We got to know cost of toilet paper because of crisis in 2009.
Owner of big hotel chain in Czech republic said in interview.
If you knew it before you would have no crisis.
Nobody interviewed me so I am writing it here on my blog.

Knowing your business down to every detail is the key.
It is not enough to rely on your accountant to tell you what’s going on.
He is just that – accountant. Putting numbers into appropriate place.
What you need is to see connections between numbers.
You need to know and see principles of company finance structure.

All your company numbers must be actively measured and managed.

For every project/company I did I had my own “accounting”.
Excel sheet that told me in real time everything about the health of my business.
Excel is entrepreneur’s best friend. Always tells you the truth (obviously if you don’t screw up formulas). You should do your own. What it should tell you at minimum is:

a) cost structure of your business
– what is the percentage of people cost, rent, operations etc on your revenues
– also shows you detailed picture on all your costs

b) revenue structure
– by day/week/month
– by customer/by segment

c) what is your profitability
– by month, by segment, by customer … you name it

d) how are you doing
– statistics on “year on year” growth by months / weeks / even days depending on your business

e) others
– at Chefparade we also look at:
revenue per session, revenue per person, number of sessions, average number of people per session, number of people, up-sale revenue per session

Know your business. Know your numbers. It will pay you back big time.

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