Do you know the essential financial KPIs to ensure the sustainability and profitability of your business? Here we present 8 indicators to monitor closely.
The essential finance KPIs
As the manager of a startup or a digital company, understanding your performance indicators (KPIs) to better manage your business on a daily basis is not always easy.
Especially since you can now, thanks to your accounting software, such as Pennylane , Odoo or Netsuite , access a multitude of indicators, each more specific than the other...
To help you see things more clearly, we have listed here eight KPIs that we recommend you follow. Obviously, if you don't know how to access them and how to analyze them, call us. Our Success Coaches support you precisely on these specialized subjects of financial analysis for the management of your business.
1. Turnover (CA)
Revenue is a fundamental metric that measures the total amount of sales of your business over a given period of time.
It’s also one that most leaders follow regularly.
Why follow the evolution of your turnover? Because it allows you to evaluate the performance of your business and identify positive or negative trends in your growth.
2. Gross Margin
Gross margin represents the difference between revenue and the cost of goods or services sold.
This indicator measures the basic profitability of your activity, taking into account the costs linked to production.
Just like turnover, gross margin is one of the indicators most often analyzed by companies.
The difficulty here lies in identifying costs, especially when you sell services...
3. Net profit
Net profit is the amount that remains after subtracting all expenses, including taxes, from revenue.
It represents the true profit generated by your business.
To have a reliable KPI here, ideally you carry out short closings every month or quarter.
READ ALSO : The advantages of short-closing
4. Operational cash flow
Operating cash flow measures the cash flow generated by the core activities of your business.
This KPI is crucial and allows you to know, or even anticipate, the volume of liquidity your business has to operate efficiently.
At Blendy, we use different tools to help you better manage your cash flow. Contact us so we can introduce them to you.
5. Payment Deadline
This KPI shows the average time it takes for your business to get paid by its customers.
A short payment deadline is essential to maintain a healthy cash flow.
As soon as payment terms lengthen, the situation can quickly become problematic for your business and weigh on the company's cash flow.
This is an essential indicator, especially for companies that have mid-sized companies or large accounts among their clients, which tend to impose payment deadlines of 30 to 45 days...
6. Debt Ratio
The debt-to-equity ratio measures the proportion of debt to equity in your business.
Thus, a company with a low debt ratio will be able to rely on its own capital to operate and grow.
On the other hand, a high debt ratio means that the company is in debt and depends on external capital to operate.
It is therefore important to maintain a manageable debt ratio to avoid excessive financial risk.
7. Churn Rate
This KPI measures the rate of customer loss over a given period and therefore the loyalty of your customers .
It is crucial to monitor this metric, as it can have a direct impact on your company's revenue and profitability.
This indicator does not have the same value from one company to another.
On the other hand, it is particularly relevant for companies that offer services with subscription or recurring payment , such as in the SaaS sectors for example.
8. Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)
CAC measures the expenses associated with acquiring a new customer. It is important to keep the acquisition cost lower than the customer's lifetime value to ensure long-term profitability.
It is an indicator which is also used by sales marketing teams to define the budgets necessary for actions to acquire new customers.
It therefore allows you to evaluate the financial efforts required to increase (or maintain) your turnover.
On the other hand, it is also the most difficult indicator for companies to identify because many factors and acquisition channels must be taken into account.
In conclusion, as a manager, it is imperative to closely monitor your financial KPIs to guarantee the sustainability and profitability of your business.
Automating accounting using accounting and financial applications and software can greatly facilitate the monitoring of these indicators, allowing you to make the right decisions for the growth of your business .
To go further, ask Blendy, digital accountant ! We help companies automate their accounting process to have all the important indicators for your business available in real time.
Do you want to know how we can help you manage your business on a daily basis? Book a video call now !
With Blendy , French digital accountant take advantage of all the advantages of digital accounting to accelerate your finance process and develop your business.
Pennylane , QuickBooks, Dext and Stripe expert, we support digital companies, e-Commerce, IT service, SaaS, in France and internationally .