Oana Labes, MBA, CPA

The Financial Analysis Cheat Sheet.

Because every business needs regular financial health check-ups.

𝐇𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐥𝐞𝐝𝐠𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐅𝐑𝐄𝐄 𝐂𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐒𝐡𝐞𝐞𝐭.

🎯𝐋𝐢𝐤𝐞, 𝐒𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐬𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐢𝐭!

𝐖𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧𝐥𝐨𝐚𝐝𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐏𝐃𝐅 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧?
👉 𝐋𝐢𝐤𝐞, 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭, 𝐑𝐞𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭

👉 𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐀𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐲𝐬𝐢𝐬 𝐂𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐒𝐡𝐞𝐞𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐬:

🎯 The Financial Analysis Scorecard
🎯 Vertical Analysis
🎯 Horizontal Analysis
🎯 Sensitivity Analysis
🎯 Project Profitability
🎯 The Dupont Analysis
🎯 5 EBITDA Ratios
🎯 5 Cash Flow Ratios
🎯 Key Profitability Ratios
🎯 Key Liquidity Ratios
🎯 Key Solvency Ratios
🎯 Key Efficiency Ratios

Use this Cheat Sheet to evaluate the financial health, performance, and viability of a business or project.

👉👉👉𝐇𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐀𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐲𝐬𝐢𝐬 𝐂𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐒𝐡𝐞𝐞𝐭

👉👉👉𝐏𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬.

👉👉👉𝐋𝐢𝐤𝐞, 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭, 𝐑𝐞𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭!

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🎯 𝐓𝐨 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬-𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐲𝐳𝐞, 𝐨𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐳𝐞, 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐡 𝐟𝐥𝐨𝐰 check out The Cash Flow Masterclass (link in my Linkedin profile)
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💎 𝐓𝐨 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐦𝐲 𝐮𝐧𝐚𝐛𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐋𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐧 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐠𝐞𝐦𝐬 𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐈𝐧𝐛𝐨𝐱 check out my free newsletter The Finance Gem 💎 (link in my Linkedin profile & below in comments)
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Accounting and Finance Are NOT the Same
But most people get them confused
And it's costing businesses a lot.

Here's what everyone misses:

They define value differently.
They pursue different goals.
They require distinct skills.

They approach problems from opposite perspectives.

Accounting looks backward to report past performance and ensure compliance.

Finance looks forward to drive strategy, create value, and allocate capital effectively.

Download my free guide to learn more: 10 Essential Finance Concepts all Leaders must Know: https://bit.ly/4ePgcNV

Confusing these two functions leads to misaligned priorities, poor decision-making, and missed opportunities for growth.

Why this matters to you as a leader:

✓ Understanding their differences ensures you leverage their unique contributions for your business.

✓ Aligning their strengths improves your decision-making and positions your business for success.

Let's break it down:

1// Accounting is reporting the past

Accounting focuses on recording and reporting financial activities accurately, providing a reliable foundation for decisions.

Key Focus Areas:

Compliance: Adhering to GAAP, IFRS, or other accounting standards.

Matching Principle: Aligning revenues and expenses over time.

Conservatism: Avoiding overstating assets or income.

Strategic Implications:

Builds trust in financial reporting.
Provides a consistent view of past performance.

Key CEO Question:

Is your accounting team delivering clear, actionable data to guide decisions?

2// Finance: Driving the Future

Finance is about optimizing resource allocation to create value and prepare for the future.

↳ Key Focus Areas:

Forward-Looking Strategy: Planning for growth and managing risks.

Cash Flow Management: Ensuring liquidity and operational efficiency.

Capital Allocation: Investing resources for maximum ROI.

↳ Strategic Implications:

Enables profitable, sustainable growth.
Positions your business to navigate future challenges.

Key CEO Question:

Is your finance team aligned with your long-term strategic vision?

↳ The Core Difference: How They Define Value

Accounting defines value through compliance and consistency.

Finance defines value through cash flow, capital efficiency, and strategic foresight.

↳ The Takeaway for Leaders:

To scale successfully, you need both functions working in harmony.

Accounting shows where you’ve been.
Finance defines where you’re going.

