As a business coach, I recommend that every entrepreneur understand his/her business financials. Too often, I am told by women entrepreneurs that they have someone who handles that for them. My response is, "A bookkeeper or accountant's job is to make sure your income covers your expenses. Your job is to know what is working and what isn't, and if you don't have a clear understanding of your income and expenses you can't possibly lead your company to success. Step one is to create a budget. 
Just as with a personal budget every expense must be listed in your business budget. Don't be afraid of having too many line items as the more information you have in your budget the more opportunity you will have to find ways to save if necessary. In other words, your automobile expenses should have a line item for each of the following: car payments, insurance, repairs, gas, tolls, parking expenses, excise tax etc. Any other travel or entertainment expense should also be itemized. If all these expenses are lumped in together you'll have no idea how to cut back on what might not be critical to the business. This is also particularly important when budgeting for marketing and/or advertising expenses. The more detail you have in your budget the better you will be able to assess the necessity of that expense for the following year.
If you are using quickbooks, as many small business owners do, this process is simple as long as you make sure to create as many accounts as necessary to provide detail for each expense.
The same is true for income. Since every business is different with regard to where its income comes from it is up to you to know your business well enough to be able to account for every dollar accurately so you clearly understand what is working in the business and what isn't. For example, in the simple case of a service business where a service such as your time is provided for a fee you probably won't have too many income items. However, if the payment for your time is for a variety of services such as: speaking, consulting, coaching, etc. then make sure to itemize each so you'll know at the end of the quarter and year what services produced the greatest income for your company.
Of course, in more complicated businesses it is critical to understand exactly what is selling and what is not. I have worked with entrepreneurs who insist each year in spending more on items that don't make profit just because they heard that they were big sellers elsewhere. The fact is if YOUR customers don't want what you are selling it will be YOUR business that will suffer.
You still may be thinking, "Vicki, budgeting and numbers just aren't my thing and that's why I pay a bookkeeper to keep it all straight." And, I do understand the fear that some have with their finances, but I will not let you off the hook on this one. Keep your bookkeeper so that your financials will be accurate, and ask her/him to explain in detail what is going on each month so you will always be aware of your cash flow. Make sure you are also aware of your billing cycle and customers who are slow or aren't making payments at all.
Would you be surprised if I told you that I have worked with entrepreneurs who don't know that their very best customers are so delinquent in paying them that it is actually crippling their business? Unfortunately, it happens much too frequently that a Fortune 500 company will delay payment for 120 days or more to a small business owner putting that business in jeopardy.
When you understand your financials you won't let that happen to you because you'll be prepared to say goodby to customers who want to use your cash flow as their bank.
So, create a budget today if you don't have one and make a commitment to learn everything there is to know about your numbers. It is the first step to increasing your profit margin and patting yourself on the back for being a successful woman entrepreneur.
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