You’re reviewing your numbers monthly (go you!), but what about taking a step back to see the big picture? In this episode, Danielle walks you through the power of a quarterly financial review, one of the most practical ways to make smarter decisions, spot real trends, and align your business goals with your personal ones.
Danielle breaks down the difference between monthly and quarterly reviews (the micro vs. macro view each provides), what numbers to look at quarterly, and how to analyze those numbers. All you need is 90 minutes every 90 days to use your financials as a tool for success and lead your business with deeper clarity and confidence.
Key Takeaways:
- Monthly vs. Quarterly Reviews: Monthly reviews help you manage the day-to-day, while quarterly reviews are your roadmap, zooming out to see long-term trends and course correct if needed.
- Revenue Trends & Profitability: Don’t just focus on sales. Understand where your income is coming from and if it’s actually making you money.
- Operating Expenses: Your top five expenses tell the real story of your business priorities. Make sure your spending aligns with your vision.
- Personal + Business Alignment: Your personal and family goals should be part of your financial strategy. If they’re out of sync, tension (and burnout) is bound to follow.
- Data > Emotion: Reviewing your numbers quarterly helps you strip away the emotional swings of entrepreneurship and make clear-headed decisions based on actual performance.
Topics Discussed:
(00:53 – 02:05) Monthly vs. Quarterly Reviews
(02:05 – 04:16) What to Include in a Quarterly Review
(04:16 – 05:48) Growth vs. Profit
(05:48 – 07:01) Aligning Business with Personal Goals
(07:01 – 08:50) Tracking & Analysis of Revenue Trends
(08:50 – 10:15) Reviewing Operating Expenses & Spending Trends
(10:15 – 12:19) Understanding Your Net Income & Cash Flow
(12:20 – 12:44) Reviewing How Much You’re Paying Yourself & Your Team
(12:45 – 14:25) Comparing Budget vs. Actual
Kickstart’s Quarterly Review Checklist:
- Last quarter compared to year-to-date
- Growth vs. profit & ROI
- Personal vs. business financial alignment
- Profit margin & revenue streams
- Operating expenses + top 5 spending categories
- Net income & monthly/quarterly patterns
- Cash flow health + reserve analysis
- Owner’s pay & team compensation
- Budget vs. actuals
Action Steps:
- Blockout 90 minutes of CEO time
- Gather your Snapshot and financial statements
- Use your quarterly checklist to walk through the process
- Set 1–3 priority shifts or goals for the next 90 days
- Schedule your next review (and that call if you’re a Kickstart client!)
Resources:
Past Episode | Healthy Spending Habits: Business Budget Percentages That Fuel Sustainable Growth – Ep. 220
Kickstart Accounting’s CFO Services | kickstartaccountinginc.com/cfo
Book a Call with Kickstart Accounting, Inc.:
https://kickstartaccountinginc.com/book
Connect with Kickstart Accounting, Inc.:
Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/Kickstartaccounting
YouTube | https://www.youtube.com/@businessbythebooks
Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/kickstartaccountinginc
Episode Transcript
00:00:00:00 - 00:00:06:23
Danielle Hayden
You review your numbers every month because you are a smart CEO, but once a quarter, it's time to zoom out.
00:00:06:23 - 00:00:15:15
Danielle Hayden
This is your moment to smooth out the noise of the month to month swings, see the full picture, and realign your business with the goals that actually matter to you.
00:00:15:15 - 00:00:32:05
Danielle Hayden
Welcome back to Business by the Books, the podcast for entrepreneurs who are ready to use their numbers to grow profitable, powerful businesses with confidence. I'm your host, Danielle Hayden, reformed CFO and founder of Kickstart Accounting, Inc.,
00:00:32:07 - 00:00:53:14
Danielle Hayden
and today we're diving into one of my favorite CEO tools, the quarterly financial review. This isn't just another item on your to-do list. This is your CEO strategy session. So we're going to talk about why quarterly reviews are different than monthly, what they allow you to see, and exactly what to review so you can realign your business and protect your profits.
