The profit & loss statement is only available on the web version of Wave.
The profit & loss statement, or income statement, shows the money earned and spent over a specific period, providing a look into business profitability.
View your profit & loss statement
Understand the profit & loss statement
View your profit & loss statement
An overview of your profit & loss report is available on your business dashboard. Learn more in Get insight into your business with the dashboard.
- On the left-side menu, click Reports.
- Click Profit & Loss (Income Statement).
- Select a standard date range from the drop-down, or a custom date range.
- To compare your statement with another time period, click Compare to a prior period and select a date range.
- Set the Report Type as Accrual (Paid and Unpaid) or Cash Basis (Paid).
- Accrual includes income, cash expenses, and non-cash expenses like depreciation and amortization.
- Cash Basis includes income that has been invoiced but not yet received and expenses that have been billed but not yet paid.
- Click Update Report to generate your report.
You can view a summarised or detailed breakdown of your statement:
- The Summary tab contains an overview of your income, cost of goods sold and gross profit, as well as your operating expenses and net profit.
- The Details tab lists the specific income and expense account balances that contribute to the business's gross and net profits.
Understand your profit & loss statement
At the top of a single period report is an overview of your income, expenses and net profit for the date range.
If you’re comparing report periods, you'll see the net profit for each period and the difference in profits instead. You'll also see the dollar amount and percentage change between periods. An arrow indicates whether each amount has increased or decreased.
Income and gross profit
The first section of your profit & loss statement details the income accounts and the cost of goods sold (COGS) accounts that make up your business's gross profit.
Gross profit is the total revenue minus the COGS. The COGS includes the costs to produce your product or service. To determine your gross profit margin, the percentage of revenue kept after covering your COGS, divide your gross profit by your total revenue, then multiply by 100.
Operating expenses and net profit
The other section of your profit & loss statement details the operating expense accounts that are subtracted from your gross profit to calculate the business’s overall net profit. Operating expenses are not directly related to product or service production. Examples of these expenses are payroll and wages, advertising, and insurance.
Net profit is your business’s overall profitability. If the total is negative, this is a net loss. Use this number to track your business growth, changes in sales volume and changes in expenses.
For more information on Wave’s reporting features, check out the Video: Wave’s Reports Tour.