For leaders & implementers · printable

Five questions to ask your finance person

A quick way to tell whether your bookkeeper, controller, or accountant is giving you what an EOS company needs. Ask these; listen for the quality of the answers.

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Five Questions for Your Finance Person

Ask these; note the answers · ~15 minutes

1. Can you tell me when last month's books will be final, a specific date?

Why it matters: A good finance function commits to a close date. "Soon" is a red flag.

2. Which three financial numbers should be on our Scorecard, and why those?

Why it matters: Tests whether they think about leading measurables or just report history.

3. What's our cash position going to be 13 weeks from now?

Why it matters: Reveals whether anyone is forecasting cash or just watching the balance.

4. What drove our profit last month, not the number, the reasons?

Why it matters: Separates a recorder of numbers from someone who understands them.

5. If we hired one more person, what would it do to our P&L this year?

Why it matters: Tests whether finance can support a real decision, not just report the past.

Bring this to an one-on-one with whoever owns your numbers. A tool from the Averan EOS finance library, an independent finance resource for the EOS community. Free to use and share. More at financeforeos.com.

How to use it

Use this when you're not sure whether your current finance support is enough. The quality of the answers tells you more than the answers themselves, hesitation, vagueness, or "let me get back to you" on these basics usually signals a controller-level gap. Pair it with Bookkeeper, controller, or CFO? to interpret what you hear.

This is a self-assessment tool for discussion, not accounting, tax, or legal advice, and it does not account for your specific circumstances. Decisions about your accounting basis, tax treatment, or financial reporting belong with your CPA or qualified advisor.

Where this leaves your own numbers

If the close lands late, the Scorecard is an estimate, or nobody owns the numbers between L10s, that is the gap the finance seat fills. Start with the readiness check, or talk it through with us.

Book a consult →

Next in the library

These pages are meant to be read in order, and each one assumes the one before it.

Finance for EOSwhy the finance seat is the one seat with no agreed standard
What the finance seat isthe seat, and what it owns
Who owns finance in an EOS companyvisionary, integrator, or somebody else

Start anywhere

The EOS finance libraryeverything here, in order
The field guidesthe long-form versions
The toolsdiagnostics and checklists that run in the browser

Outside the EOS frame

Controller servicessomeone who owns the close and the reporting
Bookkeeper, controller or CFOthe decision guide, by symptom and revenue

If you want this done for you

What happens next

The close, the Scorecard and the cash forecast all need somebody accountable for them between L10s. That is what the finance seat is, and it is what we do.

The call, twenty minutesYou describe the business and where the numbers are letting you down. We tell you honestly whether we can help, and what we would start with. No pitch deck.
We look at the fileYou give us read access to the books as they are. We come back with what is wrong, what it will take to fix, and whether the answer is bookkeeping, controller work, or something else.
A written scope and a priceWhat we do each month, what you get, the date it lands, and the fee. Agreed before anything starts, and it does not move without you agreeing it.
Transition, then the first closeAccess, systems, and the opening balances. The first close lands on the date in the scope, and every one after it does too.

Start with the call →How an engagement runs

Averan is not a CPA firm and does not file taxes. Your CPA keeps that, and we keep the books they file from.