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Profit and Loss Statement
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Profit and Loss Statement Generator
Create a free P&L statement in your browser. Add revenue and expenses, calculate every subtotal automatically, and print or export the completed statement without an account.
Private by design. Your statement is calculated in this browser. Measure Formula does not upload or remotely store your financial entries.
What is a profit-and-loss statement?
A profit-and-loss statement—also called a P&L or income statement—organizes revenue and expenses for a reporting period. It shows whether ordinary business activity produced net income or a net loss.
This generator performs arithmetic on the values you provide. It does not decide how a transaction should be classified for accounting or tax purposes.
Profit-and-loss statement formulas
gross profit = total revenue − cost of goods sold operating income = gross profit − operating expenses net income = operating income + other income − interest expense − other expenses
Gross margin expresses gross profit as a percentage of revenue:
gross margin = gross profit ÷ total revenue × 100
When total revenue is zero, gross margin is unavailable because division by zero has no useful financial meaning.
Worked example
For a fictional business with $12,000 revenue, $4,000 cost of goods sold, $5,500 operating expenses, $200 other income and $100 interest expense:
$12,000 − $4,000 = $8,000 gross profit $8,000 − $5,500 = $2,500 operating income $2,500 + $200 − $100 = $2,600 net income
What belongs in each section?
Revenue
Revenue is income earned from selling products or services during the period.
Cost of goods sold
Cost of goods sold generally contains direct costs associated with producing what was sold. Classification varies by business and accounting method.
Operating expenses
Operating expenses can include rent, insurance, software, professional services, marketing and other costs of running the business.
Other income and expenses
Non-operating items are shown separately so operating performance remains understandable.
Monthly, quarterly and annual statements
A monthly statement helps identify near-term changes. Quarterly and annual statements reduce short-term noise and make longer comparisons easier. Use a consistent accounting method when comparing periods.
Limitations
This generator organizes values and performs arithmetic. It does not determine the correct accounting or tax treatment of a transaction and is not a substitute for advice from a qualified professional.
Frequently asked questions
What is a profit and loss statement?
A profit-and-loss statement — also called a P&L or an income statement — reports what a business earned and what it spent over a period of time, and the profit or loss left at the end of it.
It covers a span rather than a moment: a month, a quarter or a year. That is what separates it from a balance sheet, which describes what a business owns and owes on one particular date.
How do I make a profit and loss statement?
Pick the period first, then list revenue for that period, then the costs directly attributable to producing what you sold, then operating expenses, then anything that sits outside normal operations.
The arithmetic is subtraction in that order: revenue minus cost of goods sold gives gross profit, minus operating expenses gives operating profit, and minus other income and expenses gives net profit. The generator above does that arithmetic as you type, so the work is deciding what belongs on each line.
What is the difference between gross profit and net profit?
Gross profit is what remains after the direct cost of producing what you sold. Net profit is what remains after everything else as well — rent, salaries, software, interest, and anything else the period carried.
A business can show a healthy gross profit and still make a net loss. That gap between the two is usually the most informative thing on the statement.
Does a cost belong in cost of goods sold or operating expenses?
The usual test is whether the cost rises and falls with what you actually sold. Materials and the labour that made a specific unit generally sit in cost of goods sold; rent and most salaries continue whether you sell anything or not, and generally sit in operating expenses.
The boundary genuinely is a judgement call for some costs, and the right answer depends on the business and on the conventions it already reports under. This tool does not classify anything for you — it totals the lines you put in each section.
What period should the statement cover?
Whatever period you need to compare against another one. Monthly statements show trends early, quarterly ones smooth out the noise, and annual statements are what most external requests are asking for.
What matters more than the length is that the same period is used consistently, and that revenue and the costs of earning it fall inside the same window.
Are my figures uploaded or saved?
No. Every total is calculated in this browser. Measure Formula does not receive, store or transmit the figures, line labels or business name you enter, and none of them is placed in the page URL.
Closing or refreshing the page clears everything, so download the CSV or print the statement before you leave if you want to keep it.
Can I open the result in Excel or Google Sheets?
Yes. Export CSV produces a plain comma-separated file that Excel, Numbers and Google Sheets all open directly, with the line items and totals as separate rows.
Printing produces the formatted statement instead, which is usually the one to send to somebody.
Is this a substitute for an accountant?
No. This is an arithmetic tool: it totals the numbers you give it and formats the result. It does not know your jurisdiction, your tax position, your accounting basis, or which standard you report under.
A statement produced here is a working document. Anything going to a lender, an investor, a tax authority or a court should be prepared or reviewed by a qualified accountant.