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Step 1 of 6 · Financial Performance

Financial Performance: know how robust your business really is

Before you plan where the business is going, see where it really stands. Step 1 turns your last four years’ accounts into a clear picture of profitability, cash, funding, liquidity and working capital.

The question · what you do

What are the numbers? Run the Financial Health Check on your last four years’ accounts. Also here: Company Valuation and Retirement Planning.

What you’re left with

How robust and stable the business really is — profitability, cash, funding, liquidity and working capital — and the warning lights to act on.

Watch step 1 in a minute

Narrated by Nigel Moore. Shown with an invented business, Pemberlow Coffee Roasters Ltd.

The tools in this step

Financial Health Check

More than twenty ratios from your last four years’ profit and loss and balance sheets, each marked green, amber or red, with a plain-English commentary on what they mean.

Company Valuation

What the business is worth today, and the two numbers that drive it.

Retirement Planning

Whether the business will fund the life you want to stop working into — private to you.

How it fits the plan

Your real debtor, supplier and stock days carry straight into VisionWeb, so the three-year plan’s cash forecast starts from fact, not guesswork. Everyone walks all six steps; your diagnostic scores decide which get a full audit and which a ten-minute check, and everything lands on your dashboard as one action plan.

Read more from Nigel

Questions about this step

What do I need to run the Health Check?

Your last four years’ accounts: the profit and loss account and the balance sheet for each year.

Does it replace my accountant?

No. It gives you a clear, consistent picture of the numbers to act on and to discuss with your accountant. It is not financial or tax advice.

Is it included in my plan?

Yes. Every BBE plan includes every tool, including the Health Check, Valuation and Retirement Planning. Start with the free diagnostic to see where you stand first.

More answers in Help

Start free

See how your business scores on step 1

The free diagnostic takes about ten minutes, scores all six steps and shows what to fix first. Every BBE plan then includes every tool in this step.