Profit and loss
Read your forecast profit and loss in bluprnts — revenue down to profit after tax, with the subtotals your reporting standard prescribes.
The profit and loss shows whether the business makes money over the forecast: what you sell, what it costs to sell it, what you spend running the company, and what is left after interest and tax. bluprnts derives it from your sales, products, employees and costs — nothing on it is entered directly.
Open it on the Financials page, using the Profit and Loss option in the page header.
The descent, line by line#
Under the Accounting view with FRS 102 or IFRS:
| Line | What it is |
|---|---|
| Revenue | What you sold, on the date you invoiced it |
| Cost of Sales | The direct cost of those sales — production, storage, shipping |
| Gross Profit | Revenue less cost of sales |
| Operating Expenses | Everything else you spend running the business, including payroll |
| EBITDA | Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation |
| Depreciation | Capital items written down over their life |
| Operating Profit | EBITDA less depreciation |
| Net Interest | Interest earned on cash, less interest paid on loans and overdraft |
| Profit before Tax | Operating profit after interest |
| Tax | Corporation tax on the profit |
| Profit after Tax | The bottom line |
Each subtotal is cumulative — it carries everything above it — which is why the statement reads as a single descent from revenue to the bottom line.
Under US GAAP#
The same descent with different names, and one line missing:
| FRS 102 / IFRS | US GAAP |
|---|---|
| Revenue | Revenue |
| Cost of Sales | Cost of revenue |
| Gross Profit | Gross profit |
| Operating Expenses | Operating expenses |
| EBITDA | (not presented) |
| Depreciation | Depreciation and amortization |
| Operating Profit | Operating income |
| Net Interest | Interest income (expense), net |
| Profit before Tax | Income before income taxes |
| Tax | Provision for income taxes |
| Profit after Tax | Net income |
EBITDA is deliberately absent from the US GAAP layout: it is a non-GAAP measure and the SEC does not permit it as a subtotal on the face of the income statement.
In the Simple view#
Shorter, and in plain language. EBITDA and operating profit come out, and depreciation joins the running costs it is:
Sales → Cost of those sales → Gross profit → Running costs → Interest → Profit before tax → Tax → Profit after tax
The figures are identical. Only the layout changes.
The KPI strip#
Above the table, for the whole forecast period:
| Figure | What it means |
|---|---|
| Total revenue | Cumulative revenue across the forecast |
| Gross margin | Gross profit as a percentage of revenue, with the cash amount underneath |
| Operating profit | Cumulative, with the operating margin underneath |
| Profit after tax | Cumulative, with the net margin underneath |
| Avg monthly profit | Profit after tax divided by the number of months |
Related#
- Cash flow statement — the same activity, on the dates money actually moves.
- Add or edit a cost — where operating expenses come from.
- Statement lines — every line and the driver behind it.