Evolution of the Concept of Profit: Theoretical Aspect

Profit is the general index summing up the outcomes of company industrial and economic activity and evaluating its efficiency. To reveal the point of profit one should consider its formation and evolution as well as contemporary scientists' insight into the concept. The article covers the formation of profit in the context of economic historical development. Approaches to the interpretation of its essence by major political economy schools and current understanding of the category of profit have been observed. It has been proved that the term 'profit' has carried different values depending on the purpose of its determining, owners-employees relations, level of economic development, economic and political views on production and sales, financial information user demands. Research into category of profit, its nature and sources of origin gives the author opportunity to define profit as the company's positive financial performance in doing business over production costs and other deductions.