Sharing Reports with Clients

Two Export Options

CohortGenie gives you two ways to get data out — each built for a different situation.

PDF Reports

The branded 4-page summary. Best for:

• Client advisory meetings
• Monthly or quarterly board presentations
• Dropping into an email as a professional deliverable
• Showing business owners the big picture without overwhelming them

From the Dashboard or Heatmap page, click the Export dropdown and select PDF Report. The file downloads immediately. If you've configured firm branding in Settings, your logo and accent color appear automatically.

See Creating Branded Reports for setup details.

CSV Exports

Raw transaction data in spreadsheet format. Best for:

• Clients who want to dig into the numbers themselves
• Importing into Excel or Google Sheets for custom analysis
• Feeding data into other tools or BI platforms
• When a client's internal team wants the underlying detail

From the same Export dropdown, select CSV Export. The download includes:

| Column | Description | |--------|-------------| | Transaction Type | Invoice, Sales Receipt, Credit Memo, or Refund Receipt | | Transaction ID | QuickBooks internal ID | | Date | Transaction date | | Amount | Dollar amount | | Customer Ref | QuickBooks customer ID | | Display Name | Customer name as it appears in QuickBooks |

When to Use Which

This is where advisory judgment comes in.

Use PDF for most client conversations. Business owners don't want a spreadsheet — they want to know what's happening and what to do about it. The PDF gives them summary metrics, visual trends, and key insights in a format they can actually absorb. I've found that a clean, branded PDF does more for perceived value than any spreadsheet ever will.

Use CSV when the client has a specific question. Sometimes a CFO or controller wants to verify the numbers, cross-reference with their own records, or build a custom view. That's when you hand over the CSV.

Practical Notes

• Both exports respect your selected date range. Whatever period you're viewing on the page is what gets exported.
• CSV exports are raw transaction data. They don't include calculated metrics like retention rates or cohort groupings — those are in the PDF.
• No login required to view the files. Once downloaded, they're standard PDF and CSV files. Share them however you normally share files with clients — email, shared drive, client portal.
• Nothing is shared automatically. CohortGenie doesn't email reports to clients or expose links. You control what gets shared and when.