Quick and Dirty: The Flash Report

A flash report provides the elements of operational condition (metrics) to management for immediate review and decision prior to completion of the formal accounting period.  Having key information on a regular basis is essential to maintaining a “feel” for the business.  It is quite reasonable to expect that knowledge of the general condition of the company can be obtained very quickly with only a limited amount of information reported daily or weekly.  You only need to identify the items that are important to report – items such as cash balances, cash receipts, inventory levels, production volumes, products shipped, sales or marketing activity, revenue generated, or any other metrics deemed important to gauging the successful operation of the business.  The only thing left is to do it…!

When the information is tracked on regular basis you will undoubtedly begin to develop a keen sense about the general trends.  Any reasonably significant fluctuation in the numbers will indicate a shift in the business that should prompt you to question why the change is occurring.  A shift in the general direction of key metrics should cause a more detailed review to be conducted in order to fully understand the dynamics of the changes underway.  This should lead you to certain decision points to counteract a negative trend or to facilitate and maximize the benefits of a positive trend.
Although there is no predefined format for reporting and there is no particular time requirement for generating the information, a daily report is normally used for some items where a weekly cycle is used for others.  The numbers should be compared to daily or weekly targets that have been set in the forecast in order to fully understand the significance of the values reported.  As mentioned above, small fluctuations are normal, but once you track results for a while you will get a feel for those fluctuations that should be of more concern. 

There really are no hard and fast rules; it basically comes down to implementing whatever works best for you and your company.  Again, you just have to make it happen.  Your company’s metrics may or may not be important to other similar companies and will likely be very different from those companies operating in different industries.  What is important is that you identify the items key to your business then consistently and diligently track them according to an established timetable.  The rewards are almost immediate and can be considerable over time.