What’s the single most important thing I should do this month?
You have a hundred things on your to-do list. But if you could only do one thing this month to improve your business, what should it be? Here's how your financial data can answer that question.
The short answer
Your most important action is the one that addresses your biggest constraint. Look at your data through a simple priority framework: first fix anything that threatens cash this month, then address margin leaks, then pursue growth. Below, we show you how to work through this process using your accounting software.
Why identifying one priority beats working on everything
You have overdue invoices to chase, a marketing campaign to launch, two hiring decisions to make, and a vendor contract to renegotiate. All of them matter. But if you work on all of them at once, none of them get your full attention.
The constraint model is simple: your business has one bottleneck that, if fixed, would unlock the most value. If your cash runway is 12 days, nothing else matters until that is addressed. If cash is fine but your margins are shrinking every month, that is the bottleneck.
The data in your accounting software can tell you what that bottleneck is. You just need to know how to read it in the right order.
The priority framework: cash, then margins, then growth
Work through these three levels in order. Stop at the first one that has a problem, because that is your most important thing:
- Level 1: Cash survival. Can you cover expenses for the next 60 days? Are there overdue receivables you need to collect? If cash is at risk, that is your one thing.
- Level 2: Margin protection. Are your margins stable or improving? If they are declining, find the cause (rising costs, pricing erosion, revenue mix shift) and fix it. That is your one thing.
- Level 3: Growth acceleration. If cash and margins are healthy, your one thing is whatever unlocks the next level of growth. That might be a new channel, a price increase, or reducing customer concentration.
How to find your top priority in QuickBooks Online (6 steps)
Work through the priority levels using the reports you already have. Stop at the first level where you find a problem.
Level 1: Check cash survival
- 1Go to Reports → Balance Sheet
Set the date to today. Find “Total Bank Accounts” under Current Assets. This is your available cash.
- 2Calculate months of runway
Go to Reports → Profit and Loss for last month. Divide your cash on hand by Total Expenses. If the result is less than 2 months, your one thing is improving cash position. Check the Accounts Receivable Aging Summary for collectible invoices.
Level 2: Check margin health
- 3Go to Reports → Profit and Loss Comparison
Compare the last 3 months side by side. Calculate gross margin and net margin for each month. If margins have declined for 2 or more consecutive months, that is your priority.
- 4Find the cause of the margin decline
Scan the expense categories in the comparison. Look for the rows with the biggest increases. Also check if COGS rose as a percentage of revenue. The largest negative change points to your specific action.
Level 3: Identify the growth lever
- 5Go to Reports → Sales by Customer Summary
Check customer concentration. If one client is over 30% of revenue, diversification is your growth priority. If concentration is healthy, look at which customer segments are growing fastest.
- 6Name your one thing
Based on what you found, write down one specific action. Not “improve cash flow” but “call Greenfield Corp about the $12K invoice and set up a payment plan by Friday.” Specific is actionable.
Total time: 15-25 minutes. You may stop early if Level 1 reveals a cash issue. If everything is healthy through Level 3, your one thing is a growth initiative, not a fix.
How to find your top priority in Xero (6 steps)
Same framework, different navigation. Work through the levels in order and stop at the first problem.
Level 1: Check cash survival
- 1Go to Accounting → Reports → Balance Sheet
Find “Bank” under Current Assets. This is your cash on hand.
- 2Calculate runway
Check your P&L for last month's Total Operating Expenses. Divide cash by that number. Under 2 months means cash is your priority. Also check Aged Receivables for collectible amounts.
Level 2: Check margin health
- 3Go to Accounting → Reports → Profit and Loss
Set the comparison to show 3 periods. Calculate gross margin (Gross Profit / Total Revenue) and net margin (Net Profit / Total Revenue) for each month. Look for a declining pattern.
- 4Identify the driver of any margin decline
Scan expense categories for the biggest increases. Check if Direct Costs grew faster than Revenue. The largest unfavorable change is your specific action item.
Level 3: Identify the growth lever
- 5Go to Accounting → Reports → Income by Contact
Check if any single customer is over 30% of revenue. If so, diversification is the priority. If not, look at which customer segments are growing.
- 6Write down your one specific action
Make it concrete and time-bound. “Reduce software spend” becomes “audit all SaaS subscriptions and cancel unused tools by April 15.”
Total time: 15-25 minutes. Same as QuickBooks. The process is the same; only the menu paths differ.
What it takes to identify your top priority every month
This exercise is arguably the most valuable 20 minutes you can spend each month. Here is the commitment:
- You need all the upstream data. To identify the right priority, you first need to know your cash position, margin trends, and customer concentration. That means pulling four different reports before you even start the prioritization exercise.
- The framework requires honest assessment.It is tempting to skip Level 1 because you “feel” like cash is fine. But feelings and numbers sometimes disagree. You need to run the actual calculation.
- Specificity is the hard part.Going from “margins are declining” to “here is the exact action I should take” requires deeper investigation than most owners do.
- Some priorities live outside your books. If your biggest constraint is a weak sales pipeline or declining ad performance, your accounting software cannot see that. The most important thing might not show up in your P&L.
Or get your top priority identified automatically
Bottomline connects to your QuickBooks or Xero account, runs the full priority analysis on the first of every month, and tells you the single most important thing you should focus on.
Your current cash runway is 18 days. Two invoices from Greenfield Corp totaling $14,200 are over 60 days past due. Collecting these would extend your runway to 28 days and move your cash position from Critical to Caution.
Secondary priorities: address net margin decline (6.7%, down from 8.1%) by reviewing the $2,400 increase in advertising spend.
Bottomline does not just flag problems. It ranks them using the same cash-first framework and tells you the specific action that will have the biggest impact. And because it connects to your CRM, ad platforms, and payment processor, it catches priorities your accounting software cannot see, like a stalled pipeline or declining ad returns.