Mastering both ensures smarter decisions, stronger profitability, and sustained growth.

↳ Learn more with my 5* on-demand video courses: https://bit.ly/3RlTCDD

↳ Start off 2025 the right way - join my exclusive 6-week live CEO Financial Intelligence Program - spots are limited, starts in January: https://bit.ly/3ZCI0kr

EBITDA is not Operating Cash Flow.


Here are 10 things you need to know:

1️⃣ // EBITDA is essentially operating accounting profit with interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization added back to it.

☑️ It’s claim to fame is that it can be used to analyze and compare profitability between companies because it eliminates the effects of financing, taxes, and accounting policy choices.

2️⃣ // “Operating Cash Flow” or “OCF” is a flow measure of the amount of cash generated by your business operations

☑️ It's calculated (indirectly) by adjusting net income for depreciation, amortization, and other non-cash expenses, as well as for changes in the balances of current assets and current liabilities.

3️⃣ // Both EBITDA and OCF add back depreciation and amortization.

☑️ However, unlike EBITDA which never looks at depreciation and amortization again, OCF simply adjusts these items out so that Investing Cash Flows can better capture them as part of the calculation of the funds actually spent or earned in transactions involving fixed assets.

4️⃣ // EBITDA does not eliminate operating non-cash expenditures like stock based compensation, provisions and reserves.

☑️You may have recognized these expenses in the current period and correspondingly reported reduced Net Income and Retained Earnings, but your cash balances weren’t also impacted and OCF will capture that.

5️⃣ // EBITDA does not include the tax expense you actually paid during the period.

☑️ While every company’s tax circumstances differ based on a multitude of factors, your taxes paid represent a cash payment that reduced your cash available for other uses, and this will be reflected in OCF.

6️⃣ // EBITDA does not consider the increase (or decrease) in your working capital accounts.

7️⃣ // EBITDA does not include the interest expense incurred and paid by your business in the current period on account of borrowing capital.

8️⃣ // EBITDA will frequently exclude foreign exchange losses on the claim that they are non-recurring.

9️⃣ // EBITDA will frequently exclude severance and reorganization costs under the claim that they are non-recurring.

🔟// EBITDA will mostly exclude grant and other similar type of extraordinary income on the claim that they are non-operating in nature and thus should be excluded from operating profits.

🎯 Details for points 6-10 will go out in this week's issue of my free newsletter. 𝐒𝐢𝐠𝐧 𝐮𝐩 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐆𝐞𝐦💎𝐭𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲 using the link in comments or in my profile to make sure you don't miss it.

What would you add?
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➕ Follow me for more finance, business, and cash flow insights.

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The Accounting Checklist

15 Essential Accounting Areas you Need to Manage.

Because Good Accounting is the foundation for Good Business.

𝐇𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐥𝐞𝐝𝐠𝐞.

🎯𝐋𝐢𝐤𝐞, 𝐒𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐬𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐬 it!

𝐖𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧𝐥𝐨𝐚𝐝𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐏𝐃𝐅 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐤𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭?

👉👉👉𝐋𝐢𝐤𝐞, 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐑𝐞𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭.

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Effective Accounting isn't just about tracking Numbers.

It's about figuring out what the Numbers mean for the Business

And about making Strategic Decisions based on that understanding.

🎯🎯🎯Here’s an invaluable Accounting Checklist covering 15 Essential Accounting areas to help you stay on track. 

1.     Cash Flow Management
2.     Revenue Recognition
3.     Expense Management
4.     Financial Reporting
5.     Budgeting and Forecasting
6.     Debt Management
7.     Asset Management
8.     Payroll Management
9.     Tax Planning and Compliance
10.  Risk Management
11.  Inventory Management
12.  Accounts Receivable and Payable Management
13.  Financial Analysis and Benchmarking
14.  Capital Expenditure (CAPEX) Management
15.  Regulatory Compliance and Reporting


Use this Checklist to help you set up the specific Accounting management frameworks that work for you and your organization. 

👉 👉👉𝐋𝐢𝐤𝐞, 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭, 𝐑𝐞𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭 to get the link to download the full resolution PDF.

