Free Tool

Financial-Operational
Diagnostic Checklist

A 20-point self-assessment for service business owners with 10–250 people. Check each item you can answer with confidence right now — not what you plan to build, but what already works.

Time: ~10 minutes

For: Service businesses, 10–250 people

Cost: Free

By: Axiarch Pro

Your score

0 / 20

Check the items that already work in your business.

01 Financial Visibility 0 / 4

Monthly management P&L. You receive a management profit & loss report each month — not a tax report, but one designed for decision-making.

You know last month's net margin. You can state the business's net margin for the previous month without asking your accountant.

Revenue ≠ profit distinction. You track the gap between what comes in and what actually remains — and you know why that gap exists.

Management vs. tax accounting. Your management accounts and tax accounts are separate — you are not making business decisions based on tax reports.

02 Profitability Analysis 0 / 4

Project-level profitability. You know the margin on each client or project — not just the total — and can identify which ones lose money.

Full cost per service. You know the full cost of delivering each service — including hidden costs like management time, overhead allocation, and rework.

Pricing covers real costs. Your prices are based on actual unit economics — not competitor benchmarking or intuition.

You know your best and worst clients. You can rank clients or service lines by profitability and have used that data to make a business decision in the last 12 months.

03 Cash Flow Management 0 / 4

90-day cash flow forecast. You have a rolling cash flow forecast for the next 90 days — showing expected inflows, outflows, and projected balance.

No surprise cash gaps. Your last cash flow problem was anticipated at least 30 days before it happened — not discovered when the account was already strained.

Accounts receivable control. You actively manage outstanding invoices and have a clear process for chasing overdue payments.

Liquidity reserve. You maintain a deliberate cash reserve — not just whatever is left in the account after expenses.

04 Founder Dependency 0 / 4

Business runs without you for 2 weeks. The business operates normally when you are fully unavailable for two weeks — without critical decisions piling up.

Documented decision authority. Your team knows which decisions they can make without you — and this is documented, not just assumed.

Key processes don't depend on you personally. Client delivery, key sales, and core operations can be performed by someone other than you — without a drop in quality.

You spend < 40% of time on operations. Less than 40% of your working time goes to day-to-day operational tasks that could in principle be delegated.

05 Operational Architecture 0 / 4

Regular financial review. You hold a structured financial review at least monthly — with the same format, the same metrics, and actionable outcomes.

FP&A or forward-looking analytics. You have some form of financial planning and analysis — forecasting, scenario modelling, or at minimum a rolling budget.

Financial function is not just accounting. Someone in (or working with) your business is responsible for management analytics and financial planning — separate from tax compliance.

You can explain your financial position in 5 minutes. Without preparation, you can explain the business's financial health, key constraints, and next 90-day outlook to a board or investor.

Check the items above to see your result

Each item represents a component of a functional financial-operational system. The more gaps you identify, the more clearly your business is operating below its potential.

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Financial-OperationalDiagnostic Checklist

Check the items above to see your result

Financial-Operational
Diagnostic Checklist