Do You Know Where Your Money Is? 💵

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We’re back and discussing financial dashboards today.

Running a small business without a financial dashboard is like driving blindfolded….It works out great, right? To navigate effectively, you need clear, actionable data at your fingertips. A dashboard consolidates critical metrics, giving you the insights needed to make smarter decisions and stay ahead of challenges. This is one of the first things I’d implement if you can’t pinpoint where your money goes daily.

Here are a few essential components your financial dashboard should track:

1. 💵 Cash in the Bank

Cash is the foundation of your financial health. Knowing your cash balance ensures you can cover expenses, seize growth opportunities, or weather unexpected challenges. This does not have to be something super fancy and works perfect in Excel or Sheets. I build these templates tailored to business leaders and can do that for you in about an hours time!

Include both your operating account and any savings or reserves to understand your full liquidity picture, plus any loan/line information depending on your business size.

2. 📉 Monthly Revenue

Tracking revenue monthly allows you to identify patterns. Are you growing, stagnating, or losing steam? This metric helps you adjust strategies like marketing or sales efforts to meet your goals. What I’ve found here is a couple simple graphs help this detail pop.

Compare actual monthly revenue to your forecast to stay aligned with your financial targets. A common them we use is tracking general revenue and then also EBITDA. Some businesses love EBITDA while others aren’t a huge fan. Do what works for you.

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3. 📈 Profit Margins

It’s not just about how much you earn—it’s about how much you keep. Monitoring profit margins helps you understand the efficiency of your operations and where you might need to reduce costs. I suggest tracking and analyzing across a quarter or semi-annually to get a better gauge on things.

Break profit margins down by product or service to pinpoint your most profitable offerings and figure out what’s working and makes sense to potentially invest more in as you move forward.

4. 📊 Outstanding Invoices (Receivables)

Unpaid invoices can cripple your cash flow. Use your dashboard to track the total amount of outstanding invoices and their aging to prioritize follow-ups. There is a lot of information I love to share related to AR so if you carry past dues or a high percentage of your AR isn’t paid timely, give me a shout. Going into 2025 on a solid footing of managing this process can truly change your businesses whole approach.

Create a process to regularly follow up on overdue invoices, such as automated reminders or personal outreach. This area of your business needs constant attention.

5. 📂 Outstanding Payables

Tracking outstanding payables is equally critical. Knowing what your business owes ensures you stay on top of obligations and avoid late fees or strained vendor relationships. This along with your AR are key components of the daily financial dashboard you have. Money coming in, money going out. When and why…..

I hope this helps you out and we’re almost to 2025 so it’s a good time to make adjustments to your dashboard ahead of the new year. Give me a shout if I can be of any assistance here by emailing [email protected] or by joining my online community, Cash Flow Chronicles. This community is the perfect place to develop and get my services super discounted so we help you with anything you need and save you tons of money along the way.

If you made it this far, I appreciate you staying and reading what we had to offer today in our newsletter! Remember, if you share and bring 20 referrals to me I will give you a free 1 hour consultation where it’s not a discovery discussion, but we dive straight into what you have questions on and make changes to help!