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Technology P&L, Illustrative Sample

The quarterly financial report a Technology Operating Partner engagement produces for the CFO, constructed as an illustrative composite.

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Every number, vendor name, project, and outcome in this document is constructed as an illustrative composite. None of it is real company data. Values are assumed for a stated firm profile. Framework citations and source publications are real. See the Methodology Appendix and the Defensibility Ledger at the end.

The Technology P&L below is the report a Technology Operating Partner engagement produces for the CFO each quarter: total IT spend by TBM tower, versus plan, with analytical notes and the decisions for the next quarterly review.

This sample shows a CFO the format of the report before engaging Preside.

Firm profile

Revenue

$180M

Business services

Headcount

1,637

FTE, mid-market services

Fiscal year

FY26

Through Q3

Total IT spend

$5.60M

3.11% of revenue (FY forecast)

CFO deliverable

Example: Technology P&L by TBM tower

Based on the TBM Council Taxonomy v4.0 and v4.1, a widely used taxonomy for IT financial reporting. Tower names are adapted for this sample. Each tower is presented at FY plan, YTD through Q3, and full-year forecast, expressed as absolute dollars and as a share of revenue.

Example. All figures are illustrative.

Fiscal year forecast · through Q3 FY26

Technology P&L by TBM tower

Total IT, FY forecast$5.60M
TBM towerCategoryFY planYTD (Q3) FY forecastVariance to plan% of revenue
End User ComputingRun$810K$608K$830K+$20K · +2.5%0.46%
Infrastructure & CloudRun$1,350K$1,000K$1,395K+$45K · +3.3%0.78%
Business ApplicationsGrow$1,485K$1,113K$1,510K+$25K · +1.7%0.84%
Data & PlatformGrow$324K$243K$330K+$6K · +1.9%0.18%
Security, Compliance & DRRun$594K$445K$620K+$26K · +4.4%0.34%
IT Management & DeliveryRun$432K$324K$440K+$8K · +1.9%0.24%
Telecom & ConnectivityRun$162K$122K$165K+$3K · +1.9%0.09%
Strategic InitiativesTransform$243K$182K$310K+$67K · +27.6%0.17%
Total IT $5,400K$4,037K $5,600K+$200K · +3.7%3.11%

Analytical notes

  • Run / Grow / Transform split. $3.45M Run (61.6%) / $1.84M Grow (32.9%) / $0.31M Transform (5.5%). The Gartner Run/Grow/Transform framework provides a common lens on IT investment allocation. In this composite, Run is 61.6% of total spend.
  • Vendor concentration. In this composite, three vendors (Vendor A, Vendor B, Vendor C) account for a large share of Business Applications and Infrastructure & Cloud spend. No figure is asserted. The concentration is an illustrative assumption and is not taken from any report.
  • Savings flowing through, fiscal year to date. $380K attributed to prior-year vendor rationalization work, flowing through this year's P&L. Tracked separately from in-period spend.
  • Annualization basis. % of revenue calculated as FY forecast divided by FY revenue ($180M). YTD column reflects three completed fiscal quarters; FY forecast = YTD actual + Q4 projection.

OpEx / CapEx allocation (illustrative)

  • Approximate FY forecast split. ~$4.65M OpEx (~83%) / ~$0.95M CapEx (~17%). Internal-use software development capitalized under ASC 350-40 across Business Applications, Data & Platform, and Strategic Initiatives towers. Cloud subscriptions (Infrastructure & Cloud, SaaS in Business Applications) flow through OpEx. For simplicity, this composite treats End User Computing, Security, IT Management, and Telecom as fully expensed. Many companies capitalize devices and network equipment, so a live P&L would show device and infrastructure capital spend as its own line.
  • Capitalization assumption. In this composite, most business applications are subscription-based rather than internally developed, so the CapEx share is small. The ~17% share is an assumption.
  • Why this matters at PE-backed companies. A buyer's quality-of-earnings review can test how much software development cost was capitalized rather than expensed, because capitalizing raises EBITDA. The split above lets the CFO explain the policy line by line. A live engagement supports the CFO's accounting team with the underlying cost data. The capitalization decision stays with the company and its auditors.

Decisions surfaced for next quarter

  • Vendor X renewal in Q4. 41% seat utilization on a $205K annual contract. Illustrative analysis: resizing seats to a 70% utilization target removes about 41% of the seats, or about $85K a year ($205K × (1 − 41/70)).
  • Project Atlas. Illustrative rollout at month 8 of 12. Original business case projected $1.2M annual benefit. Track-to-date pattern suggests $700K to $900K attainment. Decision: continue, restructure, or stop.
  • Shadow SaaS discovery. Six net-new tools surfaced via expense-report review this quarter, none in central IT inventory. $112K annualized. Decision: sanction or consolidate.

