Founding Pilot · First 25 qualifying organisations

Free Executive Compass™ Financial Health Check

Your financial reports may be accurate. But can the organisation consistently make defensible financial decisions when conditions change?

A confidential, no-cost executive diagnostic that helps identify where reporting, forecasting and decision-making may be stronger—or more fragile—than they appear.

Indicative diagnostic only

This is not an audit opinion, assurance engagement, certification, validated benchmark or formal Executive Compass™ assessment. It is a deliberately simplified public derivative designed to support an initial executive conversation.

Your progress

Approximately 12–15 minutes

Answer based on what the organisation can rely on in practice—not what policy or intention says should happen.

Stage 1 of 11Confidential

Cash & liquidity judgement
Forecasting
Margin & project visibility
Working capital
Financial challenge
Decision timing
Key-person dependency
Reporting resilience
Learning & renewal

Do not fill this out:

Cash & liquidity judgement

Whether management can see cash pressure early enough to preserve real choices.

1. The executive team can see the organisation’s realistic cash position far enough ahead to change course before pressure becomes urgent.

Consistently true

Usually true

Mixed or uncertain

Rarely true

Unable to determine

2. Cash forecasts are routinely tested against actual outcomes and significant errors are explained.

Consistently true

Usually true

Mixed or uncertain

Rarely true

Unable to determine

3. Management understands which assumptions have the greatest effect on liquidity over the next 90 days.

Consistently true

Usually true

Mixed or uncertain

Rarely true

Unable to determine

4. The organisation can distinguish accounting profit from cash available for commitments and growth.

Consistently true

Usually true

Mixed or uncertain

Rarely true

Unable to determine

Forecasting

Whether forecasts adapt to changing conditions and support consequential commitments.

5. Forecasts are updated when operating conditions change, rather than only on a fixed reporting timetable.

Consistently true

Usually true

Mixed or uncertain

Rarely true

Unable to determine

6. Forecast assumptions are explicit, owned and open to challenge.

Consistently true

Usually true

Mixed or uncertain

Rarely true

Unable to determine

7. Management can explain why the latest forecast differs from the previous forecast.

Consistently true

Usually true

Mixed or uncertain

Rarely true

Unable to determine

8. Forecasts are sufficiently reliable to support hiring, investment and capital allocation decisions.

Consistently true

Usually true

Mixed or uncertain

Rarely true

Unable to determine

Margin & project visibility

Whether reported performance reveals the economics beneath customers, contracts and projects.

9. Management can identify which customers, projects, products or services genuinely create or destroy value.

Consistently true

Usually true

Mixed or uncertain

Rarely true

Unable to determine

10. Margin deterioration becomes visible early enough for corrective action.

Consistently true

Usually true

Mixed or uncertain

Rarely true

Unable to determine

11. Project or contract performance is measured using consistent financial and operational information.

Consistently true

Usually true

Mixed or uncertain

Rarely true

Unable to determine

12. Reported revenue and profit can be reconciled to delivery progress, cash consequences and remaining risk.

Consistently true

Usually true

Mixed or uncertain

Rarely true

Unable to determine

Working capital

Whether operational decisions and cash conversion are connected.

13. Overdue receivables, work in progress and inventory exposures are visible to the executives able to intervene.

Consistently true

Usually true

Mixed or uncertain

Rarely true

Unable to determine

14. Working-capital responsibility is clearly assigned rather than treated as a finance-only issue.

Consistently true

Usually true

Mixed or uncertain

Rarely true

Unable to determine

15. Management can identify the operational causes of working-capital pressure.

Consistently true

Usually true

Mixed or uncertain

Rarely true

Unable to determine

16. Commercial decisions consider their likely effect on cash conversion, not only revenue or margin.

Consistently true

Usually true

Mixed or uncertain

Rarely true

Unable to determine

Financial challenge

Whether financial judgement can test attractive assumptions without losing influence.

