Your Monthly Financials Are Lying to You Unless You Do This

By John Charette, CPA, CMA – Owner & Your CFO at Phoenix CFO Solutions

Your monthly financials are the culmination of your accounting system. They're supposed to give you a clear, accurate snapshot of how your business is performing—so you can make confident decisions, seize opportunities, and fix problems early.

But here’s the truth most business owners don’t want to hear: your financials are probably lying to you.

Not intentionally. Not maliciously. But if the reports are late, filled with miscategorized expenses, or built on a messy chart of accounts (COA), you’re not getting the full picture. You're getting static noise when you need a business roadmap.

And that’s a problem—because your financials should be the foundation you build on. They feed your strategy, your forecasting, your taxes, your investor updates, your hiring plans. If they’re broken, it’s not just the numbers that suffer. Your whole business performance takes a hit.

In this post, you’ll learn what good financials look like, what broken ones hide, and how Phoenix CFO Solutions helps small businesses get monthly financials they can actually use—with a COA built to reflect how your business truly operates.

Financials That Tell the Truth and Drive Action

Imagine receiving your monthly financials during the first week of the month, knowing they’re not only fast but accurate. Imagine opening your profit and loss statement and immediately spotting where the business is thriving—and where you need to pivot. That’s what good financials do.

Speed is the first non-negotiable. The faster you get your financials, the faster you can act. Waiting three or four weeks to see how you performed last month doesn’t cut it. Timely numbers mean real-time decisions.

But speed means nothing without accuracy. Your financials should reflect real operations. Revenue and expenses need to be posted in the correct periods. Capital expenses should be amortized properly. Your balance sheet should be reconciled and cleared out monthly—no mystery entries, no ghost balances.

All of that rests on one thing: your chart of accounts (COA). The COA is the backbone of your financial reporting. If it’s too vague, everything ends up lumped together—no insights. If it’s too detailed, the reports become overwhelming. A good COA strikes the perfect balance: it mirrors how your business operates, offers relevant breakdowns, and feeds clean data into every financial statement. With the right COA, your financials become more than just reports—they become tools.

Financials That Confuse, Mislead, or Come Too Late

Let’s talk about what happens when your financials aren’t set up right.

First, late financials are useless financials. If you’re getting reports weeks after the month ends, you’re already too late to act on anything. You’re stuck reacting to old news instead of planning with insight.

Then there’s accuracy—or the lack of it. A profit and loss statement that has expenses in the wrong month, or revenue in the wrong quarter, is lying to you. A balance sheet that hasn’t been cleared or reconciled is bloated with junk data. That kind of mess won’t just confuse you—it’ll damage your credibility with lenders, partners, and investors.

And again, at the root of this is the chart of accounts (COA). A COA that doesn’t reflect the reality of your business creates distorted financials. It’s like trying to read your health from an outdated or inaccurate medical chart. A bad COA is vague, overly complicated, or was built for a business you no longer are. If your COA isn’t working for you, your financials aren’t either.

When this happens, your business isn't just misinformed—it’s being underserved. You deserve better than a black box of data that leaves you guessing.

Turn Financial Reports Into a Business Roadmap

Here’s the difference Phoenix CFO Solutions makes.

I don’t just close your books—I build a monthly reporting process that works. That starts with getting your financials in your hands within the first week of every month, so you can make timely, informed decisions.

Behind the scenes, I use powerful tools and systems to automate the closing process while reviewing every report for accuracy. The profit and loss, the balance sheet, and your cash flow statement are all checked against reconciliations and timelines. We eliminate errors, catch inconsistencies, and ensure your data is clean.

But the game-changer? I build and maintain your chart of accounts with intention. I make sure your COA is relevant, streamlined, and tailored to your business structure. You won’t be guessing what “Other Expenses” means or wondering why five different categories exist for the same thing. Your chart of accounts will be clear, clean, and consistent—and that means your financials will be too.

This gives you a real-time view into your business performance and turns your monthly reports into more than just a formality. They become your business GPS.

The Bottom Line: Your Business Deserves Better

As a business owner, you’re juggling a thousand things. Financial reporting shouldn’t be one of them—but when it’s done wrong, it becomes one of your biggest liabilities.

You deserve financials that are timely, accurate, and actually useful. That means a fast close process, clean reconciliations, and a chart of accounts that truly reflects your business operations. This is how you see what’s working, fix what’s not, and stay ahead of your goals.

With Phoenix CFO Solutions, you’ll finally have a financial process that supports your decisions—not one that slows you down.

Book a free consultation with Phoenix CFO Solutions, and let’s review your current chart of accounts and monthly close process. Together, we’ll build the financial clarity your business deserves.

You should have had strong, reliable financials yesterday.
The next best time? Today.