The reasons that matter.
TO ANSWER QUESTIONS
Which of my products is most profitable? Why did sales fall last month? Which customers stopped buying?
TO REPLACE IMPRESSIONS WITH FACTS
Most business decisions are made on impressions.
Impressions are frequently wrong, and consistently wrong in the same directions.
TO FIND WHAT IS INVISIBLE
A product that sells well and loses money A customer segment growing quietly Costs rising gradually
THAT LAST ONE
Gradual change is invisible day to day and obvious in a year of figures.
TO PLAN
What to stock, what to price, what to expect.
TO EVALUATE DECISIONS
Whether a change actually helped.
WHAT NONE OF THIS REQUIRES
Advanced technique.
Most valuable analysis in a small business is arithmetic on clean records.
WHAT IT DOES REQUIRE
That the records exist and are trustworthy.
WHAT TO DO FIRST
Fix the records.
