Gross income is the amount of money a business brings in after deducting the cost of goods sold, and it gives investors a sense of how profitable a business is on the sale of each good separate from its fixed or indirect expenses. Gross income is also used on paystubs to indicate the total amount a person has earned in a period before deductions are applied. If gross income is not reported on a business statement, you can find it by taking total operating revenues and subtracting the cost of goods sold.