Income:

Income is the consumption and savings opportunity gained by an entity within a specifiedtimeframe, which is generally expressed in monetary terms. However, for households andindividuals, "income is the sum of all the wages, salaries, profits, interests payments, rentsand other forms of earnings received... in a given period of time."

In the field of public economics, the term may refer to the accumulation of both monetaryand non-monetary consumption ability, with the former (monetary) being used as a proxy fortotal income.

Definition from different perspective:

Cash Income

Cash income includes wages and salaries, employee contribution to tax-deferred retirementsavings plans, business income or loss, farm income or loss, Schedule E income, interestincome, taxable dividends, realized net capital gains, social security benefits received,unemployment compensation, energy assistance, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families(TANF), workers compensation, veterans benefits, supplemental security income, childsupport, disability benefits, taxable IRA distributions, total pension income, alimonyreceived, and other income including foreign earned income. Cash income also includesimputed corporate income tax liability and the employers share of payroll taxes. This putsthe income measure on a pretax basis.

Economic Income

Economic income includes wages and salaries, other returns to labor, returns to capital, andother income. Returns to labor are measured as a percentage of business income, farmincome, rental income, farm rental income, partnership income and income from smallbusiness corporation. Returns to capital are assumed to be the nominal risk-free rate oncapital, measured as 6 percent of net worth. Other income includes royalty income, socialsecurity benefits received, unemployment compensation, supplemental security income,alimony received, TANF, workers compensation, veterans benefits, disability benefits, childsupport, energy assistance, food stamps, school lunches.

Accounting Income Definition

Accounting income is defined as an estimate of performance in the operations of a company. It isinfluenced by financing and investing decisions. Accounting income or loss generally recognizesrealized gains and losses, and does not recognize unrealized gains and losses.

For income to be realized it must be related to actual business transactions; in effect, the cash youhave must increase or decrease. A change in market value rather than cash received is not anaccounting income; it is an economic income. Economic income or loss recognizes all gains andlosses whether realized or unrealized.

Central to the accounting profits definition is whether a gain or loss is realized or unrealized. When again or loss is realized it becomes an income suitable for accounting. The accounting value for thisasset is generally listed at the historical value of the transaction selling it. When a gain or loss isunrealized it may or may not be accounted for in general. This depends on the placement of thegaining or losing asset in the balance sheet. Despite that this gain or loss may be accounted for, thefact that it is unrealized makes it an economic income or loss. The accrual accounting incomestatement will look very different from the fair value accounting statement.

Essentially, accounting income defined the ways companies evaluate their cash standing after thesale of an asset. This, once again, differs from economic income in that economic income is the wayfor companies to account for changes in the value of a given asset in the market. The deciding factoris whether or not a transaction takes place