It’s a fundamental question – but when you’re running a business day to day, it’s easy to forget.

So how can you make sure your business not only survives, but thrives?

That was the question posed by Iain Beresford at our recent #GrowMySME Breakfast Event.

Iain stressed that it wasn’t really about finance or the numbers themselves. It was about what sits underneath them.

That’s the stories we create through the decisions we make every day, and how those decisions ultimately shape what appears in our financial statements:

  • Pricing. Hiring. Financing.
  • How quickly invoices are issued and collected.
  • Whether a major client is truly profitable.
  • Whether revenue growth is creating value or quietly adding pressure.

These are decisions about people, client experience, operational efficiency, systems, infrastructure and culture. They shape how clients are managed, how teams communicate, how work moves through the business, how consistently service is delivered, and whether the operating model can support growth.

Weak processes show up as margin pressure. Poor client experience appears in retention. Inefficient systems reduce productivity. Hiring decisions influence service quality, scalability and profitability over time.

Numbers provide a measure and a benchmark, but long-term value rarely comes from focusing on the numbers alone. Real insight comes from understanding what drives them, what the financial statements are truly saying, and what is happening beneath the surface.

One of the most important distinctions is the difference between profit and cash.

This is often where the message lands most clearly. A business can be profitable and still face serious cash pressure. Many do. The profit and loss account may look strong while the bank balance tells a very different story.

This matters even more during growth.

Growth is often seen as unquestionably positive, and in many ways it is, but it also uses cash. More sales usually mean more stock, more staff, more debtors and more working capital tied up before cash is received. So even as activity increases, liquidity can tighten.

That is why businesses don’t just fail only when things are going badly. Sometimes they fail when everything appears to be going well: revenue is rising, the pipeline is strong and the order book is full, while cash is quietly tightening in the background. Margin pressure often becomes visible only later. Surprisingly, many businesses have never tested how they would cope with this, or other scenarios, or what decisions would be needed to survive.

And, that, really, was the point – because financial statements are not just reporting tools, historical records or compliance outputs – that’s, well, a bit boring really.

They are far more interesting than that.

They tell the full colourful story of your business. They reflect how the business is operating in real time and are shaped by every decision made about your business. Not just by you but everybody else, too – customers, suppliers, investors, bankers – anyone who has anything to do with your business, because your decisions influence them!

And, while many of the most important decisions in a business don’t look financial at all, they all eventually show up in the numbers, each with a rich story behind it.

Every number tells a story. The question is who’s writing yours?

For more details take a look at the Is your Business Built to Last Slides

And contact Iain via LinkedIn if you’d like to find out more.