There is no fixed format for a financial analysis. In principle, you can set up the evaluation as you see fit. However, in order for the report to be as meaningful as possible, it should contain certain key figures. The structure should also make sense. When creating the financial analysis, it is a good idea to use the structure of a profit and loss account as a guideline. First, list the positive items, the sales revenues, clean them up in the next step to eliminate the inventory changes and the material usage, and then add the other revenues. This determines the gross profit.
All costs are listed below this, and then totaled. If you subtract this amount from the gross operating profit, you receive the final operating result: the result before deduction of interest and taxes. These two items are now taken into account in the next step and you receive the preliminary result – this month’s profit.
This will give you a good overview of the economic situation of your company. However, in order for you to be able to gain further information, it is worth making additional entries: it is interesting to see how the values develop. Have costs and sales increased or decreased compared to the previous month? To do this, add values from previous months or years to the financial analysis. In addition, ratios provide information on how profits or costs are made up, e.g. what proportion of the total performance you had to spend on personnel costs. If you also visualize the previous year’s figures and quotas using diagrams, you can obtain the most important information at a glance.