Generic inputs

Go to the Setup tab: enter your Company Name (or your name if using this template for personal budgeting), the Fiscal Year, select the statement name from the drop down menu, and choose your currency by replacing the dollar symbol with your preferred currency symbol.

Optional: select the starting month of your fiscal year, or leave it as January if you follow the calendar year.

Set up your main categories

You can define up to 4 main expense categories for your Profit & Loss. These are your high level reporting buckets, so keep them broad and strategic.

The template comes pre-populated with 4 categories to get you started: General & Administrative, Sales & Marketing, Salaries & Payroll and Other Items. Rename any of them directly on the Setup tab and your reports will update automatically.

Add your subcategories

In the next step you can assign subcategories to each main category. This lets you track detailed activity without cluttering your reports.

Hide notes

Throughout the workbook, helper notes are included to guide you as you use the template. If you would like to hide these notes to create a cleaner view or prepare dashboards for printing or presentation, simply click the check mark (Google Sheets) or type “YES” (Excel) and the helper notes will disappear. You can turn the helper notes back on at any time by unchecking the box. They will always remain available if you need them later.

Set up your subcategories

In the Setup tab you already defined your 4 main expense categories. Revenue only has one main category. In this step you’ll define the subcategories that sit underneath each one and roll up automatically into your reports.

For example, under General & Administrative you might include Office Supplies, Bank Fees or Insurance. All of these will roll up into the main category on your Profit & Loss and Dashboard.

A few things to note:

• Up to 15 subcategories for revenue
• Up to 15 subcategories for each main expense category defined in the Setup tab

Customizing your categories

Type your subcategories directly in the white cells below each header. Only fill in what you need and leave any extra rows blank. To hide unused rows, highlight them, right click, then select Hide.

Entering your numbers

Enter monthly totals for each subcategory. All rows accept positive and negative values.

• Revenue should be entered as positive values. Discounts and returns should be entered as negative.
• Expenses should be entered as positive values. Recoveries such as an income tax recovery should be entered as negative.
• Totals and subtotals in blue cells calculate automatically. No formulas required.

TipThe Profit & Loss statement uses a condensed layout by default, showing only the first 7 subcategories per section. Click the + in the row margin to expand and reveal additional rows. You’ll also see a helper note, “Click + to see your additional categories. Go back to Setup to hide this helper note.”, which can be turned off using the Hide Notes toggle on the Setup tab (as described above).

No manual input required

The Dashboard tab automatically pulls data from your Profit & Loss tab. The Dashboard includes:

• Key metric cards: Total Revenues, Total Operating Expenses, Operating Expenses as a % of Revenues, and Net Income with Net Margin %
• Monthly combo chart: Revenues, Expenses and Net Income trended month by month
• Monthly expense breakdown: stacked bar chart showing your operating expense composition each month
• Top 5 Income Allocation and Top 5 Expense Distribution: ranking your largest subcategories
• Best Revenue and Net Income Month: automatically highlights the strongest month for each
• Annual Summary chart: Total Revenue vs Total Expense at a glance

Use the Dashboard to review trends, monitor financial performance, and gain insights into your business results at a glance. Add your own commentary in the Notes section on the right.