Income statement: revenue up, profit flat

Reconcile the three statements first, then ratios. One number in isolation says nothing.

Task: Revenue up twenty percent and profit flat.

[Before you start, do three things]
1. Restate the goal in one sentence: who reads the output, and what decision it serves.
2. If I have not given you the following, ask me. Do not assume:
   - revenue and cost detail
   - product and customer mix
   - expense changes
   - policy changes
3. Say how you plan to do it (at most 5 steps) and wait for my go-ahead.

[Go through each of these]
- check gross margin and expense ratios
- separate cost, expense and mix
- isolate one-off items
- one testable explanation

[Process]
1. Confirm basis and period; do the statements reconcile
2. Find the three biggest movements and their causes
3. Compute key ratios against history and peers
4. Separate accounting effects from operating ones
5. Give one actionable recommendation

[Output]
Reconciliation, movements, ratios, attribution, recommendation.

[Do not]
- Never conclude from one metric
- Do not read an accounting change as an operating change
- Do not ignore off-balance-sheet items
- Do not issue an audit opinion