Profit and loss statement (P&L report)
The profit and loss report is a financial statement that summarizes the revenues, costs, and expenses incurred during a specified period (month, quarter or year).
In the table we see income, expenses and totals grouped by categories for each month and the dynamics. Data can also be grouped by payees, projects, and so on. Here you can select a period: month, quarter or year.
You can also add a comparison with the same period of the previous year: December 2023 with December 2022, November 2023 with November 2022, and so on. On the graph you can see the totals, income or expenses.
Amortization
This report can be generated with or without amortization. Amortization is a technique which is used to gradually write-down the cost of an asset over its expected period of use.
Let's say we bought a license for the program for $12000 in September. Since the license is valid for one year, we set amortization period for 12 months. Without amortization, we will see a big dip in profit in September, but with amortization enabled, the cost of the license will be evenly distributed over 12 months.
Alternative date
There are situations when profit or loss should be taken into account in a period other than the period in which it was actually received. For example, payment for a service provided in November was received only in December.
When creating a transaction, we're setting the real date of income, but in the “Alternate date” field we set the date when the service was actually provided (or when the invoice was issued). Without taking into account the alternative date, we see in the report a dip in income in November and an unusual increase in December, which is not entirely correct. If the alternative date is taken into account, then everything will fall into place.
Export
The report can also be exported to a csv-file for further work with it in Excel.