--- title: "Event Profit and Loss, Cash Flow and Year-on-Year Pace" description: "See what your brand spends across its events, profit and loss for every edition, a cash-flow forecast, and how this edition is pacing against the last." canonical: "https://www.ticketfairy.com/event-operating-system/budget-and-costs/profit-and-cash-flow" --- # Event Profit and Loss, Cash Flow and Year-on-Year Pace 1. [Event Operating System](https://www.ticketfairy.com/event-operating-system) 2. [Budget & costs](https://www.ticketfairy.com/event-operating-system/budget-and-costs) 3. Profit & cash flow # Know What Every Edition Made, What It Cost and How This One Is Pacing Knowing one event's budget is not enough when you run a season, a tour or the same festival every year. A founder needs to know what each edition made, which costs grew, whether the cash will cover the next round of deposits and whether this year is selling faster than last. Ticket Fairy adds up the planned and recorded costs of every event your brand runs, with the cost of each person through the door, sets each edition's income against what it cost, forecasts your cash from your sales pace and the dates your payments fall due, and tells your team every morning whether you are ahead of your last edition. [Book a Live Demo](https://www.ticketfairy.com/event-ticketing/book-a-demo) - Profit and loss for every edition and brand - The real cost of each person through the door - Your pace against last year, every morning ![Ticket Fairy Compared with last time after a summer festival, saying you sold 10.7% more tickets than last year, with no-shows and arrivals against last year](https://www.ticketfairy.com/embeds/posters/marketing-event-comparison--after-the-event.png) ## See Everything Your Brand Spends Across Its Events Spend in your brand's Event Operations adds up the budgets of every event in the period you choose: the last 12 months, the next 12 months, this year or last year. Recorded and planned costs sit side by side with the income your events recorded, so a promoter running dozens of shows sees where the money went across all of them, not one budget at a time. Budget sections sets each kind of cost against its plan across all your events, largest first, so you see whether production, talent or staffing is the line that keeps growing. Biggest suppliers ranks who you spend most with on your purchase orders and on how many orders, which is the list you want in front of you when you renegotiate next year's rates. Each event in the period shows its own planned and recorded costs and its cost per person through the door, so the show that ran over plan stands out from the ones that came in under. - **Recorded and planned costs**: every event in the period added up - **Budget sections**: the same section across your events, recorded against planned - **Biggest suppliers**: what you spend with each supplier and on how many orders - [See what your brand spends across its events](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/see-what-your-brand-spends-across-its-events) ![Ticket Fairy Spend tab for the last 12 months, with recorded and planned costs, people scanned in, cost per checked-in attendee, budget sections, biggest suppliers and each event](https://www.ticketfairy.com/embeds/posters/marketing-event-act-costs--spend.png) ## Know What Each Person Through the Door Really Cost Cost per checked-in attendee divides the recorded costs of your events by the people your door teams scanned in, for your brand and for each event. It counts the people who came, never the tickets sold, so you can compare a sold-out night with a quiet one on what each guest really cost you to welcome. A venue group can see which nights of the week carry the room, a touring promoter can see which cities cost the most to fill, and a festival can see whether last year's bigger site really cost more for each person on it. Events that have not started yet, or where nobody was scanned in, stay out of the figure, so it never flatters a show that has not happened. - **People scanned in**: the people your door teams scanned - **Per checked-in attendee**: for the brand and for each event ## See What Each Edition Made, Year After Year Profit and loss sets each edition's income against what it cost and shows its profit or loss beside the editions before it. You see which years grew, which costs grew faster than income and what to change before the next edition goes on sale, from the same budgets your team already keeps for every event. Running several brands, a tour or a season of club nights? Profit and loss shows each brand side by side, so you know which brands carry the business and where costs are climbing. Every event's own budget already sets total revenue against total expenses and shows the net, so the figures behind each edition are the ones your team trusted on the night. - **Profit and loss**: income against costs for each edition - **Edition by edition**: this year beside the years before - **By brand**: every brand you run, side by side - [Know What Your Event Will Cost Before the Bills Arrive](https://www.ticketfairy.com/event-operating-system/budget-and-costs/event-budget-and-artist-costs) ## Forecast Your Cash Before the Deposits Fall Due The cash-flow forecast sets the ticket money your sales pace points to against the deposits, balances and supplier payments your events owe, on the dates each one is due. You see the week when cash will be tight while there is still time to move a payment, ask for a later balance date or plan your next ticket release. The payments come from the same Payments due list your team works from on each event: performers' deposits and balances from their deals, per diems and backline, and supplier orders once you approve them. Payments due across all your brand's events is already in Event Operations, so the dates behind the forecast are the ones your team pays against. - **From your sales pace**: the ticket money your pace points to - **From your payment