Finance
The Finance page provides a consolidated view of studio revenue and expenses. It is the one part of StudioFlow behind the money boundary.
Finance is the only section in the app opened by a switch rather than by an access level. You see it if you see finances, and that means: every Owner, every Bookkeeper, and an Admin whose Can open Finance switch is on. An Admin with it off, and every Crew member, has no Finance section at all.
What that boundary protects is the studio's overall position — revenue, VAT, expenses and reports across every project. It is not a rule about individual amounts: someone working on a wedding can still see that wedding's offer and invoice from the project page. If you don't want a particular person seeing even one job's figures, the answer is the only their projects switch, or no login at all. See Team → Switches.
Overview
The Finance page has six tabs:
- Income — Revenue from invoices, counted on your studio's accounting method (see How Income Is Counted) and grouped by period.
- Expenses — Studio costs entered manually (equipment, software, rentals, etc.).
- Fixed Costs — Recurring monthly costs (rent, software subscriptions, insurance) that repeat automatically each month.
- Transfers — Planned cash movements in or out that aren't tied to an invoice or expense.
- Projection — Outstanding (unsent) and planned invoices — what revenue is expected but not yet billed.
- VAT — A ready-to-file VAT return for a chosen period. Only appears once a VAT scheme is set up (see VAT below).
Summary cards at the top show two rows:
- Profit & Loss — Total Income, Total Expenses, and Net Profit for the selected period.
- Cash Flow — Money In, Money Out, Net Cash, and your current Bank Balance (set an opening balance once and StudioFlow keeps it running).
A monthly bar chart compares income against expenses across the period, and you can filter income by the artist assigned to each job. The chart names the currency it's drawn in.
Finance shows the totals per currency, side by side: "These totals are shown per currency: CHF and EUR. Nothing is converted between them." There is no exchange rate anywhere in StudioFlow — the figures are what you actually invoiced, in the currency you invoiced them in. See Invoicing → Currency.
How Income Is Counted: Accrual vs Cash
Switzerland lets a business settle VAT on either of two methods, and StudioFlow follows whichever one your studio elected in Settings → Finances → Payments & VAT. The choice changes when a franc lands in a period — not how much it is.
| Your setting | Swiss name | An invoice counts... | What the VAT figure on the Income card means |
|---|---|---|---|
| Accrual | vereinbarte Entgelte (Soll) | on the date you sent it, paid or not | VAT you have invoiced — a liability, some of it on invoices nobody has paid yet |
| Cash | vereinnahmte Entgelte (Ist) | on the date the client paid it | VAT you have actually received |
The Profit & Loss heading and the Income tab both state the method in force, so you never have to remember which one you picked. The flat-rate scheme (Saldosteuersatz) is always settled on cash, so electing it forces the cash method everywhere.
On the accrual method the VAT figure is not money in your bank. Part of it sits in invoices that are still unpaid, and you owe it to the tax authority regardless. Use the Cash Flow row — Money In, Net Cash, Bank Balance — to see what has actually been received; those four figures are always cash-timed, whatever method you elected.
Filtering by Period
Use the quick filters at the top — This Month, This Year, Last Year, All Time — or set the From and To dates yourself for any custom range.
Income Lines
Income is derived from your invoices, selected on the accounting method in force — sent invoices on accrual, paid ones on cash. A Basis line at the top of the tab states which. Each income line shows:
- Invoice reference
- Project title and client
- Invoice type (Deposit / Final / Credit Note)
- Amount (net and gross)
- Status (Sent / Paid)
- The date it was recognised — the sent date on accrual, the payment date on cash
Expenses
Add expenses manually by clicking New Expense. Each expense has:
| Field | Notes |
|---|---|
| Description | What the expense was for. Required. |
| Category | Equipment, Software, Travel, Office — your own list. + Create new category… adds one on the spot, or use Custom (free text) for a one-off. Required. |
| Amount | In your studio's currency. Required. |
| Date | When the cost was incurred. Required. |
| Payment date | "Optional. Leave blank and the cost is counted on its expense date." |
| Paid To | Who got the money — see below |
| Input VAT Type and Input VAT Rate (%) | None, Goods & Services or Capital Assets, and the rate. StudioFlow works out the VAT amount and carries it into your VAT return. |
| Notes | Optional detail |
Paid To — team members and billing partners
An expense can be attributed to:
- Team Member — a second shooter's fee, an assistant's day rate. Pick them from the list.
- Billing Partner — a supplier you pay regularly: the lab, the rental house, the retoucher's company, your accountant. Pick one, or + Create new… to add one without leaving the form.
- Other (free text) — a one-off nobody needs a record for. Just type the name.
- Not specified — leave it blank.
Billing partners are worth setting up for anyone you pay more than once: the name stays consistent, so your expense reports actually group.
Export
The Finance page supports exporting data to Excel for use in accounting software or for tax preparation. Click Export XLSX to download the current filtered view.
VAT
Your studio's VAT scheme, accounting basis and filing frequency are set in Settings → Finances → Payments & VAT. The VAT rate that lands on documents is on Settings → Studio setup → Studio profile.
The Income card is shown net — VAT you charge a client is money you collect for the tax authority, not studio revenue. The VAT portion is called out in the caption underneath, on the method described in How income is counted.
Choosing a scheme
| Scheme | What it means |
|---|---|
| None – not VAT-registered | "VAT reporting is disabled. Enable Standard or Flat Rate when your turnover exceeds the registration threshold." |
| Standard (effective method) | "You report the exact VAT collected and deduct input VAT on purchases." |
| Flat rate (net tax rate) | "You pay a fixed percentage of gross turnover per activity – simpler, no input VAT deduction." |
On the flat-rate scheme you enter your elected rate under Flat-Rate Bands, and the accounting basis is fixed: "The flat-rate scheme always settles on money received, so this is fixed while it is in use."
"StudioFlow computes the return for one elected rate. If you have two rates, keep one here and file the second manually."
The VAT tab
The VAT tab produces a ready-to-file return for any period you pick — net turnover, VAT collected on sales, input VAT you can reclaim, and the amount payable, laid out with the right boxes for your form. Download it as Excel or PDF.
Marking a period as filed
Once you've submitted a return, click Mark as Filed:
Mark period as filed? This will snapshot the current figures for 1 January to 31 March and record the period as submitted.
That snapshot is the point. From then on the tab shows what you actually filed:
Showing the figures filed on 12 April 2026 — later changes to invoices in this period are not included.
So editing an old invoice can't quietly change a number you've already sent to the tax authority. Filed periods are listed with their filing dates, badged Filed.
If you filed by mistake, Unfile this period (the button beside the filed period) reopens it — "You can edit it and mark it as filed again. The figures in your books are not changed, and nothing is sent to any tax authority."
A document you issued in another currency is not counted in the VAT return — "Your VAT return counts CHF documents only." Convert it yourself and add it to your filing by hand. See Invoicing → Currency.
Related
- Invoicing — the invoices Finance's Income and VAT figures are built from
- Settings → Payments & VAT — where the VAT scheme, accounting basis and card payments are configured
- Team → Switches — who can see the Finance page at all
- Needs Attention — the reminders for unpaid deposits and missing final invoices