Essential KPIs Every Finance Team Should Be Tracking
By Laurie Stanwick, Percipient
Why Financial Metrics Matter
Creating customer value while driving profitability is the ultimate goal of any business, and it typically falls to CFOs and their teams to measure and guide that journey. By tracking the right financial KPIs, finance leaders can optimise resources, satisfy stakeholders, and keep their organisations focused on sustainable growth.
Here are five of the most important metrics every CFO should monitor:
1. Revenue Growth
Revenue growth reflects the increase in sales of products or services over a specified period. It’s a core barometer of business health, showing whether your pricing, sales, and marketing strategies are effective.
Tracking revenue growth across multiple intervals—daily, monthly, quarterly, and annually—provides a clear view of performance. Benchmarking against competitors can also reveal whether your strategy is delivering results in the broader market, particularly when launching new products or services.
2. Gross Profit Margin
Gross profit margin measures efficiency. It’s calculated by subtracting the cost of goods sold (COGS) from revenue, then dividing the result by revenue, and finally multiplying by 100.
Because it excludes overhead costs, this KPI highlights the productivity of your core operations. Regularly monitoring it can uncover bottlenecks and inefficiencies, enabling teams to take corrective action before issues impact profitability.
3. Cash Flow
Cash flow—the movement of money in and out of a business—is one of the clearest indicators of financial health. Positive cash flow signals stability and resilience; negative flow can highlight deeper structural challenges.
When analysed alongside other KPIs, cash flow helps CFOs understand the company’s true financial position and anticipate risks.
4. Accounts Payable & Accounts Receivable
Balancing accounts payable (money owed to suppliers) and accounts receivable (money owed by customers) is crucial for maintaining a healthy cash flow.
Monitoring these figures can improve procurement processes, strengthen credit management, and reduce inefficiencies. In short, effective management of payables and receivables has a direct impact on profitability.
5. Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)
CAC is calculated by dividing sales and marketing spend by the number of new customers acquired. This KPI is vital for understanding the ROI of campaigns and whether your customer growth strategy is sustainable.
A rising CAC may indicate that spend is outpacing yield, while a stable or declining CAC often points to efficient and effective marketing investment.
Modernising Metric Management
Tracking these KPIs is essential, but legacy systems often reduce them to static lines of data, offering little context or real-time insight. That leaves finance leaders struggling to make truly informed decisions.
This is where modern financial management systems can transform the picture.
The Sage Intacct Advantage
With Sage Intacct, CFOs gain powerful, real-time analytics and reporting across all key financial metrics. The platform also enables you to track additional dimensions, such as energy usage, occupancy rates, or customer foot traffic, providing a deeper and more accurate view of performance.
Dashboards provide live visibility, enabling finance leaders to make proactive adjustments and guide strategy with confidence—the result: greater control, stronger insights, and a more resilient organisation.
Take the Next Step
In today’s fast-moving business environment, CFOs can’t afford to rely on outdated tools and incomplete data. Modernising your finance function isn’t just about efficiency—it’s about building the insight and agility you need to drive growth.
Ready to see how Sage Intacct can help you monitor the metrics that matter most and take control of your organisation’s financial future? Get in touch with us today to book a demo and discover what smarter financial management looks like.