Umsatzerlösen

Umsatzerlöse, often translated as sales revenue, designate the revenue generated by a company’s ordinary business activities from the sale of goods and the rendering of services during a reporting period. They represent the net amount from customers after deductions that reduce the selling price, such as trade discounts, rebates, and returns; value-added tax (Umsatzsteuer) and other taxes collected on behalf of the state are not part of the Umsatzerlöse.

Recognition and measurement follow general accounting principles: revenue is recognized when control of the goods or services is transferred to the customer and the amount corresponds to the consideration the company expects to be entitled to. For contracts with multiple performance obligations, revenue is allocated accordingly; variable consideration is included to the extent it is highly probable not to reverse later. In practice, the Umsatzerlöse are recorded net of expected refunds, discounts and returns.

Presentation and role in financial statements: on the income statement, Umsatzerlöse is the top-line item representing earnings from core business activities. It can be presented as a single figure or broken down by segments, product lines, regions or customer types. In many frameworks, Umsatzerlöse forms the basis for calculating gross profit once cost of goods sold is deducted. The term is common in German-language accounting and is sometimes labeled as Erträge aus Lieferungen und Leistungen or Netto-Umsatzerträge, depending on jurisdiction, but all refer to revenue from ordinary activities. It must not be confused with Umsatzsteuer, the sales tax collected on behalf of the government.

Example: if a company invoices customers 1,000 net of VAT and grants a 50 discount, the Umsatzerlöse would be 950.