Quality Financial Statements Demonstrate Strong Management Skills

Having happy customers who repeatedly buy your products and/or services for their pet companions is a wonderful expression of your solid business skills. A consistent and talented team of employees who show up every day to help drive your business forward reflects your ability as a manager to inspire and lead. But how do you demonstrate these strengths to a financial partner, such as an investor or lender? Through accurate, well-documented, and up-to-date financial statements.

Why is this important?

Quality financial statements that are easily available when you need them clearly demonstrate your management skills. It shows that you pay attention to the details that impact your bottom line. A financial partner knows that you can only manage what you measure – and they want to work with people who are on top of those details that drive business success.

Any loan officer can tell you about the times when someone shared less than stellar financial statements with them. Unfortunately, we’ve seen too many financial statements that are illegible, inaccurate, and incomplete.

Need help?

If you’ve been busy running your current business and have fallen out of the habit of producing up-to-date financial statements on a regular basis, here are some ideas that can help:

• Work with your bookkeeper or accountant to help you better organize and manage the financial aspects. This person can help you update your overall financial structures for reporting and support you by doing certain tasks for you. This could include managing submissions to payroll, sending invoices, and preparing payments for your suppliers for you to approve.
• Leverage one of the accounting software systems built for small businesses such as QuickBooks^®. In addition to providing a place for you and your bookkeeper or accountant to capture all your financial information, it offers automated functionality for recurring bill payments, overdue invoice reminders, and the creation of important documents, such as 1099s. One of the best things is that it has templates that allow you to produce financial statements, including these essentials:
  • Income Statement
  • Balance Sheet
  • Cash Flow Statement
  • Supporting details for expenses, inventory, payroll, and accounts receivable/aging

Small changes can make a significant impact – and can help elevate your management skills.

Be ready for your next opportunity

Opportunities present themselves when you least expect it, so having well prepared financial statements at your fingertips to share with an investor or lender can pay off. Quick access to detailed and accurate financial information will set you and your pet-oriented business apart from the competition – and show off your important management skills.