A business owner should receive at least three things from the accountant every month: a monthly profit and loss statement, a cash overview (bank balances and cash flow) and an aged list of receivables. Together these three views show whether the company is earning, whether it can pay its liabilities and who owes it money. The annual financial statements are not enough to run a company — they arrive far too late to act on.
Why isn't looking at the numbers once a year enough?
Annual financial statements are prepared in hindsight, often months after the year ends. By the time they reach you, the data is up to a year old and mainly serves the tax authority, not your decisions. Yet choices about hiring, investment, pricing or chasing a late payer are made continuously, throughout the year.
Ongoing reporting turns accounting from mandatory paperwork into a management tool. When you see each month how the margin is developing, how much cash you really have and how much customers owe you, you can react before a small problem becomes a serious one. For the accounting foundations behind this, see our overview of professional accounting in Slovakia.
Which reports should you get every month?
The core monthly package has three pillars and a few add-ons. It need not run to dozens of pages — what matters is that the numbers are current, understandable and comparable over time. Ask for:
- a profit and loss statement for the month and cumulatively year-to-date (ideally versus plan or last year),
- a cash flow overview and bank balances, ideally with a short forward look at the coming weeks,
- the status of receivables and payables sorted by due date,
- an estimate of VAT for the period and an ongoing reserve for income tax,
- a few key indicators — margin, liquidity and the average time customers take to pay.
The balance sheet does not have to come monthly; quarterly is usually enough, as it changes less dynamically than profit and cash flow. For the wider tax context of running a company, our note on Slovak tax advisory for companies is a useful starting point.
What does the profit and loss statement tell you?
The profit and loss statement shows revenue, costs and the result for the period. It is the main tool for tracking profitability and cost structure — you see clearly where you earn money and where you spend it. Ask for it in two views: for the month alone and cumulatively year-to-date, so you see the trend rather than a single slice.
A number only has value in context. A monthly profit of, say, 8,000 means little until you compare it with the plan or the same month last year. That comparison reveals whether the company is growing or quietly losing margin. It is also crucial to remember that this statement works with costs and revenue, not with actual cash — a fundamental distinction.
Why is profit not the same as cash in the bank?
Profit is calculated on an accrual basis: revenue arises when an invoice is issued, not when it is paid. A company can therefore report a healthy profit and still be unable to pay wages. Example: in a month you invoice 40,000 and have costs of 30,000, so the accounting profit is 10,000. But customers paid only 22,000, you bought materials for 12,000 and repaid a lease of 4,000 — the actual cash in the account fell, even though on paper you are in profit.
That is why you need cash flow and bank balances alongside the profit and loss statement. Profit is an opinion; cash is a fact. The gap between them is the most common reason a healthy-looking company suddenly runs out of money.
How to read receivables and payables?
The most useful receivables report is the ageing — a list of customers sorted by due date: what is not yet due, what is 1–30 days overdue, 31–60, 61–90 and more than 90 days overdue. Example: if you hold 60,000 in receivables but 4,000 is more than 90 days overdue, those four thousand are the signal for immediate follow-up — without ageing, the whole sum looks healthy.
Track payables the same way — who you owe and by when. Money stuck in unpaid invoices is the most common cause of cash trouble, so overdue receivables are the first place to look in any report.
Why keep an ongoing reserve for tax and VAT?
Tax payments are among the largest and come with fixed deadlines. If you do not prepare for them gradually, they can throw your cash flow off in one go. So each month ask for an estimate of VAT for the period (how much to remit, or the excess deduction) and set aside an ongoing estimate of the annual income tax.
Example: if you report a cumulative profit of 50,000 and set nothing aside each month, several thousand may suddenly be missing from the account at year-end. An ongoing reserve spreads that hit so tax is no unpleasant surprise.
How to agree the reporting with your accountant?
Agree three things in advance: what, by when and in what form. A sensible deadline is by the 10th–15th of the following month, which assumes you supply documents promptly and on time — without that, the accountant cannot report on current figures. Keep the format short and readable for a non-financial person: one or two pages of key numbers, not a raw export from the accounting software.
Agree on a brief monthly walkthrough too — a few minutes on what the numbers mean and what follows from them. A report without interpretation is worth half as much. Extended management reporting (profitability by project, indicator dashboards) goes beyond routine bookkeeping, so clarify in advance whether and on what terms the accountant provides it.
Not sure which reports to ask your accountant for, or how to read them? We will set up monthly reporting so you can make decisions based on the numbers.
FAQ
Which reports should I ask my accountant for every month?
The minimum is three things: a monthly profit and loss statement for the month and year-to-date, a cash flow overview with bank balances, and the status of overdue receivables. A VAT estimate for the period and an ongoing income-tax reserve are useful additions. A balance sheet is usually enough quarterly.
Why can a company be profitable and still have no money?
Profit is calculated on an accrual basis — revenue arises when an invoice is issued, not when it is paid. A company can therefore show a profit while cash is tied up in unpaid receivables, in purchased stock, or in loan repayments that reduce cash but are not a cost. That is why cash flow must be watched alongside the profit and loss statement.
When is the best time to receive the monthly report?
A sensible deadline is by the 10th to 15th of the following month. An earlier date assumes you hand documents to the accountant promptly and on time. The more current your numbers are, the sooner you can react to a falling margin, rising overdue receivables or a looming cash shortage.