Share this post so others can see it in their feeds. Help them learn how to improve their own Accounting frameworks and help their businesses thrive as a result.

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🎯 𝐓𝐨 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬-𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐲𝐳𝐞, 𝐨𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐳𝐞, 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐡 𝐟𝐥𝐨𝐰 check out The Cash Flow Masterclass (link in Linkedin profile)

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💎 𝐓𝐨 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐦𝐲 𝐮𝐧𝐚𝐛𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐋𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐧 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐠𝐞𝐦𝐬 𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐈𝐧𝐛𝐨𝐱 join 29,000 subscribers for my free newsletter The Finance Gem 💎 (link in my Linkedin profile)

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#business
#management
#finance

ROIC vs. ROE


Do you know what they are, how to calculate them, and most importantly, when (not) to use them?

🎯 ROIC (Return on Invested Capital) and 🎯 ROE (Return on Equity) are frequently used to assess how efficiently your company is investing in growth.

🎯 These profitability ratios are often confused because they’re as similar as they are different.

🎯 How they are similar:

⚫ Both are based on accounting numbers, making them useful in measuring a company's asset efficiency.

⚫ Both measure your company's investment efficiency based on profitability

🎯 How they’re different:

⚫ ROE measures profitability through Net Income, ROIC measures profitability through NOPAT

⚫ ROE measures the return on just the equity invested in your business, ROIC evaluates the return earned on the total capital (attributable to equity investors and creditors) invested in your business

🎯 How to calculate them:

⚫ ROE = Net income / Shareholder's equity

⚫ ROIC = Net operating profit after taxes / (Debt + Equity - Cash)

🎯 Which one to use:

⚫ ROE (and ROE vs WACC) to assess whether a firm is generating shareholder value or destroying value

⚫ ROIC if you want to compare the capability of firms to generate returns on their capital with different capital structures

🎯 What to beware:

⚫ ROE can be misleading for companies with huge cash balances since it does not deduct cash from the denominator in the calculation

⚫ ROIC is generally considered more useful because it includes the debt component of a firm and thus becomes insensitive to actions that can heavily impact shareholder equity

What would you add?

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Are you eyeing the CEO role?

Here are 15 key areas CEOs should focus on.

Use them to help track your learning, your progress or your performance.

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1. Vision and Strategy Development: map the company’s future, ensure alignment with strategic vision, and develop long-term goals and strategies to overcome challenges.

2. Leadership and Organizational Culture: create a positive and productive organizational culture, leading by example to inspire teams and uphold company values.

3. Financial Management: oversee the company's financial health to ensure shareholder value creation

4. Corporate Governance: work with the board of directors to ensure adherence to the highest standards of governance, ethical conduct, and regulatory compliance

5. Risk Management: identify potential risks to the company and ensure it has systems in place to mitigate them

6. Operational Efficiency: streamline operations, improve productivity, and promote innovation

7. Talent Management: hire and develop key executives, ensuring the right people are in the right roles to effectively drive the strategic plan

8. Customer Focus: foster a customer-centric approach across all department, to understand and meet customer needs

9. Investor Relations: maintain strong relationships with investors, shareholders, and financial analysts to secure capital, support growth, and maintain market confidence

10. Brand Reputation and Image: act as the face of the company, and ensure their actions reflect positively on the brand

11. Innovation and Technology: foster a culture of innovation to gain and retain competitive advantages

12. Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility: balance the drive for profit with the need for ethical and sustainable operations

13. Stakeholder Management: manage relationships with various stakeholders, including employees, customers, suppliers, local communities, and regulatory bodies

14. Mergers and Acquisitions: evaluate opportunities for growth via mergers, acquisitions, partnerships, or joint ventures, and oversee their successful execution

15. Business Continuity and Succession Planning: develop and implement a comprehensive business continuity plan, to ensure operations continue during a crisis as well as after they change positions and are no longer CEOs.

