Free checklist

Ten signs your finance function hasn't kept up with your growth

A two-minute check for owners of multi-site and service businesses. Each sign says what it looks like and what it's costing you, with a score at the end and what to do about it.

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The ten signs

  1. You see last month's numbers more than three weeks after month end. The P&L arrives when the accountant gets to it. Every decision in between is made on the previous quarter.
  2. Profit is only reliable at 30 June. Monthly profit jumps around and year-end adjustments change it by tens of thousands, because accruals, prepayments and provisions aren't booked monthly.
  3. You can't say which site, crew or service line made money last month. One P&L for the whole business. A loss-making site funded by a profitable one, for years.
  4. Payroll tax is a once-a-year conversation. Lodged in one state; contractor practitioners assumed to be contractors. Penalties, interest, and a liability that arrives as a surprise.
  5. The balance sheet is nobody's job. Suspense and clearing balances, leave liabilities that haven't moved, loans that don't match the lender. The profit figure is wrong by whatever is hiding there.
  6. Billing runs from memory. Invoices go out weeks after the work; time or jobs tracked but never reconciled to what was billed. Cash a month late, revenue missed entirely.
  7. The budget is last year plus ten percent. No link to the drivers: hours, sites, practitioners, jobs. A plan the team doesn't recognise and variances nobody can explain.
  8. You don't know your cash position six weeks out. The bank balance is the forecast; super, GST and payroll tax arrive as events.
  9. "Can we afford it?" is answered by feel. The next hire, site or vehicle approved on the bank balance and optimism. The hire that leaves the business tight for a year.
  10. Nobody has told you what you can take out of the business, and when. Drawings when the balance looks good; a tax bill or a super run tightens it again.

Scoring

What to do next

The free Financial Fitness Score: read-only Xero access for 48 hours, nineteen checks across four pillars, your top three priorities and what they're costing you, and a 30-minute call. Five business days. Request it here.