The P&L is a tall list of line items, but three of those lines are bold totals. Knowing what each represents is the difference between scanning the P&L meaningfully and getting lost in detail.
01 What are the three bold rows in the P&L?
- Net revenue — gross minus VAT minus card fees. What's genuinely your money before costs.
- Operating cost subtotal — COGS + variable costs + fixed cost allocation. What this period actually cost to run.
- EBIT — net revenue minus operating cost subtotal. The final answer.
02 Which of the three should I actually watch?
EBIT is the verdict — it's the row to watch. The other two are intermediate steps that let you see why EBIT is what it is. If EBIT is negative, the operating cost subtotal tells you whether the problem is high costs or low revenue. If EBIT is positive, the net revenue line tells you whether you're winning on volume or on margin. So read EBIT first, then use the other two to explain it.
03 Why does nouz show all three totals?
Because one number is hard to act on, but three — gross → net → EBIT — make the story legible. With all three you can see where the money went without digging through individual line items, which makes a surprising result much faster to diagnose. The structure is the same one your accountant uses; nouz just computes it daily instead of monthly so you get the picture today.
04 How do I use the three rows together?
A useful reading pattern is to scan the three bold rows first, then drill into any individual line that surprises you. The combination diagnoses fast: net revenue normal but EBIT weak points to a cost spike, net revenue low with EBIT proportionally fine is just a slow period, and gross normal but net low points to a card-heavy mix or a tax-rate issue. Three worked examples follow.
- Net revenue normal, EBIT weak. Look at operating costs. Probably a variable-cost spike or a fixed-cost increase.
- Net revenue low, EBIT proportionally fine. Slow period. Costs scaled down with revenue.
- Gross normal, net low. Card-heavy mix or a tax-rate calculation issue worth checking.
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