A general manager is a business executive who usually oversees a unit or firm's marketing and sales functions, as well as the day-to-day business operations. A manager may be responsible for one functional area, but the General Manager is responsible for all areas. Sometimes, most commonly, the term General Manager refers to any executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement. This is often referred to as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. This means that a General Manager usually oversees most or all of the firm's marketing and sales functions as well as the day-to-day operations of the business. Frequently, the General Manager is responsible for effective planning, delegating, coordinating, staffing, organizing, and decision making to attain desirable profit making results for an organization.