DATEV Unternehmen Online: Retrieving reports (e.g. BWA)
Introduction
Reports are the result of day-to-day bookkeeping: business analysis reports, open items lists, trial balances and other reports that help you manage your business. In DATEV Unternehmen online (DUO), we provide you with these reports, and you can access them yourself at any time – based on the same data that we use.
First, a few clarifications, as there are often misunderstandings regarding these reports. Reports do not generate themselves – they require your documents to have been entered and, in the case of the BWA, posted by us. However, you do not need to compile the figures yourself; we take care of that, and you simply retrieve the result.
Not every report is available straight away. Some lists are ready quickly, whilst the business performance analysis (BWA) is only available after the entries have been posted, and the VAT statements only after they have been submitted to the tax office. We’ll come back to this further down.
In addition to the standard reports, the Profit Overview has been available since 2025, providing a graphical quick guide to your business’s financial position. It is different from the Liquidity Monitor, which shows the cash side of things – we’ll explain this difference too. The article on preparatory bookkeeping describes how the reports fit into the monthly workflow, whilst the overview provides a classification of all modules.
How to access reports
You can find the reports directly in DUO. Log in, open the reports section and select what you’d like to view.
Word-for-word transcript
Reports such as the business analysis (BWA) or the advance VAT return are usually also provided via DATEV Unternehmen Online. To access them, go to ‘Applications’ at the top of the DATEV Unternehmen Online screen and then select ‘Accounting Reports’. This will take you to the reports. There are two different types of reports: PDF reports and, more recently, interactive profit and loss summaries. In this video, I’ll start by showing you the PDF reports. As you can see, my firm has provided me with two reports for June. I can also select the time period here. There’s also a VAT return for the second quarter. And now I can simply click on it. Straight away, I can see the report – in this case, a business performance analysis (BWA) as a PDF. I can view this directly in the browser if I wish. And, of course, I can do whatever I like with it for my own purposes. Using the three dots at the top, I can print the document or download it. In other words, this is the simplest and most secure way. If I go to ‘Applications’, the same functionality is also available for HR. But we’ll look at that separately in another video. That’s where the payroll reports would end up.
-
Log in
Log in at duo.datev.de and select your company.
-
Open the reports
Open the ‘Reports’ section (Accounting). You can also find a specific report directly using the integrated search function.
-
Select the report
Tick the boxes next to the reports you want, for example ‘BWA’ or ‘Open Items List’.
-
View the report
Click ‘Display Reports’ to open the selection. You can view the reports and save them as PDFs.
The reports are stored in the DATEV data centre and are accessible to both you and us at any time. This means you see the same data as we do.
The standard reports
The reports available to you depend on what we have agreed with you. The most common are:
- BWA (business analysis): This shows income, expenses and the provisional profit or loss for a given period. It allows you to see how turnover and costs are developing on a monthly basis, without having to wait for the annual accounts.
- Totals and balances list (SuSa): An overview of all accounts with their totals and balances. It forms the basis for many other reports and shows where specific amounts have been posted.
- OPOS list (open items): Receivables and payables that have not yet been settled – in other words, who still owes you money and which invoices you still need to pay. It forms the basis for a targeted dunning process.
- Account statement: A detailed list of all entries for a single account. Useful if you wish to trace a specific transaction.
- VAT schedules and summary returns: The figures from the advance VAT return, the USt 1/11 form and the summary return. These show which amounts have been reported to the tax office.
- Customer and supplier master data: The stored customer and supplier data on which the open items are based.
If we also handle your payroll accounting, payroll reports are additionally available, such as the payroll journal.
The business analysis report provided in DUO is displayed in German and without a breakdown of figures for the year-on-year comparison. If you require a detailed year-on-year comparison or a specific type of report, please contact us – this can be set up via the reporting packages.
When each report is available
Reports are as up-to-date as the data on which they are based. Some are available shortly after processing, whilst others require a further step.
The trial balance and the list of totals and balances are usually made available quickly. The BWA requires that we have posted the documents to accounts – it is therefore only meaningful once the posting has been completed. The VAT statements and the summary return appear as soon as the data has been submitted to the tax office.
If your BWA for the current month has not yet appeared, this is usually because the entries have not yet been posted. The more completely your documents are recorded and allocated to payments, the faster we can post them and the sooner the BWA will be available.
The Profit and Loss Overview
Word-for-word transcript
A new reporting option, available since August 2025, is the so-called profit and loss overview. I can find this via the same path. So, here at the top in Dativ-Unternehmen-Online, I go to Applications, Reports, Accounting. However, in this client account, for example, I don’t see a PDF report – i.e. no traditional BWA or VAT return – but I do see an interactive report here. And basically, when I click on this, it’s simply the business analysis report in digital form. So I can now scroll through it here. I have it in a digital format. Of course, I can also choose to print the whole thing out. It has to be said that there isn’t actually that much going on with the interactive business analysis report. But if I go back briefly and, for example, go to the ‘Account Sheet’ report, I now have the option here to view specific accounts in the financial accounting system individually. So I can click here and now see, at the level of individual entries, there’s only one entry here, but I can now see every single entry made to this account at the individual entry level. If a digital document is linked to the entry, I’d also see that document here and could even open it directly. In other words, these interactive reports, which DATEV has included since August 2025, are designed to increase transparency and, once the report is available, enable you to view the entire accounts, including individual accounts and so on. This will therefore increase transparency and will, of course, also form the basis for carrying out certain tasks in management accounting, for example. Here, too, you have the option – for instance, when viewing the trial balance – to explicitly export the data and import it into management accounting software, for example. In other words, there’s quite a lot going on in this area at the moment.
