How to read your P&L file

Got a tax question? We’ll answer for free by email.

Bitte gib eine gültige E-Mail-Adresse ein

Ask your question

Accountable gives you a real-time view of all your accounting data. Including a complete income statement (P&L file) in Excel format.

This allows you to take a step back from your financial situation and work in a more comfortable format to review past quarters or to plan for the future.

1- How to access your P&L file in Excel format?

From the Web

• Go to the "Data export" screen

• Select the "P&L"

• Choose the period you want

• Click on "Generate Export"

• Click on "Download file"

From the App on your mobile

• Open the main menu

• Click on "Data export"

• Select "P&L"

• Click on "Choose period"

• Click on "Export data".

• You will receive the file in your mailbox

2- How is the Excel document structured?

Each fiscal year is presented on a separate tab:

Column "B" shows the list of P&L categories:

Columns "C" to "H" show the total for the year:

Columns "J" to "Y" show the total for each quarter:

3- How is the P&L calculated in Excel?

3.1 Turnover

The turnover is composed of your sales without VAT that have been recorded during the fiscal year:

• Sale of goods

• Sale of services

3.2 Operating costs

Your costs are split up by category. These are the same categories as in the app, and show the amounts as they were entered in the app.

To be properly recorded, an expense must meet certain conditions:

• Have an invoice date

• Have an associated category

• Be attributed to the corresponding VAT quarter

• Have a document attached (marked by the icon below on the web version)

Column C "Total amount, including private" shows the total amount of the category, including what is not allowed as deductible business expenses.

Column D " Professional amount excluding recoverable VAT " shows the same amount as in column C, expressed without VAT.

Column E "DNA in %" indicates the percentage of Non-Admissible Expenses, i.e. what is not considered deductible for this category.

Column F "DNA in value" indicates the non-deductible professional amount (= D x E).

Column G "Total deductible" indicates the deductible business amount (= D - F).

3.3 Operating Margin

Finally, we integrate the depreciation and financial expenses to finally calculate the Profit before taxes.

The Profit before taxes is therefore :

+ Total turnover excluding VAT

- Deductible expenses without VAT

- Social security contributions

+ Capital gains

- Loss of value

- Amortization

- Financial expenses

= Profit before taxes

3.4 Net income after taxes

Based on your situation and the amount of your profit before taxes, we estimate the amount of your taxes.

We then add the income from copyright.

The Profit after tax and copyright finally indicates the NET amount left in your pocket at the end of the fiscal year.

Author - Valesca Wilms

As content marketing lead at Accountable Belgium, Valesca writes about freelancing, self-employment, and taxes based on her own experience as a freelancer.

Who is Valesca ?