The Numbers

Are the numbers sound?

Your financials run through an auditable-ratios engine — liquidity, solvency, efficiency, and an Altman Z″-based Survival Score that places you in a band from caution to very strong. Every number is traceable to a source line; nothing is a black box. In one real engagement, a business moved from 2.30 to 4.90 — caution into a very strong band — over a single fiscal year.

The Discipline

Is the business run like one?

Clean numbers are only half of it. The other half is whether the owner has the habits and controls a Chief Financial Officer would insist on — daily cash discipline, real approval gates, written policies, and a clear read on risk. We walk that with you, and score where you stand.

Cash & finances — daily

Do you, or someone accountable, check the bank balance and cash position every day — not once a month? Is there a rhythm where the numbers actually get looked at, not just filed?

Approvals & authority

Do payments and commitments get approved within a defined service-level agreement, so nothing stalls and nothing slips through unreviewed? Is there a delegation of authority — specific dollar thresholds and specific people at each level — written down, not improvised?

Written policies & controls

Are the core financial policies written — spending limits, expense rules, who signs what — so the business doesn’t depend on one person’s memory? Is there separation between who spends, who approves, and who reconciles?

Governance, risk & compliance

Has a compliance and risk assessment been done — tax, payroll, licensing, data, contracts — so you know your exposure before a regulator or a lawsuit does? Do you know which risks are accepted, which are mitigated, and which are simply unseen?

Tax posture

Are your tax returns filed and current — business and, where it matters, personal — with no open years, lapsed extensions, or estimated payments behind? Has anyone requested your tax transcripts? A transcript pull is often the first sign of an audit, a lender or underwriter checking you out, or identity theft — do you know if one has happened, and why? And if a bank, a buyer, or the IRS asked tomorrow, could you produce clean copies of your last filed returns?

Insurance

Has your insurance been reviewed against how the business actually looks today — liability, property, cyber, key-person — not the policy you bought three years ago at a different size?

Vendors & contracts

Do you review your vendor and customer contracts — renewal dates, auto-renew traps, price escalators, termination terms — so you’re not locked in or surprised? Is someone accountable for the recurring spend that quietly grows?

Backup, continuity & owner pay

Are your books and systems backed up — and has anyone tested that they can be restored, not just that a backup runs? If the person who knows how everything works were out for a month, could the business keep operating? And is owner pay handled with discipline — a consistent draw or salary — rather than pulling cash ad hoc, so the books tell the truth about what the business earns?