A business analysis (betriebswirtschaftliche Auswertung, or BWA) is an important management tool in everyday business operations. It gives an overview of a business’s financial health and helps support data-informed strategy decisions.

This article explains BWAs, including how to read and understand them. We also explain when you need to create a BWA and how to do so.

What’s in this article?

• What is a BWA?
  
• How to read and understand a BWA
  
• How to create a BWA online
  
• Are businesses in Germany required to create BWAs?
  
• Are businesses required to make their BWAs publicly available?
  

What is a BWA?

A BWA is an overview of a business’s key financial metrics. It provides a snapshot of the business’s revenue, material and personnel costs, gross profit, and operating result. Therefore, BWAs provide an assessment of a business’s current financial health and highlights how key costs and revenue evolve over time.

Businesses or tax advisors create BWAs monthly or quarterly, based on current financial data. Their structure is modeled after the income statement section of annual financial statements. Depending on requirements, a BWA can be more or less detailed—from a basic statement of profit and loss to extensive, industry-specific analyses. Businesses in Germany can choose between various standard BWA forms. The most commonly used is the DATEV BWA (BWA 01)—or short-term income statement—which is suitable for businesses of all types and sizes.

Here is the basic structure of the short-term income statement:

How to read and understand a BWA

This sample BWA can help you learn how to read and understand one. Keep in mind that individual BWA items can be broken down into many subitems. For example, it is possible to divide operating costs into personnel costs, rent, insurance premiums, travel expenses, and so on. However, this example has been simplified.

Every row in the table corresponds to a BWA item. This table compares the metrics for a specific period—June 2025—to the metrics for the same period in the previous year. You can also format a BWA to allow you to compare each month in a single year.

From the total revenue to the gross profit

The first item in the BWA is the total revenue—the income generated by operating the business. In June 2025, this business earned €250K, an increase of €20K over the previous year. The 100% value in the final column indicates that the items in the rows that follow are displayed as a percentage of the total revenue.

The next row includes the costs of goods and materials. At €100K in 2025, this item is slightly higher than the previous year. However, direct costs made up a smaller share of revenue, from 41.3% in 2024 to 40% in 2025. This can be a positive sign—more of the revenue remains in the business as gross profit.

What remains after deducting the direct costs is the gross profit. In this example, the June 2025 gross profit is €150K or 60% of the total revenue. Compared to 2024, the gross profit increased by €15K. This could be an indication that the business’s productivity or pricing has improved.

From the gross profit to the operating result

Operating costs—the expenses pertaining to personnel, rent, insurance, or other items—have increased since the previous year. However, the cost percentage remained stable at 36% in 2025, compared to 36.1% in 2024. Therefore, the business is keeping its costs in proportion to sales, despite increased expenses.

The operating result is obtained by deducting the operating costs from the gross profit. The result of €60K in 2025 represents an €8K increase over the previous year. This speaks to the business’s improving economic performance.

From the operating result to the preliminary result

Neutral expenses were lower in June 2025 than in June 2024. This could be due to repaid loans or better terms. A slight increase in neutral income further enhances this positive change.

The final preliminary result for 2025 is €59K, an increase of over €10K compared to 2024. There is also an improvement in terms of percentages, as around 23.6% of sales remain in the business as provisional profit. This is up from 21.1% in the previous year.

This sample BWA shows how businesses can assess their economic health on a monthly basis with just a few key figures. It is important to focus on profits in addition to percentages and changes. Doing so can help answer questions such as: How much of the revenue actually remains? What costs are growing at an excessive rate? Can the business identify new opportunities or risks?

How to create a BWA online

Businesses can create a BWA in various ways. The choice of method depends on factors such as the size of the business and its specific requirements.

Businesses can create a BWA manually without specialized software. For example, they can create one by entering the data into spreadsheets and using formulas to generate the output. This method is cost-effective but time-consuming, and it creates the potential for errors.

Many businesses in Germany rely on specialized software solutions to create BWAs. Most tax consulting and accounting software providers offer largely automated processes where a business imports its accounting data, and the software instantly creates a BWA. It might not even be necessary to install the software locally because many providers rely on cloud-based solutions.

Stripe offers a powerful payment processing platform and helps businesses prepare financial reports, including BWAs. You can automate and configure your sales reports in just a few clicks. In addition, with Stripe Revenue Recognition, you can compile accounting data periodically, minimizing the risk of oversights and accounting errors.

Businesses that already collaborate with tax consultants can also outsource BWA preparation to them.

Are businesses in Germany required to create BWAs?

There is no legal obligation for businesses in Germany to create BWAs. In this regard, a BWA is different from other business documents, such as balance sheets, which are mandatory for some types of businesses. However, regularly compiling a BWA is highly recommended and is common practice for German businesses. Doing so can provide management with key insights into the business’s current economic performance much faster than annual financial statements. This helps businesses make informed decisions, identify trends early, and react to changes.

An up-to-date and detailed BWA can be a decisive factor in discussions with banks, investors, or institutions that provide funding. They often request a BWA when a business seeks financing—without one, it might be difficult for a business to obtain loans or funding.

Are businesses required to make their BWAs publicly available?

Businesses in Germany are not required to make their BWAs publicly available. Instead, BWAs are primarily provided to management and the business’s tax advisors, shareholders, and investors, if applicable. Banks can also request BWAs as part of loan negotiations or credit checks.

Balance sheets can require publication in the Federal Gazette, depending on the business’s legal structure and size. However, a BWA is not a public document. It is not subject to any legal disclosure requirements and is intended exclusively for internal use or specific external use.