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🎯 𝐓𝐨 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬-𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐲𝐳𝐞, 𝐨𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐳𝐞, 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐡 𝐟𝐥𝐨𝐰 check out The Cash Flow Masterclass (link in my Linkedin profile)

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#entrepreneur #finance #business

Why Do Companies Really Fail?

It’s not what you think.

Most people believe businesses fail because of things like:

↳ Lack of funds
↳ Poor marketing
↳ Economic downturns
↳ Competition

But here’s the truth:

These aren’t the real reasons.
The actual causes are far more internal and, most importantly, controllable.

➡️ Download my 30 point cash flow checklist and start making better business decisions today: https://bit.ly/4fp2eUr

Here’s what’s really going on:

1️⃣ Mismanagement of Cash Flow

Even profitable businesses will fail if they can’t manage cash flow.

Without forecasting, you will run out of cash when you need it most.

2️⃣ Lack of a Clear Value Proposition

If you can’t explain why your product or service matters, your customers won’t care.

Many companies lose out simply because their message is unclear.

3️⃣ Inadequate Business Planning

A strategic financial plan ties your business strategy with your business finances.

If you don't use one you're missing opportunities and gambling away your business valuation and its future.

4️⃣ Poor Leadership and Management

Strong leadership isn’t just about making decisions — it’s about execution and adaptability.

Businesses fail when leaders can’t or won’t pivot when needed.

5️⃣ Ignoring Customer Feedback

Customers are your best source of feedback.

Ignore them at your own risk.

6️⃣ Scaling Prematurely

Growth is exciting, but growing too fast without the infrastructure to support it is a silent killer.

Without solid operations, you’ll spend faster than you earn, create bottlenecks, and miss out on opportunities.

Here’s the takeaway:

↳ Cash flow is the foundation.
↳ Leadership sets the direction.
↳ Customer feedback drives improvement.
↳ Strategic business planning ensures sustainability.

It’s easy to blame external factors like competition or the economy.

But the real reasons businesses fail are within your control — and they start with your management decisions.

I've taught cash flow strategy to over 3,000 people - join here: https://bit.ly/cfmol

Need hands on support with all this? Check out how we've helped hundreds of companies at Financiario.

Join 400,000+ business leaders who receive tactical insights on profitability, cash flow, and finance strategy on email and socials.

Subscribe here https://bit.ly/4fp2eUr and follow Oana Labes, MBA, CPA for more

The Performance Cheat Sheet.


To help you understand the Past.

Monitor the Present.

Target the Future.

𝐇𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐥𝐞𝐝𝐠𝐞.

🎯🎯🎯𝐋𝐢𝐤𝐞, 𝐒𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐬𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐬 it!

𝐖𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧𝐥𝐨𝐚𝐝𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐏𝐃𝐅 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐤𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭?

👉👉👉𝐋𝐢𝐤𝐞, 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐑𝐞𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭.

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☑️Here’s what the Performance Cheat Sheet includes:

🎯 5 Performance KPIs

🎯 12 Profitability KPIs

🎯 The Financial Performance Ratios

🎯 The DuPont Analysis

🎯 Project Profitability (NPV, IRR, PP, PI)

🎯 Gross Profit vs. Contribution Margin

🎯 EBITDA vs. EVA

🎯 5 Cash Flow Ratios

🎯 5 EBITDA Ratios

☑️ Use this Cheat Sheet to set up a Performance management framework that works for you and your organization. 

It will help you make sense of past organization performance, manage the current one and strategize how to achieve your targets for the future.

👉 𝐋𝐢𝐤𝐞, 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭, 𝐑𝐞𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭 to get the link to download the full resolution PDF.

👉Share generously to help your network benefit from this comprehensive and strategic resource. 

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☑️ 𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐲 𝐯𝐢𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐤𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐬 on my website.

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4 Simple Steps to Assess the Financial Health of a Business.


Knowledge is Power, so learn the basics of financial analysis and empower yourself to make better decision in the world of Finance and Accounting.

Here's how Financial Analysis benefits you:

☑️If you’re an accountant or finance professional, it will help you understand the key underlying performance drivers to monitor and manage as you review financial performance results

☑️If you're a manager, it will help you better understand your organization’s investment criteria, which will help you align individual and organizational goals across your team and maximize your managerial effectiveness.

