Each month, your cashflow forecast chart will give you a prediction of your bank balance month by month into the future.

The line is the important element – that is the prediction of the bank balance. It will give you warning of potential problems.

Sometimes called the Measuring Report. It looks at your performance for the current month and shows how you’ve measured up to your budget.

It then does the same for the year to date as that will smooth out anything that’s just a timing difference.

Showing you next month’s budget and the full year budget, it is the perfect report to keep your finger on the pulse.

The Profit and Loss Forecast report is the one for monitoring trends.

It will show you actual results for completed months of the year and the budget for the remainder.

The cherry on the cake here is the additional projection of where you’re likely to be at the end of the financial year.

It’s frustrating, isn’t it?

You’ve been watching the sales roll in, you’ve been keeping a close eye on expenses and your month end report shows a healthy profit. But there’s nothing in the bank!

How does that happen?

This report helps you to understand what will cause the timing differences (and almost always they are timing differences – making a profit will increase your bank balance eventually!)

The line on the chart represents your Net Equity - the difference between your Total Assets and Total Liabilities. It represents your stake in the business.

The chart starts at the beginning of your financial year, showing the actual result for each month and the budget for future months. You want to see this line trending upwards!

Comparing your actual income to budget gives you a good idea of how you are trading.

It answers things like "Are you selling more than previously?".

Where the green bars are higher than the yellow ones, you're having a good month.

Once in a while, I like to drop these ratios into your bonus pack.

Debt Ratio, Debt to Equity Ratio and Working Capital Ratio are great indicators used as an early-warning signal of upcoming cashflow problems. 

Monitor them and watch the trends. If they're heading the wrong way, get advice – before it’s too late!

This chart gives you the reason to get up in the morning.

It displays your net profit for the year-to-date compared to your budget.

When the bar is higher than the black line, you're doing well.