The Quickest Method to Make your Yearly Financial Review

I used to spend hours on my monthly business financial review.

I now complete my monthly financial review in 20 minutes or less.

I'm so proud of myself.

Do you do your own monthly financial review? Are you out of your mind? You should have an accountant.

That's what I get always told.

Yes, I do. I have a very good accountant. They also do the quarterly statement and everything else that's needed.

I do the review anyway.

It keeps me focused on what I've done and where I'm going. As a solopreneur or small business owner, it can be challenging to take a step back and assess the performance of our businesses.

This is it!

You might also discover that you have been paying for a subscription you no longer use. I discovered additional bank charges I had no idea were applied to my account. It turned out they were for something I wasn't even using!

It is challenging to find the time to review your finances on a monthly basis.

This is particularly the case if, like I used to do, you spend hours writing your income, results and so on elsewhere.

There are so many other things we could be doing.

For solopreneurs and small business owners, the day usually takes the form of a triage: what's the biggest fire I need to put out right now?

Here's the problem: a financial review doesn't seem like a major issue. The accountant is already handling it, so why not outsource it?

It takes a lot of time to go through the whole of it.

I'm still in the green, so what could it matter?

The reality is that the financial review is a moment of pause and review of more than income and costs.

It's the moment we start thinking that maybe we should add another offer, or cut out that one that isn't working – and look at how much money is costing!

Chris, our friendly neighbourhood course creator, is going to do her review in the same way, since it's the fastest way she knows.

Let's do it with her, step by step!

Step # 1: Download the Transactions for the Month from Your Business Bank Account.

Your bank account records all of your transactions. Let's get started there.

Chris filters her transactions from the first to the last day in her bank account. Then she clicks the download Excel button.

Note: The bank may have one download option (xlm), or you may have to wait for a pop-up window to appear before you can proceed. If there is only one button, click on it and proceed.

If you cannot find your download button, it is probably better for your privacy to ask your bank manager instead of us.

Step # 2: Add Additional Information to Each Transaction in the Financial Review.

Load this file into your Drive folder or somewhere where you can open the file and keep all of them, one per month, in the same folder. Your files will be stored securely on a cloud or external disc, so you can rest assured that they will not be lost or damaged.

Chris loads her transaction Excel file and adds three more columns. One per name of the project and one per department, and one if it's either income or outcome.

She adds the project, department, and income/outcome information for each transaction.

Insert the new columns and fill

She doesn't have proper projects; she has courses, so she fills the column with that. You can also fill it with a step in the customer journey.

In the department column, she adds which department is involved in each transaction, including the accountant, admin, marketing, sales, and so on, even if she doesn't have employees. This will give her a pick into the spending per department.

Step # 3: It all Comes Together! Click, Sit Back, and Watch the Magic Happen.

Step 2 is the longest step. Sometimes it takes a bit of time to find out how this €24.98 transaction got there.

We're almost at the end. Just pivot!

Chris clicks on Insert > Pivot Table > New Sheet > Select all.

Then she moves on to the new sheet and drags the columns' values in the columns box and the amount in the values, selecting SUM.

Right, it's done! Our monthly review is done automatically!

Note: You should do this step twice. You really should do income vs. outcome too.

The Hardest Part. And it's the Best Part because You're Done!

Now, take a look at the numbers. I guarantee you'll find some surprises.

We all should do this at least once in a while. Sometimes we are in the middle of selling our product or service, and we think these values are different.

Better.

Worst.

Looking at them on paper is really grounding.

Any Issues?

You might have tried and succeeded. Well done!

If you have some holdups, we are here to help. Comment or ask us directly during one of our events!