Understanding Profit and Loss Reports in simPRO

Profit and Loss Summary, Job Profit and Loss, Job Activity - have you ever wondered why these reports don't seem to add up? Why do they show such different figures?

It's because they are designed to measure different things. Each is important in its own right, and each can tell you something important about your business. It's vital to understand those differences, where they come from, and how you can use them.

Here is your cheatsheet for getting your head around the various profit and loss reports in simPRO.

Job Profit & Loss Report

Description:	Shows total job P&L TO DATE for each job invoiced WITHIN a given date range.
Expenses:	Any costs incurred on jobs UP TO selected date IF invoiced WITHIN date range.
Income:	Any income UP TO selected date IF invoiced WITHIN date range.
Filter Based On:	Date range
Best For:	Viewing profitability of each job at the time of invoicing (set filters to show only jobs fully invoiced).

The Job Profit & Loss Report is probably the most intuitive for simPRO users. It shows the profit and loss to date for all jobs that have been invoiced within a given date range. The figures you see here will be a horizontal display of the actual costs in the job summary table when you open a job.

Things To Watch Out For

• Jobs that are in progress but not invoiced within the date range will not show up in the report.

• Profit and Loss on incomplete jobs will usually be overstated, as there are still more costs to be incurred.

• Costs incurred outside of the date range will be included in the report, as long as the job was invoiced within the date range.

How And Why To Use The Job Profit & Loss Report

If you set the filter to show only fully invoiced jobs, it is the best report to quickly review the profitability of jobs closed off within a given date range. The Job Profit & Loss Report is a great tool for estimator and project manager reviews, allowing you to quickly assess job-by-job profitability and drill down into any that need particular attention.

Job WIP (Work in Progress) Report

Description:	Shows all job income and costs UP TO a given date for jobs that have NOT been fully invoiced or archived.
Expenses:	Any job costs incurred UP TO selected date.
Income:	Any job income UP TO selected date.
Filter Based On:	Date
Best For:	Assessing total liabilities and income for open jobs (i.e. due for progress claim).

The Job WIP Report shows all costs and and income for jobs that are not fully invoiced or archived. This is an industry standard report, and a must-have for anyone engaged in projects.

Things to Watch Out For:

• Toggle on committed costs if you want to see the value of pending purchase orders, work orders and future scheduled hours. Turn them off if you just want to see actual costs to date.

• Click on the Difference column to sort your jobs by largest discrepancy between income and expenses. This will show you which ones may be due for a progress claim.

How And Why To Use The Job WIP Report

This is a great tool to boost cashflow. Run this report every week, fortnight or month - depending upon your invoicing schedule - to see which jobs have significant liabilities that can be claimed. This is the go-to report for progress claims.

The Job WIP Report is also a quick and easy way to keep your accountant happy if they need to add the value of the WIP to the balance sheet.

Job Activity Report

Description:	Shows all job costs and income WITHIN a given date range.
Expenses:	Any job expenses incurred WITHIN date range.
Income:	Any income WITHIN the date range.
Filter Based On:	Date range
Best For:	Assessing income and liabilities incurred during a given period (cash flow).

This one is most commonly confused with the Job Profit & Loss Report and the WIP Report. The key thing to understand is how the date filters work. Take another look at the tables above to see the differences. Unlike the first two, the Job Activity Report shows all job costs and income within a date range. If a staff member was scheduled or an item was assigned or an invoice was raised within that window those values will be included, but nothing else will be.

Things to Watch Out For:

This report will not show you the profit and loss for each job. It just displays the costs incurred and the revenue claimed on each job within the date window.

How And Why To Use The Job Activity Report

It is a great report to give you an overall summary of income and job expenses within a date range. If you run it last month, for example, and scroll to the bottom of the report you will see how your income compared to your expenses.

For business that run long-running projects this can give you an overall picture of whether you are staying ahead of your job costs, or are falling behind in your claims.

Profit & Loss Summary Report

Description:	Shows the sum of all income and costs within a given date range, grouped by cost centre.
Expenses:	Any expenses incurred within date range (including stock purchases and optionally activities).
Income:	Any income within the date range.
Filter Based On:	Date Range
Best For:	High-level overview of organisational P&L.

We've saved the broadest one for last. This is probably the easiest to interpret, as it will show you the total income and expenses for each cost centre during the chosen date range. In that sense, it is similar to the Job Activity Report, but grouped by cost centre rather than by job.

Things to Watch Out For:

Stock purchases, general freight costs, and activities are not job costs, so they will be displayed separately to the cost centre data.

How And Why To Use The Profit & Loss Summary Report

This is a high level report that should give you an overall picture of how your organisation is performing.

If anything looks worthy of further investigation, run the Job Activity Report with cost centre and date filters and then drill-down into individual jobs if necessary.

Additional Pro Tips:

• If you need these reports regularly, create scheduled reports so they come straight to you.

• Use filters to get just the data you are looking for. For example, you could set up a scheduled report to a division manager with the WIP filtered by the cost centres they are responsible for. Or you could send job profit and loss reports filtered by project manager so PMs can review each of their jobs for a given period.

• Pay attention to the report filters, especially committed costs vs actual costs. If you include committed costs in your reports (pending orders, future scheduled time), your costs will be much higher and may not be relevant.

• If you don't trust your overhead cost figure, simply exclude these from the reports to show gross profit & loss. While net P&L can be more accurate, the gross P&L will be more reliable.

Still Not Adding Up?

If your reports still don't make sense, the issue may lie in the data quality itself. As the old saying goes, rubbish in = rubbish out. It is actually better to have no data than bad data.

Often a few critical inputs can make the difference between powerful, deeply insightful reports and misleading, untrustworthy ones. Those inputs depend on reliable processes. If you'd like reports you can trust, you can book a consultation to identify those gaps and build trustworthy processes that will make sure you get the full picture.