1.   When prices do change, however, the income statement becomes less acceptable as a measure of performance.

2.   Inflation affects the income statement because of the way in which inventories are valued in the production process.

3.   Depreciation is the way in which the deterioration in the capital assets owned by the firm is taken into account in the income statement.

4.   This method is the opposite to that which is most appropriate for the income statement.

5.   Using LIFO in the income statement means that the older units remain in the inventory.

6.   Amazon hopes investors will ignore the inconvenient expense numbers in the real income statement, which will be left out of the creative one the company emphasizes.

7.   And that has no effect on the income statement.

8.   Because their expenses vastly exceeded their sales, they were hard pressed to find a positive earnings number anywhere on traditional income statements.

9.   A bipartisan Senate bill would force companies either to recognize the cost of stock options on their income statements or give up option-related tax deductions.

10.   But this year, weak sales in Europe especially and competition from cheaper Asian products have sliced into the income statement.