The Key Ratios screen gives you a set of financial performance indicators calculated from your accounting data for the current month. Each metric is shown alongside a percentage change compared to the prior 30-day period.
You do not need a financial background to use this screen. The metrics below are explained in plain terms. Read them in the context of your own business rather than against generic benchmarks, and use Ask Noya or the Quick Actions panel to investigate any figure that looks unusual.
Gross Profit
Gross Profit is your revenue minus the direct costs of producing what you sell. For a product business this includes raw materials and direct labour. For a service business it might include subcontractors or project-specific costs. If your business does not track direct costs separately in your accounting software, this figure may show as zero or equal to revenue.
Gross Profit is the foundation of a viable business. A declining gross profit, even while revenue is growing, means your direct costs are rising faster than your pricing can absorb. Investigate the cause before it compounds.
Operating Profit
Operating Profit is Gross Profit minus your operating expenses, which are the overhead costs of running the business that are not tied to individual sales. This includes rent, utilities, general staff costs, software subscriptions, professional fees, and insurance.
Operating Profit tells you whether your core business operations are financially sustainable. A negative operating profit means the business is spending more to operate than it is generating in gross profit. This is a structural problem, not just a cash flow one.
Net Profit Margin
Net Profit Margin is your net profit expressed as a percentage of revenue. It tells you how much of every dollar of revenue the business actually keeps after all costs are paid.
What constitutes a healthy net profit margin varies significantly by industry. A grocery business might operate on a 2% net margin and be perfectly healthy. A consulting practice should aim considerably higher. Ask Noya to help you interpret your margin in the context of your industry.
Burn Rate
Burn Rate is your total monthly operating expenses. It is the rate at which your business consumes cash each month, before accounting for any income. The same figure appears on your Cash Flow Health screen because it is one of the inputs to your health score and your runway calculation.
A rising burn rate that is not matched by rising revenue is one of the clearest early warning signals in Finoya. If the percentage change indicator is showing red and climbing, investigate the source of the increase before it affects your runway.
Working Capital
Working Capital is your current assets minus your current liabilities. In practice, this primarily means your bank balance plus outstanding invoices, minus your outstanding bills and short-term obligations.
Positive working capital means your short-term assets exceed your short-term obligations and your business can meet its near-term commitments. Negative working capital is a serious liquidity risk.
A declining working capital figure over several weeks is an early warning even if the absolute number is still positive. The trend matters as much as the current value.
Runway
Runway is the projected date your cash balance reaches zero at your current burn rate, assuming no new income arrives. It is a worst-case signal, not a prediction. If your runway is several months away, you have time to plan. If it is a few weeks away, you need to act.
Runway extends when your bank balance increases or your burn rate falls. It shortens when your cash balance declines or your expenses rise. Collecting overdue invoices is often the fastest way to extend runway without cutting costs or raising new revenue.
Note Every metric on this screen shows a comparison to the prior 30-day period. For some metrics, an increase is positive. For others, it is negative. Gross Profit and Working Capital going up is good. Burn Rate going up is a warning. Read the direction in the context of what each metric measures. |
Noya Says and Quick Actions
The Noya Says panel on the Key Ratios screen provides a written interpretation of your ratios in combination, not just individually. It will often identify relationships between metrics that are not obvious from the numbers alone, such as a situation where working capital looks stable but the composition is shifting from cash to unpaid invoices.
Quick Actions gives you targeted questions to explore further through Ask Noya.