Want to know how much your business is actually earning? Tracking profitability is the key to making smart business decisions, but it often feels like a complicated task. With Keep's financial reports, you can analyze your business performance easily, without bureaucracy and without headaches. This guide explains how to use Keep's monthly and annual reports to track profitability, with practical examples and tips to help you succeed.
Key Takeaways
- Tracking profitability helps you understand how much money really stays in the business after expenses, taxes and ongoing payments.
- Monthly reports let you spot rising expenses, falling income or a change in net profit early.
- An annual report gives a broader picture of business performance, trends over time and planning for the next year.
- The invoices and receipts you issue in Keep, and the expenses you upload in the recommended plan as a photo or file, go into a dashboard that shows income, expenses and profit, which makes tracking simpler and more accurate. The dashboard is available on every plan.
- Keep's reports suit freelancers, consultants, e-commerce sellers and small business owners who want to decide by data rather than gut feeling.
What Is Profitability and Why Does It Matter?
Profitability is the difference between your business income and expenses. It shows how much money you have left after paying for everything -- suppliers, wages, taxes, and more. Tracking profitability helps you understand whether your business is growing, whether you are spending too much, or whether it makes sense to invest in something new like inventory or marketing.
With Keep's digital bookkeeping, you can see an up-to-date picture of your income, expenses and profit throughout the year, instead of waiting until the end of the year. For example, Noa, a 29-year-old freelance graphic designer from Tel Aviv, discovered she was spending too much on software and tool subscriptions, dropped some of them and switched to more affordable alternatives, which improved her profitability. Keep makes tracking accessible with clear reports available in the app and on the website, reducing the risk of errors.
Understanding your profitability also allows you to plan ahead. If you know your profit margin stands at 25% of revenue, you can calculate exactly how much you need to sell to cover a new expense. Without regular tracking, many business owners discover only at year-end that their expenses exceeded expectations.
Put simply, profitability is not just "how much came into the account", but how much actually remains after all expenses. That is why tracking profitability matters especially for small businesses, where even a small change in fixed costs, supplier prices or marketing costs can affect net profit.
Types of Keep Reports for Profitability Management
Keep's dashboard, available on every plan, shows your income, expenses and profit for any date range you choose. Two ranges are especially useful for tracking profitability:
Monthly Report
Shows your income, expenses, and net profit each month. Comparing months lets you identify trends, like expenses that rise from month to month. The monthly report is an effective tool for spotting problems early, before they become major issues.
Annual Report
Summarizes your business performance over the entire year. It provides a broad picture of profitability and helps when preparing the annual income tax return that every self-employed person must file. The annual report lets you see the big trends and plan your business strategy for the coming year.
The data is presented in a simple interface, with a chart of income, expenses and profit that makes it easy to understand, even if numbers are not your strong suit. For instance, Dana Levi, an online shop owner you will meet later in this guide, checks Keep's dashboard every month to see how much is left from her sales after expenses, shipping included. The yearly view helps her plan investments for the next year, like upgrading her website.
Splitting between a monthly and an annual report helps you look at the business on two levels: what is happening now and what happened over time. The monthly report suits ongoing management and quick decisions, while the annual report suits understanding trends, orderly planning and reviewing the business's overall profitability.
How Do Keep's Reports Work?
Keep's process is simple and saves time. The income documents you issue in Keep, and the expenses you upload in the recommended plan, go into the dashboard, so you can follow your income and expenses throughout the month. Here are the steps:
- Issuing income documents -- Every invoice or receipt you issue in Keep, on any plan, is recorded as income, and you can see the status of your documents and payments.
- Document capture -- In the recommended plan, you can upload expenses through the app, as a photo of the receipt or as a file, and they are added to the reports. This prevents losing small receipts that add up to significant amounts.
- Profitability view -- In the dashboard you choose a date range, such as a month or a year, and see your income, expenses and profit alongside a chart. This makes it clear how much of your income is left after expenses.
- Easy access -- Reports and your income, expense and profit totals are available in Keep's online interface from any device, and the chart appears in the dashboard on a computer. No need to wait for an accountant meeting.
When data is updated continuously, the business owner does not have to guess where the business stands. You can see income, expenses and profitability in one place, spot anomalies earlier and make decisions based on current information.
Comparison: Manual vs Keep's Digital Reports
| Aspect | Manual Management | Keep Reports |
|---|---|---|
| Keeping data current | Hours to days | Updated from the documents you issue and upload |
| Accuracy | High risk of errors | Less manual typing: the data comes from the documents themselves |
| Availability | Depends on accountant | Any device, in the app or on the website |
| Complexity | Requires accounting knowledge | User-friendly interface |
Benefits of Using Keep's Reports
Keep's reports make profitability management accessible and transparent, with benefits that save time and reduce stress:
- Time savings -- Instead of going through folders of receipts, everything is organized in one place and updated with every document you issue or upload.
