I've Got my Reports...Now What?

1: First, check your basic goals. How much did I gross? How much did I pay myself? Is it in line with what I was expecting? If not, why not? Is it a slow month or is there some other factor? 

2: Dig a little deeper. How much did I spend on inventory? How did my other expenses compare to past months, or this time last year? Am I seeing an ROI on marketing expenses such as ads or giveaways? Are there charges I thought were coming from a business account but accidentally went through personal?

3: Look at margins. You may have felt like you had a great month but even if you did a lot in revenue, you might not have profited much if you did a lot of sales or had products that weren’t marked up very high. 

4: Make a game plan if your numbers aren’t what you wanted. What can you change or do differently? If you see a category that’s higher than it should be, how can you fix it next month?

5: Relax and know that your books are done for this month, and ready to show your CPA in April!