I’ve explained to many clients the benefits of creating a practice of a monthly financial review in your business. Not only does it give you a great birds-eye view on what is happening in your business. It encourages business owners to pause and reflect on how the month has gone.

In short, some of the benefits are:

1. Absolute clarity on your business’ financial health
2. Increased confidence in financial decision making
3. Keeping your eye on money in your business without having it take over your business
4. Easier goal setting, planning and future-proofing in your business
5. Better alignment between your livelihood and lifestyle
6. Less financial anxiety and overwhelm in general

But most importantly, I believe this practice gives us the opportunity to feel good about our business finances along the entire business journey, not only when we reach a predetermined destination. (Whether that be the 6- or 7-figures in business, or generating enough income to support the life you’d like to live.)

What thoughts come up for you when you think about sitting down and doing a Monthly Financial Review in your business?

1. Can you be bothered? (What is it going to change anyway?)

2. Do you find it confusing? (You’re already busy and overwhelmed; why add to your plate? Or you’re not good with numbers. Why would you do something that has you feeling not confident?

3. What will it mean once you have this clarity? What are you going to do about it if you don’t like what you see? What steps can you really take to make changes? (You’re doing your best already.)

Take note of what’s coming up for you. All of these are normal reactions to feeling uncomfortable about change. Here is some more help to get you started with this new practice:

If you are procrastinating, check out this article on shifting your perspective.

If you’re having trouble sticking to a routine, consider creating a ritual for yourself.

If you’re not sure how to incorporate this into your busy life, you could try habit-stacking. 

If you keep saying you’ll do it later, check out why that doesn’t always eventuate.

If you struggle between urgent and important tasks in your business, this article helped me. (Your monthly financial review is an important, but not necessarily urgent, task.)

I run virtual small group gatherings, aka. online workshops where we do Monthly Financial Review’s. If you’re looking to step up as the CFO in your business, this is the starting point.