☑️If you’re an employee, it will help you better understand the priorities and performance drivers of your organization, so you can make better decisions for your own professional and career goals.

☑️If you’re an investor, it will help you better understand the level of aggressiveness behind management decisions, the drivers and sustainability of the business cash flows, and whether an investment aligns with your strategic objectives.

☑️If you’re an owner, it will help you make more informed decisions and allocate resources in your company more effectively.

𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 4 𝐒𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐩𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐀𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐁𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬:

𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐩 1️⃣ 𝐀𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐲𝐳𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐚𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐒𝐡𝐞𝐞𝐭

𝐎𝐛𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬: evaluate the business ability to use its assets efficiently to generate cash flow, meet short-term and long-term obligations, and invest in growth

𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐩 2️⃣ 𝐀𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐲𝐳𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐈𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭

𝐎𝐛𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞: evaluate operating performance to determine the business ability to sustainably generate sufficient revenue

𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐩 3️⃣ 𝐀𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐲𝐳𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐚𝐬𝐡 𝐅𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭

𝐎𝐛𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞: evaluate sources and uses of cash to assess the business ability to generate sufficient operating cash flow

𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐩 4️⃣ 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦 𝐚 𝐅𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨 𝐀𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐲𝐬𝐢𝐬

𝐑𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 that context can fundamentally alter how your financial analysis tells the story.

🎯𝐋𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐧 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐱 3,000 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬. 𝐓𝐨 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧 𝐮𝐩 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐰𝐬𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 💎𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐆𝐞𝐦 💎. 𝐋𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐢𝐧 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐫 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐢𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬.

What would you add?
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20 Cost KPIs to choose from, benchmark, forecast, monitor and manage.


1// Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) and COGS Margin

2// Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) per Manufacturing Employee

3// Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) per Sq. FT or Sq. M

4// Operating Expenses (OPEX) and OPEX Margin

5// Operating Expenses (OPEX) per Non-Manufacturing Employee

6// Operating Expense (OPEX) per Sq. FT or Sq. M

7// Total SG&A Expense and SG&A Margin

8// Total Payroll Expense to (COGS + OPEX)

9// R&D Expense and R&D Expense Margin

10// Sales and Marketing Expense and Margin

11// Total Operating Cost

12// Total Fixed Cost

🎯 The sum of all your business fixed costs, used to calculate your company’s break even point and determine the level of revenue or number of unit sales you need to break even and start earning a profit.

13// Variable Cost per Unit

🎯 The sum of all your variable costs divided by the number of units produced, used to calculate your company’s contribution margin per unit and analyze the level of profitability across your various products, lines, customers and geographies.

14// Client Acquisition Cost (CAC)

15// Cost per Click

16// Inventory Holding Cost

🎯 The total cost of carrying inventory in your business, including costs associated with storage, obsolescence and spoilage, waste and inefficiencies, theft, insurance and financing.

17// Accounts Payable Carrying Cost

🎯 The total cost of carrying a balance in your supplier accounts, mostly related to the cost of foregone early payment discounts offered.

18// Accounts Receivable Carrying Cost

🎯 The total cost of extending credit to your customers, including costs associated with processing and collecting AR, financing costs and bad debt costs associated with uncollectible accounts.

19// Average Cost of Debt

🎯 The total interest expense associated with borrowing money, averaged across all your credit facilities and weighted based on their relative proportion in your total borrowed capital.

20// Average Cost of Equity

🎯 The Cost of Equity is a function of the risk free rate offered in your market, as well as the risk premium(s) that would be required by an investor to accept the risk of investing in your business.

So here you have them: 20 Cost KPIs to choose from, benchmark, forecasts, monitor and manage.

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What Drives Your Revenue?

