Introduction
Welcome to your guide on how to understand and navigate the Profit and Loss (P&L) Statement feature in Empress. This feature is designed to provide a comprehensive overview of your business’s financial health.
What is the Profit and Loss Statement?
The Profit and Loss (P&L) Statement is a detailed financial report showcasing your company’s profits or losses over a given period. It includes all the income earned and the expenses incurred within that period. This statement is crucial because it helps you:
- Compare profits from different months or years
- Determine the total profit or loss for a specific period
- Understand the financial performance of your business
At the end of the fiscal year, the total profit (or loss) is transferred to the owner’s equity, representing the business owners’ share. In the business context, this is viewed as a liability as the company must distribute these profits or absorb the losses.
To access your P&L statement in Empress, go to the sidebar and click on: Reports > Profit And Loss
The P&L report, by default, shows values for the last three months. It gives a detailed view of your income and expenses and concludes with the total profit or loss during that period.
Customizing Your P&L Report
Empress allows you to customize your P&L report using various filters, helping you view your financial data in a way that suits your business needs.
Filter Options
Based On: This filter lets you set the date range for the report. You can choose between ‘Until Date’ and ‘Fiscal Year’.
Periodicity: This filter sets the reporting interval. If you set it to ‘monthly’, the report will display monthly columns.
Date Range Filters: These filters depend on the ‘Based On’ filter. For ‘Until Date’, you have ‘To Date’ and ‘Count’. For ‘Fiscal Year’, you have ‘To Year’ and ‘From Year’.
If you select ‘Until Date’, the ‘To Date’ is the final date for the report, and ‘Count’ depends on the periodicity. If ‘Count’ is 3 and ‘Periodicity’ is set to monthly, the report will display the P&L for the last three months from the ‘To Date’.
If you select ‘Fiscal Year’, ‘To Year’ and ‘From Year’ determine the fiscal year for which the P&L report is displayed.
Additional Features
Consolidate Columns: Checking this option will sum up all the values for each row and display a single column.
Hide Group Amounts: This option simplifies the report by only displaying non-group account amounts.
Folding Rows for a Compact View
You can click on rows in the P&L report displaying group accounts to fold all the rows underneath them. This feature helps in creating a more compact and readable overview of your financial data.
In summary, the Profit and Loss Statement feature in Empress is a powerful tool that helps you understand your business’s financial health in a user-friendly and customizable format. By leveraging the filtering options and row folding feature, you can tailor your P&L report to meet your specific business needs. For any additional information, please refer to Empress’s user support or detailed online guides.