Finance, Profitability & Business Performance

• Do you understand how your business generates profit?
• Can you distinguish between revenue, profit and cash flow?
• Do you regularly review your financial statements?
• Do you know your major sources of income and expenditure?
• Can you identify which products, services or activities drive profits?
• Do you understand your business's fixed and variable costs?
• Do you have a clear financial plan and budget?
• Can you anticipate future cash shortages?
• Do you use financial information when making business decisions?
• Can you measure whether your business is achieving its financial objectives?
• Do you understand the financial impact of business expansion?
• Do you have reliable financial reports to support your decisions?

Tick what is true for your business. Every question you can't tick is a gap worth looking at. Nothing is saved or sent.

• Do you understand the key figures in your income statement?
• Can you interpret your balance sheet beyond the closing balances?
• Do you understand the sources and uses of cash in your business?
• Do you track revenue, gross profit and net profit trends?
• Do you compare actual results with previous periods?
• Do you benchmark financial performance against your budget?
• Do you monitor liquidity and your ability to meet short-term obligations?
• Do you understand your debt levels and financial commitments?
• Can you identify warning signs of deteriorating financial performance?
• Do you investigate significant changes in financial ratios?
• Can you identify whether growth is improving or weakening financial stability?
• Do you use financial analysis to support investment and operational decisions?

Tick what is true for your business. Every question you can't tick is a gap worth looking at. Nothing is saved or sent.

• Do you know your gross profit and net profit margins?
• Can you identify your most and least profitable products or services?
• Do you measure profitability by customer or client?
• Do you understand the true cost of delivering each product or service?
• Do you know your break-even sales level?
• Do you monitor changes in selling prices and profit margins?
• Do you understand the impact of discounts on profitability?
• Do you identify unprofitable contracts, customers or business activities?
• Do you measure the financial impact of waste and operational inefficiencies?
• Do you assess how changes in sales volume affect profit?
• Do you review product mix and service mix decisions?
• Do you have clear targets for improving profitability?

Tick what is true for your business. Every question you can't tick is a gap worth looking at. Nothing is saved or sent.

• Do you maintain a regular cash flow forecast?
• Can you predict your cash position over the next 4–13 weeks?
• Do you know how much cash your business needs to operate?
• Do customers pay within the agreed credit period?
• Do you regularly review overdue receivables?
• Do you understand how inventory affects available cash?
• Are supplier payments planned around expected cash inflows?
• Do you monitor upcoming loan repayments and other financial commitments?
• Can you identify seasonal cash flow pressures?
• Do you distinguish between accounting profit and available cash?
• Do you have a plan for unexpected expenses or delayed customer payments?
• Do you assess the cash implications of business growth and expansion?

Tick what is true for your business. Every question you can't tick is a gap worth looking at. Nothing is saved or sent.

• Do you understand your major cost categories?
• Can you distinguish between fixed, variable, direct and indirect costs?
• Do you know the true cost of your products or services?
• Do you identify unnecessary expenditure and recurring cost leakage?
• Do you compare actual costs with budgeted costs?
• Do you investigate significant cost variances?
• Do you monitor labour, material and overhead costs where relevant?
• Do you review supplier prices and purchasing terms?
• Do you measure waste, rework and inefficient resource utilisation?
• Do you assess whether your operating capacity is being used effectively?
• Do you understand how cost changes affect contribution margins?
• Do you evaluate the cost impact before making operational changes?

Tick what is true for your business. Every question you can't tick is a gap worth looking at. Nothing is saved or sent.

• Does your business operate with an approved annual budget?
• Are budgets linked to clear business objectives?
• Do departments or managers take responsibility for their budgets?
• Are sales forecasts based on realistic assumptions?
• Do you forecast operating expenses and capital expenditure?
• Do you prepare cash flow forecasts alongside profit forecasts?
• Do you compare actual performance with budget regularly?
• Do you investigate material budget variances?
• Do you update forecasts when business conditions change?
• Do you model best-case, expected and worst-case scenarios?
• Do you assess the financial impact of expansion or new investments?
• Do forecasts inform corrective action and management decisions?

Tick what is true for your business. Every question you can't tick is a gap worth looking at. Nothing is saved or sent.

• Have you defined clear financial performance objectives?
• Do you track revenue growth and sales performance?
• Do you monitor gross profit and net profit margins?
• Do you measure operating expenses against revenue?
• Do you monitor cash flow and liquidity indicators?
• Do you track receivables collection and payment performance?
• Do you measure inventory turnover where applicable?
• Do you monitor customer, product or service profitability?
• Do you compare KPIs against budgets and historical performance?
• Does each key KPI have a clear owner?
• Are performance thresholds and corrective actions defined?
• Do your KPIs support timely and informed management decisions?

Tick what is true for your business. Every question you can't tick is a gap worth looking at. Nothing is saved or sent.

• Do you have a consolidated view of your key financial results?
• Can you access up-to-date management information when needed?
• Are revenue, costs, margins and cash flow visible in one place?
• Can you compare actual performance with budgets and targets?
• Are trends and significant variances clearly highlighted?
• Can you identify underperforming products, services or business units?
• Are reports easy for non-finance managers to understand?
• Do you receive information frequently enough to act on it?
• Are reports generated consistently from reliable data?
• Do you use charts and visualisations to identify performance patterns?
• Can you drill down into the figures behind an unexpected result?
• Does management reporting lead to clear actions and accountability?

Tick what is true for your business. Every question you can't tick is a gap worth looking at. Nothing is saved or sent.