are recorded in electronic buckets representing the various categories and sub-categories that comprise the line items on your P&L. Expanding the categories and subcategories of your P&L can help a business owner or manager keep score of performance results but, more importantly, it provides valuable insights into the economics of your company. Use this tool and generate both summary and detail versions so you can either just see the big- ger picture or drill down to learn more details. As an example, instead of just a sales category, add meaningful subcategories to your chart of accounts, such as: Product sales Repair sales Installation sales Other sales Total Sales In addition to listing the dollars for each line item on your P&L, add percent of sales columns for each of the line items so that you can see what percentage of sales each subcategory and line item represents and how they are trending over time. Aſter reading and absorbing this article, hopefully you’re now more comfortable with the basic concepts and have achieved at least a rudimentary understanding of a basic income statement/ P&L. Don’t be intimidated by the terminology; every industry has some. Best wishes for success. The topic for our next article in this series will be “Demystify- ing Your Balance Sheet,” where we will discuss the basic terms and setup to help you understand your company’s financial position at a particular moment in time. Noel Flynn is a degreed business management con- sultant with global senior leadership experience, including more than 20 years in manufacturing, wholesale distribution and consulting sectors of the security industry. Noel has been a senior execu- tive, officer, board director and adviser to not-for- profit and for-profit companies in numerous industries worldwide. This includes being an ALOA SPAI board member since 2011, and he is also an ACE instructor, developing and teaching business management. Contact him at [email protected] LOCKSMITH ESSENTIALS FROM FRAMON KX-1 “THE ELECTRIC PUNCH” The fastest manual code machine on the market! n Recommended by Sargent their for new Degree 1, 2 and 3 systems n Ideal for any locksmith looking to cut keys quickly and accurately, especially for masterkey & restricted key systems n Since 1988, the KX-1 has been recommended to ASSA dealers for originating keys n The KX-1 can originate a six pin key in less than 15 seconds n Cam/Cutter/Vise Kits are available for almost all cylinder key systems n Changing key systems takes less than two minutes n Originate keys to one-half thousandths of an inch SDK1 ESSENTIALS FOR YOUR SHOP Blue Dog Keys Your source for the hard to find! BD955 Gun Safes BD1003 Cyberlock Safe Deposit Killer Kit WWW.FRAMON.COM [email protected] WWW.BLUEDOGKEYS.COM [email protected] Used by thousands of locksmiths around the world - EVERY DAY. 989-354-5623 PHONE I 989-354-4238 FAX I 1201 W. CHISHOLM STREET ALPENA MI 49707 Contact BOTH Blue Dog Keys and Framon Manufacturing Company: WWW.ALOA.ORG APRIL 2021 KEYNOTES 33
