Most owners see a P&L sometime in the month after next. By then the decision it should have triggered is already late. These are the three numbers a fractional CFO puts in front of an owner by the 10th of every month, how to read each one, and what to do when it moves.
1. Real gross margin — by job, matter or service line
What it is: revenue minus the direct cost of producing it (labor, materials, subs, direct software), for each job, matter or service line — not the blended company number.
Why the blended number misleads: a healthy company margin can be two strong lines carrying a weak line that is growing fastest. Growth in the wrong line lowers profit.
What to do when it moves: rank your lines by margin, then by volume. Price, fix or stop the bottom one before the next quote goes out.
2. Free cash after obligations
What it is: cash in the bank today minus everything that must leave in the next 30 days: payroll, payroll taxes, payables due, debt service, owner draws, sales tax. What remains is the cash you actually have.
Why the bank balance misleads: a strong balance on the 1st is often money already promised to someone else.
What to do when it moves: if free cash covers less than four weeks of fixed cost, hold new spending until a 13-week cash forecast says otherwise, and start the collections calls below.
3. Unbilled work plus receivables over 60 days
What it is: work you have done and not invoiced (approved change orders, unbilled hours, retainage you can release) plus every invoice past 60 days.
Why it matters: this is profit you already earned, sitting in someone else’s account.
What to do when it moves: bill everything billable this week. Call every 60-day balance — owner to owner for anything over 90. Put the list, with an owner and a date, in front of the team every Monday.
How to get all three by the 10th
Close the books early in the month, tie the P&L and balance sheet, book WIP or unbilled work, run the aging and the 13-week cash forecast. That is what Veritas produces every month for owners of $5M–$100M+ companies — accounting, controller and CFO in one Tulsa-based team.
Want to see your own three numbers? The Financial X-Ray is one hour on your last 12 months with a fractional CFO. Normally $5,000 — complimentary. You leave with three written moves.
Book your complimentary Financial X-Ray
Gui Albergaria, Founder & CEO, Veritas Management Group — Tulsa, Oklahoma · 813-999-6872