KPIs and strategic finance
Essentials › Accounting › KPIs and strategic finance
The problem it solves
Most businesses track too many numbers, or the wrong ones. Revenue grows while margins shrink, marketing spend rises without anyone knowing what a customer costs to win, and prices are set by habit rather than analysis.
What it covers
- Choosing a focused set of KPIs and defining them consistently
- Unit economics such as margin per customer, acquisition cost and lifetime value
- Product, customer and channel profitability
- Pricing analysis and modelling
- Dashboards that update from your systems
- Business cases for major investments
Who it is for
Leadership teams in growing businesses that want a clearer link between strategy, day-to-day performance and the numbers.
Good to know in the UK
- Financial planning and analysis (FP&A) sits between accounting, which records what happened, and strategy, which decides what to do next.
- It works best when each KPI has an owner and a target, and the same small set is reviewed every month.
Questions to ask a provider
- How do you decide which KPIs matter for us?
- Will the dashboards update automatically?
- Can the analysis connect to our forecast?
This is a plain-English summary for United Kingdom businesses. It is general information, not financial, tax or legal advice, and rules change: facts last checked 8 November 2026. Speak to a qualified adviser about your own situation.
