Your S corporation handles profits differently from traditional corporations. Here's what makes it special: Rather than keeping a standard retained earnings account, S corporations use something called an Accumulated Adjustments Account (AAA) to track profits that haven't been distributed to shareholders.
Current E&P represents the current economic income computed on an annual basis. Accumulated E&P represents the sum of each year's current E&P reduced by distributions.
The Accumulated Adjustments Account (AAA) tracks your S Corporation's gross income, expenses, and distributions. This account is found on Form 1120-S on Schedule M-2. The goal of the Accumulated Adjustment account is to determine if you took any taxable distributions during the year.
Accumulated profit and earnings are a company's net profits available after paying dividends. It is an accounting term related to the stockholders of a company. After clearing the dividends to the stockholders, the accumulated earnings and profit, also known as E&P, is a company's net profit.