Welcome Back & Happy New Year: Key Numbers to Focus On in Your Business Now
- OneTeam
- 6d
- 3 min read
Welcome to 2026! We hope you had a refreshing break and are feeling recharged for the year ahead. The start of a new year always brings a sense of possibility - a chance to reset, refocus, and step into the next chapter with clarity and purpose. And as a business owner, it’s never been more important to have a solid grasp on your finances as you plan for the year ahead.
For many businesses, priorities have changed, customer behaviours have mutated and revenue streams have had to evolve and pivot in order to maintain a profitable business model.
To track, monitor and drive your financial performance in this updated business environment, it’s increasingly important to have a handle on your key financial reports and metrics.
Getting to grips with your financial reports
In the past, extra cash in a business might have been viewed as a surplus that needed to be spent. However, recent years have demonstrated that maintaining reserves is crucial for the survival and long-term well-being of your business.
To truly be in control of this cash, it’s vital that you can dip into your accounts, financial reports and dashboards and ‘see the genuine story’ behind your financial position.
Here are the key reports to focus on:
Budget – Your budget serves as the financial blueprint connected to your strategic plan. Essentially, it represents your estimate of the funds required to achieve your primary strategic objectives, as well as the revenue and profits you aim to generate during this time. It acts as a standard to compare your actual financial performance (historical figures) against, enabling you to identify discrepancies, differences, and unmet targets over a specific timeframe.
Cashflow Statement – a cashflow statement shows the flow of money into and out of your business. Understanding these cash inflows and outflows in detail allows you to manage this ongoing process, allowing you to aim for a ‘positive cashflow position’ – where inflows outweigh outflows. In this ideal positive scenario, you have enough liquid cash in the business to cover your costs, fund your operations and generate a profit.
Cashflow Forecast – Forecasting enables you to use your historical cash figures to predict future trends. This approach helps you identify potential cashflow gaps weeks or even months ahead, providing you with the opportunity to take measures such as boosting your income, cutting underlying expenses, following up on overdue invoices (aged debt), or seeking extra funding from lenders.
Balance Sheet – the balance sheet shows you the company’s assets, liabilities and equity at a given point in time. In a nutshell, it’s a snapshot of what the business owns (your assets), what you owe to other people (your liabilities) and what money and profits you currently have invested in the company (your equity). The balance sheet is useful for seeing what stock and equipment the business owns, how much debt (liabilities) you’ve worked up and what the company is actually worth – all incredibly useful information to have at your fingertips when making big business decisions.
Profit & Loss – your profit and loss report (P&L) provides a summary of the company's revenues, costs, and expenses over a specified historical period. Unlike the balance sheet, which is a static snapshot, the P&L is more akin to a dynamic video. It illustrates the progression of your finances by showing how revenue is generated and how costs/expenses are incurred, as opposed to the cash inflows and outflows depicted in your cash flow statement and forecasts.
Talk to us about accounting and financial reporting for your business
We’ll run you through the key reports in your accounting software, and can help you track performance, take action and position your company for growth.
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