Entrepreneurs don't start a business because they want to manage its finances or spend hours perusing financial statements and reports--they start a business because they have a great idea, and expertise and passion behind their idea. But, passion isn't enough to keep a business afloat. According to Shikhar Ghosh, a senior lecturer at Harvard Business School, 95 percent of startups do not meet their projected return on investment and almost 40 percent fail completely. To keep track of finances and ensure that their business succeeds, entrepreneurs can use dashboards to easily track key performance indicators (KPI's) that will ultimately keep their business thriving and not just surviving.

A small business dashboard should be a series of charts and graphs that incorporate all of a business's relevant data. For the entrepreneur without a lot of financial knowledge, the small business dashboard should just focus on financial KPI's and should automate reports and display the KPI's in an easy-to-understand format, with easy-to-read charts and graphs. Some charts might include yearly revenue to date, monthly expenses, and future sales projections. When viewed together, it's easy for even the most financially reluctant entrepreneurs to quickly gauge the financial health of their business, and start to easily understand how to grow a business while staying fiscally sound.

Benefits of a small business dashboard
The benefits of a financial dashboard for small business owners are numerous and make managing business finances intuitive, efficient, and less intimidating. Just a few include the following:

Efficiency: No one has time to compile numbers and reports in Excel, especially not a busy entrepreneur. Reports done in the right dashboard tool can be customized to update according to your preferences.You should find a tool that automatically pulls data from your accounting solution. Managing financials in a dashboard gives you and your employees the ability to actually understand your financial drivers for your business and quickly make the right decisions about hiring, expanding, purchasing inventory or major assets, spending on marketing programs, etc.

Complete visibility: With the right dashboard, you know exactly what is going on at all times. You can see revenue, net profit and expenses together in one view and understand how they relate. Most outdated systems require that you manually input this information, which takes up time and introduces friction to an already daunting process. You need to always look at the big picture, with all your financial KPI's in one place. You could have brought in less revenue than previous years, and start to panic when you see that. But if you are looking at expenses and net profit alongside revenue you may notice that you have cut expenses and are way more profitable than you have ever been. Rather than panicking you can then continue to adjust and focus on what you have done to drive down costs and increase profits, rather than just blindly trying to bring up revenue.

Reduced stress: Knowledge is power and peace of mind. The right small business dashboard solution will streamline your company's financial information into a digestible, informative format. When you can see key business metrics at any point in time and wherever you are, you can rest easy knowing that nothing can sneak up on you and throw your business off track. You will sleep better at night.

Forecasting and Budgeting: It's proven that businesses that plan and track their progress grow 30 percent faster than others. When you are able to clearly see your complete financial data in one place, and compare your Actual results against plan, and previous periods, you begin to see patterns of performance and problem areas and can make adjustments as needed. You want to be able to set financial goals (otherwise known as forecasting), control expenses (budgeting) and then track your assumptions against what is actually happening in your business.

As you consider what dashboard is best for your business, you should expect certain features. The best dashboards manage information with the following:
  • Financial performance: This category includes profit, revenue, expenses, and cash flow.
  • Financial Comparisons: Compare Actual results against planned, and previous periods for the best context and decision making power.
  • Accounts payable: What do you owe on a monthly basis? Tracking this allows you to more accurately plan ahead and understand exactly how much you have in the bank.
  • Accounts receivable: Which customers or clients owe you money? Which are likely to pay on time and which are usually a month behind? Understanding exactly how much money you should be receiving each month helps you better understand your revenue.
  • Cash Flow Planning: You need a tool that helps you understand cash flow, cash burn, and clearly shows you the levers that affect cash in your business. When you get that big sale, how much cash do you have to have on hand to fulfill your order?
It's crucial that these elements are displayed in an easy-to-read format, automatically, without double data entry. The more simple your business information appears, the less intimidating it will be. When your financial information is easy to understand, you will be more likely to see problems before they happen, make smarter decisions about what to sell, what price to sell it at, and how much money you can spend to help sell. Knowledge is power, so embrace your financials, don't fear them. Take advantage of the great tools that exist in the market today, and truly accelerate your business.