Implementing Cost-Volume-Profit Analysis using Python

Induraj
3 min readFeb 20, 2023

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what is CVP?

Cost-Volume-Profit (CVP) analysis is a financial management tool used to evaluate how changes in sales volume, prices, and costs will affect a company’s profitability. It is also known as Break-Even Analysis.

What is it used for?

The primary objective of CVP analysis is to determine the breakeven point, which is the point where the company’s revenue equals its total costs. In other words, it is the point where the company is neither making a profit nor incurring a loss.

CVP analysis helps businesses to make important decisions such as setting the selling price of a product, determining the level of production required to meet the breakeven point, and deciding the most profitable sales mix.

what are the variables used in CVP?

CVP analysis takes into account the following variables:

  1. Sales volume: The total quantity of goods or services sold by the company.
  2. Selling price: The price at which the company sells its products or services.
  3. Variable cost: The cost that varies with the level of production or sales volume, such as raw material cost, labor cost, and shipping cost.
  4. Fixed cost: The cost that remains constant irrespective of the level of production or sales volume, such as rent, salaries, and insurance.

Formula:

The CVP analysis equation is as follows:

CVP analysis helps businesses to make informed decisions about pricing, production, and sales volume. By using this tool, companies can identify the minimum level of sales required to achieve profitability and the most profitable sales mix.

Python Implementation:

This script assumes that the total cost and total revenue functions are linear, and that the contribution margin per unit is constant.

def cvp_analysis(selling_price, variable_cost, fixed_cost):
"""Perform a basic cost volume profit analysis"""
# Calculate the contribution margin per unit
contribution_margin = selling_price - variable_cost

# Calculate the break-even point in units and sales revenue
break_even_units = fixed_cost / contribution_margin
break_even_sales = break_even_units * selling_price

# Calculate the profit at different sales levels
sales = np.arange(0, 100000, 100)
profit = (selling_price * sales) - (variable_cost * sales) - fixed_cost

# Plot the profit vs. sales curve
plt.plot(sales, profit)
plt.axhline(y=0, color='gray', linestyle='--')
plt.axvline(x=break_even_sales, color='gray', linestyle='--')
plt.xlabel('Sales')
plt.ylabel('Profit')
plt.title('Cost-Volume-Profit Analysis')
plt.show()

# Example usage
cvp_analysis(selling_price=50, variable_cost=20, fixed_cost=5000)

The plot of the profit vs. sales curve, with the break-even point and zero profit line indicated by dashed lines.

Note that this is a very basic implementation of CVP analysis, and in reality, the total cost and total revenue functions may not be linear, and the contribution margin per unit may not be constant. More advanced CVP analyses may take these factors into account.

For any help, Reach out to me @Linkedin. I would be happy to help you.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/indurajpr/

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