We are struggling to define meaningful weekly Scorecard metrics for our head of finance and accounting seat. What are the exact measurables we should track to ensure our back office is running efficiently?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Many companies make the mistake of tracking lagging financial statements on their weekly Scorecard. Your head of finance knows that monthly closing is a lag indicator. To run on data, your weekly back office metrics must focus on the activity that drives cash flow and compliance before the end of the month.

First, track weekly accounts receivable aging. Specifically, measure the dollar amount of invoices that are more than thirty days past due. This forces immediate collection activity rather than waiting for a monthly review.

Second, track invoice turnaround time. This is the number of days between delivering a service or shipping a product and actually sending the invoice to the client. A lag here directly hurts your cash flow.

Third, measure cash runway in weeks. This is your total operating cash divided by your average weekly operating expense. It keeps your leadership team grounded in real liquidity.

Fourth, track process compliance metrics. For example, measure the percentage of employee expense reports submitted on time or the percentage of purchase orders approved through the correct system.

By focusing on these operational activity metrics, you hold your finance seat accountable to the daily and weekly actions that protect your margins. These numbers ensure the seat is GWC, or gets it, wants it, and has the capacity to do it, because they measure real time execution rather than historical recording.