Financial KPIs Template
A collection of the most common financial KPIs for any organization.
11 KPIs included
About this template
A carefully selected set of financially focused KPIs for companies of all shapes and sizes. This template is designed to track financial KPIs such as Disputed Invoices, EBIT, Revenue, working capital and departmental budgets. Each KPI within the template has been selected by a financial expert, offering a base set of financial KPIs in which to provide a standard approach to financial KPI tracking. These KPIs offer a best practice approach to financial performance tracking. Feel free to select and use these KPIs and metrics for your own performance tracking initiative.
What this template measures
The eleven KPIs in this template trace one line: money earned, money kept, money collected. Revenue starts it. Cost of goods / Services takes the first bite, and Gross Profit Margin, EBIT, Net Profit and Net Profit Margin show what survives at each stage after that. Line them up and you can see where the money leaks, not just that it went somewhere.
The rest of the set answers questions the profit line cannot. Working Capital asks whether the business can cover the next few weeks. Overdue Invoices and Disputed Invoices ask whether the revenue you booked is actually arriving, which is a different question and usually a more urgent one. Number of Employees and Revenue per employee hold the size of the operation in view, so revenue growth gets judged against the people it took to earn it.
Several of these are calculated rather than counted. The margins and Revenue per employee are formulas over figures you're already entering, so you record the inputs once and let SimpleKPI derive the rest. If you haven't built a calculated KPI before, this walkthrough of KPI formulas covers it.
Who uses it
Finance managers own the set. They use it as the running position between month ends, checking margin, working capital and the invoice figures weekly rather than discovering them at close. Owners and directors usually read four numbers from it, Revenue, EBIT, Net Profit and Net Profit Margin, and ask whether the shape of the business is improving. Credit control lives in Overdue Invoices and Disputed Invoices, and wants both somewhere other people can see them.
It travels outside finance too. Department heads rarely read a balance sheet, but they understand Revenue per employee and what their costs do to margin, and a set this small is short enough to put in front of a management meeting without a covering note. Plans include unlimited users, so nobody gets left off the account to save money.
Setting targets
Set almost nothing on day one. Import the template, enter two or three periods of history, and let the numbers show you where you actually stand. Then set targets as directions rather than absolutes: Gross Profit Margin stable or rising, Overdue Invoices trending down, Working Capital positive, Revenue against the plan you already have. Margins vary so much by industry that a number borrowed from someone else is worse than no target at all.
Kip, the built-in AI, can suggest targets and show indicative benchmarks as your history builds. Those benchmarks are AI estimates, not real peer data, so use them to sanity check a figure you picked rather than as the figure itself.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Tracking Revenue without Cost of goods / Services next to it. Revenue growth on thinning margins reads as success until the profit line catches up with it.
- A climbing Overdue Invoices count gets treated as a chasing problem. More often it's a billing or terms problem, and chasing harder fixes neither.
- Importing all eleven KPIs and then feeding four of them. A half-empty dashboard teaches people to ignore the whole thing, so run six properly and add the rest when the data is reliable.
- Treating the set as a cash view. It measures profit and collections, which is not the same as cash timing, so add a daily cash figure of your own if that's the number that keeps you up.
KPIs in this template
Net Profit
The meassure of profitability after accounting for all costs
Revenue
Income received from business activities
Net Profit Margin
Percentage comparing net profit after taxes to revenue
Cost of goods / Services
Inventory costs of goods or services sold
Gross Profit Margin
Difference between revenue and cost before accounting for other costs.
Working Capital
Current assets minus current liabilities
EBIT
Earnings before interest and taxes.
Number of Employees
The number of employees
Revenue per employee
Revenue by the total number of work force
Overdue Invoices
The number of invoices that are overdue
Disputed Invoices
The percentage of disputed invoices
Frequently asked questions
How do I import this financial KPI template into SimpleKPI?
Create a SimpleKPI account and add the Financial KPIs template from inside it. All eleven KPIs arrive with their names and descriptions already set, so you go straight to entering data instead of building the list from scratch. The trial runs 14 days and doesn't ask for a credit card.
Can I change the KPIs after importing the template?
Yes. Rename them, delete the ones that don't apply, change the units and reporting frequency, and add your own alongside them. Plans include unlimited KPIs, so there's no quota forcing you to trim the set.
How do I get data into these financial KPIs?
Through spreadsheet imports, integrations or the API, and by typing figures in by hand where the volume is small. Match each KPI to its natural rhythm: invoice counts weekly, margins monthly once the books close. The numbers update as each figure lands.
Do I need to set a target for every KPI in the template?
No, and it's better if you don't at first. Run the set for two or three periods, then put targets on the numbers someone can act on now, like Overdue Invoices, Working Capital and Revenue against plan. Number of Employees and Cost of goods / Services usually earn their place as context rather than as things to hit.
See these KPIs in action on the financial KPI dashboard example, or import the set straight into SimpleKPI's KPI dashboards: one flat price, unlimited users and KPIs.