By: Scott Gerber
Savvy entrepreneurs make time to review their business’s books regularly. Even if you’re not the one doing the daily, weekly and monthly accounting tasks, it’s good to keep your finger on the pulse of how your business is doing financially. However, it can be difficult to find room on your to-do list for this tedious but important task.
How often do you review your business’s financials? What advice do you have for entrepreneurs who feel overwhelmed by the process of reviewing their numbers regularly?
1. Review your main financial statements
“Ideally, you should review your financials at least monthly. Waiting until the end of the year when tax time rolls around adds a lot of unnecessary stress and leaves little time to fix mistakes. Try setting aside one day a month to pour over your business’ balance sheet, income statement, cash flow statement, and budget. If it’s still hard to find the time, consider having professional help.” – Blair Thomas, eMerchantBroker
2. Snapshots help make smart decisions
“For our businesses, we get frequent snapshots of our financials to review at least weekly. This ensures we can quickly check our cash flow, reserves, sales, and more to make smart decisions on which areas to invest in next. However, each month and quarter, we get in-depth reports that we can pore over in detail to find the smartest cost savings and opportunities for growth.” – Firas Kittaneh, Zoma
3. Consider hiring a financials-focused team member
“Financials can be overwhelming, especially when the financials are for your business because odds are, you’re managing much more than the numbers alone. To combat becoming overwhelmed, I recommend hiring a team member who specializes in financials. Not only will they be able to consistently stay up to date on your business financials, they can give you great advice, too.” – David Chen, Sharebert
4. Review financials as often as is necessary
“Ideally, you’re able to look at the business financials as regularly as necessary. If your business is starting up or has cash flow challenges, then you might need to do this on a more regular basis, like weekly. It all depends on the pressures of business costs versus revenues, so it should be considered based on your unique business needs.” – Baruch Labunski, Rank Secure
5. Use the right software and study up
“Reviewing financials is something that will vary a lot from one business to another. With appropriate software, you will be able to get to grips with it and will be able to complete this task quicker. It is important to get help early on if you need it, but being able to understand your business’s financials is important for any leader. So don’t delay on studying up.” – Ismael Wrixen, FE International
6. Develop an efficient system to make finances fun
“Reviewing your finances regularly can be painful at first, but after you do it for a little bit, it’s incredibly powerful. I started with weekly, then developed an efficient system so I could do it in about 30 minutes. Then, I started to see trends and begin to understand how to strategically use finances to drive business growth. And that’s when finances are fun!” – Monica Snyder, Birdsong
7. Make it cyclical for fewer mistakes
“To avoid being overwhelmed, checking financials should be an ongoing process with small achievable weekly or even daily goals that are cyclical in nature. Five minutes every day is easier than several hours every quarter and leaves less room for error.” – Reuben Yonatan, GetVoIP
8. Avoid surprises and last-minute chaos
“We review our financials on a regular basis to avoid things popping up at the last minute, causing chaos. It’s important to check your financials as often as you feel is needed, since every business is different and has different requirements.” – Jared Atchison, WPForms
9. Minimize worry and sleep better with a basic weekly review
“I don’t like to put too much emphasis on our financials, as this can keep us off track worrying about things that can easily change. I like to do a basic weekly review that only takes about five minutes where I scan them and make sure everything is on track. I don’t let myself linger for too long because I realize this is on a week-by-week basis, but it helps me sleep better at night.” – Stephanie Wells, Formidable Forms
10. If it’s overwhelming, find a temporary advisor
“If you find something overwhelming, it’s better for you to temporarily find an advisor that can help you work through the details and improve your knowledge of it. Don’t waste time trying to learn something that is overly frustrating, find someone who you can trust who will guide you.” – Nicole Munoz, Nicole Munoz Consulting, Inc.
11. Use cloud-based accounting Software
“We review our numbers every month, which might seem overwhelming to some. But, you can make it less overwhelming by using cloud-based accounting software. Cloud-based accounting software lets you see an overview of your business finances in real-time at a glance so that you can easily see if everything is on track.” – Thomas Griffin, OptinMonster
12. Find the cadence that’s just right for your business
“An entrepreneur who reviews their business financials too often can easily get frustrated. But if they ignore their financial reviews for too long, then they risk missing important issues in time. It’s good to do a basic monthly review, doing in-depth analysis every quarter. It’s “just right” and because it’s spaced out with less pressure, it reduces anxiety and prevents major surprises.” – Syed Balkhi, WPBeginner