Statement of Profit or Loss Tutorial

Overview#

A Statement of Profit or Loss (P&L), also known as an Income Statement, is a financial document that summarises an organisation's revenue, costs and expenses over a specific period. This period can be a month, a calendar year, a financial year or several months.

💡These tutorials explain how to view and customise a Statement of Profit or Loss.

By following the step-by-step guide, you learn to change and understand the different settings. This way, you get the financial information you need from your accounting records, such as a month-by-month breakdown, cost-of-sale percentages, budget comparisons and a detailed financial overview of your organisation.

How to Change the Dates for the Statement of Profit or Loss#

1. Navigate to the Statement of Profit or Loss.
2. Click the dropdown list next to Set to select your dates:
   1. Click User Date to show the profit or loss for the specific periods selected under Date.
      • Note: Enter the start date in the first date field and the end date in the second date field.
   2. Click Month to show the current month.
      • Note: Change the 2 next to Show to display the Statement of Profit or Loss for various periods (limited to 12).
   3. Click Year to show the calendar year to date (from January to December).
   4. Click Fin Year to show your organisation's profit or loss for the current financial year.
   5. Click Fin Year (Months) to show the monthly profit or loss for the current financial year.
3. Click View (button) to display the Statement of Profit or Loss on the left and the graph on the right.

How to View Percentage Changes from Period to Period#

1. Navigate to the Statement of Profit or Loss.
2. Click the dropdown list next to %.
   1. Click None to hide the % field.
   2. Click Change to show the percentage change between the period (column) shown on the right and the period (column) shown on the left.
   3. Click Revenue to show the line items as a percentage of sales.
   4. Click Budget to show the percentage difference between the actual and budgeted amounts if a budget is selected (else an error message displays).
3. Click View (button) to display the Statement of Profit or Loss on the left and the graph on the right.

How to View a Budget Comparison#

1. Navigate to the Statement of Profit or Loss.
2. Click Set > Fin Year (Months).
3. In the same row, a new option appears: Budget. Click the dropdown list next to Budget and click the budget you want to display.
   • Note: If no budget exists yet, there are no names to select.
4. Click View (button).
   • Note: The Statement of Profit or Loss appears on the left, and a graph appears on the right.
   • Note: The budget comparison is not shown on the graph.

How to View the Percentage Change between the Budgeted and Actual Amounts#

1. Navigate to the Statement of Profit or Loss.
2. Click Set > Fin Year (Months).
3. In the same row, a new option appears: Budget. Click the dropdown list next to Budget and click the budget you want to display.
4. Click the dropdown list next to % and click Budget.
5. Click View (button).
   • Note: The Statement of Profit or Loss appears on the left, and a graph appears on the right.
   • Note: The budget comparison is not shown on the graph.

How to Show or Hide the Decimal Values on the Statement of Profit or Loss#

1. Navigate to the Statement of Profit or Loss.
2. Click View (button).
3. Click Menu (button) > Hide Decimal Values.
   • Note: If checked, decimal values are hidden. If unchecked, they appear.

How to View Detailed Transactions from the Profit or Loss#

1. Navigate to the Statement of Profit or Loss.
2. Click View (button).
3. Double-click an Account to see the detailed transactions on the General Ledger Account.

How to View All the Accounts on the Statement of Profit or Loss#

1. Navigate to the Statement of Profit or Loss.
2. Check Show all Accounts to see all the individual accounts including those with zero balances.
3. Click View (button).
   • Note: The Statement of Profit or Loss appears on the left, and a graph appears on the right.
   • Note: The graph still only shows the main categories.

How to Print the Statement of Profit or Loss#

1. Navigate to the Statement of Profit or Loss.
2. Click View (button).
3. Click Output (button) > Print to print the report to the default printer or click Print (Show Dialogue) to select a printer, for example, a .pdf printer.

How to Preview the Statement of Profit or Loss#

1. Navigate to the Statement of Profit or Loss.
2. Click View (button).
3. Click Output (button) > Preview to display the Statement of Profit or Loss.
   • Note: You can click the printer icon to print the statement to a printer of your choice, including PDF.

How to Email the Statement of Profit or Loss#

1. Navigate to the Statement of Profit or Loss.
2. Click View (button).
3. Click Menu (button) > Email Excel to email the Statement of Profit or Loss in Excel format.
4. Click Output (button) > Email and select 2, 3, 6 or 12 periods to email the Statement of Profit or Loss in PDF format.

How to Fix a Statement of Profit or Loss that is not Displaying#

1. If you click View (button) to display the Statement of Profit or Loss and nothing appears, click Menu (button) > Restore Grid to restore the display.
2. You can also click Restore Default (All Users) to reset the Statement of Profit or Loss to the default setups (this step requires a restart to take effect).

How to Hide the Graph or Chart#

1. Navigate to the Statement of Profit or Loss.
2. Click View (button).
3. Click Menu (button).
4. Click Hide Chart.

How to Customise the Graph or Chart#

1. Navigate to the Statement of Profit or Loss.
2. Click View (button).
3. Click Customize (button) directly below the graph and select any settings from the popup to modify the graph.
4. Click Column Diagram (link) to select a different type of diagram.

How to Fit all the Columns on the Screen#

1. Navigate to the Statement of Profit or Loss.
2. Click View (button).
3. Click Menu (button) > Column Auto Width to automatically fit all the columns on the screen.