Accounts · Management

Which part of the business
made the money.

Cost centres split the P&L by department, branch or whatever dimension you run on. Budgets sit against the accounts and are compared with what actually posted, rather than living in a spreadsheet nobody updates after March.

The question a company-wide P&L cannot answer. Total profit is rarely the number anyone is arguing about.

Cost centres

The dimension your business runs on.

Split the P&LDepartments, branches or teams — the profit and loss broken down by the thing you actually manage.
Tagged as it postsThe cost centre is captured on the document, so the split is a fact rather than an allocation invented at month end.
Budgets

Set against accounts, compared with actuals.

Budgets on accountsSet what a line is supposed to be, on the account it will post to.
Variance from the ledgerThe comparison is against postings, so it is current the moment a bill is approved rather than after a monthly export.
Projects

Costing per engagement.

Per-project trackingCosts and billing attached to a project, for businesses whose unit of profit is the job rather than the month.
Billed against itInvoice lines can carry the project they belong to, which is what makes project profitability real rather than estimated.
Nearby

Related capabilities.

Financial reports · General ledger · Projects and time

Manage the part, not just the total.

The split is captured as the work happens, so the departmental view is never a month behind.