00:00:53:15 - 00:00:57:10
Danielle Hayden
All right, so monthly versus quarterly: What is the difference?
00:00:57:10 - 00:01:11:11
Danielle Hayden
Monthly reviews, they help you manage the micro, day-to-day components of your business, cash flow expenses, the categorization, immediate next steps that have to be taken to react quickly in business and monthly reviews,
00:01:11:13 - 00:01:18:02
Danielle Hayden
they're so important. If something is going awry, it's not working or it's working really well,
00:01:18:02 - 00:01:31:11
Danielle Hayden
monthly reviews give us the opportunity to act quickly. We can jump on the things and capitalize on the things that are working well. If something's not going well, we can refocus and make sure that we're watching that expense line.
00:01:31:11 - 00:01:53:01
Danielle Hayden
But quarterly reviews they allow you to see macro, right? So we're pulling back and I want you to look in the quarterly and year- to-date trends to see growth, seasonality and long-term alignment in business so that we're not making knee-jerk reactions that we're looking at what this year really actually looks like.
00:01:53:04 - 00:02:12:22
Danielle Hayden
So the metaphor I like to use here is that monthly financial reviews, it's like just checking the rearview mirror quarterly. It's checking the roadmap. Where is our business going? So you read both as a successful CEO. So the quarterly review process, what is included? What do we do and what do we look at in the quarterly review process?
00:02:12:22 - 00:02:37:08
Danielle Hayden
Our clients here at Kickstart Accounting Inc., they receive several reports as part of their financial Snapshot. In their Snapshot we are looking at the month, the quarter, and year-to-date so that we can look at what has happened in each category, both just last month for this whole quarter, and then, how is 2025 looking for us as a business and as a whole?
00:02:37:08 - 00:03:10:09
Danielle Hayden
We also provide our clients with a chart in each section of the financial statement, and in the chart we're looking at the last 12 months. The rolling 12 months is a really important tool so we can see that seasonality in our business. So the quarterly analysis, that quarterly look at your business, this is to smooth out the monthly swings so that you can spot real patterns the month to month we can say things to ourselves like, gosh, I just feel like this month was slow,
00:03:10:09 - 00:03:32:13
Danielle Hayden
and I think that means this whole year has been slow. By looking at the quarter and year-to-date, we're able to remove that emotion. We're able to remove that monthly swing to see the real pattern. Was it just last month that felt slow? And that's a normal part of your seasonality. Maybe every spring is slow for you.
00:03:32:15 - 00:03:52:21
Danielle Hayden
So you have the opportunity here to look at what has the entire year looked like? What has the entire quarter looked like? What did this quarter two look like for you in data, not feelings? And what has 2025 the whole year-to-date looked like for you? Now next level analysis is looking at how this compares to last year.
00:03:52:22 - 00:04:16:20
Danielle Hayden
So our clients receive in their Snapshot a comparison to last year's financials as well as a budget, if you set a budget. So we want you to look at the progress year-to-date, compare that to last year and compare that to a budget where you thought you would be. Now looking at these patterns are going to allow you to use the data to spot real trends.
00:04:16:20 - 00:04:41:22
Danielle Hayden
Next, what I want you to evaluate the growth versus profit. If you are growing your business, I know and understand it costs money to grow. We need to hire a team. We need to have the right outside services. It costs software technology. And then don't forget marketing. I know, and so when we're doing our quarterly review, we're looking at our growth patterns,
00:04:42:00 - 00:05:08:00
Danielle Hayden
and then we're also looking at our profit. Are we growing in the right direction? And is the investments that we're making into our growth paying off in the way that we thought it would? Are we going in the right direction in both growth and in profit? This is your moment where if you are not growing in profit, I need you to spend some time to really think about why.
00:05:08:02 - 00:05:33:08
Danielle Hayden
And do you need to make a course correction, or is this the beginning of your investment? And we need to put it on the watchlist for the future. Now, during this process of this quarterly review, I want you to be thinking about how do you make proactive decisions if you are growing faster than you thought you were growing or faster than last year, is it time to start thinking about hiring?
