Is this month better or worse than last month?

Bottomline compares five dimensions monthly to give you a balanced view of short-term performance.

Am I trending up or down over the last 6 months?

Your report shows a rolling 6-month trajectory so you see the bigger picture beyond any single month.

Is this seasonal or is something actually wrong?

Bottomline uses year-over-year data to separate seasonal patterns from structural problems.

Should I be worried or is this normal for this time of year?

Your report compares to your seasonal baseline to tell you whether current performance is within the normal range.

Why did my profit go up or down vs last month?

Bottomline breaks down the specific categories that drove the change so you understand what shifted.

How does this month compare to the same month last year?

Month-over-month comparisons are noisy. Year-over-year strips out seasonality and shows you whether your business actually grew. Here's how to run the comparison properly.

6 min read

The short answer

How do you compare? Pull revenue, expenses, and net income for this month and the same month last year. The percentage change in each tells you whether you grew, shrank, or stayed flat. Year-over-year is the truest measure of growth because it neutralizes seasonal effects.

Year-over-year is the only honest growth metric

Your revenue went from $78K in January to $95K in February. Up 22%. Great month? Maybe. But February is always stronger than January. Last February was $93K. So you only grew 2.2% year-over-year. That is a very different story.

Month-over-month comparisons are misleading because every business has seasonal patterns. Comparing January to February, or August to September, tells you more about seasonality than about business health. Year-over-year strips out the seasonal noise and shows whether you are actually moving forward.

If March 2026 is better than March 2025, your business grew. If it is worse, your business shrank. Simple, honest, and impossible to spin.

How to run a year-over-year comparison step by step

1
Pull this month's P&L
In QuickBooks, run Profit and Loss for the current month. Note Total Income, Total Expenses, and Net Income. In Xero, go to Accounting → Reports → Profit and Loss.
2
Pull the same month last year
Change the date range to the same month one year ago. In Xero, use “Compare with: Same period last year.” Note the same three numbers.
3
Calculate percentage changes
For each metric: (This year - Last year) / Last year x 100. Revenue up 8% is growth. Net income down 12% despite revenue growth means costs grew faster, which is a warning.
4
Compare CRM metrics year-over-year
In your CRM, pull new leads, deals closed, and pipeline value for this month and the same month last year. These leading indicators tell you whether next year's comparison will look better or worse.
5
Identify what drove the difference
If revenue grew, was it more customers, higher prices, or bigger deals? If expenses grew, which categories? The “why” behind the year-over-year change tells you what to do about it.

Total time: about 15 minutes if you have access to last year's data. Xero's built-in comparison makes this faster than QuickBooks.

Track year-over-year growth every month

This should be part of your monthly review. A single number, year-over-year revenue growth, tells you more about your business trajectory than any other metric. If it has been positive for 6 consecutive months, you are genuinely growing. If it has been negative, you are shrinking regardless of what month-over-month looks like.

Or see your year-over-year comparison every month automatically

Bottomline runs the year-over-year comparison for you every month. Revenue, expenses, net income, margins, pipeline, and leads. You see the percentage change and the specific categories driving the difference.

Year-over-year: March 2026 vs March 2025

Revenue$88,100 → $95,200+8.1%

Total expenses$78,400 → $89,100+13.6%

Net income$9,700 → $6,100-37.1%

Net margin11.0% → 6.4%-4.6 pts

New leads19 → 24+26.3%

Revenue grew 8% but expenses grew 14%. Profitability declined despite top-line growth.

From a real Bottomline report. Year-over-year comparison from your accounting and CRM data.

The year-over-year view is the most honest measure of your progress. Bottomline calculates it automatically so you never have to pull last year's data manually. You see whether you are truly growing or just riding seasonal waves.