Learning Center
We keep you up to date on the latest tax changes and news in the industry.

Assess Your Bookkeeping: A 5-Question Financial Checkup

Let's conduct a quick financial assessment to gauge the strength of your bookkeeping efforts.

With just five straightforward questions, you can evaluate your bookkeeping. All you need is a pen, a moment of focus, and an openness to understanding your business's financial state.

Even successful businesses often discover surprises, so before you dismiss the exercise with, “everything seems fine,” dive into this quick check. It's designed to uncover hidden financial pitfalls—cashflow inconsistencies, pricing inaccuracies, tax miss-outs, and growth inhibitions—issues that only become apparent when they're costly.

Ready to start? Let's dig in and uncover the details.

Image 1

Scoring Guide

Each question can earn you 0–5 points, with:

  • 0 = Not at all

  • 5 = Consistently, every month

Total potential score: 0–25 points. No judgment here, just an opportunity for clarity.

Question 1: Are Your Financials Closed Monthly?

Treat your monthly financial closure like essential business maintenance. Skip it occasionally? Manageable. But miss it too often, and you’re operating based on assumption rather than data.

Completing a disciplined monthly close gives you:

  • Accurate and clear financials

  • Dependable reporting

  • No guesswork involved

  • Early warnings of potential issues

If your bookkeeping lags or feels perplexing, it's time to give a low score here.

Score: 0–5.

Question 2: Understanding Your Gross Profit Margin?

While your top line covers expenses, your gross profit margin is key to your income.

Without knowing your margin, you're essentially selling in the dark. Without insight, adjusting pricing, staffing, or processes becomes guesswork rather than strategic management.

Prosperous businesses not only know their margins but constantly work to improve them.

Score: 0–5.

Image 2

Question 3: Awareness of Breakeven and Cash Days?

This is your business resilience check.
It's the difference between a restful night’s sleep and late-night worries.

Do you know:

  • Your necessary sales to break even?

  • How many days your current cash can sustain your business?

  • Your ability to endure a slow month or unforeseen expense?

Schedule a Free Consultation
Let's set you up for financial success!
Here

If the answers aren’t clear, reassess your score.

Score: 0–5.

Question 4: Does Your Reporting Illustrate Trends and KPIs?

Reports simply listing expenses are useful.
But transformative reports unveil trends, KPIs, and insights into your operations.

Trendlines chart progress.
KPIs indicate health.
Combined, they offer the steering wheel for your business.

If it's all just numbers without context, adjust your score honestly.

Score: 0–5.

Question 5: Do You Use Budgeting or Cashflow Forecasts?

Forecasting can convert your financials into future planning tools, transforming them from reactive to proactive management strategies.

A well-structured budget directs money flow, while a cash forecast ensures resource availability.

Without these, you're managing reactively—a costly and unpredictable approach.

Score: 0–5.

Image 3

Your Total Score: Insights on Financial Standing

0–10 points: Financial Firefighting

Making things work, but it’s demanding more effort than necessary.
You're adapting to challenges without adequate planning.

Opportunity: Massive potential for quick improvement from this stage.

11–17 points: Stable, but Reactive

Currently safe, but numerous opportunities are missed.
There's room for refinement in margins, cash management, and reporting.

18–22 points: Healthy with Room for Improvement

Good fundamentals.
Solid systems.
With a few adjustments, you can further refine profits and operations.

23–25 points: Exemplary Financial Management

Your business operates with precision and efficiency.
Aim to maintain this level, laying the groundwork for scalable growth.

Aiming for Improved Financial Health?

Most business owners require not more data, but clearer data.
We offer cleaner systems, stronger habits, and support to decode financial indicators.

For assistance in refining bookkeeping, enhancing reports, creating forecasts, or developing insightful dashboards, feel free to reach out.

Your books should not just record but propel growth. Let’s enhance their value for your business success.

Schedule a Free Consultation
Let's set you up for financial success!
Here
Share this article...

Want tax & accounting tips and insights?

Sign up for our newsletter.

I confirm this is a service inquiry and not an advertising message or solicitation. By clicking “Submit”, I acknowledge and agree to the creation of an account and to the and .