What it does
The Profit & loss page turns your books into reports:
- Profit & loss — income, cost of sales, gross profit, expenses and net profit for a period, by category.
- Cash flow — money in and out of your business bank accounts over the last 12 months, as a chart and a table.
- VAT (VAT-registered businesses) — VAT on sales and purchases, what's to pay or reclaim, and sales and purchases excluding VAT.
- AI summary (Pro, when AI assist is on) — a short read of the month: profit against last month, the biggest costs, anything over budget, and what to do next.
Figures are cash basis: income counts when it's paid, costs when they're paid. They come from explained bank lines, payments on your invoices (counted as Sales, whatever the method) and logged expenses that no bank payment already settles.
Where to find it
- Navigation: Finance → Profit & loss (owners only; the reports are part of the Pro plan)
- URL:
/dashboard/finance— tabs are?tab=pl,cashflow,vatandsummary
Step by step
Read profit and loss for a period
- Open Profit & loss.
- Choose the period: This month, Last month, Last 3 months, This financial year, Last financial year, Last 12 months or Custom dates (then pick from and to).
- Read the Income, Costs and Net profit cards, then the table by category.
- Money that isn't profit or loss lists assets, drawings, tax and loans for the period.
Export for your accountant
Click Export CSV. The file has every row of the profit and loss for the chosen period — and the VAT summary if you're VAT registered.
Check your VAT
The VAT tab appears once The business is VAT registered is ticked in Settings → Finance. It shows VAT on sales, VAT on purchases and VAT to pay (or VAT to reclaim) for the period. It's a guide for your return, not a Making Tax Digital submission.
Get the AI summary
- Open AI summary and choose the month.
- Click Write this month's summary. Write it again refreshes it later.
Only the month's figures are sent to the AI provider — totals by category, the budget, and your open bills' suppliers and amounts — never individual bank lines. Each summary says when it was written and by which model.
What each screen shows
- The amber banner counts bank lines not yet explained — until they are, the figures are incomplete.
- Cash flow leaves out transfers between your own accounts, and personal accounts.
- Accounts in other currencies are left out of every total, and the page says so.
Tips and good to know
- Your financial year's first month is set in Settings → Finance (April, the UK tax year, by default).
- Explaining a Stripe or GoCardless payout as Card & Direct Debit payouts keeps those invoice payments from being counted twice.
- The Reports page (Money → Reports) still shows the round's own numbers — collected, invoiced, jobs and the cash-flow forecast.
Troubleshooting
| Problem | What to try |
|---|---|
| Profit looks too high | Explain the unexplained lines — costs aren't counted until they're in a category. |
| Sales counted twice | A payout was explained as Sales while its invoices were already paid in Quickie. Re-explain it as Card & Direct Debit payouts. |
| No VAT tab | Tick The business is VAT registered in Settings → Finance. |
| Write this month's summary is greyed out | The note beside it says why: the plan, AI not configured, or AI assist switched off. |