Operating Statement
A waterfall breakdown of your income, fixed costs, variable spending, and net position — for any month.
TL;DR
The Operating Statement is Module A of the Jijenga Intelligence Suite. It shows you exactly where your money went — structured as income minus costs, not just a list.
What it is
The Operating Statement takes all your classified M-Pesa transactions and structures them as a financial breakdown: income in, costs out, net position at the bottom. Unlike the Ledger, which is a transaction list, the Operating Statement is an analysis — designed to show the structure of your finances, not just the events.
Navigate here via MORE → INTELLIGENCE → Operating Stmt.
How to use it
Select your month
Use the year and month selectors at the top. The statement updates instantly when you change the period.
Read the waterfall chart
The chart shows four bars in sequence: INCOME (total money in), then Fixed Costs (rent, utilities, subscriptions), then Variable Lifestyle (food, transport, airtime, discretionary), then Net Position (what's left). Each step down shows where the money went.
Choose your mode
Toggle between OPERATING and TOTAL mode. Operating mode focuses on income vs fixed + variable costs. Total mode includes all transaction types including transfers.
Check the KPI strip
Below the chart, three ratios give you a quick read on your financial structure:
- Operating Margin — net position as a percentage of income
- Fixed Ratio — what share of income goes to fixed obligations
- Lifestyle Drag — what share goes to variable/discretionary spending
Drill into the hierarchy
The FINANCIAL_HIERARCHY_BREAKDOWN below the KPIs shows your full transaction tree: category groups → categories → sub-categories. Tap any row to expand and see individual transactions.
What to look for
- Lifestyle Drag above 50% — more than half your income going to discretionary spending is a structural imbalance, not a one-month problem
- Negative net position — you spent more than you earned; the Operating Statement shows you exactly which category caused it
- Fixed Ratio creeping up month-over-month — new recurring obligations (subscriptions, loan repayments) quietly eating into your margin
- Category surprises in the hierarchy — expand a row you assumed was small and find it's significantly larger than expected
Tips
- Compare two months back-to-back by switching the month selector — the KPI ratios make month-over-month comparison fast
- Use OPERATING mode for a clean income vs costs view; switch to TOTAL if you want to include transfers and savings deposits in the picture
- The Operating Statement is the best starting point when investigating why your Velocity Lab shows OVER_BUDGET
See also: Velocity Lab · Flow Explorer