What is the difference between a single-step and multi-step format of the earnings statement?

Question

What is the difference between a single-step and multi-step format of the earnings statement?

Answer 1

A multiple-step approach divides the businesses operating results into separate categories or steps, and simplifies the financial statement user's ability to understand the intricacy of an entity's operations.  

Sometimes, the accountant may decide that a simplified presentation is more useful.  In those cases, the income statement may be presented in a "single-step" format.  This very simple approach reports all revenues (and gains) together, and the aggregated expenses (and losses) are tallied and subtracted to arrive at income.

The illustration in the link shows an example of each of these income statements.