Setting up the financial side of your first Scorecard
You have a Scorecard, but the financial rows are thin or distrusted. How to build the money side so it reflects the real health of the business.
- Only put numbers on the Scorecard you can trust and produce weekly.
- A sensible starting set: cash on hand, weekly revenue or bookings, and a forward cash figure.
- Define and assign an owner to every measurable, consistency is what builds trust.
Plenty of EOS companies have a working Scorecard for sales and operations but a weak financial section, a stale revenue number, a rough profit estimate, little else. How to build the financial side so it earns its place.
Start with what you can trust
Don't put a number on the Scorecard you can't stand behind weekly. If your close isn't reliable yet, that's the first fix, a measurable built on shaky books gets distrusted and drags down the whole board. Assuming the close is solid, start with one or two numbers you can produce consistently.
What is a sensible starting set?
- Cash on hand, the simplest trustworthy number everyone understands.
- Weekly revenue or new bookings, against a weekly target.
- A forward cash figure, projected balance 13 weeks out, the highest-value measurable most companies are missing.
Resist adding ten financial rows on day one. Three trusted numbers beat ten disputed ones.
Make each number owned and defined
For every measurable, be explicit about two things: who produces it, and exactly how it's defined. "Revenue" can mean booked, invoiced, or collected, pick one and stay consistent. When a definition drifts week to week, trust erodes.
Aim for a Scorecard the team trusts before aiming for a comprehensive one. Start with the few financial numbers you can produce reliably every week, and grow the set as your close and reporting mature.