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☑️ Three Things:

Sales volume: the number of units sold

Sales price: the selling price for the units sold

Sales mix: the combination of sold product volumes and sales prices

☑️ Let's look at how you can impact each of these sub-drivers to increase revenues:

⚫⚫Volume

🎯 Increase demand through targeted marketing efforts to attract and acquire new clients

🎯 Improve and expand your product/service offering to stimulate customer contract renewals

🎯 Expand offerings to capture new markets, industries or geography segments

🎯 Implement efficient inventory control systems to optimize inventory management and avoid stockouts or overstocking

🎯 Encourage customers and strategic partners to refer new clients

🎯 Track and improve customer satisfaction and loyalty (NPS scores) to increase repeat business, referrals, and sales volumes

☑️ Use Sales Volume to calculate Sales Volume Variances = (Actual Units Sold - Budgeted Units Sold) x Budgeted Price per Unit

⚫⚫ Price

🎯 Review and increase prices as necessary to reflect changes in your production costs, market conditions, and customer preferences

🎯 Offer product or service bundles at a discount to encourage your customers to purchase multiple items

🎯 Set prices based on perceived customer value where possible, rather than relying solely on marking up production costs

🎯 Position or introduce premium products or services with higher price points for those customers willing to pay more for your luxury solutions.

🎯 Monitor production costs and improve operational efficiency to maintain competitive pricing without sacrificing your profit margins

☑️ Use Sales Price to to calculate Sales Price Variances = (Actual Price - Budgeted Price) x Actual Units Sold

☑️ Use Sales Price and Sales Volume to calculate Sales Mix Variances = (Actual Units Sold – Budgeted Units Sold) × Budgeted Contribution Margin

☑️ Remember that Revenue growth is one of the 3 main drivers of Operating Cash Flow growth.

OCF = Revenue -COGS -Operating Expenses -Depreciation and Amortization +/-Other non-cash items (e.g. gains/losses on assets sales) +/ Changes in Working Capital

☑️ And Operating Cash Flow drives your sustainable business growth.

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How Do You Protect Your Cash Flow?

Here are 10 Cash Flow Mistakes to Avoid.

1️⃣ Not having a rolling cash flow forecast

Forecasted cash flows show your company’s projected operating, investing and financing cash flows for the next fiscal period (and beyond for rolling cash flows), based on year-to-date results, fiscal year plans, and the ongoing effects of current strategic initiatives.

2️⃣ Paying suppliers early

With the exception of a few strategic reasons, making early payments to suppliers outside of contractual terms has little benefit for your company while putting unnecessary pressure on cash flows.

3️⃣ Not securing access to a short term working capital line of credit

Short term lines of credit for the financing of working capital assets are critical for growing companies or those with seasonal or irregular cash flow patterns.

4️⃣ Not negotiating sufficient access to short term working capital financing

A line of credit with an insufficient limit will be of little use for a growing company faced with a large sale opportunity. A large line of credit which cannot be accessed due to an insufficient borrowing base of accounts receivable and inventory will pose a similar challenge.

5️⃣ Miscalculating the cash flow basis for bank covenant calculations.

Covenant calculations can be based on:
✔️EBITDA
✔️Adjusted EBITDA (individual formula)
✔️Free Cash Flow (FCF)
✔️Operating Cash Flow (OCF)

Understand the specific terms provisioned in your company’s lending agreement.

6️⃣ Invoicing late

Invoices should be sent out as soon as contractual obligations have been met to minimize collection times and maximize the cash absorbed by accounts receivable.

7️⃣ Not preparing a regular cash flow statement

Without the benefit of a cash flow statement, your company cannot determine and analyze it’s cash inflows and outflows by source.

8️⃣ Mistaking cash flow sources

Permanent increases in operating assets need to be financed with permanent capital, whether equity or debt (financing cash inflows). Cash from asset sales (investing cash inflows) for example, is not a sustainable source of financing for negative operating cash flows.

9️⃣ Ignoring the quality of cash flows

Cash absorbed by low quality assets, such as accounts receivable with a low collection probability, or obsolete inventory, should be properly reflected as such in your company’s accounting bad debt or inventory reserves.

🔟 Improperly budgeting cash availability for debt obligations

Debt obligations (principal, interest, bonuses, royalties, warrants, etc) are repayable with cash, so your company needs to accurately provision both the timing and the amounts correctly in the cash flow forecast to ensure obligations can be met when they come due.

