Most business owners review their companies the way most people review their health. Annually, under mild duress, through documents built for the accountant rather than for them. Then they steer twelve months of decisions on instinct.
There is a better instrument, and it fits on one page. I build a version of it with nearly every client, and the discipline matters more than the format. Once a month, the same page, the same twelve numbers, reviewed on the same day. Here is what belongs on it.
Cash. Balance today, and months of runway at current burn. Not profit, cash. Profitable companies die of cash regularly.
Money in motion. Receivables over 30 days with the three largest named, and payables coming due. Aging receivables are tomorrow’s cash crisis, visible today.
Revenue engine. Sales this month against plan, and the two or three leading indicators that predict next quarter, proposals out, pipeline value, conversion rate. Lagging results tell you what happened; leading measures are the only numbers you can still do something about.
Delivery health. One quality measure, complaints, rework, returns, missed deadlines, whatever failure looks like in your business, tracked as a trend, not an incident.
People. Headcount changes, open roles, and one honest engagement signal, even informal. Turnover announces itself quietly first.
Concentration. Percent of revenue from your largest client. When one relationship passes a third of revenue, you do not have a client, you have an employer who can fire you without notice, and every other number on the page inherits that risk.
Each number needs an owner and a comparison, to plan, to last month, to last year. Variance triggers one question. What are we doing about it, by when?
Twelve numbers, one hour, every month. It is a disciplined, low cost management practice with an unusually high return on the time invested.
Mel Meier, DBA is an applied social scientist and the founder of iB Consulting USA, a woman owned, WOSB certified advisory firm. She serves boards, associations, and executive teams through board advisory, organizational diagnostics, speaking engagements, and organizational assessments.
