Seven finance questions every owner should ask each month
You do not need to be an accountant to run the numbers well. You need to ask the right questions, regularly, and expect clear answers.
Good owners are curious about their numbers without being buried in them. These questions work for a monthly meeting with your finance team, your bookkeeper or us.
- How much cash do we have, and what is the lowest it will go in the next 13 weeks?
- Did we hit our sales target, and why not if we missed?
- Is our gross margin holding up, and which products or customers are dragging it down?
- Who owes us money, how much is overdue, and who is chasing it?
- What tax is building up, and when is it due?
- Which costs grew faster than sales, and do we still need them?
- What decision should we make this month because of these numbers?
What good answers look like
Short, specific and comparable. A good answer to the first question is a number and a date: £42,000 now, falling to £18,000 in week nine when VAT and the quarterly rent fall together. A vague answer is a sign the information is not there yet, which is itself worth knowing.
Over time, the last question becomes the most valuable. Numbers that do not change any decision are history; numbers that do are management.
This insight is general information, not advice for your circumstances. Talk to us before acting on it.