How to View and Analyse the Multi-Period Profit & Loss Report?

• The Profit & Loss (P&L) report on Refrens gives you a complete picture of your business's financial performance — across income, cost of goods sold, and expenses — broken down by account groups, categories, and individual ledgers.
• With the multi-period view, you can now compare performance across up to 24 periods side by side, making it easier to spot Trends, Seasonality, and Growth Patterns.

To access it, go to Accounting → Profit & Loss from the left sidebar.

Understanding the Filters

Current Period

This sets the base period for your report. You can choose from a wide range of preset options:

Relative periods:

• Today
• This Week / This Week to Date
• This Month / This Month to Date
• This Quarter / This Quarter to Date
• This Financial Year / This Financial Year to Date

Previous periods:

• Previous Week
• Previous Month
• Previous Quarter
• Previous Financial Year

Rolling periods:

• Last 30 Days
• Last 60 Days
• Last 90 Days

Custom:

• Set any specific date range as per your requirement

No. of Previous Periods

This controls how many additional periods are shown alongside the current period in the report.

• 0 — Shows only the current period (default)
• 1 — Shows the current period + 1 previous period
• 2 — Shows the current period + 2 previous periods
• Up to a maximum of 24 (giving you 24 periods total including the current one)

Example: If your current period is set to This Month (April 2026) and you enter 2 in No. of Previous Periods, the report will show columns for April 2026, March 2026, and February 2026 — letting you compare all three months at a glance.

Once you've set your filters, click Apply to load the report.

Additional Display Filters

• Arrange: Latest to Oldest By default, periods are arranged from the most recent to the oldest (left to right). Uncheck this if you prefer a chronological (oldest to newest) view.
• Hide Zero Balance Accounts When checked, ledger accounts with ₹0.00 balance across all selected periods are hidden from the report, keeping it clean and focused on active accounts. Uncheck this if you want to see the full chart of accounts including inactive ones.
• Show % Change When enabled, the report shows the percentage change between each period for every line item — useful for quickly spotting which income streams or expense heads are growing or shrinking month-on-month.

Downloading the Report

Click the Download as PDF button (top right) to export the report. From the dropdown you can choose:

• Download as PDF — Available for reports with up to 2 previous periods (3 columns total)
• Download CSV — Available for all periods up to 24, ideal for detailed analysis or sharing with your accountant

How the Report is Structured:

The P&L report reflects the account group and category setup from your Chart of Accounts, along with the ledger selected at the line item level while creating invoices, expenses, and other documents. The report is organised into the following sections:

• Income All revenue ledgers grouped under your income account categories — broken down to the individual ledger level so you can see exactly which income streams contributed how much in each period.
• Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) Direct costs linked to goods sold, as mapped at the line item level on your sales documents. This appears as a separate section for businesses that track COGS distinctly from other expenses.
• Gross Profit Calculated automatically as:

Gross Profit = Income − Cost of Goods Sold

• Expense All expense ledgers grouped under your expense account categories — broken down by account group, category, and individual ledger for full visibility into where money is being spent.
• Net Profit / Net Loss Calculated automatically as:

Net Profit = Gross Profit − Total Expenses

Why This Report Matters:

• Trend analysis — Compare revenue and expenses across months or quarters to identify patterns and seasonality in your business
• Budget tracking — See how actuals stack up period over period to evaluate whether you're on track
• Expense monitoring — Drill into expense categories to identify where costs are rising
• Tax & compliance preparation — Share a clean, structured P&L with your CA or auditor for filings and assessments
• Business decisions — Use gross profit margins and net profit trends to make informed calls on pricing, hiring, or cost-cutting

If you still have questions, reach out to us at care@refrens.com or contact us via chat support for quicker assistance.

Updated on: 07/04/2026