No problem, let's work through this together. We're starting with 40678 and are subtracting 38176 from it.

Step 1: We'll start by subtracting the digit 6 and the borrow 0 from 8 in column 1 and get 2.
2 is the first digit of our result.

Step 2: We'll start by subtracting the digit 7 and the borrow 0 from 7 in column 2 and get 0.
0 is the next digit of our result.

Step 3: We'll start by subtracting the digit 1 and the borrow 0 from 6 in column 3 and get 5.
5 is the next digit of our result.

Step 4: We'll start by subtracting the digit 8 and the borrow 0 from 0 in column 4 and get -8.
We add -8 to 10 and get 2 as the next digit of the result.

Step 5: We'll start by subtracting the digit 3 and the borrow 1 from 4 in column 5 and get 0.
0 is the next digit of our result.

So, 40678 - 38176 = 2502.