Skill: Profit & Loss Report

The Profit & Loss Report skill retrieves a profit and loss (income statement) report from QuickBooks Online. Agents use this skill when users ask about revenue, expenses, net income, or overall financial performance for a given period.

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
start_date	string	No	Start of the reporting period in YYYY-MM-DD format. Defaults to the beginning of the current fiscal year if not provided.
end_date	string	No	End of the reporting period in YYYY-MM-DD format. Defaults to today if not provided.
accounting_method	string	No	Either Accrual or Cash. Defaults to the company’s QuickBooks preference.
date_macro	string	No	A predefined date range shortcut that overrides start_date and end_date. Examples: This Fiscal Year, Last Month, This Quarter, Last Fiscal Year, This Month.
summarize_column_by	string	No	How to group columns in the report. Options: Total, Month, Week, Days, Quarter, Year, Customers, Vendors, Classes, Departments, Products/Services. Defaults to Total.

Tip

When the user says something like “Show me last quarter’s P&L,” the agent will typically set date_macro to Last Quarter rather than calculating specific dates. This ensures alignment with the company’s QuickBooks fiscal calendar.

Example usage

A user might trigger this skill by saying:

“Show me the profit and loss report for January through March, using accrual accounting, broken down by month.”

The agent would invoke this skill with:

• start_date: 2026-01-01
• end_date: 2026-03-31
• accounting_method: Accrual
• summarize_column_by: Month

The skill returns the full P&L structure including income categories, cost of goods sold, gross profit, operating expenses, and net income. The agent then formats this data into a readable summary for the user.

Response structure

The skill returns the QuickBooks report structure including:

• Income — broken down by income account categories.
• Cost of Goods Sold — direct costs associated with revenue.
• Gross Profit — income minus COGS.
• Expenses — broken down by expense account categories.
• Net Operating Income — gross profit minus operating expenses.
• Net Income — the bottom-line figure after all income and expenses.

When summarize_column_by is set to anything other than Total, each section includes columnar data for the specified grouping.

API endpoint

POST /api/quickbooks/v1.0/profit-and-loss-report

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Related skills: Sales by Customer Report | Sales by Product Report | Sales by Department Report