P&L – Trend Analysis vs Prior Year

What is a Profit & Loss Report with Trend Analysis? Trended Profit & Loss (P&L) reports are considered important management tools and are often used by CFOs and analysts to track year-over-year revenue, expense and profit trends. Some of the key functionality in this type of visual financial report is that it provides deep analysis with three different sections: 1) Trend charts, 2) Automated narrative (yellow row in the example), 3) P&L content where the user can drill down to transaction detail. You find an example of this type of visual financial report below.

Purpose of Trended Profit & Loss Reports Companies and organizations use Trended Profit & Loss Reports to easily detect and analyze swings in key revenue and expense figures for the current and prior years. When used as part of good business practices in a Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A) department, a company can improve its decision-making as well as reduce the chances that managers miss important anomalies.

Who Uses This Type of Visual financial report? The typical users of this type of visual financial report are: CFOs, Analysts and Executives. Other Visual financial reports Often Used in Conjunction with Trended Profit & Loss Reports Progressive Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A) Departments sometimes use several different Trended Profit & Loss Reports, along with monthly variance reports, KPI dashboards, trended balance sheets and cash flow statements and other management and control tools.

Where Does the Data for Analysis Originate From? The Actual (historical transactions) data typically comes from enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems like: Microsoft Dynamics 365 (D365) Finance, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central (D365 BC), Microsoft Dynamics AX, Microsoft Dynamics NAV, Microsoft Dynamics GP, Microsoft Dynamics SL, Sage Intacct, Sage 100, Sage 300, Sage 500, Sage X3, SAP Business One, SAP ByDesign, Acumatica, Netsuite and others. In analyses where budgets or forecasts are used, the planning data most often originates from in-house Excel spreadsheet models or from professional xFP&A solutions.

This Solver report template connects directly to your ERP data via the Solver Data Warehouse, enabling near real-time analysis with minimal setup. Designed for QuickStart deployment, it can be activated rapidly so your team can focus on analysis and decisions — not data preparation.

What is the P&L – Trend Analysis vs Prior Year in Solver? The P&L – Trend Analysis vs Prior Year is a pre-built xFP&A report template in Solver that delivers key financial and operational metrics in a single, easy-to-use interface, eliminating the need for manual data work or custom report development.

Who uses this Solver report template? This template is primarily used by CFOs, FP&A managers, and controllers who need accurate, timely reporting without manual data preparation. It is also valuable for department heads and business unit leaders who need periodic performance summaries.

Where does the data come from? Data is sourced automatically from your ERP system through the Solver Data Warehouse, which integrates with platforms such as Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, Dynamics 365 Finance, Acumatica, Sage Intacct, and other leading ERP solutions. Once connected, the template updates in near real-time with no manual data entry required.

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