Did you know that you can easily figure out what percent of your total income comes from product sales versus service sales or what percent payroll or office supplies are of your total expenses? It’s quick and easy to find this information in QuickBooks Online by running some reports you might not realize you have!
If you want to see what percent each line on the P&L is of your total income or total expenses, you can run a Profit & Loss as % of Total Income report. This is found in the Business Overview section of Reports. Click on the report name then choose the dates you want to see in the top left of the report screen. By default, this report shows the percent each line is of your total income which is great to help you see how your income is divided between the different types of services or goods you provide.
But a simple customization can tell you what percent of your overall expenses each line item makes up. Click Customize in the top right of the report screen then expand the Rows/Columns choices. Here you can check the % of Expenses box (instead of or in addition to the % of Income box that’s already checked). This is a good way to see what proportion of your expenses each individual type of expense is. For example, you might want to make sure your payroll expenses don’t exceed 50% of your total expenses and this is a great way to keep an eye on it.
Do you want to compare how things are going this year with the same time period last year? Run a Profit & Loss Year-to-Date Comparison report also located in the Business Overview section of Reports. Click on the report name to run it, then choose the date range you want to see (this year-to-date or this year to last month, for example). To see the dollar amount or percent of change between the two years, customize the report. Click Customize and expand the Rows/Columns options. You can click the Previous Year box then either or both the $ Change and % Change boxes. This a good way to see if you’ve managed to trim a certain type of expense compared to the same time period in the previous year or if you’ve increased a particular type of income over the same time in the previous year.
Just play around with checking the boxes in the Rows/Columns area of the various Profit & Loss reports and see what information you find useful. You can check multiple boxes if you want to see multiple types of information. Remember, if you find something helpful, you can click Save Customization and pull it up again later by looking under Custom Reports.