The trading statement is an expanded version of sales component of the Income declaration. The trading statement’s main objective is usually to determine sales, price of sales and gross profit. The trading statement forms component of effective bookkeeping in the accounting discipline. Main formula: Sales – Cost of Gross sales = Gross Benefit. Information in the trading statement is left out and it is up to the bookkeeper to determine the missing value. This can be a very popular bookkeeping assessment type question.