5 metrics a manager should see every week

An annual report tells you what has already happened. A manager needs a different kind of information: the kind you can still act on. In practice, five metrics reviewed every week are enough.

1. Profit margin, not turnover

Turnover is the figure everyone knows, and often the only one anyone talks about. But growing sales with a shrinking margin mean you are working harder for the same money.

So each week it is worth looking at the margin as a percentage and the direction it is moving in, not just the amount. You can see how this works in practice in the profit analysis report.

2. Overdue debts by age

Not the total amount owed, but how it breaks down: how much is up to 30 days overdue, how much 31–60 days, how much over 90. Debts drifting into the older bands are the earliest sign that cash flow will tighten in a month or two.

This breakdown is shown in the debt analysis report, and for day-to-day control there is the list of late payments.

3. Average receipt or average invoice

This is the metric that explains changes in turnover. If turnover went up while the average invoice went down, more customers came in but each bought less. That is a very different situation from the same growth with a stable average invoice, and it calls for different action.

4. Inventory levels and slow-moving stock

Stock sitting in the warehouse is money sitting idle. Each week it is enough to glance at whether inventory is growing faster than sales, and once a month to go through the list of slow-moving stock.

5. Comparison between branches

If you have more than one site or branch, the most valuable metric is not the absolute result but the difference between them. Branches operating under the same conditions with different margins almost always point to a management problem rather than a market one.

That is exactly how one of our clients noticed that the share of cost of sales at one site was markedly higher than at the others, even though the menu was the same.

Why weekly rather than monthly

A monthly rhythm feels natural because that is what accounting is used to. But the monthly report arrives two to three weeks after the events it covers, so you find out about a January problem in mid-February, when it is too late to fix.

A weekly review does not change the amount of information; it changes the window for reacting. A falling margin spotted in the second week still leaves time to adjust prices or discounts within the same month.

The second reason is simpler: five metrics a week take five minutes. Thirty metrics once a month take no time at all, because nobody opens that report.

What we deliberately leave off this list

A question we are often asked is why total profit and turnover are not on the list.

Both are important, but they are slow: they confirm what has already happened, and over a week they barely move enough to give you anything to react to. Margin, debts and average invoice move earlier; they are the early signals of the same things.

For the longer-term picture there are the profit and loss and balance sheet reports, which are enough to review once a quarter.

Making it a habit

In practice, three things work:

• A fixed time. Monday morning, before meetings. A review without a set time slot does not happen.
• The same order every time. Go through the metrics in sequence, rather than hunting for whatever looks most interesting today.
• One question for each. Not “what is the number?” but “is it moving in the direction it should?”

If all five are moving the right way, the review is done. If one is not, that is your topic for the week.

How to review it in five minutes

All five metrics fit on a single screen. That is exactly what the executive summary report is for, and it is where most people start their week. When you need more detail, you drill down from it into the relevant report.

We describe our solution for managers on the CockpitCEO page, and the prices of the ready-built packages are on the pricing page.