{"id":748,"date":"2022-05-30T02:03:58","date_gmt":"2022-05-30T02:03:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.agilisbooks.com.au\/?p=748"},"modified":"2022-05-30T02:03:58","modified_gmt":"2022-05-30T02:03:58","slug":"how-understanding-your-numbers-can-improve-your-business-results","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/agilisbooks.com.au\/?p=748","title":{"rendered":"How Understanding Your Numbers Can Improve Your Business Results"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400; color: #99cc00;\">Understanding your financial reports improves decision-making and results as it allows you to see the impact of your decisions, and quickly take corrective action.<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400; color: #99cc00;\">If you want to know your business numbers, and improve your business decisions, Agilis Books can help.\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter  wp-image-749\" src=\"https:\/\/agilisbooks.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Financial-Reports-300x210.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"376\" height=\"263\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Understanding your financial reports, or knowing your numbers, is critical to business success. It allows you to make better business decisions, measure the impact of those decisions, take corrective action where necessary and, ultimately, enjoy better results.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b>By understanding your financial reports you\u2019ll be able to:\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Know if your business is growing or shrinking<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Discover trends in your business and be able to respond accordingly<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Compare your actual results to your expectations<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Identify areas of strength and weakness in your business<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Understand the value of your business<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Make better and more informed decision-making\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><b>How Can You Maximise Results From Your Reports?\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Below, we have six (6) ways you can maximise results from your reports:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b><\/b><\/p>\n<h4><span style=\"color: #99cc00;\"><b>1. Ask Yourself \u2013 Is The Data \u201cClean\u201d?\u00a0<\/b><\/span><\/h4>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This means that all transactions have been coded correctly and bank statements have been reconciled. Do you have monthly procedures to ensure your data is clean?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b><\/b><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h4><span style=\"color: #99cc00;\"><b>2. Inspect What You Expect<\/b><\/span><\/h4>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You must have goals for your business, or targets you expect to achieve. Inspect your financial reports each month to see if you\u2019re on track to achieve your expected targets.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b><\/b><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h4><span style=\"color: #99cc00;\"><b>3. Know Which Reports To Use<\/b><\/span><\/h4>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Each report tells you a different story. Your Profit and Loss Statement measures your income and expenses; the Balance Sheet measures your assets, liabilities, and net worth.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b><\/b><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h4><span style=\"color: #99cc00;\"><b>4. Conduct Both A Horizontal and Vertical Analysis\u00a0<\/b><\/span><\/h4>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This means comparing the current period with previous periods (horizontal analysis) and calculating each item as a percentage of a base item (vertical analysis).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For example, comparing this year\u2019s Balance Sheet with last year\u2019s and calculating each expense item as a percentage of Sales on your Profit and Loss Statement.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<h4><\/h4>\n<h4><\/h4>\n<h4>\n<p><b><i><\/i><\/b><span style=\"color: #99cc00;\"><b>5. Understand The Difference Between \u2018As At\u2019 or \u201cFor The Period Ending\u201d.\u00a0<\/b><\/span><\/h4>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">An \u2018as at\u2019 report, such as the Balance Sheet, shows the balances at the end of a specific period. A \u2018for the period ending\u2019 report, such as the Profit and Loss Statement, shows the results over a period of time.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b><\/b><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h4><span style=\"color: #99cc00;\"><b>6. Choose The Correct Data Range\u00a0<\/b><\/span><\/h4>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ensure you correctly specify the start and end dates for the period you want to measure. Choose a month end date, such as 30 June instead of 15 June, to ensure all income and expenses have been coded and reconciled for the period.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><b>Talk To Agilis Books About Your Businesses Financial Reports<\/b><\/h3>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">By understanding the fundamentals behind your financial reports, you\u2019ll know more about your numbers and be able to use that information to make better decisions.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Whether you want to grow your business or increase efficiency to free up your time, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/agilisbooks.com.au\/contact\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">contact Agilis Books today<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and we can help you interpret your financial reports and set goals for improvement.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b>This blog was originally published by The Gap, but has had edits made by Agilis Books for the benefit of our readers.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Understanding your financial reports improves decision-making and results as it allows you to see the impact of your decisions, and quickly take corrective action. &nbsp; If you want to know your business numbers, and improve your business decisions, Agilis Books can help.\u00a0 &nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5,12,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-748","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-financial","category-financial-accounting","category-small-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/agilisbooks.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/748","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/agilisbooks.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/agilisbooks.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agilisbooks.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agilisbooks.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=748"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/agilisbooks.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/748\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/agilisbooks.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agilisbooks.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agilisbooks.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}