Which financial reports should I review monthly?

CA Vijay R Singh, FCA
Chartered Accountant · ICAI M.No. 153926 · FRN 136869W

Short answerEach month, review your Profit & Loss (are you making money, and where), your cash-flow statement/forecast (will you have cash), a balance sheet snapshot, and receivables and payables ageing (who owes you, what you owe). Add the operational metrics that drive your business. Together these are your monthly MIS.

The core four

A useful monthly pack starts with four reports: the Profit & Loss (revenue, costs, margin, profit — and the trend); the cash flow (actual and forecast); a balance sheet snapshot (what you own and owe); and receivables/payables ageing (collections and dues you must watch).

Add what drives your business

Beyond the financials, track the operational metrics specific to you — gross margin by product/client, sales pipeline, utilisation, customer acquisition cost, inventory days. These explain why the financials move. Bundled together, this is your MIS, reviewed monthly to make decisions. Keep it short and decision-focused, not a data dump.

A worked example

Example: a founder’s monthly review shows profit up but cash down (P&L vs cash flow), explained by ballooning receivables in the ageing report — so the action is collections, not cost-cutting. Reviewing only the P&L would have missed it. The right report set turns numbers into the right action. Our team can build and review your monthly pack with you.

Accounting & Virtual CFO

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This answer is general information for businesses, not professional advice. Tax rates, thresholds and forms change with each Finance Act — please confirm the current position for your own facts, or speak to us, before acting.