Make your p&l a useful management tool

A monthly profit and loss statement should be a very useful tool. However, most small businesses either don't get the report on a timely basis, or the information is not in a format that is easy to read. A profit and loss statement should be available to a business owner by the 10th of the following month for the previous month.

Creating classes in QuickBooks for each of the business divisions allows the business owner to see how profitable each of his business segments is. Seeing the gross margin by class or division can help an owner to decide where to focus his efforts and determine if pricing is in line.