Analysing your salon's annual figures: from the accounts to three choices
What good is higher revenue if your costs rise just as fast? With annual figures, the bottom line is not the whole story. Analysing them means putting the financial results next to what actually happened in your salon, so you understand why the year went the way it did. In this article you work in five steps from your accountant's annual accounts and your till data to no more than three choices for the new year. A worked example shows how to split a revenue change into more or fewer visits and lower or higher spend per visit.
What annual figures do and do not tell you
Annual figures look back. They show what came in and what it cost, but they do not explain on their own why the result changed. To find out, you put them next to the activity in your salon: the number of visits, the treatments, retail sales and any changes to your services or opening hours.
Keep three terms apart. Revenue is what your salon earned from treatments and sales, always excluding VAT for your own analysis. Costs are business expenses such as rent, staff and stock purchases. Result is what remains after costs. A busy year is not automatically a financially stronger year.
In general terms this way of working is called business analytics: examining data to make well-founded decisions. For a salon it mainly means never looking at a revenue change without the number of visits and what clients spent per visit. How to get from daily takings to a realistic picture of profit is covered in salon revenue reporting.
Steps 1 and 2: gather two sources and pick comparable periods
An annual review needs two sources, and they complement each other.
The annual accounts or profit and loss statement from your accountant. This shows costs per item and the result. Discuss how items are treated with your accountant; your analysis is a business analysis, not bookkeeping.
The figures from your till and calendar. This shows the revenue side in detail: per treatment, per product, per team member and per month, plus the number of receipts. In Salonnare the reporting page (from the Starter plan) shows these breakdowns for any period you choose. Set 1 January to 31 December as a custom period; the trend arrow then compares with the period of the same length directly before it, which is the previous year.
Then compare only like with like: a full year with a full year, or the same months in two years. If you took three extra weeks of holiday this year, had one chair fewer or raised prices on 1 March, note it next to the figures straight away. How to make periods fairly comparable is explained in financial reports for hairdressers.
Step 3: split the revenue change into visits and spend
The most useful question about your annual figures is not "did revenue go up?" but "where did the difference come from?". A change in revenue always has two parts: a different number of visits and a different spend per visit. You can calculate them separately.
Worked example. Last year: 2,400 receipts with an average spend of €48, giving €115,200 revenue excluding VAT. This year: 2,250 receipts averaging €53, giving €119,250. Revenue rose by €4,050.
Effect of the number of visits: 150 fewer receipts × €48 (the old spend) = €7,200 less revenue.
Effect of spend: €5 more per receipt × 2,250 receipts (the new number) = €11,250 more revenue.
Together that is exactly +€4,050. The total says "growth", but the breakdown says something quite different: visits fell by just over 6%, and higher spend hid it. That is a different question for the new year than "how do we keep growing".
Then go one level deeper and split revenue into treatments and retail. Did the higher spend come from more expensive treatments, a price rise or more products at the till? Revenue per treatment and per product comes straight from your point-of-sale system. How to break down the receipt itself is covered in increasing average spend per client.
Step 4: add the costs, with your annual accounts to hand
The cost side comes from your bookkeeping, not from your salon software. Salonnare is not an accounting package and has no cost ledger; it shows the revenue side and, with inventory management, the purchase price of products and internal usage.
Take the three largest cost items from the annual accounts, for most salons staff, premises and purchasing, and work out for both years what share of revenue they represent. If revenue rose by 3.5% but rent by 8%, that is not a disaster, but it is worth knowing before you plan an expansion.
Next, put product purchasing next to retail revenue. If retail revenue rises while purchasing rises faster, you sell more but keep relatively less. To see what is left per treatment, use the method in calculating profit margin per treatment.
Step 5: one-off or recurring?
A striking amount is only a pattern if it comes back. Ask three questions about every deviation:
Does it recur over several months? One large product order from a regular client in June is an outlier; retail revenue that falls every quarter is a pattern.
Is there an identifiable cause? A refurbishment, a team member who left, a new treatment or different opening hours. Record the cause as a lead, not straight away as a proven explanation.
Will it happen again next year? If not, take the amount out of your comparison before drawing a conclusion, and put it on a separate list.
From analysis to three choices for the new year
An analysis only becomes useful when you attach a choice to it. Pick three at most, and write them down in the same format:
Finding: just over 6% fewer visits, hidden by higher spend.
Action: track the number of visits per month separately and get back in touch with returning clients who have not been in for a long time.
Review point: at the end of March, put the first quarter next to the same quarter last year.
Put those review points in your calendar straight away, for example one hour every quarter. Which four figures to check each time is set out in the salon KPI overview. And what to prepare for your accountant at the end of the year is covered in year-end overview for your accountant.
In Salonnare, reporting, inventory management and the accounting export in Moneybird and e-Boekhouden format (two Dutch accounting packages) are part of the Starter plan (€29 per month). The export produces files for your bookkeeping; it is not a live connection and does not replace your accountant. The Free plan (€0) includes the till for cash and card, and Pro costs €59. There is no marketplace commission on new clients, but there is a transaction fee of 0.5% (min. €0.30) on online and card payments. Want to keep your figures in one place next year? Start free with Salonnare.
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Start freeFrequently asked questions
How do you analyse annual figures if your salon is new?
Use the months or quarters you have as a first baseline and note what changed, such as a new treatment or different opening hours. Do not draw firm conclusions from a single month. Compare later periods the same way and you build up your own reference.
Do you have to analyse by calendar year?
For your own analysis a calendar year is a handy fixed period, but it is not required. Choose periods that fit your question and always compare the same periods, for example April to June of two years. Check with your accountant which periods apply to your formal accounts and tax return.
Can salon software send your annual figures to your accountant automatically?
That depends on the package. Salonnare creates an export in Moneybird and e-Boekhouden format; it is not a live connection and the files are not sent to your accountant automatically. Salonnare is not accounting software either. Agree with your accountant which files and periods are useful.
What if the annual figures do not match your gut feeling?
First check that you are comparing the same periods and categories and that no data is missing. Then split the revenue change into visits and spend: a busy calendar with lower spend feels like growth but does not have to be. Discuss unclear accounting items with your accountant.