How the P&L is generated

P&L (profit and loss, P&L report) is a Poster report that shows your business revenue, food cost, expenses, taxes, and profit for the selected period.

P&L is calculated using the following formula: Profit = Revenue − Food cost − Expenses − Taxes. Each line in the report is shown both as an amount and as a percentage of total revenue.

💡 Sales data appears in P&L as soon as you close receipts at the register.

When data appears in P&L

P&L shows data by the transaction date, not the date when you actually paid.

• Transaction date is the date when you actually received the product or service and the obligation arose. Enter the transaction date when adding transactions in the management console or at the register.
• If you don’t enter a transaction date, Poster adds the transaction to P&L by the transaction date — the date when the money was actually transferred.
• For supplies, the supply date is the transaction date.

What P&L includes

P&L in Poster includes the following sections, in the order used to calculate profit:

• Revenue;
• Cost;
• Margin — a reference metric that is not included in the profit formula;
• Expenses;
• Profit Before Tax;
• Taxes;
• Profit After Tax.

Revenue in P&L

The Revenue section in P&L consists of three parts:

• Product and dish sales — total sales revenue, including online payments and additional payment methods, minus all discounts, promotions, and bonus payments. Compare sales with the reports by production areas and categories.
• Service revenue — the total service charge amount in receipts for the period plus the total delivery amount in receipts for the period.
• Transactions — the total amount of revenue transactions added in the management console or at the register, excluding the Supply and Cash management categories.

Cost in P&L

The Cost section in P&L consists of three parts:

• Cost of sold products and dishes — the total cost in receipts for the period.
• Inventory check result — the total deficit from all inventory checks completed during the period plus the total surplus from all inventory checks completed during the period.
• Stock deductions — the total manual stock deductions with reasons that are set to appear in the Cost section.

Why supply expenses can be counted twice. By default, product purchase expenses appear in P&L twice: once in the Expenses section as an expense transaction in the Supply category, and again in the Cost section when the product is deducted from stock in a receipt.

To count these expenses only once — in Cost:

1. Go to Finances → Categories in the management console.
2. Click Edit next to the Supply category.
3. In the Show in P&L section, select No.
4. Save the changes.

After this, transactions in the Supply category will no longer appear in the Expenses section of P&L. The purchase cost will still be included through the Cost of sold products section.

Margin in P&L

Margin is the difference between revenue from sales and the food cost of sold products and dishes.

Margin = Product and dish sales − Food cost of sold products and dishes

Expenses in P&L

The Expenses section in P&L consists of three parts:

• automatically created payment processing fees;
• stock deductions with reasons that are set to appear in the Expenses section instead of Food cost;
• expense transactions added in the management console, excluding the Supply and Cash management categories.

Profit Before Tax in P&L

Profit Before Tax is the amount that remains after deducting food cost and expenses from revenue.

Profit Before Tax = Revenue − Food cost − Expenses

Taxes in P&L

The Taxes section in P&L shows the total amount of sales taxes for the period, with a separate line for each tax.

Profit After Tax in P&L

Profit After Tax is the amount that remains after deducting taxes from Profit Before Tax.

Profit After Tax = Profit Before Tax − Taxes

How to calculate ROI using P&L data

After analyzing your P&L revenue and expenses, you can calculate ROI (Return on Investment) — a percentage that shows business return on investment. This is an additional calculation outside the P&L report.

To calculate ROI:

1. In Finances → P&L, click Export.
2. Download the Excel file with the P&L report.
3. Calculate ROI using the following formula:

ROI = (Revenue − Expenses) / Expenses × 100%

Uncategorized revenue and expenses in P&L

Uncategorized revenue and expenses appear in P&L if, for the selected period, there are transactions linked to accounts that:

• aren’t linked to any location;
• are linked to several locations at the same time.

Poster can’t assign these transactions to a specific location, so they appear in P&L in a separate Uncategorized Revenue and Expenses section.

If a transaction appears as uncategorized, go to Access → Locations and check which location the relevant account is linked to.

To plan investments, also check the cash flow and account balance report.