Profit and loss template
Lay out a period's results from sales down to net profit, with last year's figures alongside. Fill it in from the income and expense accounts in your books once the period is complete.
- By Book Keeping Pros
- Sources checked 15 Oct 2026
A profit and loss statement reports what a business earned and what it spent over a period, and whether it made a profit or a loss. business.gov.au says it is usually completed every month, quarter or year, and its glossary notes that the same report is also called an income statement. This template works down from sales to net profit, with a second column for the same period a year earlier.
Each step down the page follows business.gov.au's glossary. Gross profit, in its terms, is sales less what it cost directly to produce them, and net profit is what remains of gross profit once all business expenses are taken off. The lines between them come from the income and expense accounts in your books, grouped so that each statement uses the same lines as the last one.
It is a CSV file, which opens in a spreadsheet program. Head the finished statement with the business name, the exact period it covers and whether the books are kept on a cash or accrual basis.
Download the template
The template as a CSV file, which opens in any spreadsheet program.
Download the CSV fileWhat's in the template
| Section | Line | This period (AUD) | Same period last year (AUD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Income | Sales | 186,400.00 | 171,250.00 |
| Cost of goods sold | Cost of the stock sold | 79,800.00 | 74,100.00 |
| Gross profit | Gross profit | 106,600.00 | 97,150.00 |
| Expenses | Wages | 52,000.00 | 49,500.00 |
| Expenses | Rent and rates | 21,600.00 | 20,800.00 |
| Expenses | Advertising and marketing | 4,350.00 | 3,900.00 |
| Expenses | Insurance | 3,180.00 | 2,960.00 |
| Expenses | Utilities | 3,920.00 | 3,540.00 |
| Expenses | Accounting fees | 2,800.00 | 2,650.00 |
| Expenses | Bank fees | 610.00 | 585.00 |
| Expenses | Total expenses | 88,460.00 | 83,935.00 |
| Net profit | Net profit | 18,140.00 | 13,215.00 |
Illustrative example only: these rows show the method and are not sourced data.
What goes in each column
- Section: Where the line sits in the statement: income, cost of goods sold, gross profit, expenses or net profit.
- Line: The name of the line, which can group several accounts from your books, such as rent and council rates.
- This period (AUD): The amount for the period the statement covers, such as a month, a quarter or a financial year.
- Same period last year (AUD): The amount for the matching period a year earlier, so each line can be compared.
How to use it
- Download the CSV file, open it in a spreadsheet program and rename the expense lines to match the way your accounts are grouped. Keep the same lines from one period to the next.
- Bring the books up to the last day of the period before you take any figures: every sale, bill and bank transaction entered, and each bank account reconciled.
- Total each income and expense account for the period's own start and end dates and enter it on its line, rather than taking the account's balance, which can run from the start of the financial year. Then work out gross profit, total expenses and net profit.
- Copy last year's figures for the same period from the earlier statement, and look into any line that has moved much more than you expected.
- Label any estimated figure clearly, as business.gov.au suggests, and leave out amounts that are not income or expenses, such as the part of a loan repayment that reduces the loan. How equipment purchases and money paid to the owners are treated is a question for your accountant.
Related terms
Sources
- Set up a profit and loss statement
business.gov.au, Australian Government. Current at 16 October 2026, released 18 January 2024. Checked 16 October 2026.
© Commonwealth of Australia 2020, licensed under CC BY 3.0 AU. Licence: CC BY 3.0 AU.
- Key financial terms
business.gov.au, Australian Government. Current at 15 October 2026, released 9 July 2024. Checked 15 October 2026.
© Commonwealth of Australia 2020, licensed under CC BY 3.0 AU. Licence: CC BY 3.0 AU.
Related guides
Prepare a profit and loss statement
How to build a profit and loss statement from your books: close off the period, run a trial balance, group the income and expense accounts and check the result.
How to read a profit and loss statement
What each line of a profit and loss statement means, how gross and net profit are worked out, and how to compare the figures with past periods and your budget.
How to make a business budget
What a business budget is, what to gather before you start, how to build one month by month and how to check it against your actual results.