If you take your business seriously, you'll already be using balance sheets, income statements and cash flow statements quarterly or annually to get that big picture view of how your business is going. But there are a few financial performance measures that are worth giving more regular attention to - at least monthly, and possibly even more frequently. And thankfully, you can get just about all of them reported quite easily from off-the-shelf financial software.

Measure 1: Cash Flow

Cash Flow is essentially the net flow of cash through your business in a particular period, like a week or a month or a quarter. It's simply the difference between all the cash you've received and all the cash you've paid out during that period. It's important because cash is the lifeblood of keeping your business operating.

Measure 2: Operating Profit

Gross Profit is the total sales your business made in a particular period, less the total costs associated with producing those sales (not the same as total costs paid out in the period). Operating profit is Gross Profit less operating or fixed costs. Remember, there are a few types of profit measures! Operating profit matters because it's a measure of which direction the wealth of your business is going. If Operating Profit indicates a loss, then you've reduced the wealth of your business. If it's positive though, you've added to the wealth of your business.

Measure 3: Wealth

Wealth is current net financial position your business is in. It's the difference between the value of all that the business owns, and all that the business owes. Do I need to explain why wealth is important? ;-)

Measure 4: Return on Equity (ROE)

Return on Equity is the ratio of profit to shareholder invested funds in your business. This is a great piece of information for any business owner or manager: how well is your business multiplying value for you? If you're a solo operator or consultant, and you didn't really have to invest anything in your business, then another good measure akin to this one is Return on Time Invested (ROTI) - what value does your business return for each hour you put into it?

Measure 5: Profit Margin

Profit Margin is the ratio of gross profit to total revenue and it's really telling you how well your business turns sales into profit. Knowing this about your business as a whole is good, but also knowing this about your various products or services is revelational too!

Sure, there are many more financial measures you could use, and probably should use. But if, like many business owners, you've been neglecting the financial performance of your business, these 5 are a good start.