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Profit & Loss adds up what your customers paid you and what you paid out, so you can see whether the business made money. It counts money when it actually moves: revenue received, less the bills and payroll you paid. This guide reads Northwind’s last 12 months and downloads them for the accountant.

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Open Profit & Loss

Click Commerce in the left rail. In the list on the left, under Reports, click Profit & Loss.
The Commerce list with Reports and Profit & Loss outlined, above Sales, Recurring revenue and Accounts aging

Profit & Loss, under Reports

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Read the totals and the months

The four cards at the top total the period: Revenue, Expenses (bills plus payroll), Net profit and Margin, the share of revenue you kept. Below them, Revenue vs expenses shows each month side by side.
Profit & Loss, Cash basis: revenue received, less bills paid and payroll paid out. Export CSV and Last 12 months, outlined. Revenue $5,561.00, Expenses $6,734.20 (Bills $6,734.20, Payroll $0.00), Net profit -$1,173.20, Margin -21%; and the monthly chart with bills paid and revenue for August, September and October

Northwind's last 12 months

Northwind spent more than it took in over these three months, most of it on green coffee. Pick This year or Last year in the list at the top right to change the period.

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See where the money goes

Further down, Expenses by category totals your bills by their category, and Top vendors lists who you paid the most.
Expenses by category: Cost of Goods Sold $5,650.00, Utilities $684.20, Other $400.00; and Top vendors by amount paid: Bluebird Green Coffee Importers $4,120.00, Cedar Box Packaging Co. $1,050.00, Ember Street Utilities $684.20, Willamette Valley Packaging $480.00, Rivermile Delivery Co-op $400.00

Costs by category and by supplier

Give each bill a category when you enter it, so this breakdown stays useful. See Enter a Bill and Record That You Paid It.

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Send the numbers to your accountant

Click Export CSV at the top. It downloads a spreadsheet file with one row per month: revenue, bills paid, expenses and profit. Attach it to an email to your accountant, or open it in Excel or Google Sheets.

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Good to know