A business account for reporting different kinds of income is called a “sundry account.” This income doesn’t come from selling the company’s goods or services, but it still needs to be counted because it raises the company’s overall profits and, by extension, its net worth.
If a business gives its name or intellectual creations to other businesses that want to make money, it can get royalties from those deals. Some examples are record companies, big multi-national companies that make products, and service companies that sell franchises to people all over the world. These royalties would be put in different accounts because the business did not directly make or serve the people or accounts that made the money.
When a company sells some of its real estate, the money it makes from that sale is usually added to its sundry account earnings. The sale of land, stocks, bonds, and other types of investments would also be counted as income for the sundry account.
The word “sundry” means “different” or “different things.” So, sundry accounts usually list all sources of income that don’t fit into other types of income. Even though the name makes it sound like each revenue stream is small, a business can make a lot of money that must be tracked in different funds.