What are your thoughts on protecting cash flow? Drop them in the comments👇
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Image: Wallstreet Mojo

ROIC vs. ROE

Do you know what these metrics are?
How to actually calculate them?
When (not) to use them?

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🎯 ROIC (Return on Invested Capital) and ROE (Return on Equity) are widely used in financial performance analysis to assess how efficiently your company is investing in growth.

🎯 These profitability ratios are often confused because they’re as similar as they are different.

🎯 How they are similar:

⚫ Both are based on accounting numbers, making them useful in measuring a company's asset efficiency.

⚫ Both measure your company's investment efficiency based on profitability,

🎯 How they’re different:

⚫ ROE measures profitability through Net Income, ROIC measures profitability through NOPAT

⚫ ROE measures the return on just the equity invested in your business, ROIC evaluates the return earned on the total capital (attributable to equity investors and creditors) invested in your business

🎯 How to calculate them:

⚫ ROE = Net income / Shareholder's equity

⚫ ROIC = Net operating profit after taxes / (Debt + Equity - Cash)

🎯 How to use them:

⚫ ROE (vs WACC) to assess whether a firm is generating shareholder value or destroying value

⚫ ROIC if you want to compare the capability of firms to generate returns on their capital with different capital structures

🎯 What to be aware of:

⚫ ROE can be misleading for companies with huge cash balances since it does not deduct cash from the denominator in the calculation

⚫ ROIC is generally considered more useful because it includes the debt component of a firm and thus becomes insensitive to actions that can heavily impact shareholder equity.


🎯 What would you add?


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Do you know how to connect your Financial Statements?

Here are 5 easy steps to know. 
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𝐇𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐥𝐞𝐝𝐠𝐞.

🎯 𝐖𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧𝐥𝐨𝐚𝐝𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧? 👉👉👉 𝐋𝐢𝐤𝐞, 𝐒𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐬𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞
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🎯 Here’s How to Connect the Three Main Financial Statements:

➡️The Balance Sheet uses information from the Income Statement for its reporting.

and

➡️The Income Statement uses the assets, liabilities, and equity from the Balance Sheet in its activity.

and

➡️ The Cash Flow Statement acts as a bridge between the Income Statement and Balance Sheet by showing the amount of cash that was generated in, and used by, the business.

🎯 Here’s how to integrate them in a dynamic model.

1️⃣ Net Income flows from the Income Statement to the Balance Sheet (through Retained Earnings) and to the Cash Flow Statement (through Operating Cash Flow).

2️⃣ Changes in Current Assets and Liabilities from the Balance Sheet are aggregated to calculate Changes in operating Assets and Liabilities in the Cash Flow Statement (Operating Cash Flow).

3️⃣ Depreciation Expense is added back into the Operating Cash Flow section of the Cash Flow Statement. In the Investing Cash Flow section, the Depreciation Expense is then deducted from the opening Fixed Assets balance and any changes in Fixed Assets are accounted for to calculate the net Investing Cash Flow.

4️⃣ The opening balance of Long Term Debt is deducted from the ending balance to calculate Financing Cash Flows.

The opening balance of Equity is also added to Net Income for the period and subtracted from the ending balance to finalize the calculation of Financing Cash Flows

5️⃣ The prior period’s closing cash balance plus the current period’s sum of cash flows from operations, investing, and financing becomes the closing cash balance for the period on the Balance Sheet.

📌Learn more with my 5* Cash Flow Masterclass and Cash Flow Masterclass for Executives - visit my website for details. 📌

🎯 Remember:

☑️ To put together a Cash Flow Statement you only need 2 balance sheets and the income statement covering the period of time between the two balance sheets.

☑️ Use it to understand how cash moved in and out of the business during the period and draw critical insights on the business, its health and its risk profile

☑️ Positive cash flows aren’t always a positive indicators and negative cash flows aren’t always negative indicators.

What would you add?

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📌 𝐋𝐢𝐤𝐞, 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭, 𝐑𝐞𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭 to share with others and get a copy of the free Excel file here: https://lnkd.in/dprZAv3K