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S2 4.HowtoAnalyzePL
S2 4.HowtoAnalyzePL
S2 4.HowtoAnalyzePL
Performance Support:
How to Analyze a Profit and Loss Statement
This support was prepared by subject matter experts with experience analyzing profit and loss
statements. It describes the data included in a profit and loss statement and provides an explanation of
how to analyze that data.
Overview
What is a profit A profit and loss statement (P&L), also known as an income statement,
and loss describes a company’s financial results over a specific period of time, typically
statement? one year. The main purpose of a P&L is to provide information about a company's
performance—to demonstrate whether the company’s operations have resulted in
a profit or a loss.
Careful reading of a P&L can also reveal more subtle information, such as
whether a company is generating enough cash to fund business expansion and
repay debt. Knowing how to read and analyze a P&L is a crucial part of the
financial analysis of a business.
Who uses a P&L, A P&L is viewed by many stakeholders, each of whom has a direct interest in a
and why? company’s economic results.
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Lenders, such as banks, must make sure that the company will
generate enough cash to repay its debts.
Detailed Examination
What, specifically, A P&L presents data that describes how a company’s operations affect results.
does a P&L This data is presented as a series of margins. A margin can be defined as the
measure? difference between income and cost. The margins included in a P&L show how
the company’s activities have resulted in a profit or a loss. A P&L typically
contains the following margins:
o As well as reflecting the sum total of all sales, total revenue also
takes into account inventory variation—any increases or
decreases in inventory.
o The many costs a company incurs are often broken down into
cost groups, so that one can tell at a glance which major costs—
production costs, or sales costs, for example—are most affecting
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Net income refers to the company’s final earnings after accounting for all
the costs incurred in producing the goods, selling them, administering the
company, deducting the depreciation and amortization of assets and
paying both the lenders and the government. It is the company’s final
earnings for the year—the company’s “bottom line.” This result can be a
profit, if the balance is positive, or a loss, if the balance is negative.
o A negative net income usually indicates that the company’s sales
are too low or that its costs are too high (or a combination of
both).
Process
Analyzing the A common practice when beginning an analysis of a P&L is to consider the figure
P&L: How should I for total revenue as 100%. Then, all other margins in the P&L can be described
begin my as a percentage of total revenue.
examination? For example, imagine that a company’s total revenue is $30 million,
and its EBITDA is $6 million. If the figure for total revenue is set as
100%, then this company’s EBITDA is 20% of its total revenue.
This practice makes it easier to compare the same items in P&Ls from different
fiscal periods. It also makes it easier to compare different items within one P&L.
These two modes of comparison are called horizontal analysis and vertical
analysis.
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Interpreting the As you carry out your own analysis of the P&L, examine each margin and
P&L: What consider the following questions:
questions should I
be asking? How has the margin evolved over the period under analysis?
o Look for positive or negative trends in the margin’s progression, both
in absolute terms and in relative terms.
o When you analyze a margin in absolute terms, you isolate one
specific margin and examine it in a non-comparative way.
For example, you might look at how the cost of raw
materials has increased or decreased over a period of
four years.
o When you examine a margin in relative terms, you look at how it
has behaved in relation to other margins.
An example of this analysis would be looking at the cost
of raw materials over four years, and then examining this
cost in relation to the company’s total revenue during the
same four-year period. If total revenue, or the cash made
on sales, has remained constant while the cost of sales
has risen sharply, the company has a financial problem
to rectify.
Interpreting the Expert analysts do not analyze a single P&L—rather, they compare P&L
P&L: What steps statements over a period of three to five years in order to spot overall economic
should I take? performance trends within a company. In order to simplify the process of
comparing data from different years, they typically use a template, which allows
them to put all of the data into a single spreadsheet for easier comparison.
Step 1: Once the P&L data is transferred into the template, an analyst
starts by looking at the bottom line—net income. As the term “bottom
line” suggests, net income can be found at the bottom of the P&L.
o Examine the net income for the current year—it may help to write
the number down in order to really focus on it.
o This margin allows you to determine whether the company is
generating profits. Is the company making money, which is
reflected by a positive number, or losing money, which is
reflected by a negative number?
o After you have examined the margin in absolute terms—that is,
you have isolated it and looked at it in a non-comparative way,
then analyze it in relative terms—in this case, note what
percentage net income represents of total revenue.
o Next, look at the line item just above net income: corporate tax.
Taxes are the cost component that determines this particular
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Step 3: At this point, you should jump up to the line item total revenue.
o Note the company’s revenue figures for the period under
analysis, in both absolute and relative terms.
o What trend do you notice with regard to the company’s sales?
Can you describe the trend? Can you quantify the trend?
o F you note changes in the company’s total revenue, examine the
line items that impact it. Are sales rising or falling? Have there
been increases or decreases in inventory?
o What do your findings suggest? What other information would
you find helpful at this point?
Step 4: After you’ve examined the company’s earnings and its revenue, it
is time to study the intermediate steps on the P&L between income and
sales. First, examine the company’s EBIT. This margin shows the impact
depreciation is having on the company’s finances.
o Study the margin for the current year, in both absolute and
relative terms.
o Next, note how the company’s EBIT has grown or declined, in
both relative and absolute terms.
o Do you notice a trend? Describe and try to quantify the trend.
o Study the cost component that determines a company’s EBIT—
depreciation. As depreciation increases, EBIT decreases. How
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Step 6: Now that you have analyzed the P&Ls major margins, return to
each cost component you identified as a key factor in explaining the
increase or decrease of each margin.
o Prioritize these cost components in order of importance according
to their impact (positive or negative) on the behavior of the
margins.
o Try to determine if you require further information to better
explain the rise or fall of each major cost component.
Step 7: After you have recorded and analyzed all of the relevant data
presented in the P&L, create a brief written document explaining your
findings: increases or decreases in sales, the behavior of the margins,
and the cost items that impact the margins. Describe your first
impressions of the problems the company you are studying faces. Note
any additional analysis you think is required.
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Evaluating the As you finish reading the P&L, it can be helpful to start thinking about the
P&L: What steps additional information you may need to perform a more in-depth analysis of
should I take a company’s finances.
next?
What information, beyond what is found in the P&L, might be helpful in
gaining insight into a company’s financial state? What information do you
lack that would give you as an analyst a more complete picture?
Sometimes, analysts need a more detailed breakdown of specific P&L
items.
o For example, you might need to know which specific items a
company is grouping under the general term “other purchased
goods.” Or you may want to have the sales figures broken down
by product, unit, and price in order to perform a more detailed
analysis. Perhaps the company is losing money through
depreciation of assets, and you need to study what, exactly, is
depreciating. Maybe you have questions about how the
company’s marketing plan is affecting its sales.
When you determine what you need to know, think about where the
information in question might be found. Is it data that could be gleaned
from a closer look at the company’s other records, or is it information that
can only come from the company’s employees?