Finance KPI dashboard for SMEs: gross margin, cash flow and more insight

Why financial KPIs are more than numbers

Financial KPIs not only provide insight into profit, but also into efficiency, liquidity and growth potential. Especially for SMEs, where margins can be tight and cash is crucial, these indicators provide the necessary guidance to make quick and substantiated decisions. Where classic reports mainly look back, a well-structured finance dashboard gives you real-time insight and actionable control.

What should definitely be included in a finance dashboard?

A good financial dashboard for SMEs combines key figures from the income statement, balance sheet and cash flows. The six most important KPIs are:

1. Gross margin: Shows how much you have left over after direct costs. Formula: (turnover - direct costs)/turnover.
2. Net profit margin: the final result compared to turnover. Formula: Net Profit/Revenue.
3. Operational cash flow: measures cash flows from core activities. Important to monitor solvency.
4. Debtor Days (DSO): Shows how fast customers pay. Formula: (outstanding receivables/turnover) x 365.
5. Inventory rotation: Shows how often you convert your inventory into sales.
6. EBITDA margin: profit before interest, taxes and depreciation relative to turnover. Good for monitoring operational profitability.

Data sources: work with reliable and current data

Use reliable accounting packages such as Exact Online, Odoo, or Yuki. Link your dashboard directly to the ledger accounts or an intermediate table where you define KPI formulas. Make sure you only work with net figures and apply your filters to exclude exceptional items (e.g. one-off subsidies, deductions) in operational analyses.

Structure and structure: work in a modular and organized way

Divide your dashboard into logical sections: revenue, costs, margins, cash flows, customers, inventory, and balance. Start with an overview page with 5 to 8 core KPIs. For more in-depth analyses, you can click through to in-depth pages per domain. Also work with time filters (per month, quarter, year) and compare, for example, “compared to last year” or “versus budget”.

Visualization: show the story behind the numbers

• Use waterfall charts to show how you're moving from sales to net profit.
• Set cash trends in line or column charts.
• Provide a thermometer or color indicator for critical KPIs such as gross margin or DSO.
• Work with color codes (green = on track, orange = attention, red = below target).
• For DSO or inventory rotation, trend lines are useful to visualize seasonal effects.

Timeliness and reliability of data

A dashboard is only valuable if the data is up to date and reliable. Schedule a fixed reporting day (e.g. third business day after the month close) and ensure automatic data collection via a connector or export. Build in control mechanisms, such as validation rules that notify you of duplicate or missing data.

Interpretation: link data to actions

A number without context remains a number. Use anomalies as a starting point for analysis. Ask questions like:

• Why does the gross margin suddenly fall in Q2?
• Why is it that our customers pay an average of 15 days later?
• Is the inventory structure still responsible in view of sales volumes? Add explanatory text fields to your dashboard where managers can explain KPI deviations on a monthly basis.

Common mistakes in financial dashboards

• Only show profit KPIs and forget about cash flow.
• KPIs that only have an accounting significance without strategic relevance.
• Data that arrives too late to take action.
• KPIs without a clear owner or explanation, leading to mistrust or misinterpretation.

Best practices for implementing financial dashboards

• Start easy: with 5 to 8 KPIs that you really follow.
• Involve your accountant or financial advisor in preparing definitions.
• Choose Power BI if you want automatic updates and interactive filtering.
• Maintain the discipline in the team to provide monthly feedback on the numbers.
• Document all definitions in a KPI guide that is available to everyone.

Want to continue working with your finance dashboard?

• Make your KPI dashboard interactive and up to date with PowerBI
• Start your report easily in Excel
• The complete KPI dashboard guide: overview of KPI governance and implementation
• Explore the InsightData Finance App: Quick and Easy Financial Dashboard

A good financial dashboard makes the difference between steering by instinct or by insight. For any SME that wants to switch faster and smarter, it is well worth the investment.

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