The LivePlan Dashboard brings your forecasted assumptions and actual accounting data together to help you assess the performance of your business. The LivePlan Monthly Review takes this further. It automatically analyzes and contextualizes your Dashboard data each month and turns that data into clear, actionable insights. It’s designed to simplify financial analysis and help you make confident, informed decisions without digging through complicated spreadsheets.

A monthly review is a recurring process where you evaluate your business’s actual results against your forecasted assumptions to identify trends, successes, and areas that may need attention. For businesses of all sizes, this process of regular review creates a rhythm of accountability and strategic focus. It helps you stay on track, adapt quickly, and refine your business roadmap based on real-world performance.

In LivePlan, the Monthly Review provides you with a clear picture of your revenue, expenses, profit, and cash flow. With each review, you’re encouraged to ask: What changed? Why did it happen? What should I do next? Over time, these monthly check-ins strengthen your ability to plan ahead, respond to change, and stay aligned with your goals.

LivePlan requires two sets of data to utilize the Monthly Review:

• A forecast that reflects your current strategy

• Actuals from your accounting solution (QuickBooks, Xero, or actuals entered manually or via CSV template)

Each month, LivePlan automatically generates a new review for the previous month, available on the 1st. You can toggle between monthly or year-to-date (FYTD) views, and even explore prior months to see how trends are evolving. All of these options provide valuable context depending on whether you're tracking short-term fluctuations or long-term progress.

Monthly

• Monthly view focuses on the most recently completed month, giving you a close-up look at how your business performed during that period. It's ideal for spotting sudden changes, seasonal patterns, or one-time events. This view helps you assess what happened recently and whether your forecast accurately anticipated those results.

Year To Date

• Year To Date view shows cumulative results from the start of your fiscal year through the selected month. It helps identify longer-term trends, smoothing out short-term noise to reveal overall momentum. By comparing FYTD actuals to your forecast or last year’s performance, you can evaluate whether your strategy is delivering the expected results over time.

Prior Months

• You can explore prior months to identify when changes began or track how a specific decision played out over time. For example, you might revisit the month when a marketing campaign launched to see how its impact evolved, or examine cash flow trends across a slower season to better prepare for next year. These historical insights can reveal patterns, validate assumptions, and improve the accuracy of future forecasts.

The LivePlan Monthly Review includes both high-level insights and detailed financial breakdowns. These components work together to help you spot what’s driving performance, identify opportunities or risks, and guide your next steps with clarity and confidence.

Monthly Insights

The LivePlan Monthly Review starts with a high-level AI summary, offering:

• Key Variances: Pinpoints the largest differences between forecast and actuals

• Successes: Recognizes where you outperformed expectations

• Concerns: Highlights underperformance and potential risks

• Next Steps: Suggests follow-up actions to take

• Looking Forward: Summarizes what the data could mean for future months

These insights help you get oriented quickly, offering an at-a-glance understanding of what’s working and what needs attention.

Monthly Review Metric Cards

Each Monthly Review also includes focused cards that break down key financial categories:

Revenue and Cost Metrics

Revenue: Top forecast items ranked by variance, with comparisons to forecast, previous month, and same month last year.

Expenses & Costs: Details where your spending diverged from your plan, sorted by top variances.

Each Revenue and Expense metric cards includes a link to their associated breakdown trend charts in your Dashboard so you can dive deeper when needed.

Profit and Cash Metrics

Net Profit: Shows how your actual net profit is trending in comparison to your forecasted projections

Cash Position: Shows how your available cash and net cash flow is trending in comparison to your forecasted projections.

Each Net Profit and Cash Position metric card will link to the associated financial statement in your Dashboard so you can dive deeper when needed.

Year to Date and prior month analysis metrics

When you select the Year To Date view or a previous month instead of the most recent one, LivePlan adapts the analysis accordingly. These insights help you understand bigger-picture trends or revisit specific events in context.

• What Went Well: Identifies standout successes in your performance over a longer time frame, such as stronger-than-expected sales or improved margins.

• Potential Concerns: Flags gaps in financial tracking or underperformance that could distort your overall picture.

• Suggested Next Steps: Recommends follow-up actions to improve data accuracy, adjust the forecast, or explore variances further.

• Looking Ahead: Frames what long-term patterns and recent shifts may mean for future planning, helping you prepare strategically.

These insights are especially useful for long-term planning, helping you evaluate strategic progress, understand bigger-picture trends, and revisit specific events in context.

The true power of monthly reviews comes from turning insights into action. For business owners doing their own reviews, this might mean updating your forecast based on new realities. Such as adjusting revenue projections after an unexpectedly strong month, or reallocating expenses if costs have shifted. These updates keep your plan realistic and actionable, not just aspirational.

If you work with an accountant, advisor, or coach, your Monthly Review can become an effective conversation starter. Instead of asking general questions, you’ll bring data-informed observations to the table. Such as why a certain cost overran your forecasted figures, or what drove a spike in sales. This makes your meetings more productive and strategic, helping your advisors guide you more effectively.

Whether you're preparing for a board meeting or just want a snapshot for your records, exporting ensures your business insights are always ready to go. You can download the full Monthly Review as a polished PDF. This report includes all high-level analysis, breakdowns, and trends; perfect for sharing with team members, investors, or advisors.

You can combine the Monthly Review export with your Dashboard report PDF to provide an even more detailed picture of your business’s performance. Together, they give you both the story behind the numbers and the raw data to support your insights.

• Troubleshooting your Monthly Review

• LivePlan Assistant

• Connect LivePlan to your accounting solution

• Using the LivePlan Dashboard

• Regular review in LivePlan: Why should you do it?