Monthly financial reporting helps owners, managers and potential lenders get a better understanding of a company’s current and future financial status. You can see financial trends when you examine daily, weekly and monthly financial reports. You’ll be able to manage long-term profitability by improving internal business performance while staying updated on significant progress or changes in your financial status and cash flow.
These reports help you determine:
- Whether you can effectively generate cash flow and where that cash can be used.
- Specific details of a business transaction.
- Potential issues that may be hurting or helping your profitability.
- Whether you can pay off debts.
- Financial ratios that show your financial position.
Financial reports are easier to make sense of when you get them in a visual way that is more digestible. Interactive dashboards help you:
- Make predictions based on accurate data.
- Effectively plan out your budget.
- Track your revenue, expenses and profitability.
- Improve the performance of your processes.
- Create clear, accurate reports.
Many business owners want to be updated not monthly but weekly or even daily to ensure an accurate representation of the business’s finances. Accounting software can help you create dynamic reports to assist you in updating cash flow statements.
What other financial documents should you be checking?
- The sales forecast. Create a spreadsheet projecting sales over the course of three years. Put in sections for different types of sales and create an estimation of what you believe your firm will sell, including pricing and cost of sales. A sales forecast will help you determine whether you’re on track to meet your company goals.
- The financial budget. How much will it cost to make sales? Consider everything from payroll, rent, advertising and promotional expenses to your interest and taxes. Even though these numbers will be estimates, you’ll be able to make your financial budget more accurate over time.
The creation and examination of financial statements help you get a snapshot of your firm’s financial health. Immersing yourself in financial statements will probably seem daunting, but it’s the best way for you to understand how money flows in and out of your business so you can gain the context you need to ask the right questions and make the best decisions. You also want to provide the correct answers to possible investors and other stakeholders.
We provide Outsourced Controller and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) services to clients who need high level accounting and financial support but do not need to add a full time resource to their payroll right now. Learn more about this service.
The professionals at CironeFriedberg can help you understand how to create these financial statements and establish a protocol for accurate documents to become the foundation for making future business decisions. Call us for more information at 203-798-2721 (Bethel), 203-366-5876 (Shelton), or 203-359-1100 (Stamford), or email us at info@cironefriedberg.com.
