If you run a small business, you know the drill: focus on your core business and also juggle all the unexpected day-to-day issues that arise with employees and customer service. But what do you never seem to have enough time for? Financial insights. And when gleaning information from your books takes a back seat, you can easily miss opportunities for growth — or worse, run into cash flow problems that could have been avoided.

While financial reporting is important for compliance (and keeping the IRS happy), it’s also an essential tool to make smarter, data-driven decisions. Without it, it would be a struggle to grow your business strategically. You might be leaning on trial and error instead.