5 Essential Financial Reports Every Founder and CEO Should Track

5 Essential Financial Reports Every Founder and CEO Should Track

As a Founder or Executive, it’s easy to get consumed by everything—leaving little time to regularly review and truly understand your financials. But without understanding the right reports, you're making decisions without a clear sense of direction.

Here are the 5 essential financial reports every executive should understand, review, and use to make smarter decisions.

1. Profit & Loss Statement (P&L)

What it tells you:
Your revenue, costs, and net profit over a specific time period.

Why it matters:
This is your business’s scoreboard. It shows whether you’re profitable, where your income is coming from, and where you may be bleeding money. It breaks down revenue, costs, and expenses to reveal whether the company made a profit or took a loss.

Exec Tip:
Review this monthly and watch for trends. Is revenue growing but profit shrinking? That’s a signal to dig into expenses.

2. Cash Flow Statement

What it tells you:
How money flows in and out of your business across operations, investments, and financing.

Why it matters:
You can be profitable on paper and still run out of cash. Cash flow is the oxygen of your business. It helps stakeholders, such as investors, creditors, and management, understand how the company generates and uses cash and its overall financial health.

Exec Tip:
Look at net cash flow monthly, and always know your “burn rate” if you’re in growth mode.

3. Balance Sheet

What it tells you:
A snapshot of your business’s financial position. It reveals what the company owns (assets), what it owes (liabilities), and the owners' stake in the company (equity). 

Why it matters:
It shows how stable and solvent your business is—key for investors, long-term planning, and lenders.

Exec Tip:
Watch your debt-to-equity ratio and current ratio (can you pay your short-term obligations?). A healthy balance sheet equals long-term resilience.

4. Accounts Receivable (A/R) Aging Report

What it tells you:
Who owes you money, how much, and how long it’s been overdue. It gives you a breakdown of all outstanding customer invoices and it is organized by how long each invoice has been unpaid (e.g., current, 30 days, 60 days, 90+ days).

Why it matters:
Unpaid invoices are silent profit killers. A strong A/R process keeps cash flowing and client relationships clear.

Exec Tip:
Set internal follow-up rules. If invoices hit 30+ days overdue, have a clear escalation plan. 

5. Budget vs. Actuals Report

What it tells you:
How your actual income and expenses compare to your projected (budgeted) ones.

Why it matters:
This is where strategy meets reality. It helps you course-correct and manage spend proactively, not reactively.

Exec Tip:
Review this quarterly and see what’s under budget and investigate what’s over.

Final Thought: What You Track Grows

Most CEOs don’t need more financial data—they need a bookkeeper to deliver accurate financial reports clearly and consistently.

That’s why we offer outsourced Bookkeeping through Exec Hub. We keep your accounting accurate so you don’t get buried in the weeds.

Reach out to us at Exec Hub so we can handle the bookkeeping.