P&L statements are one of the best financial reports for understanding where your business stands financially. Learn all about P&L statements below.
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Your goal as a business owner is to keep your business financially solvent, and to do that, you absolutely must know how much you're making and how much you're losing. A profit and loss (P&L) statement, otherwise called an income statement, breaks down your profit and loss line by line so you can determine your net income and make wise decisions about business opportunities.
Since an income statement gives you a close look at your total profits, liabilities, and expenses, it's one of the most important financial documents in your roster. Because P&L statements are so important, even the most basic accounting software programs generate them for you at the click of a button. But if you want to draw up your own P&L statements (or if you want to understand exactly what goes into generating income statements), we have a short guide below.
If you're searching for accounting software that's user-friendly, full of smart features, and scales with your business, Quickbooks is a great option.
Before we start creating income statements, let's talk a bit more about why understanding profit and loss is essential to running a successful business.
Profit obviously refers to the amount of money your business is making—and yes, it's critical to know what your income is at any given moment. But revenue alone doesn't accurately represent your business's profits. After all, expenses like rent, employee paychecks, damaged inventory, bank fees, and a host of other expenses and liabilities come out of your bottom line.
To accurately understand your business's fiscal position, then, you need to calculate both profit and loss to find your total net income. And that's exactly what the profit and loss sheet does for you: lists your total revenue, total expenses, and total equity line by line to show how much cash your business is really bringing in.
P&L statements are also important for banks, lenders, and other investors. Lenders will almost always look at your income statement before deciding if your business is profitable enough to invest in. P&L sheets also demonstrate your own financial know-how—if you as a business owner don't have a good understanding of how to effectively manage profit and loss, lenders will be less likely to trust that your business can give them a good return on investment.
Again, you don’t have to prepare a P&L statement on your own. Plenty of accounting software will do it for you. And if you want more information on how to create an income statement specific to your business, we always recommend talking to your financial advisor. Virtual accountants and bookkeepers can help, as can business bankers, CPAs, or other trusted financial professionals.
If you're creating an income statement by hand, using a spreadsheet program like Excel or Google Sheets will help you keep the process simple. Depending on the product you use, you can find an easy template instead of building a document from the ground up. For instance, Microsoft Office offers a series of Excel templates for P&L statements.
The U.S. Small Business Association also offers a simple income statement template you can easily download, print, and fill out.
Your accountant can also show you how they draw up a profit and loss statement. And, again, most accounting or bookkeeping software can automatically create a P&L statement for you or provide you with a template for you to fill in.
Most businesses calculate their profits and losses on a monthly, quarterly, or annual basis. If a lender or investor asks you for a P&L statement, they should specify the time period they need to see. Otherwise, just make sure to choose a time frame that shows you a general trend without overwhelming you with too much data; less than a month is probably too little time to reveal trends, while more than a year is probably too much.