STEVENPALMIERI

Walk the loop

Books: what to check before the call

The company's books.

Why it matters: Every other station reads from the books. If the books are behind, the rest is behind too.

Answer it and see your picture.

What lives here

  • The bank and card feeds
  • Invoices out and bills in
  • The chart of accounts
  • The reconciliation each month

What good looks like

  • Current through last month.
  • Every account reconciled.
  • A profit and loss you would show a lender tomorrow.

Do this yourself

  1. Open the file and find the last reconciled month.
  2. Count how many months sit between that and today.
  3. That count is the first thing to fix.

See it on a company like yours

Here is the month-by-month page for Cinder Mesa Landscape, the fictional company in our worked examples.

Month by month

Illustrative composite. Not a real client.

Cinder Mesa Landscape LLC · October 18, 2026

Eight months lose money

June is the best net month in the extract, at $11,200 on income of $93,750. August is the worst, at −$37,100 on income of $71,250. Gross profit stays positive in every month of this extract.

−$20.0K$0.0K$20.0K$40.0K$60.0K$80.0KJan−$18.2KFeb−$12.4KMar−$24.6KApr$6.4KMay−$8.9KJun$11.2KJul−$16.8KAug−$37.1KSep−$19.6KOct−$14.8K
IncomeGross profitNet income
Cash basis, the ten months in the 2026 extract.
Best month
June $11,200
Income $93,750
Worst month
August −$37,100
Income $71,250
Loss months
8 of 10
Net income under zero
2026 net income
−$134,800
Sum of the ten months

Margin moved from 52.0% in 2025 to 42.0% in this extract. That gap is the story. A higher income pace does not repair it by itself.

Open this page in the CFO example

Read more on the Controller and books page

Steven sees your answers before the call. Nothing here is graded.

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