How to: P&L drivers
Your base year P&L is entered in the onboarding wizard. The P&L page is where you set your forward drivers — the assumptions that drive revenue, costs and profit across your forecast years. Choose from three revenue models depending on your business type.
Three revenue models — choose the right one
On the P&L page, you select your revenue model using the buttons at the top of the Revenue section. Each model stores its data independently — you can switch between them at any time without losing inputs.
Set a revenue growth % for each forecast year. The fastest way to get a working baseline. Best for most businesses and early drafts.
- • Base year revenue anchored to wizard
- • Growth % per year (forecast years only)
- • Quick sensitivity testing
Build revenue bottom-up from price and volume per product line. Best when you have distinct products with different prices and growth rates.
- • Separate price and volume per product
- • Different growth per product line
- • Cleaner pricing and volume scenarios
Build revenue from a customer ARR waterfall — new customers, churn, ARR per customer and implementation fees. Best for subscription businesses.
- • Closing customers + subscription revenue split (base year)
- • New customers, churn rate %, ARR per customer (forecast years)
- • Implementation fees per new customer
- • COGS % per year
If you're unsure, start with Growth drivers to get a stable baseline, then switch to PxQ or SaaS when you need more granularity.
SaaS model — how it works
The SaaS model is a separate sub-page (accessible from the P&L page). It builds revenue from an ARR waterfall across two sections:
Total revenue is locked to your wizard entry. You split it into:
- – Closing customers — end-of-year customer count
- – Subscription revenue — recurring ARR portion
- – Implementation revenue — calculated automatically (wizard revenue minus subscription revenue)
- – ARR per customer — calculated automatically from subscription revenue and average customers
Build the waterfall year by year:
- – New customers — added each year
- – Churn rate % — default 15%, adjust per year
- – ARR per customer — can escalate year on year
- – Implementation fee — per new customer
- – COGS % — pre-filled from base year, adjust per year
The ARR waterfall (opening customers + new customers − churn = closing customers) and total revenue are computed automatically.
Other P&L drivers
Beyond revenue, these are the forward drivers you set on the P&L page. Base year values are anchored to the wizard — you only enter forecast assumptions.
- COGS — as % of revenue (basic) or per product (advanced)
In basic mode, set COGS as a percentage of revenue per year. In advanced mode (linked to PxQ), set COGS per product line for product-level margin visibility. Both update gross margin automatically.
- Employee expenses — % of revenue (basic) or detailed FTE model
In basic mode, forecast employee expenses as a percentage of revenue. Switch to the advanced employee model for role-based headcount planning — departments, FTE counts, fully-loaded cost per FTE and annual wage inflation. Best for hiring scenarios ("hire now vs delay").
- Other operating expenses — % of revenue
Forecast other opex (rent, software, marketing, G&A) as a percentage of revenue. This scales costs with growth and keeps the model clean.
- Depreciation and interest — calculated automatically
You do not enter depreciation or interest for forecast years. They are calculated automatically from the Balance Sheet: depreciation from the depreciation % applied to the fixed asset base, interest from the interest rate % applied to average debt. This keeps the three statements internally consistent.
- Tax rate
Set the tax rate for forecast years. Default is 25%. Adjust to match your expected effective rate and jurisdiction. Tax is only applied when earnings before tax are positive — loss years generate no tax charge.
Common mistakes
- – Trying to enter depreciation or interest for forecast years
These are calculated automatically from the Balance Sheet. You only enter them in the wizard for the base year.
- – Forgetting to save before navigating away
Always press Save before switching tabs. This ensures statements reflect your latest inputs.
- – Starting with the SaaS model before the wizard base year is set
The SaaS model base year is anchored to the wizard revenue entry. Complete the wizard first, then open the SaaS model to split that revenue into subscription and implementation components.
- – Switching revenue modes and expecting the output to be identical
Each mode (Growth / PxQ / SaaS) stores its own assumptions. Revenue output will differ because it comes from different drivers. All modes preserve their data independently — you can switch back at any time.
Once the P&L drivers are saved, complete the Balance Sheet to set capex and debt per year. That unlocks a reliable Cash Flow and monthly runway view.
FAQ
Start with Growth drivers for speed. Switch to PxQ if you have multiple products with different prices. Use the SaaS model if you have subscription-based recurring revenue with new customers and churn.
Yes. Revenue mode (Growth / PxQ / SaaS) and employee mode (% revenue / detailed FTE) are independent settings. You can combine any revenue model with any employee model.
Forecast depreciation is calculated automatically from the depreciation percentage and fixed asset base in the Balance Sheet. You don't enter it manually — this keeps the three statements consistent.
The default is 25%. Adjust to match your expected effective rate. For the Netherlands, the standard rate is 25.8% above €200k taxable profit, and 19% below.