By Angie Jones
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February 26, 2025
Does your Accountant teach you how to understand your numbers so it’s meaningful to you and your restaurant? Do you understand the terminology? Do you know your breakeven point and is there a budget in place for your restaurant? Every business owner should be able to determine the strengths and weaknesses of their finances by reviewing the numbers of their financial statement. Your financial statement is comprised of 3 separate statements; a balance sheet, an income statement and the cash flow statement. The key factor to understanding your Financial Statement is having the right Accountant working with you. The right Accountant will develop a system showing you how to: A. Compile information – your monthly accounting information, such as your bank statement, sales and expense reports, etc., will be complied into a Financial Statement - the scorecard for your business. This scorecard is what you analyze to understand the story your numbers are telling you about your restaurant. B. Read Your Numbers – This is like the beginning step where you learn to read the words on the page. Understanding the key numbers on your financial statement like sales, profit or loss, wages, and ending cash is crucial. Reading the numbers is the first step, analyzing is the next step. Just because you understand the words on the page doesn’t mean you understand how to comprehend them in the context of the paragraph, chapter or a story as a whole. C. Analyze where you’re at – Understanding how to make your financial information meaningful is vital to making financial decisions. For example, taking the information on your scorecard and using it to determine your break-even point, or know how much working capital you have, develop a financial plan, working within a budget, or monitoring trends. Breaking out your wages, or your food costs from your liquor. Doing simple things like this will give you insight to the story your numbers are telling you. In financial terms, this is called financial analysis. These three steps allow you to get a complete and accurate understanding of how much money you have, how much money you owe, what’s your income and how much your business has in expenses. This is the story your numbers are telling you. The initial time invested in training a restaurant owner to understand these steps is vital because it enables them to understand what needs to change within their business financially, and focus. Focus on customer service and serving excellent food. Make sure you have a system in place to cover all your bases ensuring if you’ve made any of these mistakes you’re able to turn them in to successes. For more information, contact EWH Small Business Accounting S.C. by email at: info@ewhsba.com or give us a call at 608-781-5625.