Analysis needs to find explanations for why revenue has followed the path that it has and why the individual cost items have developed as they have.

The previous briefing set out why we need a rigorous causal explanation for what drives profit or other performance outcomes. This analysis does not usually depart from normal practice, at least when it concerns profits, except for the addition of time charts for the revenue and cost items.

Conventionally, revenue would be “explained” in terms of ...