00:05:33:10 - 00:06:01:09
Danielle Hayden
How about investing in a new technology or software? What systems do you need to have in place to scale your business? So during the quarterly review, we need to take time to make proactive decisions for our business. Next, we need to reconnect to our personal and family goals. You guys, we as business owners, our family and our personal finances are connected to our business.
00:06:01:11 - 00:06:20:10
Danielle Hayden
And if your business is going in one direction and your family and your personal finances are going in the other, there's going to be tension created. And so during this quarterly review, I want you to take a moment to pause, to think about what are your personal and your family goals, and how does that align to your business goals?
00:06:20:11 - 00:06:44:04
Danielle Hayden
That's why we spend so much time with our CFO clients to understand their personal goals, as well as their business, because we can't scale a business without knowing and understanding what does our personal life need? How much money does our personal finances need from the business in order to survive and then to thrive? Those have to be in alignment.
00:06:44:04 - 00:07:08:21
Danielle Hayden
As business owners, you have a responsibility to set the vision for your business, and using data and not emotional knee jerk reactions is the way to create clarity in that vision for both you, your family, and your team. All right, so what exactly do you review during this quarterly analysis? I want you to look at your revenue trends.
00:07:08:23 - 00:07:32:09
Danielle Hayden
What is driving income and is it sustainable? What's working and what's not working in terms of revenue growth? Do you have the team in place to continue to support the growth of your income? I can't tell you how many business owners I've talked to over the years when building a budget, they plan for 30, 50, 70% growth in revenue,
00:07:32:10 - 00:08:02:02
Danielle Hayden
and when we get down to team like, oh, who's going to support these clients? We need to build a team and take things off your plate and have enough time and energy to support the growth of the business. We also need to understand where are clients coming from, where are sales coming from? So as you review your revenue trends for the previous month, quarter, year-to-date, and rolling 12 months, we're asking ourselves what's driving income?
00:08:02:02 - 00:08:23:14
Danielle Hayden
And is this sustainable? What do I need to do today and in the future as a business owner, to make sure that this is sustainable in the future? Next is profit margins. Are you earning enough on what you sell, whether you're service based or product based business? I want you to look at are you profitable by revenue stream?
00:08:23:20 - 00:08:50:17
Danielle Hayden
Are you profitable by product line? By offering? Now this is where again, we spend a lot of time with our CFO clients is to understand profitability by product, not by revenue stream and by product line. So during your CEO analysis, make sure you understand how much you're earning on each revenue stream and talk to your money team if you need further analysis on your profit margins.
00:08:50:17 - 00:09:20:19
Danielle Hayden
Next is our operating expenses. I want you to understand where you are spending money. Now as a Kickstart Accounting, Inc. client, you get your top five operating expenses both for the month, quarter and year-to-date. This is really important to look at all three because you can see trends. Is it consistent? Were your top five expenses for this month consistent with quarter two consistent with year-to-date, and does that align with your goals?
00:09:20:21 - 00:09:42:15
Danielle Hayden
Are you spending money day-to-day in a way that aligns with where you want to go in the future? We have to spend money. We have to become the business owner that we want to be in the future now, right? And so by looking at our top five expenses, we can see where your priorities lie. My clients come to me and tell me that they're struggling.
00:09:42:16 - 00:10:15:14
Danielle Hayden
We can look at their income statement and tell them exactly where their priorities lie without even starting the conversation. You can see that in your spending, and you can do that for yourself as well. All right, next is net income. Are you actually keeping the money in your business? You know, it's super exciting and revenue drives ego. And revenue can be really fun to grow our sales and to see the tickets come in. Now, just because you're bringing revenue in the business doesn't mean that you're keeping it.
00:10:15:17 - 00:10:38:05
Danielle Hayden
So what is your net income for this month? For this quarter? And year-to-date? Now I want you to look at this month to month as well, and that's why we give each of our clients a 12-month chart so that they can see their net income by month. What is the seasonality telling you? I like to start at net income.