dates**: deposits, balances and supplier payments when each is due - **Cash in and out**: side by side on the dates they happen - [Pay Everyone on Time and Settle Every Show With Figures Both Sides Can Check](https://www.ticketfairy.com/event-operating-system/contracts-and-payments/payments-and-show-settlement) ## Take a One-Page Board Pack to Every Meeting The board pack puts your profit and loss and your cash-flow forecast on one page, ready to share with your board, your investors and your partners. Nobody spends the night before the meeting copying figures into slides, and everyone at the table reads the same numbers your team runs the events on. - **One page**: profit and loss and cash flow together - **Ready to share**: for your board, investors and partners ## Know Every Morning Whether You Are Ahead of Last Year Compared with last time sets this event's ticket sales beside your last edition at the same number of days before the start, and says how far ahead or behind you are in one sentence. It shows on the event's Statistics page and on Today, so your team sees the pace every morning without running a report. Compare by tickets or by share of capacity, so the comparison stays fair when you moved to a bigger venue or added a day. While the event is on, the comparison shows how many have checked in so far against last time at the same point, so you know early whether the gates are busier than last year. Ask Fai, the assistant inside your dashboard, how this edition is pacing, what your events cost over the last year or which supplier you spend most with. She answers from the same figures, and she changes which event the comparison uses only after you confirm. - **At this point**: the same number of days before each event - **Share of capacity**: a fair comparison when the venue size changed - **On Today**: the sentence and both sales lines for your team - [Compare your ticket sales with your last event](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/compare-your-ticket-sales-with-your-last-event) - [Start Every Day Knowing What Needs You and Who Is Doing What](https://www.ticketfairy.com/event-operating-system/planning/event-today-and-tasks) ![Ticket Fairy Compared with last time on Today, 12% ahead of last year at this point with this event's and last year's sales and See the full comparison](https://www.ticketfairy.com/embeds/posters/marketing-event-comparison--on-today.png) ## Compare With the Edition That Makes Sense Ticket Fairy suggests your last edition for you, from your brand's earlier events with the same or a similar name, about a year earlier or at the same venue, and says why it chose it. Pick a different event with a search, or turn the comparison off for a one-off show that has nothing to compare with. The comparison names who on your team chose the event when somebody changed it, and if two people change it at once, the second save stops and names the first, so nobody quietly switches the benchmark the whole team reads. - **Suggested event**: with the reason it was suggested - **Find an event**: compare with any of your brand's earlier events - **Don't compare**: for a show with no earlier edition ![Ticket Fairy Compare with dialog listing the brand's earlier events with the suggested one first and why, a search and Don't compare this event](https://www.ticketfairy.com/embeds/posters/marketing-event-comparison--choose-last-time.png) ## Learn From How People Arrived Before You Plan the Next One After the event, the comparison says how many more or fewer tickets you sold than last time, sets no-shows beside last time's, and charts how fast people arrived from the start. You see whether the doors coped better than last year and how many ticket holders never came, ready for the next edition's plan. Put that beside the edition's profit and loss and its cost per person through the door, and the conversation about next year starts from what really happened: what it cost, what it made and how the crowd behaved. - **No-shows**: against last time - **Arrivals from the start**: how fast people came through the doors - **Final sales against last time**: more or fewer tickets sold, in one sentence - [Learn From This Year and Start Next Year Already Set Up](https://www.ticketfairy.com/event-operating-system/planning/next-edition-and-feedback) ## How Organisers Use Spend, Profit and Pace - ### An Annual Festival Eight weeks out, Today says the festival is 12% behind last year at the same point. The team brings forward a ticket release and checks the cash-flow forecast before agreeing the headliner's balance date. - ### A Venue Group With Three Rooms Spend for the last 12 months shows the cost per checked-in attendee for every show. The group sees midweek shows cost twice as much per guest and reshapes the midweek programme. - ### A Touring Promoter Biggest suppliers shows one production company on most of the tour's purchase orders. The promoter takes the year's total to the rate negotiation for the next tour. - ### A Founder Reporting to Investors The board pack puts profit and loss for each brand and the cash-flow forecast on one page. The founder shares it before the quarterly meeting and spends the meeting on decisions. - ### A Club Night Moving to a Bigger Room The comparison switches to share of capacity, so the promoter sees the night is selling a larger share of a bigger room than last year, and books the same room again. [Book Demo Call](https://www.ticketfairy.com/event-ticketing/book-a-demo) [Get Started for Free](https://manage.ticketfairy.com/registration) ## See It in Your Dashboard - ![Ticket Fairy Compared with last time for a summer festival, 12% ahead of last year, with tickets sold, share of capacity, last year's total and the sales chart](https://www.ticketfairy.com/embeds/posters/marketing-event-comparison--statistics.png) Follow the pace before the event, with tickets sold and share of capacity beside last year's at the same point. ## Set It Up Step by Step - [See what your brand spends