Profit and Loss Statement Template (Free Template)
Use this profit and loss template to see whether your business actually made money over a period, by laying out your sales, the cost of goods sold, and your running expenses, down to the profit.
| Line | Amount (KES) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Sales | 600,000 | For the month |
| Less: cost of goods sold | 360,000 | What the stock cost |
| Gross profit | 240,000 | Sales minus cost of goods |
| Less: expenses (rent, wages, utilities) | 150,000 | Running costs |
| Net profit | 90,000 | What you actually kept |
| ... | ... | ... |
Example rows shown. Download the CSV for a blank version to fill in, or open it in Excel or Google Sheets.
How to use the profit and loss statement template
- 1Start with salesEnter your total sales for the period at the top.
- 2Subtract cost of goodsSubtract what the stock you sold cost you. What remains is gross profit.
- 3Subtract expensesSubtract your running expenses (rent, wages, utilities and the rest). What remains is net profit.
- 4Read the resultNet profit is what the business actually kept. If it is thin or negative, look at margins and costs.
- +Gross profit shows your pricing and buying; net profit shows the whole business.
- +Build this from a categorised cash book.
- +Compare period to period to see if profit is growing.
Frequently asked questions
A profit and loss statement, or P&L, shows whether your business made a profit over a period by laying out sales, the cost of goods sold and your expenses, down to net profit, which is what you actually kept.
Gross profit is sales minus the cost of the goods you sold, which reflects your pricing and buying. Net profit is gross profit minus all your running expenses, which reflects the whole business.
From a categorised cash book. Total your sales, subtract the cost of goods sold to get gross profit, then subtract your expenses to get net profit. Consistent categories make this quick.
Your costs or discounts likely grew faster than sales. A P&L reveals this by separating gross profit from expenses, so you can see whether the problem is your margins or your overheads.
Veira tracks sales, cost of goods and expenses, so it can produce a profit and loss view from your real trade, letting you see profit, not just turnover, period over period.
Veira records sales, stock and payments automatically, so this runs itself. From KES 2,999 a month, with a free terminal.