00:10:38:09 - 00:11:02:13
Danielle Hayden
If I have a profit, I can zoom up the income statement and see what drove that profit. If I lost money this month? Again, I need to zoom up that income statement. What expenses were high? Where did I invest money? And there's going to be times in business that losing money, it's actually okay. It is okay. But did it align with my goals and was it intentional?
00:11:02:15 - 00:11:23:11
Danielle Hayden
And where do I want to go in the future? How do I shift that spending so I go the right direction. Next is our cash flow. This is an overlooked part of the financial statements. We include a chart in every single one of our Snapshot reports, because I know that it's hard to look at a cash flow statement and know what the heck it means.
00:11:23:13 - 00:11:52:01
Danielle Hayden
So in our Snapshot chart, you can see the money in where the money went out and what was the impact on your cash. We can see if cash went out in debt payments, owner’s drawers, personal expenses, or the businesses operating expenses. So make sure you spend time analyzing your cash flow. Now, we don't want to forget, we need to have reserves, whether that be for tax payments or a rainy day fund.
00:11:52:03 - 00:12:11:12
Danielle Hayden
I want you to have three savings accounts. One is an operating, the second is a tax savings account, and the third is a rainy day fund where you can have 1 to 3 months worth of your operating expenses. So this quarterly review time is an amazing opportunity to look at your reserves and compare that to your average operating expenses.
00:12:11:17 - 00:12:36:20
Danielle Hayden
Make sure that they're still in alignment. If you're growing a business, your operating expenses are growing, and do you still have enough money in reserves? During the quarterly review, we want to perform an analysis of our team pay and our owner’s pay. Are you compensating yourself and your team in a way that's sustainable? You can tune back into the Healthy Percentages episode where we talked about how much to spend on payroll.
00:12:36:22 - 00:12:58:03
Danielle Hayden
But here during this quarterly review, I want you to look at how much have you paid your team and yourself the month, the quarter and year-to-date. Next, we're going to look at our budget versus actual. If you set a budget this year, I want you to spend time during this quarterly review looking at your actual progress to where you thought you would be when you set the budget.
00:12:58:03 - 00:13:20:16
Danielle Hayden
Where did you think you were going to be this quarter? Where did you think you were going to be year-to-date? Now, don't forget we're looking at this for the month, for quarter two, and year-to-date. We'll talk about re-forecasting next week. All right, you guys, no matter who you have on your money team, nobody else can reflect and reconnect with their business.
00:13:20:18 - 00:13:46:16
Danielle Hayden
Only you can do that work. So I need you to take your Snapshot, take your financial statements, and intentionally review, intentionally pause to reflect: What worked last quarter? What worked in quarter two that didn't work in quarter one or vice versa? What lessons did you learn about money? How about what lessons did you learn about yourself as a business owner and CEO?
00:13:46:18 - 00:14:13:18
Danielle Hayden
Are you spending in alignment with your goals and where you want to be in the future? Now what does your next 90 days look like personally and professionally? We need to align our spending to where we want to go. Now go block off 90 minutes of CEO time. Grab your reports and your monthly Snapshot. Use this quarterly checklist to review your financials.
00:14:13:19 - 00:14:35:22
Danielle Hayden
Set 1 to 3 goals or shifts that you want to make priority next quarter. Revisit your personal and business alignment and budget, and then schedule your next review. Now remember, if you are a Kickstart Accounting, Inc. client, you receive calls as part of your plan. If you are a standard client, you can talk to us every single month.
00:14:36:00 - 00:15:02:06
Danielle Hayden
If you are a basic client, you get a quarterly financial review call. Go book those calls and we will walk through this quarterly review with you. I hope you enjoyed today's episode of Business by the Books. Don't forget to hit like and subscribe! This is the number one way we can help other entrepreneurs find this podcast. Because here at Kickstart Accounting, Inc., it is our mission to help entrepreneurs understand their numbers,
00:15:02:06 - 00:15:30:20
Danielle Hayden
get access to this information, and grow and thrive in their business. So please help me, help other entrepreneurs understand their numbers so they can finally grow and thrive.