Closing out the year: five numbers that fit on one screen
Photo: Avila Ops Tecnologia
To close out the year, you need five numbers rather than a report: how much cash you have today, annual revenue, the margin left over, how much went uncollected, and how many customers bought more than once. With these five, you know whether the year was good, where money leaked, and what changes in January. Without them, you have a feeling, and December feelings tend to be optimistic.
This is not your accountant’s closing. The accountant handles tax closing under their rules and deadlines. This is yours, for management, and it fits into an afternoon with bank statements, the sales list, and overdue payments on the table.
What are the five numbers, and how do you calculate each?
| Number | How to calculate | What it answers |
|---|---|---|
| Cash | Today’s account balances minus money already committed through January 31 | How much real breathing room you have to start the year |
| Revenue | Total sales from January 1 through December 31, by month | Whether the year grew, stayed flat, or declined; in which months |
| Margin | (Revenue minus all costs) divided by revenue | How much of every R$ 100 sold stayed with you |
| Delinquency | Overdue unpaid amounts divided by everything due during the year | How much of your sales never became money |
| Repeat purchases | Customers who bought twice or more divided by total customers | Whether the business relies on new or returning customers |
Cash is the most urgent and simplest: open the bank statement. The detail is subtracting money already spoken for, such as December salaries, January taxes, suppliers, and rent. The guide What is cash flow, and why is revenue not profit? explains the difference you see here.
Margin takes the most work because it requires adding all costs, including those not immediately visible: card terminal fees, shipping you covered, returned products, your own salary. Small businesses often forget the last one and think they have a margin.
Repeat purchases are the most overlooked number and the one that says most about next year. If 80% of customers bought only once, the business depends on ads and Christmas. If half returned, there is a foundation for growth without spending so much on acquisition.
What does each number decide for January?
A number without a decision is trivia. Each leads to a decision:
- Low cash: January is for cutting and collecting, not investing. The cuts list is the final guide in this series.
- Revenue concentrated in two months: the rest of the year needs a recurring offer, not more promotions.
- Margin below 10%: your mix has the wrong product or customer. The next two guides in this series address this.
- Delinquency above margin: change how you collect before selling more.
- Low repeat purchases: next year’s money goes toward retaining customers, not only finding them.
Write the decision beside the number. If a number leads to no decision, it did not need to be on the screen.
How do you do this without spending New Year’s Eve in a spreadsheet?
The first time is manual and takes an afternoon. Bank statements, store or card terminal sales reports, overdue boleto lists, customer lists with purchase dates. If data lives in four places, you will spend more time gathering than analyzing. Accept that this year and note where it hurt.
What changes next year is that these five numbers need to be read rather than calculated. When the store, Pix, CRM, and finances run through the same place, the screen exists every Monday, automatically updated, and next December’s closing is a screenshot.
What to do now
Set aside an afternoon before December 31. Calculate the five numbers in table order and write a decision beside each. Take the sheet to Next year’s goals on one page. Five numbers that fit on one screen, updated automatically, are what we build for next year: avilaops.com/sistema-para-pequenas-empresas or contact us on WhatsApp: wa.me/5517997811471.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need my accountant to close these numbers?
No. The accountant delivers tax closing on a separate schedule. These five are management figures from your statements, store, and sales records. Compare your margin with theirs afterward to check whether costs match.
What if I have no customer records to calculate repeat purchases?
Use what exists: WhatsApp Business history, online store orders, invoices issued with a CPF. It will be approximate. Note that this number was missing and fix the records in January.
Revenue grew and cash fell. What happened?
Either margin fell (costs rose faster than prices), delinquency rose, or money is tied up in inventory and installment receivables. The other four numbers show which of the three. This is a common case of a small business growing and going broke.
Turn what you learned into your next step.
Tell us about your company and what you want to improve. We can explore the right tools, integrations or custom project together.