Finance & Cash Flow
If the numbers live in five places, nobody looks at them.
Sales sit in one app, expenses in a notebook, the bank balance in a phone and the dues in somebody's memory. This workshop brings the few figures that matter onto one page, in a spreadsheet the owner built and understands. It is hands-on: participants leave with a working dashboard and a monthly routine, not a template they will never open.
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A dashboard is a habit made visible.
Dashboards sold with software are often too big for a small business: forty charts, none of them looked at. What an owner needs is much smaller: a handful of numbers, the same ones every month, laid out so that a change is noticed straight away. A spreadsheet is enough for this, and building it yourself means you understand what every cell does.
The workshop assumes basic spreadsheet familiarity: typing, simple formulas, a chart. It does not assume accounting knowledge. Participants decide what to track from their own business and, where they are unsure, are encouraged to check definitions with their chartered accountant. A dashboard is only as good as the records behind it, so the session also shows how to keep those records in a form that can feed it.
What the session covers
35 topics across 7 areas. Seven steps, built one after another in the room.
Deciding What to TrackFewer numbers, chosen carefully.5
- Which questions do you want the dashboard to answer?
- Candidates: sales, gross margin, expenses, cash balance, receivables, payables, orders pending
- Dropping vanity numbers that do not lead to a decision
- Choosing a limit of six or seven
- Writing a plain-language definition for each
A number you cannot act on does not belong on the page.
A Clean Data-Entry SheetThe foundation underneath.5
- One row per month, one column per number
- Where each figure comes from: books, bank statement, invoices
- Consistent date and number formats
- Keeping inputs separate from calculations
- Protecting formulas from being overwritten by accident
Formulas That Do the WorkSimple, visible and checkable.5
Practice data in the session is made-up and clearly labelled. Participants may also use rough figures of their own, and nobody is asked to show their numbers.
- Totals and differences between months
- Margin and profit percentages
- Days of cash cover
- Age of receivables, in simple bands
- Reading and fixing an error instead of hiding it
Charts and SignalsShow the trend, flag the exception.5
- A line chart for sales or cash over twelve months
- A bar chart comparing categories where it helps
- Colours that mean something, such as red for a figure below your own limit
- Setting your own warning levels for cash and receivables
- Keeping the page readable on a phone
Warning levels should be set from your own business and history, not copied from somebody else's.
Checks Before You Trust ItWrong numbers on a good-looking page are worse than none.5
- Does the sales total agree with the books?
- Does the cash figure agree with the bank statement?
- A reconciliation row that should always be zero
- Spot-checking one month by hand
- Writing down assumptions at the bottom of the sheet
The Twenty-Minute Monthly RoutineWhat turns the file into a habit.5
- Which day of the month, and who updates it
- A short checklist for collecting the inputs
- Reading the page: what changed, why, what to do
- Writing one line of comment each month
- Saving a copy each month so history is not overwritten
Sharing It SensiblyWith partners, an accountant, a lender.5
- What to show a partner or manager, and what to keep to yourself
- Sending a view-only copy, not the working file
- Keeping the file safe, backed up and password-protected
- How a dashboard can support, but not replace, proper books
- Taking it to your chartered accountant for review
A dashboard summarises records. It does not replace accounting or statutory filings.
What participants leave with
- Their own working dashboard file
- A data-entry sheet and definitions for each number
- A monthly routine checklist
- A short list of checks to run before trusting the page
- Questions for their accountant about definitions and records
What this session is not
- A software demonstration or a recommendation of any tool
- A replacement for accounting or bookkeeping software
- Advanced spreadsheet programming
- Tax or audit advice
Who teaches it
- Finance and business analysts who build reports for owners
- Chartered accountants comfortable with spreadsheets
- Owners who run their business from a spreadsheet and will show what they track
How the session runs
Three hours, in a small group, with a laptop for each participant or pair. Excel and Google Sheets both work. The practitioner builds the dashboard step by step on made-up data while participants build their own alongside, with time to ask and be helped. The last half hour is for checks and for planning the monthly routine. The session gives general education and does not replace individual accounting, tax or legal advice.
What your students leave with
- A one-page dashboard in Excel or Google Sheets, built by themselves
- A short list of numbers chosen for their own business, and why each is there
- A simple monthly data-entry sheet that feeds the dashboard
- One or two charts that show a trend, not decoration
- A monthly routine of about twenty minutes, booked in the calendar
- Basic checks that catch errors before they mislead
Scheduled sessions
Nothing scheduled yet
Sessions are arranged with a college once a date is agreed. Ask us and we will find the right person for it.
A student rather than a college? See what is coming up, or ask your placement team to host this.
One page, a few numbers, looked at every month.
Tell us who your students are and what stage they are at. Sessions are free for participants.