Reporting pack

The standard monthly set you produce and circulate: P&L, cash position and runway, key metrics, and a short commentary.

Example

Two pages, sent on the same date each month, to investors and to yourself.

Important

The discipline of producing it is worth more than the document. Founders who close their books monthly notice problems a quarter earlier than founders who do it annually.

Related terms

• Month-end close — The routine of finishing a month's books: recording everything, reconciling the bank, checking categories, and producing the statements.
• Investor update — A short regular email to investors covering metrics, progress, problems and specific asks.
• Income statement (P&L) — A statement of revenue, costs and profit over a period. Revenue − COGS = gross profit; gross profit − OpEx = operating profit.
• Runway — How many months your company can keep operating before it runs out of money, at its current rate of spending.

Lessons that explain it

• The month-end close — The two-hour routine that turns bookkeeping into a decision tool. A checklist you can run on the first working day of every month. (12 min)
• Producing your own P&L and cash view — Turning categorised transactions into the two reports you will actually use, and the six numbers you should be able to recite from memory. (14 min)
• The monthly reporting pack — Two pages, the same date every month, to investors and to yourself. What goes in it, what does not, and why the discipline outlives any single report. (11 min)
• Bookkeeper, accountant, CFO — when to hand off — What each one actually does, the order to hire them in, and the parts you should never hand over however big you get. (11 min)

All 176 terms in the Founder glossary