Most businesses find success by beginning with a simple profit and loss breakdown. You'll want to categorise your costs into fixed expenses (rent, salaries, insurance) and variable costs (materials, commission, shipping). This gives you a clear foundation.

The key is starting small rather than trying to analyse everything at once. Pick one product line or service offering first. Once you understand that profitability pattern, you can expand the analysis to other areas of your business.

Service businesses often benefit from analysing profitability per client or per project. You're looking at billable hours, project scope creep, and resource allocation. Manufacturing companies, on the other hand, need to dig into material costs, production efficiency, and inventory turnover.

Retail businesses usually find success with category analysis – which product lines drive the most profit, not just revenue. The 80/20 rule often applies here, where roughly 20% of your products generate 80% of your profits.

Beyond basic accounting records, you'll want customer acquisition costs, lifetime value data, and operational metrics specific to your industry. Many businesses miss the importance of tracking indirect costs – things like admin time, utilities allocated to different departments, or shared resources.

If you're missing some data, don't wait to start. Begin with what you have and improve your data collection as you go. Even incomplete analysis often reveals valuable insights about where your business is strongest.