Why don’t traders understand each other’s P&L?

I recently realized that we’ve been doing a lot of great work within our agritech bubble but haven’t shared much of it with the community. That changes now. We’ll be publishing insights and interesting developments from GrainTrack—starting with a topic that comes up often: P&L analytics.

When traders ask us to add some chart to the P&L dashboard, we quickly run into very different views on what should be a simple calculation. “Revenue minus costs” sounds straightforward—until it isn’t.

A Quick Disclaimer

We never share client data. The figures presented here are generated from our internal test environment, but the report formats and real-world use cases accurately reflect actual scenarios.

Traders and P&L: The Apple vs. Android Dilemma

This debate reminds me of the long-standing battle between Apple and Android users:

• One side values simplicity—“Just make it work in the best, most efficient way.”
• The other side demands full control—“You don’t know my needs, so let me customize everything myself.”

Traders are no different.

Some say:
“You’ve been in the industry for years. You know best practices—just give us a standard setup.”

But most say:
“Alright, listen. I have an Excel sheet where everything is formatted exactly the way I need it. Colors, columns, formulas—just recreate this in GrainTrack, one-to-one.”

For those in the first group—good news: we have a standard P&L dashboard that reflects industry best practices and works for most companies. For the second one – skip next paragraph and go straight to the next one.

A Core Concept: Realized vs. Unrealized P&L

One key feature of a structured P&L is distinguishing between different stages of execution:

🔹 When you plan your supply chain, you generate an unrealized P&L.
🔹 Once shipments begin—whether trucks are on the road or vessels are loaded—some of that moves into executed P&L.
🔹 Only when invoices are issued and paid does unrealized P&L become fully realized P&L.

Now, let’s talk about custom approaches of our customers.

Benchmark Comparisons: Tracking Performance

Here’s an example of how one client structures their P&L dashboard. It’s built around:

📌 Annual profitability per commodity
📌 Actual vs. planned performance benchmark
📌 Margin per ton, broken down by month

This approach ensures clear oversight—clients can compare targets with actuals, then drill down into specific deals to analyze expenses, discounts, and deviations. The management team uses this to ensure they stay aligned with their yearly benchmarks.

A Different Take: Focus on Monthly Margins

Another client does things differently. Their P&L:
✅ Tracks only actuals—no forecasts or benchmarks.
✅ Prioritizes absolute monthly margins.
✅ Focuses on specific buyers and destinations.

For them, the key insight isn’t just revenue—it’s understanding which buyers and markets are the most profitable over time. They also track monthly cost trends separately for deeper analysis.

No Two Traders Are the Same

In our experience, every company eventually asks for a custom setup. Even those happy with a default format usually tweak it over time as market conditions evolve. That’s why we built GrainTrack’s dashboards to be fully configurable—in real time, inside the browser, while on a meeting with our clients.

Underneath it all, the data structure remains consistent: enter deals, track costs, link them into supply chains, and the system calculates P&L—automatically adjusting to the format users need.

So, what kind of trader are you?
🔹 Do you compare each deal against its original plan?
🔹 Do you benchmark performance against seasonal targets?
🔹 Or do you focus purely on absolute profit margins?

Let’s discuss.