Guide

What private equity owners expect in a monthly report

Updated October 24, 2026. General information, not accounting or legal advice.

In short

  • Sponsors want the same numbers, defined the same way, on the same day every month. A consistent number on day five beats a perfect one on day twenty.
  • Most expect a short flash within days of month end, then the full package.
  • Adjusted EBITDA has to tie back to your profit and loss, with every add-back shown.
  • Your lenders' deadlines and definitions come from your credit agreement, not from the sponsor's template.

The monthly flash

The flash is a page or two: revenue, EBITDA and cash against budget and last year, with a line on anything unusual. One guide for portfolio company finance teams puts it at three to ten business days after month end. A flash that arrives late, or is defined differently from last month's, reads as a signal about management. Our guide to how PE-backed companies run the annual budget covers where that budget comes from.

A reporting month
  1. Day 0Month endThe books start to close
  2. Business days 3-10The flashRevenue, EBITDA and cash
  3. After the closeThe full packageBy location, with comments
  4. Each quarterCovenant testsWith the compliance certificate

The full package

The full package follows the close. It usually holds:

  • Profit and loss, consolidated and by location, against budget, last month and last year, with comments on the variances.
  • Balance sheet, cash flow, cash on hand and the room left on your credit line.
  • The KPI schedule tied to the investment thesis, such as same-store sales, labor cost as a share of sales, visits or tickets, and headcount. Define each one once and keep it.
  • Each add-on since closing, against the deal model.
  • What changed and why, in plain words.

Adjusted EBITDA and covenants

Your credit agreement defines Adjusted EBITDA with its own list of add-backs, and that definition rarely matches your management profit and loss. Keep one schedule that walks from the management figure to the covenant figure, with every adjustment visible.

From management EBITDA to covenant Adjusted EBITDA
Illustrative figures. Your credit agreement sets which add-backs count.

Covenant tests such as leverage and fixed charge coverage usually come each quarter with a compliance certificate. Keep one maintained calculation built on the agreement's definitions. A calculation rebuilt from memory each quarter drifts, and drift becomes a conversation with your lender.

When add-ons arrive

Each acquisition brings its own books, chart of accounts and close habits. Map its accounts to the platform's chart of accounts before its first month in the package. Put it off, and every consolidated report sits on a mismatched base. Give every entity the same close target, the same checklist and the same definitions for revenue, margin and headcount.

Much of this still moves by email. In a PwC survey, 54% of portfolio company respondents collected data and answered sponsor requests with an email attachment.

Before your next close

  1. Agree on the flash with your sponsor: which numbers, and which day.
  2. Write down each KPI's definition and where its data comes from.
  3. Build the walk from management EBITDA to covenant Adjusted EBITDA once, and keep it current.
  4. Map every entity, and every new add-on, to one chart of accounts.
  5. Put every entity on the same close calendar.

Building this package by hand each month?

We build it from your books, payroll and operating systems, the same way every month, for owners and for private equity platforms.

See the monthly package

Sources