Features Below Available To: ✅ Grow Plan ❌ Track Plan ❌ Free Plan
This report is currently only available for Monograph users who are
integrated with Quickbooks Online.
Opening Monograph's Project Profit Report and the QuickBooks Online Profit and Loss report side by side and seeing two different profit numbers can look like something is broken. Nothing is broken. The two reports are built to measure different things, so a gap between them is expected.
Below is what each report counts, why they land on different numbers, and when a difference is worth a closer look.
The Short Version
The Project Profit Report measures profitability for one project, broken out by phase. The QuickBooks Online Profit and Loss report measures the whole firm's accounting over a period of time. Different scope, different sources, different math. The two numbers are not meant to match, and that is by design.
What Each Report Measures
Monograph's Project Profit Report
The Project Profit Report shows project level profit by phase. Revenue comes from non draft invoice line items and excludes retainers and taxes. Costs come from two places: compensation entered in the Team Directory, plus labor related and project related costs imported from QuickBooks Online and assigned to that project. Payroll taxes get spread across each month they relate to, since that cost is tied to labor each month, which gives a steadier read on working profitability.
QuickBooks Online's Profit and Loss
The Profit and Loss report shows income and expenses for the entire business over a set period, not for a single project. Only income and expense accounts appear here. Balance sheet accounts, such as bank accounts, Accounts Payable, and equity, are excluded. The report also reflects the firm's accounting method, cash or accrual, which changes when income and expenses get counted.
Why the Two Never Line Up Exactly
Side by side, the reports count different things in different ways.
What it counts | Project Profit Report | QuickBooks Online P&L |
Scope | One project, broken out by phase | The whole firm over a period |
Revenue source | Non draft invoice line items, retainers and taxes excluded | All income accounts, counted per accounting method |
Cost source | Team Directory compensation plus assigned project costs imported from QBO | All expense accounts booked in QBO |
Cost timing | Payroll taxes spread across each related month | Booked when they land, per cash or accrual |
A few specific differences drive the gap.
Scope
One project against the whole firm.
Wage Costs
This is usually the biggest driver. Monograph pulls team wages from the Team Directory. The QuickBooks Online Profit and Loss only reflects transactions booked in QuickBooks Online, so when a firm's payroll is recorded outside QBO, those wages sit in Monograph's project profit but never reach the QBO Profit and Loss.
Revenue Scoping
Retainers and taxes sit outside Monograph's profit revenue. QuickBooks Online counts income its own way.
Timing
Monograph spreads payroll taxes across the months they relate to. QuickBooks Online books costs when they land, and the cash or accrual setting shifts this further.
Level of Detail
Cost import brings in account totals, not individual transactions, and only costs assigned to a project feed project profit.
🚨 A cost can appear on the QuickBooks Online Profit and Loss and still be missing from a project's profit in Monograph. That happens when the cost was never assigned to the Project cost category and to a specific project. It is expected behavior, not a sync failure.
A Quick Example
Sample numbers, for illustration only. Take one project, Riverside Renovation, over a single month.
The Project Profit Report for that project:
Line | Amount | Where it comes from |
Revenue | $40,000 | Invoice line items. A $5,000 retainer and sales tax are excluded |
Costs | $28,000 | Team wages from the Directory, one consultant cost, a few assigned project costs |
Project profit | $12,000 | Revenue minus costs, for this project only |
The QuickBooks Online Profit and Loss for the same month tells a firm wide story instead. It adds every client's income, the $5,000 retainer, and sales tax handling on the revenue side. On the expense side it adds rent, software, and other costs that were never tied to a project. The firm wide net profit lands somewhere entirely different from $12,000, and there is no reason for the two to meet.
💡 For project level profitability, use the Project Profit Report. For firm wide accounting and tax filing, use QuickBooks Online. Each answers a different question.
When a Gap Is Worth a Second Look
A difference between the two reports is normal. A few setup gaps, though, can make the Project Profit Report itself inaccurate, and those are worth checking.
💡 What to Check
Compensation is missing or incomplete in the Team Directory, or a team member's start date falls after their first time entry on a project.
The service fee is not fully allocated across phase budgets. Amounts left unallocated do not appear in the report.
Imported costs are sitting unassigned. Costs need to be assigned to a project to count toward its profit. See Importing Costs from QuickBooks Online and the Deep Dive Cost Import companion for the review workflow.
With those in order and the numbers still differing, that difference is the expected behavior described above. For a fuller picture of what moves between the two systems, see Monograph + QuickBooks Online: What Syncs and What Doesn't.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which report should be used for project profitability
The Project Profit Report. It isolates a single project and breaks profit out by phase, which the QuickBooks Online Profit and Loss report does not do.
Will the two numbers ever match exactly
No, and they are not meant to. They measure different scopes with different sources and different timing.
Does the cash versus accrual setting change this
It can shift when QuickBooks Online counts income and expenses, which widens or narrows the gap. That setting lives in QuickBooks Online and is a decision for a firm's CPA or bookkeeper.
Why does a cost show in QuickBooks Online but not in a project's profit
Cost import brings in account totals, and only costs assigned to the Project cost category and to a specific project feed project profit. A cost left unassigned, or a balance sheet account, will not appear.
Learn more about the integration here.