Business Insights
Many businesses run on gut feel. Our reporting dashboard gives you an overview. of exactly where you stand and with clear insight and actions.
Financial Snapshot
The business snapshot displays 4 key figures as of the last day of your reporting period: Net profit, revenue, bank balance and cash position. Four numbers that tell you where your business stands.
Each shows the current figure alongside a percentage change, so you're always comparing rather than seeing a number in isolation. Meanwhile, the trend lines help you spot whether a strong or weak result is a one-off or part of a longer pattern.
Since profit doesn't always equate to available cash, these figures are shown side-by-side deliberately. A business can be profitable on paper while being tight on cash. Seeing the numbers together is the quickest way to spot if a gap is developing.
Profitability
The profitability tab shows your P&L summary alongside 3 performance metrics.
- Gross Margin: the percentage of revenue left after deducting direct costs. It shows how efficiently your core operations are running before overheads and other expenses are factored in.
- Net margin: the percentage of revenue remaining after all costs have been deducted, including overheads, interest and tax. This is the number that shows whether growth is actually translating to profit or whether costs are eating into it.
- Return on investment (annualised): how much the business is generating relative to the capital invested into the business. This reflects whether the capital is working as hard as it could be.
Real world example: One client was growing revenue month-on-month while their net margin was quietly shrinking due to rising supplier costs. A conversation with their accountant and a pricing adjustment and the margin was recovered within a quarter.
Position
The position tab shows your balance sheet summary alongside the metrics that tell you where your cash actually is and how quickly it's moving.
- Debtor days: how long customers are taking to pay on average. The lower the number, the faster cash is coming in.
- Creditor days: how quickly you're paying suppliers on average. Viewed alongisde debtor days, this shows whether the timing of money in and money out is working in your favour or against it.
- Cash position: this gives you a forward view of where cash is heading, not just where it stands at the end of the reporting period.
Real world example: Paying a supplier in 5 days while customers take 40 days to pay is a cause for concern. Our reporting surfaced it and the fix was as simple as changing internal processes around the timing of supplier payments.
Business insights report
The Beany dashboard and your standard management report give you the numbers. The Business Insights report is your accountant's analysis of what those numbers mean for your business. It's a structured report that tells you where you stand, what's driving it, and what to do about it.
Here's a closer look at three of the report's key sections.
The summary
Most reports tell you what happened. This section also tells you what it means and what to do next. It's framed into three parts - current state, implications and recommended actions.
Key metrics
Important metrics are displayed with a traffic light rating so you can see at a glance which areas are performing well and which need attention. Where available, figures are measured against industry standards or your own internal targets, so each metric has a reference point not just an isolated value.
Strategic recommendations
Recommendations are prioritised and given a realistic timeframe so you know what to focus on first. Each one includes an expected outcome so you can weigh up the impact before deciding where to direct your energy.