across its events](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/see-what-your-brand-spends-across-its-events) - [Compare your ticket sales with your last event](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/compare-your-ticket-sales-with-your-last-event) - [Raise purchase orders and track what your event owes](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/raise-purchase-orders-and-track-what-your-event-owes) ## Questions About Profit, Spend and Year-on-Year Pace ### Profit & cash flow #### Who can see Spend and profit and loss? You need an owner, admin or producer role on the brand. Other roles do not see the Spend tab. #### Who can see the comparison with last time? Owners, admins, producers, marketing and stats members on the event. To see last time's figures you need one of those roles on the earlier event too, and you need an owner, admin or producer role to change which event it compares with. #### Where do the costs come from? From the planned and actual costs your team records in each event's budget. Biggest suppliers comes from approved, sent or invoiced purchase orders. #### How many events does Spend cover? The events that start in the period you choose. When a period holds more than 500 events, it covers the latest 500 and says so. #### Why is an event missing from the cost per checked-in attendee? It has not started, nobody was scanned in at its door, or it has no recorded costs in that currency. Only events with both door scans and recorded costs count. #### Are different currencies added together? No. Each currency has its own total, and amounts are never converted or added across currencies. #### Is the cash-flow forecast a guarantee? No. It is a forecast from your sales pace so far and the dates your payments are due, so it changes as sales come in and payment dates move. #### What goes in the board pack? Your profit and loss across your editions and brands and your cash-flow forecast, on one page. #### Which tickets count as sold in the comparison? Tickets still held by a buyer, counted on the day their order was placed, including tickets already checked in, on a [payment plan](https://www.ticketfairy.com/event-ticketing/event-payment-plans) or up for resale. A refunded ticket no longer counts. #### Can I compare with another brand's event? No. The comparison uses your own brand's earlier events only, and never another brand's figures. ## Explore More of the Event Operating System - [Budget & act costs One shared event budget with planned against recorded costs, committed supplier spend, suggested totals from your own records and the all-in cost of every act. Budget & costs](https://www.ticketfairy.com/event-operating-system/budget-and-costs/event-budget-and-artist-costs) - [Payments & settlement Every deposit, balance and supplier payment by due date, purchase orders with their invoices checked, and show settlements drafted from ticket sales, budget costs and the deal. Contracts & payments](https://www.ticketfairy.com/event-operating-system/contracts-and-payments/payments-and-show-settlement) - [Next edition & feedback Survey the people who came, compare your score with last year, add the top fixes as tasks for next year and copy last edition's setup into the new one with the dates moved. Planning](https://www.ticketfairy.com/event-operating-system/planning/next-edition-and-feedback) - [Today & tasks Open each event on a Today page with your own work first, run every job on one shared task board, start from Fai's readiness plan and spread the work before anyone burns out. Planning](https://www.ticketfairy.com/event-operating-system/planning/event-today-and-tasks) [Back to **Budget & costs**](https://www.ticketfairy.com/event-operating-system/budget-and-costs) [Previous **Budget & act costs**](https://www.ticketfairy.com/event-operating-system/budget-and-costs/event-budget-and-artist-costs) Ticket Fairy in full: [event ticketing and registration platform](https://www.ticketfairy.com/event-ticketing/), with the features, pricing and support behind this page. ## Ready to Build a Stronger Event Business? Book a live demo, and we will set up your first event on the Event Operating System with your team. ## Start Selling Tickets Online Sign up without a credit card and build a test event before you commit. Go on sale in minutes when you are ready. No monthly subscription required for ticketing Start selling tickets immediately Ticketing tools included in the service fee [Get Started for Free](https://manage.ticketfairy.com/registration) [Talk to Fai Now](#) Ask Fai, our AI assistant, about Ticket Fairy’s features, pricing and how it could work for your event. No credit card required ## Book a demo call See the referral model that drives 20% more ticket sales on average, learn which campaigns sell tickets, answer buyers faster and keep queues moving. How many tickets do you sell per year? 45-Minute Video Call Pick a Time That Works for You The Ticket Fairy, Inc. is a fintech company and technology platform. The Ticket Fairy, Inc. is not a bank, financial institution, or regulated financial services provider. Vault banking services are provided through regulated banking partners. Ticket Fairy Capital financing is provided by third-party private credit partners. The Ticket Fairy, Inc. does not make credit decisions, and all funding terms, approvals and conditions are determined by those lending partners. --- This page is on Ticket Fairy, a ticketing, marketing and operations platform for live events and the venues that host them: festivals, club nights, concerts, conferences and tours, and night clubs, beach clubs and concert venues. It grows revenue with fan rewards that turn an audience into a sales channel, and runs the money side with payments and payouts, Vault business banking, and working capital advanced against ticket sales. [How Ticket Fairy ticketing works](https://www.ticketfairy.com/event-ticketing) · [Ticket Fairy for AI assistants](https://www.ticketfairy.com/llms.txt)