.png)
Financial information has never been as accessible and overwhelming. In the case of growing businesses, the problem is not creating numbers but rather knowing which ones are important and how to utilize them to guide the company in the right direction. That’s where robust advisory support is a strategic driver rather than a back-office activity.
Acuity has empowered thousands of companies to go beyond reactive decision-making to become proactive through creating a regular financial reporting rhythm, prioritizing the right KPIs, and leveraging technology to provide near real-time clarity. Below, Matthew May breaks down how businesses can turn information into action and action into growth.
How can businesses leverage financial data to make more strategic decisions?
Strategic decision-making begins with rhythm. According to Matthew, the distinction between a company that grows steadily and one that is in a continual scrum can be reduced to a single habit: a rhythm of review and action on meaningful financial information. He also emphasises that companies need a consistent schedule for reviewing KPIs, which should be regular and intentional. That cadence builds familiarity, context, and ultimately smarter decisions.
This structured reporting routine allows leaders to track trends, understand where performance aligns with expectations, and respond before small deviations turn into big problems. As Matthew notes, it’s the foundation of true CFO-level strategic support, even for smaller teams.
What you want to improve, measure it.
By building the habit of reviewing the same core metrics at the same intervals, teams learn to interpret their numbers and act on them.
What common blind spots arise when companies operate without advisory support?
Entrepreneurs tend to be in the weeds. Even the most competent founders will find themselves lost in the details, like slipping margins, misaligned pricing, inefficient spend, or operational bottlenecks hidden in the day-to-day. Without strategic guidance that will help them see the bigger picture, leaders tend to optimize the wrong problems or make reactive decisions simply because they lack a broader view.
Advisory support helps create distance, pulling leaders out of the trees so they can look at the business from a more strategic vantage point. That higher-level view makes it easier to spot emerging issues, evaluate opportunities, and avoid purely reactive decision-making.
You are not stuck in the details; you are able to see the forest and the 50,000-foot view.
Ultimately, this is why fractional or full-time advisory support gives leadership a vantage point they can’t maintain alone.
How can financial insights directly contribute to business growth and performance?
Measurement is directly tied to motivation. When a business tracks the right metrics, performance naturally improves because people pay attention to what is being monitored. In most growing companies, this includes basics like customer acquisition cost, gross margin, cash runway, and refund or churn rates: the handful of numbers that show whether the business is actually getting healthier each month.
The inverse is also true. What can’t be measured is soon set aside and stands still or falls behind. Financial insights function as both a diagnostic tool and an accountability mechanism.
Not knowing is the equivalent of apathy.
Using accurate, well-chosen KPIs allows leaders to drive focus, reinforce priorities, and align teams around measurable outcomes.
How is technology helping turn financial data into an actionable business strategy?
Technology has fundamentally changed the pace of financial visibility. What once took 30 to 45 days to compile can now be accessed almost instantly. For example, many teams now rely on tools like Synder that sync daily sales, expenses, and refunds straight into their accounting system, so month-end numbers are largely prepared before the month even closes. That speed gives leadership the ability to make faster, more informed decisions and to adjust course before issues escalate.
But with more data comes the risk of overload. Matthew stresses the importance of narrowing the focus to the right information, delivered at the right time, through the right systems. When technology is paired with advisory support, it creates discipline, structure, and clarity.
Our technology has moved us closer and closer to real-time performance management.
And that’s why the goal is not more data. The goal is more meaningful data.
Where should leadership teams begin when building a data-driven decision-making culture?
A data-driven culture requires direction. Before deciding what to measure, leadership must define where the business is heading. Matthew recommends a structured planning framework:
- Set a 3–5 year vision:
Without a long-term destination, KPIs lack context, because leadership needs a clear picture of what “success” should actually look like. - Identify the one-year objectives that support that vision:
These act as milestones—the pieces of the long-term plan that can be achieved within a realistic operating cycle. - Determine the weekly metrics that indicate progress toward the one-year goals:
These KPIs create momentum and operational accountability by showing, in real time, whether the team is on track or drifting off course.
It is really hard to have a data-driven mindset if you do not know where you are going.
And when you start from that foundation, clear goals lead to clear metrics, and clarity leads to consistent, measurable progress.
Closing thoughts
Converting financial information into a strategy doesn’t involve producing additional reports. It’s concerned with the construction of systems, rhythm, and deliberate attention. When the advisory support is right, businesses are no longer reactive to their numbers, but they use them as a forward-looking tool in decision-making and long-term development.
The strategy of Acuity reflects such an attitude: rigorous measurements, meaningful KPIs, and technology that can provide insights at the rate at which modern companies need them. When leaders combine unambiguous objectives with trusted data rhythms, financial data turns into more than data. It turns into the driver of a wiser approach and long-term success.