Appendix A

Methodology, per-figure derivation

Every figure above derives from one of three sources: a published benchmark cited inline, a logical derivation from a published benchmark using the stated firm profile, or an illustrative value marked as such. This appendix documents each derivation so any reviewer can trace the number back to its origin.

M1 · Total IT as percent of revenue (3.11%)

An assumption chosen for this example, with a Run-heavy profile driven by Infrastructure & Cloud investment. It is not taken from a published benchmark. A live engagement compares total IT as a percent of revenue with published sources, such as the Avasant IT Spending and Staffing Benchmarks (subscription), which report the ratio by industry and company size.

M2 · Absolute tower dollar values

Each tower's FY forecast is an assumed value, set so the towers sum to the stated total of 3.11 percent of $180M revenue. In total, FY plan is set 3.7 percent below FY forecast. Individual towers vary, from 1.7 to 27.6 percent (see M6). YTD through Q3 reflects three completed fiscal quarters and totals approximately 72 percent of the FY forecast, with variance by tower to reflect seasonality. Every row's math is arithmetically consistent with the totals.

M3 · Run / Grow / Transform allocation (62% / 33% / 5%)

Direct aggregation of the tower classifications above: Run = End User Computing + Infrastructure & Cloud + Security, Compliance & DR + IT Management & Delivery + Telecom & Connectivity = $3.45M. Grow = Business Applications + Data & Platform = $1.84M. Transform = Strategic Initiatives = $0.31M. Percentages compute against the $5.60M total. Framework: Gartner Run/Grow/Transform categorization.

M4 · Vendor concentration language

Illustrative statement that three vendors account for a large share of relevant spend. No figure is asserted, and no published benchmark is used.

M5 · Realized savings ($380K)

Illustrative value representing prior-year vendor consolidation and license rightsizing savings flowing through the current fiscal year. It is a constructed number and is not a typical result.

M6 · Variance to plan (FY forecast vs FY plan)

Straight arithmetic: FY forecast minus FY plan, and (FY forecast − FY plan) ÷ FY plan expressed as a percentage. Each row and the total reconcile. The Strategic Initiatives variance (+27.6%) is deliberately outsized to reflect the pattern where discretionary transform work absorbs mid-year re-prioritization spend that other towers do not. In a live engagement, each variance line would carry a narrative explanation and (where applicable) a decision to accept, redirect, or claw back.

M7 · OpEx / CapEx allocation (~83% / ~17%)

Illustrative composite: cloud subscriptions and vendor SaaS flow through OpEx; internal-use software development eligible for capitalization under ASC 350-40 (Business Applications, Data & Platform, Strategic Initiatives development components) forms the CapEx portion. Actual capitalization determination is per-project and per-vendor and requires accounting-team review; the ~$0.95M CapEx figure is a directional assumption, not a specific accounting position. The capitalization decision stays with the company, its accounting team, and its auditors.

Appendix B

Defensibility ledger

Every external claim and framework in this sample, with its source and status. PUBLISHED means the source is a published framework, standard, or report. Preside has not independently checked any specific figure against it. ILLUSTRATIVE means the value is constructed to fit the composite; the framework it sits inside is published but the specific number is not sourced.

Claim / figureSourceStatus
TBM Taxonomy tower structureTBM Council, TBM Taxonomy v4.0 and v4.1. Tower names are adapted for this sample.Published
Total IT % of revenue (3.11%)Assumption chosen for this example. A live engagement compares it with published benchmarks.Illustrative
Absolute dollar values in P&L tableAssumed per tower so the total reconciles to 3.11% of the $180M revenue profileIllustrative
Gartner Run/Grow/Transform frameworkGartner, published frameworkPublished
Vendor concentration statementIllustrative assumption. No published benchmark, including Vertice, is used in this sample.Illustrative
Illustrative decision magnitudes ($85K, $700K-$900K, $112K, $380K)Sized to be consistent with the P&L totals and typical of the decision scale at $180M mid-market servicesIllustrative
Variance to plan (per-row and total)Straight arithmetic (FY forecast − FY plan) with percentage over FY plan; all rows and total reconcileIllustrative
ASC 350-40 capitalization frameworkFASB Accounting Standards Codification, Topic 350-40, Internal-Use SoftwarePublished
Illustrative ~83% OpEx / ~17% CapEx splitAssumed for this composite. Not a specific accounting position; the per-project determination stays with the company, its accounting team, and its auditors.Illustrative

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