Making good business decisions is easier to do when you have excellent information at your fingertips – and that’s the value of having great reporting at the heart of your startup.
Any cloud accounting software worth its salt will offer you straightforward ways to run your financial reports and track your important metrics. That’s standard in the new digital world. And this level of reporting gives you real, tangible data on which to base your decision-making. But making good business decisions isn’t just about the numbers.
Business Health Tips #1: Run management information at least once a month to start making good business decisions
Business health tips #2: Using metrics and projections to make good business decisions
key performance indicators (KPIs)
Making good business decisions: what cloud accounting software are you using now?
Business health tips #3: Talk to your board and executive team when scenario-planning
Business health tips #4: Work closely with an experienced external adviser and start making good business decisions
Business health tips #5: Track how you’re measuring against your goals
Areas to keep an eye can include your:
- Cashflow position – to make sure there’s enough cash in the business to keep your project moving forward and heading towards the agreed end goal.
- Sales figures and revenue – so you can see how you’re tracking against your sales targets and if the intended revenue from the project is being achieved.
- Budgets and expenses – to check that you’re not overspending on your project and that the team is being sensible with costs, expenses and essential overheads.
- Gross margin percentage – so you can keep the business profitable and aim to meet your profit targets for the period, or year-end.
- Growth against targets – to keep the business performing well and growing at the rate you predicted to meet your growth target for the period.