17. Finance can challenge optimistic assumptions without being treated as an obstacle to the business.

Consistently true

Usually true

Mixed or uncertain

Rarely true

Unable to determine

18. Material proposals include credible downside cases and not only the preferred outcome.

Consistently true

Usually true

Mixed or uncertain

Rarely true

Unable to determine

19. Executives are expected to explain the financial evidence behind consequential decisions.

Consistently true

Usually true

Mixed or uncertain

Rarely true

Unable to determine

Decision timing

Whether insight arrives while management can still act.

20. Decision-relevant financial information reaches management before the useful intervention window closes.

Consistently true

Usually true

Mixed or uncertain

Rarely true

Unable to determine

21. The reporting cycle is designed around important decisions rather than historical routine.

Consistently true

Usually true

Mixed or uncertain

Rarely true

Unable to determine

22. Emerging financial risks are escalated before they become month-end surprises.

Consistently true

Usually true

Mixed or uncertain

Rarely true

Unable to determine

Key-person dependency

Whether capability belongs to the organisation or to a few individuals.

23. Critical finance processes can continue reliably when a key individual is unavailable.

Consistently true

Usually true

Mixed or uncertain

Rarely true

Unable to determine

24. Important calculations, assumptions and reporting logic are documented and reviewable.

Consistently true

Usually true

Mixed or uncertain

Rarely true

Unable to determine

25. Financial knowledge is shared across the organisation rather than concentrated in one or two people.

Consistently true

Usually true

Mixed or uncertain

Rarely true

Unable to determine

Reporting resilience

Whether critical information remains reproducible under pressure and change.

26. Critical reports can be reproduced consistently from controlled information sources.

Consistently true

Usually true

Mixed or uncertain

Rarely true

Unable to determine

27. Management understands where manual workarounds or spreadsheet dependence create reporting risk.

Consistently true

Usually true

Mixed or uncertain

Rarely true

Unable to determine

28. Financial information remains reliable during periods of rapid change, staff turnover or system disruption.

Consistently true

Usually true

Mixed or uncertain

Rarely true

Unable to determine

Learning & renewal

Whether the finance function learns from error and adapts its decision support.

29. Recurring forecast and reporting errors lead to permanent process improvements.

Consistently true

Usually true

Mixed or uncertain

Rarely true

Unable to determine

30. The finance function regularly reviews whether its outputs still support the decisions the business now faces.

Consistently true

Usually true

Mixed or uncertain

Rarely true

Unable to determine

Organisation context

Who is completing the diagnostic?

This information allows the response to be reviewed in context and helps determine whether an interpretation call or pilot invitation would be useful.

Name

Work email

Organisation

Role

Organisation size

Country

Industry

Primary reason

What financial or decision concern prompted you to take the health check?

Conditions and consent

One final boundary before the result.

There is no fee. In exchange, Founding Pilot participants agree to provide candid feedback on the usefulness and clarity of the diagnostic. Any research use of anonymised information requires separate consent.

Required: I understand this is an indicative public diagnostic and not an audit opinion, assurance engagement, certification, validated benchmark or formal Executive Compass™ assessment.

Required: I agree to provide candid feedback on the usefulness and clarity of the diagnostic if invited.

I would like to be considered for a complimentary 30-minute interpretation call.

I may be interested in a separately consented real-organisation research pilot.

I consent to being contacted separately about suitable Executive Compass™ research participation.

Do not submit confidential financial records, personal data about employees, legally privileged information or client-identifying material.

Indicative Financial Health Profile

Your profile is ready.

The profile reflects the pattern in your responses. It is a starting point for investigation, not a formal assessment or authoritative score.

Overall patternA mixed financial operating picture

Potential strengths

Areas that may be comparatively reliable

Potential vulnerabilities

Areas that deserve closer testing

Executive questions to investigate

Take these questions into the next leadership discussion.

Complimentary interpretation

A serious diagnostic becomes useful when someone challenges the pattern.

Qualified Founding Pilot participants may be invited to a free 30-minute interpretation call. Responses are reviewed personally before an invitation is issued.

Request an interpretation call Explore research participation