A one-hour monthly review
Look at the same few numbers every month and turn what they say into next month's tasks.
5 min read
Most small business owners are too busy running the business to look at it. An hour once a month, with the same few numbers each time, is enough to see problems while they are small — and to decide what to do next month instead of just reacting to it.
Pick a fixed day
The first weekend of the month, or the day after the books are done. Same day every month. Put it on your calendar like any appointment.
The numbers: same ones, every month
You need the weekly records from Bookkeeping in twenty minutes a week. From them, write down:
| Number | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| Sales this month | Are you growing, steady or shrinking? |
| Costs this month | Is anything rising faster than sales? |
| Rough profit (sales − costs) | Is the business actually making money? |
| Cash in the bank | Can you pay next month's bills? |
| Money owed to you | How much is stuck with customers, and how old? |
| Money you owe | What is due, and when? |
| Stock on hand | Is cash tied up on the shelf? |
Put each month's figures next to last month's and the same month last year. The trend matters more than any single number.
Keep it on one page. A review that needs a report nobody reads won't happen next month. A single page of seven numbers will.
Three questions
With the numbers in front of you, ask:
- What went better than last month — and why? Do more of it.
- What went worse — and why? A late payer, a cost that jumped, a product that stopped selling.
- What's coming? Tax dates, a festival, a lease renewal, a big order. Look three months ahead, as in Cash flow.
Turn it into tasks
A review is only useful if something changes. End with three to five specific tasks for the month, each with a date:
- "Call the three customers more than 30 days late — by the 10th."
- "Ask two suppliers for a better rate on packaging — by the 15th."
- "Raise prices on the top three items — from the 1st."
The usual mistake is a review that ends with "need to improve sales". That isn't a task. A task says who does what by when — and next month you check whether it was done.
Check last month's tasks first
Start each review by going through last month's list. Done, not done, or no longer needed. The tasks that keep slipping are telling you something — either they don't matter, or they need help.
Once a quarter, go a little deeper
Every third month, add:
- Prices — redo the margin sum on your best sellers (see Price for margin)
- Customers — who are your biggest, and are any of them slipping away?
- Filing — anything coming up in the next quarter on the filing calendar
Do it with someone
If you have a partner, a spouse who helps, or a trusted employee, review together. Saying the numbers out loud to someone else makes it harder to explain away a bad month.
Put your monthly review and the tasks it produces on the task list below, so each month starts with last month's list.