The sole aim of starting a business is to make profit. The success of a business is determined by how much profit it makes, as well as the consistency of it's profit making. If there is no proper financial record there will be no accurate way to actually tell if the business is progressing or if it is going down the drain.
In addition to this, financial record helps to put both the business (as well as your spending) in check. We all know that in business, if you don't keep adequate record, there is no way to truly tell what is going on in the business. You can't tell for sure which goods are giving you the most profit and which of them is losing you money. You also can't tell if you are over spending and if you aren't. You may only realize the mistake when it's too late to make corrections.
I remember a man who owned a supermarket around my area. The man was wealth; with his flash cars and the high class girls he rolled with. Although I can't tell for sure, because I wasn't there, but it was said that the man normally comes around his shop to ask his cashier to give him money out of the total sales for the day. On Saturdays, he took more, as the market will be closed on Sunday.
This continued till we all started seeing his business dwindle. One day, I saw him shouting at his cashier, as well as his workers, accusing them of stealing his money. It was a crazy day, and we were all witness to all the drama. From being a wealthy man, the man had to finally resort to selling is his car, in other to start afresh in a smaller shop.
Now, there may be some element of truth in his accusation towards his workers, but his attitude of always asking for money from his business, as well as not keeping financial record of his business made it so hard to verify. Today, a man who was wealthy, is now like every common struggling man.
Had it been he kept records of all inputs and output of the business, he will know for sure at all points the health of the business. He would be able to know when to spend his profit and also when to abstain from doing so.
Let's learn from this man's mistake. No matter the size and height of our business, let not neglect the act of keeping financial record. A popular adage says "You don't grow big to manage big, you start from small to manage big". This is so true. If you don't know how to manage big from when the business is small, you may find it so hard to manage big when your business is so large.
I must admit keeping financial record may be a bit stressful, but I believe, it is a little price to pay if you are truly dedicated to the growth of your business.