You Have the Financial Data. So Why Can't You See Where the Cash Went?

If you own a growing construction or trades business, you probably have more financial data than you've ever had.

Your accounting system has data. Your job management system has data. Payroll has data. Your CRM has data. And your bank definitely knows how much cash you have.

So why is it still so hard to answer one simple question: Where the heck did the cash go?

You may not have a data problem. You may have a connection problem.

Welcome to My Big Box of Cables

How good are you at setting up computer equipment?

I don't love it.

Don't get me wrong. I LOVE having a computer that works. I live in mine every day making accounting data walk and talk. I have two huge monitors, a video camera, microphone, speakers and enough other equipment on my desk to make me look far more technologically sophisticated than I really am.

But once everything works, I am a set it and forget it kind of girl.

Then something breaks.

My VPN stops working. A monitor won't connect. My camera suddenly disappears. Something that worked perfectly yesterday decides it isn't going to work today.

And my whole day can come to a screeching halt.

My sweet husband Randall can build just about anything. He can wire and plumb a kitchen or bathroom, build a house and plow a garden like a hedgehog with our tractor.

But he doesn't like computers either. So somehow I always draw the short straw because I'm the computer "expert." AKA: I use one for work.

That's when I go looking for “the box”.

You know the box… The one filled with every computer cable, adapter, charger and mysterious black cord you've owned since approximately 2004.

Every cable in there probably works.

The problem is figuring out what connects to what.

Your Financial Data Can Look Exactly Like That Box

That's what I see in a lot of growing trades companies.

• The accounting system isn't necessarily broken.

• The job management system isn't necessarily broken.

• Payroll isn't necessarily broken.

• Your CRM isn't necessarily broken.

The information just isn't connected.

Your customer may start in one system. The estimate is somewhere else. Your crew's hours come from another system. Material costs hit accounting. The customer payment finally hits the bank.

Every system knows a piece of the story.

But if those pieces don't move automatically from one place to the next, somebody has to connect them manually.

That's where things get messy.

Someone downloads a spreadsheet. Someone re-keys information. Someone builds another report. Someone spends Friday afternoon trying to figure out why two systems don't agree.

Meanwhile, you're looking at a busy company, a healthy P&L and a bank balance that still doesn't make sense.

You May Not Need Another Piece of Software

This is why I don't start by asking:

"What dashboard should we build?"

And I definitely don't start with:

"What new software should we buy?"

First, I want to understand what you already have.

Where does the information start? Where does it need to go? Where does it stop moving? What does someone have to manually fix, download, rekey or reconcile?

Sometimes you need a better system. Sometimes you need a dashboard. But sometimes you just need to untangle the box of cables and connect what you already own.

That's what your Financial BLUEPRINT should help you see.

The Bottom Line

THE DHF IDEA

You probably don't have a data problem. You may have a connection problem.

WHAT YOU NEED TO WATCH FOR

Look at where your customer, job, labor, material and cash information lives. How much manual work does it take to connect those pieces?

THE HIDDEN OPPORTUNITY (BURIED TREASURE)

Before buying another piece of software, figure out whether the information you already have simply needs to be connected.

THE QUESTION YOU MUST ASK YOURSELF RIGHT NOW

Can I follow one job from the customer all the way to the cash left in my bank?

The Hound's Take

More systems don't automatically create more clarity.

Sometimes they just create a bigger box of cables.

Before you add another one, figure out what needs to connect.

Until next time...keep digging until the numbers make sense.

Kathy