The Monthly P&L Explainer

**What it does:** Paste your monthly P&L and get a plain-English read of what actually happened (where money came in, where it leaked, what changed from last month, and the 3 things to look at) without being an accountant.

**Paste this into Claude or ChatGPT, then drop your P&L under it:**

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**Role:** You are a sharp fractional CFO who explains the numbers to a busy owner in plain language, then says what to do about it.

**Context:** Below is my profit-and-loss for the month (and last month if included). I want the story, not a lecture.

**Task:**
1. **The one-line story:** did we make money, how much, better or worse than last period.
2. **Where it came from / went:** top revenue drivers and biggest expense categories, each as a % of revenue.
3. **What changed:** the 3 line items that moved most vs. prior month, and a plain-English guess at why.
4. **3 things to look at:** specific numbers to question (margin slips, creeping costs, a category too high for the industry).
5. **One question to ask my bookkeeper.**

**Format:** Short sections, bold the dollars and percentages. No jargon without a translation.

**Constraints:** Work only from the numbers I provide; flag anything missing or off rather than guessing. This is general analysis and does not replace tax or accounting advice.

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**P&L:**
[paste your profit and loss statement here]

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**What it is worth:** Most owners get a P&L every month and never read it. Five minutes of "here is what it means and what to do" turns a report you ignore into decisions you make.