- Full transparency -- You can see how much came in, how much went out and how much is left, with a chart that makes it easy to understand. No more surprises at year-end.
- Access from any device -- No need to wait for an accountant meeting. Reports and totals are available in the app and on the website, from any device and any location, and the chart appears in the dashboard on a computer.
- Reduced bureaucracy -- The recommended plan also includes reports and payments to the tax authorities, including VAT reports. For an Osek Patur, this usually means the annual declaration of turnover, filed by 31 January.
- Informed decision-making -- When you see up-to-date numbers, you can react quickly to market changes and optimize expenses.
The main advantage is the link between the data and business actions. When you can see during the month which expenses went up, which income went down and where profitability is suffering, it is easier to decide whether to cut costs, change prices, invest in marketing or rethink your cost structure.
Practical Tips for Tracking Business Profitability
To get the most from Keep's reports, here are five tips to help you:
- Review monthly reports regularly -- Dedicate 10 minutes at the start of each month to review the monthly report and identify trends. That is enough to spot problems before they accumulate.
- Check how expenses are categorized -- In the recommended plan, after you upload expenses, it is worth checking that each one is categorized correctly, for example "office supplies" versus "marketing", and you can ask your personal accountant about any categorization question. A quick check prevents errors.
- Use the chart -- The chart in Keep's dashboard shows income, expenses and profit for the range you choose, and helps you spot changes, such as a sudden spike in expenses that requires attention.
- Compare months -- Month-over-month comparison helps identify seasonality in your business, such as strong sales months and quiet periods.
- Consult an expert -- In the recommended plan, you have a personal accountant for professional guidance, whom you can also ask about your numbers.
For tracking to be effective, do not wait for the end of the year. A short monthly check can reveal unusual expenses, falling profitability or a chance to improve prices and processes while there is still time to act.
Practical Example: How Keep Helps an Online Shop Owner
Dana Levi, 32, runs an online gift and lifestyle shop from home in Rishon LeZion and sells through her own Shopify site. Before starting with Keep, she managed her profitability in Excel. Manual management led to errors and wasted time.
With Keep's reports, and Keep's Shopify plugin in the recommended plan, Dana discovered several important things:
- Going through the month's expenses showed that a large share of her marketing budget went to paid Facebook advertising, with low returns.
- She decided to reduce that budget and redirect some of it to Google Shopping, and her monthly profit improved slightly in the months that followed.
- Looking at the whole year in the dashboard helped her plan next year's stock based on her actual income.
- She saved valuable time preparing her income tax filings because all the information was organized and ready.
Dana's example shows how a profitability report can turn from an accounting document into a management tool. Instead of only checking how much was sold, you can understand which expenses hurt profit and where to invest your next budget.
How to Get Started with Keep's Reports
Getting started with Keep is as easy as sending an invoice. You open an account, issue your first documents and, in the recommended plan, upload your expenses too. As the data comes in, it shows up in the dashboard.
Keep also offers professional support, so if you have questions about the reports, there is someone to talk to. Designers, consultants, e-commerce sellers, or shop owners -- everyone can benefit from the reports.
Tracking profitability does not have to be a nightmare. With Keep's reports, you can see exactly how much your business is earning, make smart decisions, and save valuable time. Whether you are a designer, e-commerce seller, or shop owner, Keep helps you stay organized and focus on growth.
The earlier you start tracking profitability, the easier it is to build good management habits. A business that manages income, expenses and reports continuously can respond faster to change, keep a healthy cash flow and plan its growth based on data.
Frequently Asked Questions About Tracking Business Profitability
What is the difference between turnover and profit?
Turnover is your business's total income before expenses, and profit is what is left of it after business expenses. A business can grow its turnover and still earn less if its expenses grow faster than its income. The distinction matters to the authorities too: the Osek Patur ceiling, 122,833 NIS for 2026, is measured on turnover, while income tax is charged on taxable income, meaning income after the deductions the law allows, such as recognized expenses.
How do you calculate profit margin for a small business?
Divide profit by total income and multiply by 100. For example, a business that brought in 20,000 NIS in a month and kept 5,000 NIS after expenses has a 25% profit margin. It is worth calculating it for the same date range over several months in a row, because a single month can mislead after a one-off expense such as buying equipment.
Which expenses should you check first when profit drops?
Start with fixed costs that repeat every month, such as software subscriptions and rent, then move on to costs that grow with sales, such as paid advertising, shipping and supplier prices. Comparing the same expense over several months shows what became more expensive, not just how much went out in total. Before cutting anything, compare with the same month last year to tell a real decline from seasonality.
Does Keep's dashboard replace the annual income tax return?
No. Keep's dashboard, available on every plan, shows income, expenses and profit for the date range you choose, and it is a tool for running the business day to day. The annual income tax return is a separate filing that every self-employed person must submit, Osek Patur and Osek Murshe alike. The recommended plan includes a personal accountant for professional guidance and offers the annual report at a special price, which is not included in the monthly fee.
