# Read your first report Open the profit and loss, choose the period yourself, unfold a line down to its account, see the journal items behind a figure and export the report, without changing anything in the books. The accounting reports read the entries already recorded in the books and lay them out as statements: what the company earned and spent, what it owns and owes, what each client still has to pay. Every report works the same way, so learning one teaches all of them. This walk-through takes the **Profit and Loss**, picks a period, follows a figure down to the journal items behind it and exports the result. It changes nothing in the books. ## Before you start {#before-you-start} - You need the **Read-only** or the **Administrator** access right on **Accounting**. A user who holds only an **Invoicing** access right does not see the **Reporting** menu at all. - The reports show what the books hold. Invoices, bills and payments are recorded in their own apps: [Customer invoices](/docs/customer-invoices) and [Vendor bills and expenses](/docs/vendor-bills). ## Step 1: open the report {#open-the-report} Open **Accounting/Reporting/Statement Reports/Profit and Loss**. The screen has two parts. On the side, the filter panel groups the options in sections: **Date**, **Comparison**, **Display**, **Rounding**, **Journals** and **Analytic**. Next to it, the report lists its lines with their figures. The header holds, from left to right, a button that hides or shows the panel, the name of the report, then **Refresh**, the cog of the column settings and **Export**. Every report opens on **This Year**, whatever the report. ![The Profit and Loss with its filter panel; the Date section comes first.](https://jaah.app/web/image/11128-92096049/accounting-reports-first-report-report_screen-en.png) On a phone, the filter panel opens over the report and covers the button that would hide it, so only the right side of the report shows next to it; today the whole report reads best on a wider screen. ## Step 2: choose the period {#choose-the-period} 1. In **Date**, choose **Custom Range**. Two boxes appear, **From** and **To**. 2. Type the first day of the period in **From** and press Enter, then the last day in **To** and press Enter. Here, 01/01/2026 and 31/12/2026. The report reloads with the new period. The other choices of the list (**Today**, **This Month**, **Previous Quarter**, **Previous Year** and the rest) are counted from today's date, so the same choice gives other figures next month; a custom range stays where you put it. The **Profit and Loss** adds up the movements between the two dates. A report that gives a balance on one day, such as the **Balance Sheet** or the **Aged Receivable**, shows a single box, **As of**, instead of the two. ![A custom range from the first to the last day of 2026 in the Date section.](https://jaah.app/web/image/11132-6501673f/accounting-reports-first-report-period-en.png) ## Step 3: unfold a line {#unfold-a-line} Click the sliders button to hide the panel and give the lines the whole width; its tooltip reads **Hide filters**, then **Show filters** to bring the panel back. Click **Revenue**. The line unfolds to the accounts it adds up, here **400000 Product Sales**; click it again to fold it. A line with a small arrow before its name unfolds this way, and **Unfold All** in the **Display** section opens every line at once. Today the unfolded account is listed twice, once under the line and once just below at the level of the line, with the same amount: it is one account, not two. ![The Revenue line unfolded down to the income account behind it.](https://jaah.app/web/image/11136-4b233a38/accounting-reports-first-report-unfolded_line-en.png) ## Step 4: see the journal items behind a figure {#journal-items} At the end of every line that unfolds, a magnifier (tooltip **View journal items**) opens the **Journal Items** of that line: one row per journal item it counts, with the **Date**, the **Entry**, the **Journal**, the **Account**, the **Partner**, the **Label**, the **Debit** and the **Credit**. An item whose entry is still in draft shows a **Draft** badge. The count of items sits at the bottom left; **Close** brings you back to the report. This is how an accountant answers the question "where does this figure come from?" without leaving the report. ![The journal items behind the Revenue figure, one row per item, with their entry and partner.](https://jaah.app/web/image/11140-d1cd2e40/accounting-reports-first-report-journal_items-en.png) The window above was taken on a computer. On a phone the magnifier sits at the right end of each line; slide the report sideways to reach it. ## Step 5: export the report {#export} Click **Export**. The menu offers **Excel (XLSX)**, **PDF**, **CSV**, **Plain Text (TXT)**, **Audit File (XAF)** and **All Formats (ZIP)**. The file carries the report with the period and the options chosen on the screen, and your browser downloads it. **PDF** gives a page ready to print or to send; **Excel (XLSX)** gives a sheet to work on. Click **Export** again to close the menu without exporting. ![The Export menu with the six formats; PDF gives a file ready to print or send.](https://jaah.app/web/image/11142-efdadf53/accounting-reports-first-report-export_menu-en.png) On a phone, **Export** stays at the top right of the report. ## What you have seen {#what-you-have-seen} Every report works like this one: a period, options in the panel, lines that unfold, the journal items behind each figure and six export formats. The user guide takes the reports by family: [Read the financial statements](read-the-financial-statements), [Check the books with the ledgers](check-the-books-with-the-ledgers), [Follow client and vendor balances](client-and-vendor-balances) and [Prepare the tax and period-end figures](prepare-the-tax-and-period-end-figures). [How the reports are built](how-the-reports-are-built) explains the periods, the draft entries and who sees which report. --- - Source: https://jaah.app/docs/accounting-reports/first-report - Updated: 2026-10-23 - Version: Accounting reports 19.0.1.1.0 - Verified: 2026-10-23