Finance Readiness Scorecard

Closed means every bank, marketplace and payment-gateway entry for the month is posted and the month's profit and loss will not change.

Each account's closing balance in your books agrees with the statement, and every difference is listed and explained.

One valuation method, such as FIFO or weighted average, used every month, and physical counts (or the platform's stock report for stock it holds) agreed to the books.

Every asset is listed with its purchase date, cost, depreciation and location, and the total agrees with the balance sheet.

Each settlement or payout report is matched line by line to orders, returns and fees, and to the amount received in the bank.

Each COD remittance from a courier or platform is matched to the delivered orders it covers, and short payments are followed up.

Each gateway payout is matched to the orders it covers, less refunds and the gateway's charges, and to the bank receipt.

The TCS credit on the GST portal and the TDS in your annual tax statement agree with your books, marketplace by marketplace.

Claims for lost, damaged or wrongly charged items, and reimbursements due to you, are listed with their status until paid.

Every return due for each of your GST registrations was filed by its due date.

Each return or RTO of an invoiced sale has a credit note, and the credit notes are reported so that you do not pay GST on sales that came back.

The input tax credit you claim each month is checked against GSTR-2B, and differences are followed up with suppliers.

TDS is deducted wherever it applies, deposited by the due date and reported in your TDS statements.

Bills from suppliers registered as micro or small enterprises are tracked and paid within the time allowed.

Each month you can see revenue and profit for each sales channel and each SKU, not only for the business as a whole.

Each month you see what is left after product cost (CM1), after fulfilment, fees and returns (CM2), and after marketing (CM3).

You can see how customers acquired in each month go on to buy again, and what share of revenue comes from repeat customers.

There is an approved budget for the year, and each month the actual figures are compared with it and the main differences explained.

A week-by-week forecast of cash coming in and going out for the next 13 weeks, including marketplace settlement timing.

The cap table agrees with the register of members, every allotment and transfer is recorded, and share certificates have been issued.

Annual filings and event-based forms, such as for share allotments and director changes, have been filed on time.

Minutes of every board and general meeting are signed and filed, and the statutory registers are written up.

Signed agreements with marketplaces, quick-commerce platforms, warehouses, key suppliers, landlords, employees and investors, kept where they can be found.

The audited financial statements and, where required, the tax audit report for the last financial year are complete and filed.