Retail – P&L Variance Report

What is a Profit & Loss Variance Report? Profit & Loss (P&L) reports are considered perhaps the most popular monthly financial statement format and are used by executives and financial managers to review monthly results as well as variances against budget and prior year. Some of the main functionality in this type of report is that it is a dynamic, web-based report where users pick the month and entity to run the report for. The format below shows traffic lights to highlight significant variances. The rows expand dynamically based on filters that determine which accounts to include. Users can drill down on any number to explore the underlying transaction detail to quickly answer their questions.. You find an example of this type of report below.

Purpose of Monthly P&L Variance Reports Retailer companies use Monthly P&L Variance Reports to provide professional, self-service financial results to their managers. When used as part of good business practices in a Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A) department, a company can improve its focus on variances and profit analysis capabilities as well as reduce the chances that managers do not properly analyze reports because of old, hard-to-read legacy formats.

Who Uses This Type of Report? The typical users of this type of report are: Corporate executives, controllers, store managers, regional managers. Other Reports Often Used in Conjunction with Monthly P&L Variance Reports Progressive Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A) departments sometimes use several different Monthly P&L Variance Reports, along with general sales forecasts and budgets, balance sheets, cash flow statements and other management and control tools.

Where Does the Data for Analysis Originate From? The Actual (historical transactions) data comes from management systems or 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.

Built for retail finance teams and aligned with Solver's xFP&A platform, 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 Retail – P&L Variance Report in Solver? The Retail – P&L Variance Report is a pre-built xFP&A report template in Solver designed for retail organizations. It delivers key financial and operational metrics in a single, easy-to-use interface — purpose-built for retail finance workflows.

Who uses this Solver report template? This template is primarily used by CFOs, FP&A managers, and retail finance teams in retail organizations who need accurate, timely data to support planning, reporting, and decision-making. It is particularly valuable for retail finance teams managing budgets, forecasts, and performance reviews.

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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