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 The three bold rows
- 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 one matters
EBIT is the verdict. The other two are intermediate steps that let you see why EBIT is what it is. If EBIT is negative, the operating 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 margin.
03 Why we show all three
One number is hard to act on. Three numbers — gross → net → EBIT — make the story legible. You can see where the money went without having to dig through individual line items. The structure is the same one your accountant uses; we just compute it daily instead of monthly.
04 Using the three together
A useful reading pattern: scan the three bold rows first, then look at any individual line that surprises you. Three example diagnoses:
- 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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