A Profit & Loss Report is special kind of report because the group totals in the report differ depending on the report type. This gives your business reporting flexibility to present the P&L in quite different styles and formats. Use these links to the various format type Simple , Classic , EBITDA
Most often asked FAQ
I am using P&L reports and the output is multiplying. Why?
The Profit and Loss report contains multiple report formats and these are packed into the a dimension P&L Format. When using P&L report you must set a filter for P&L Format so the report runs the correct format.
Typically for simple list or chart you should set the filter P&L Format = Simple
If using any other P&L Format you must also set a Group By to P&L Format.
To learn more about the many formats of GL Report see GL Report Models and Metrics
BI4Cloud allows users to produce a variety of different P&L reports out of the box and the ability to further customise these as needed.
When building a P&L report let's break it down into the component parts. Following are some of the options to consider:
- Subtotals or Format - include subtotals for Gross Profit, Operating Profit, EBITDA etc
- Rows - by account, summarised into higher level account groups
- Columns - Actuals v Budget, Date Comparisons (This year v Prior Year), Months, Divisions
- Date Ranges - Month to date, Year to date, Multiple Years
P&L Format
Simple Format
The Simple format produces a basic P&L:
- No Sub-totals for Gross Profit or Operating Profit only a Simple grand total for Net Profit
- Sub-totals are a Simple sum of Income, Cost of Goods Sold and Expenses
- Income displays as Positive and Expenses all display as Negative numbers
As the Simple format does not include any fancy sub-totals it is highly recommend using Simple Format for internal P&L analysis as it allows for more flexibility in producing simple ad-hoc reports and manipulating the data.
Simple is also the best Format to use for drill down to see underlying transactions.
Use Simple Format as a basis to report on only segments of the P&L e.g. just looking at Travel Expenses or anything that is not in "Traditional" P&L.
When using P&L format you are free to set any fields to Group by. The Default Simple P&L is setup to Group by Account Type which will result in a Simple sum of Income, Cost of Goods Sold, Expenses and Grand Total (named Net Profit).
NOTE: If converting one of the other more advanced P&L formats below (Classic/EBITDA/Divisional etc) to Simple format you must also remove the Group by P&L Format Totals as this directive ONLY works with the more advanced P&L formats (Classic/EBITDA etc).
Classic Format
Best format for a traditional or "Classic" P&L.
- Income and Expenses all display as Positive numbers so good to use for month-end presentations.
- Sub-totals for Gross Profit | Operating Profit | Net Profit
NOTE: The Group by field MUST be set to include P&L Format Totals - this is what tells the report to add these extra Sub-totals when you select Classic Format.
The Classic Format does a number of back-end calculations to calculate the extra sub-totals for Gross Profit, Operating Profit and Net Profit. As such the Classic Format should only be used when producing a traditional/full P&L. Otherwise use the Simple format, see above.
EBITDA
- Sub-totals for Gross Profit | EBITDA| EBIT| Net Profit before Tax | Net Profit/Loss
- Income and Expenses all display as Positive numbers so good to use for month-end presentations
- Depreciation, amortisation and interest accounts are detected using the Report Codes assigned to each GL account. These can be edited if the defaults do not reflect your account setup.
NOTE: The Group by field MUST be set to include P&L Format Totals - this is what tells the report to add these extra Sub-totals when you select EBITDA Format.