated from normal business operations. The word “Sundry” is used for items which are irregular and insignificant to be listed individually.
