Savvy entrepreneurs make time to review their business’s books regularly. Even if you’re not the one doing the daily, weekly and monthly accounting tasks, it’s good to keep your finger on the pulse of how your business is doing financially. However, it can be difficult to find room on your to-do list for this tedious but important task. To find out more about how actual business owners approach monitoring their financials, we asked Young Entrepreneur Council members this question:

How often do you review your business’s financials? What advice do you have for entrepreneurs who feel overwhelmed by the process of reviewing their numbers regularly?
1. Review your main financial statements
ways to stay on top of your business finances

“Ideally, you should review your financials at least monthly. Waiting until the end of the year when tax time rolls around adds a lot of unnecessary stress and leaves little time to fix mistakes. Try setting aside one day a month to pour over your business’ balance sheet, income statement, cash flow statement, and budget. If it’s still hard to find the time, consider having professional help.” – Blair Thomas, eMerchantBroker

2. Snapshots help make smart decisions
ways to stay on top of your business finances

“For our businesses, we get frequent snapshots of our financials to review at least weekly. This ensures we can quickly check our cash flow, reserves, sales, and more to make smart decisions on which areas to invest in next. However, each month and quarter, we get in-depth reports that we can pore over in detail to find the smartest cost savings and opportunities for growth.” – Firas Kittaneh, Zoma

3. Consider hiring a financials-focused team member
ways to stay on top of your business finances

“Financials can be overwhelming, especially when the financials are for your business because odds are, you’re managing much more than the numbers alone. To combat becoming overwhelmed, I recommend hiring a team member who specializes in financials. Not only will they be able to consistently stay up to date on your business financials, they can give you great advice, too.” – David Chen, Sharebert

4. Review financials as often as is necessary
ways to stay on top of your business finances

“Ideally, you’re able to look at the business financials as regularly as necessary. If your business is starting up or has cash flow challenges, then you might need to do this on a more regular basis, like weekly. It all depends on the pressures of business costs versus revenues, so it should be considered based on your unique business needs.” – Baruch Labunski, Rank Secure