Where Is Your Business Now? Key Questions Before You Grow

Where Is Your Business Now? 7 Questions to Get Clear Before You Grow

Growth doesn’t start with a vision board or a five-year plan — it starts with clarity. Before you can confidently scale your business, it's essential to know exactly where you stand today.

Here are seven strategic business overview questions every entrepreneur should answer before planning their next move.

1. What Is Your Current Annual Revenue and Previous Year Revenue?

Tracking your current annual revenue alongside last year’s results helps reveal patterns — are you growing, stagnating, or slipping? This data also helps determine whether growth is sustainable or reactionary.

2. What Are Your Business Margins and Cash Reserves?

Knowing your business margins reveals the health of your pricing and cost structure. Cash reserves signal whether your business is resilient enough to invest or weather slow periods.

3. Are Your Books Organised and Up to Date?

If you don't know when your last bookkeeping update was — or worse, if it's been months — that’s a red flag. Messy books lead to missed insights, compliance risks, and poor decision-making. A bookkeeper can restore clarity quickly.

4. How Do You Get Paid and Invoice Clients?

Do you offer multiple payment options? Is your invoicing system efficient? The easier it is for clients to pay, the more consistent your cash flow becomes. If your invoicing process is slow, it may be time for a system overhaul.

5. Who Handles Your Books, and What’s Their Process?

Whether you manage things yourself or delegate to an in-house admin, knowing who handles your books — and how — matters. Ask:

• Do they follow reconciliation routines?

• Are expenses properly categorised?

• Is software used to standard or subpar?

If your accounting software isn’t delivering clear, actionable reporting, it may be holding you back.

6. How Many Business Bank Accounts Do You Use?

Splitting funds between multiple business checking accounts or having unclear banking structures can muddy your financial picture. Bookkeepers often help business owners streamline and label accounts more effectively.

7. What Are the Big Roadblocks to Growth Right Now?

This is where all the insights come together. Maybe it’s low margins, slow payments, or disorganised records. Often, the opportunity cost of DIY bookkeeping is one of the silent killers of business efficiency. Freeing up your time can reveal new growth paths.

Conclusion: Start With Clarity, Then Scale

Before you set ambitious five-year targets, ask the right questions about where you are now. Honest reflection backed by accurate financial records — not assumptions — is the real foundation of business growth.

If your current bookkeeping process isn’t giving you that clarity, now’s the time to change it.

Justwise Accounting helps business owners across Australia get clear, stay compliant, and grow smarter.