The Profit and Loss Overview is a newer report in DUO that gives you a quick overview of your business situation. The data is presented in graphs and tables, allowing you to identify trends at a glance without having to read through a full business analysis report.
It is based on the accounting data stored in the DATEV data centre from the 2021 financial year onwards. The Profit and Loss Overview therefore draws on the same posted figures as the business analysis report, but presents them in a more visual format for quick reference.
Prerequisites
To use the Profit and Loss Overview, you need to be using DUO and have posted accounting data from the 2021 financial year onwards. Access rights are granted via the DATEV online rights management system; we will set this up for you.
The Profit and Loss Overview was released in 2025. If it does not yet appear in your account, it is usually simply because the authorisation has not yet been activated in the Rights Management system – please contact us and we will activate it for you.
The Online Liquidity Monitor
Whilst the Profit and Loss Overview and the Business Performance Analysis (BWA) show financial performance, the Online Liquidity Monitor focuses on the cash flow side of things. It provides an overview of your financial situation directly within DUO: how your bank accounts have performed, where incoming payments come from, where outgoing payments are going, and how much money will be available in the coming weeks and months.
It also highlights overdue receivables and payables. This enables you to identify at an early stage whether a liquidity shortfall is looming. The Online Liquidity Monitor is a paid add-on module; we will invoice you for the costs as part of our agreement with you.
Which analysis for what?
Profitability and liquidity are two separate issues. The following overview helps you to understand the differences:
| Report | Shows | Presentation |
|---|---|---|
| BWA | Income, expenditure, provisional profit or loss for a period | in tabular form |
| Profit and loss summary | Quick overview of the business situation | Graphical and tabular |
| Online liquidity monitor | Cash balances, incoming and outgoing payments, forecast | Graphical |
| OPOS list | Outstanding receivables and payables | in tabular form |
A profit in the business analysis does not automatically mean there is enough money in the account – for example, if customers have not yet paid. To assess profitability, look at the business analysis and profit overview; to assess cash flow, look at the liquidity monitor and outstanding items.
Common sources of error
- Expecting the BWA too early: The BWA is not meaningful until the bookkeeping is complete. If you retrieve it too early, you will see an incomplete picture.
- Documents not fully recorded: If a document is missing, the transaction will be missing from the analysis. A BWA is only as complete as the underlying documents .
- Incorrect document type: A document filed as ‘Other’ is not posted and does not appear in the BWA; see ‘Indexing and retrieving documents ’. This distorts the result.
- Unallocated open items: If payments have not been allocated to the relevant documents, invoices will appear as open in the OPOS list even though they have long since been paid.
- Confusing profit with liquidity: Anyone who draws conclusions about the account balance from the BWA may be mistaken. Profit and available cash are two different things.
Your tasks and our tasks
Your tasks:
- Enter all documents in full and allocate them to payments so that the reports are accurate
- Retrieve the reports yourself as required
- Contact us if you are missing a specific report
Our responsibilities:
- Post the documents and make the reports available
- Set up the appropriate reporting packages and access rights
- Discussing the figures with you and putting them into context
Reports show figures, but not always their causes. If you’re unable to make sense of a trend, please get in touch – we’ll go through it with you.
Frequently asked questions
Which reports can I view in DATEV Unternehmen online?
Depending on your agreement: the business analysis report (BWA), trial balance, OPOS list, account sheet, VAT statements and master data lists. In addition, there is the profit and loss overview and – as an add-on module – the online liquidity monitor. If you use us for payroll, you’ll also have access to payroll reports.
Why isn’t my BWA available yet?
The BWA requires us to have posted the vouchers. As long as posting is still in progress or vouchers are missing, it is not yet meaningful. Fully entered and allocated vouchers speed up the process.
What is the difference between the BWA and the profit and loss overview?
Both are based on the same posted figures. The BWA is a detailed tabular analysis, whilst the Profit and Loss Overview is a graphical quick reference for a rapid overview.
What does the Profit and Loss Overview show, and when was it introduced?
It presents your business situation graphically and in tabular form based on the posted data from the 2021 financial year onwards. It was released in 2025. If it is missing, it is usually simply because the relevant permission has not been enabled in the permissions management.
How do the Profit Overview and the Liquidity Monitor differ?
The Profit and Loss Overview shows financial performance, whilst the Liquidity Monitor focuses on the cash side – account movements, incoming and outgoing payments, and a preview of available funds. A profit does not automatically mean there is enough money in the account.
Does the Liquidity Monitor cost extra?
Yes, it is a paid add-on module. We will settle the terms and conditions as part of our agreement with you. The Profit Overview and the standard reports do not require a separate module.
Can I download the reports?
Yes, you can view the selected reports and save them as PDF files. This allows you to file them or share them, for example with your bank.
Do you, as a practice, see the same reports?
Yes. The reports are based on the same dataset in the DATEV data centre. You and we see the same information.
Legal notice
This article provides an overview and is not a substitute for individual advice. The range of functions, menu navigation and availability of individual reports in DATEV Unternehmen online may change as a result of updates. Provisional reports, such as the BWA, are subject to further processing and the annual accounts.
If you have any questions about your reports or setting up the profit and loss overview, please contact us directly.
As at: May 2026