A cash-flow report is a plain summary of the money that came into your business and the money that went out over a set period, sorted into categories you can act on.
Most small business owners know their bank balance. Far fewer can say, without digging, how much went to parts last quarter, which supplier’s prices crept up, or how much cash is sitting in jobs that are done but not yet paid. The statements hold the answers. They’re just hard to read in raw form.
Where this service came from
I run my own collision and PPF shop, Enthusiast Auto Works. Like most shop owners, I had bank statements, cash journals and CCC statements in separate places, and none of them told the whole story on their own. I used AI tools to pull them together into one categorized financial report: what came in by source, what went out by category, month by month.
It changed how I made decisions. I could see which costs were growing, which months were tight and why. That report is the model for this service.
What a report includes
Every report is built around your business, but most cover:
- Money in, by source. Customer payments, insurance payments, card deposits, cash, financing proceeds, transfers.
- Money out, by category. Payroll, rent, parts and materials, subcontractors, software, utilities, insurance, loan payments, owner draws.
- Month-over-month view. So trends show up: a category climbing, a slow season, a supplier creeping.
- Top vendors. Where the largest share of spending goes.
- Flags. Duplicate charges, subscriptions nobody uses, unusual swings, transfers that need an explanation.
- A short written summary. What the numbers say in a few sentences, plus questions to raise with your accountant.
How it works
- Intro call. We learn how your business takes money in and pays it out, and which accounts are involved.
- Collect statements. Bank, credit card, point-of-sale or payment processor, and for collision shops, CCC or other estimating statements. You send them through a secure channel.
- Categorize. We pull every transaction into a consistent set of categories that fit your business.
- Reconcile across sources. A card deposit in the bank should match the processor report. A CCC-closed job should show up as money in eventually. Gaps get flagged.
- Build the report. Tables, a month-by-month view and a short written summary.
- Walk through it with you. Thirty minutes, plain language, your questions.
- Hand it off. You send it to your accountant, banker or partner as you see fit.
What we don’t do
This line is firm, and it protects you:
- We are not a CPA firm and we don’t provide accounting services. The report is an operating view of cash, not financial statements prepared under accounting standards.
- We don’t prepare or file taxes and we don’t give tax advice. Questions about deductions, entity structure, payroll tax or sales tax go to your accountant.
- We don’t do your bookkeeping or post entries into QuickBooks or other ledgers for you.
- We don’t audit or certify anything. A lender or investor who needs reviewed or audited statements needs a CPA.
What we do is hand your accountant cleaner, better-organized numbers, which usually makes their job faster and your questions better.
Cash-flow report vs. what your accountant provides
| F&K Consulting Group cash-flow report | Your accountant | |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose | See where money goes and act on it | Compliant books, financial statements, taxes |
| Built from | Bank, card, POS and CCC statements | Your full books and records |
| Frequency | Monthly or one-time look back | Monthly, quarterly or annual |
| Tax advice | No | Yes |
| Prepared to accounting standards | No | Yes |
| Best use | Operating decisions, spotting leaks, lender prep | Filing, compliance, formal reporting |
The two work together. Neither replaces the other.
What owners usually find
The first report almost always surfaces something. A few patterns we see often:
- Subscriptions nobody uses. Software, services and memberships that kept renewing after the person who signed up left.
- Vendor creep. A parts or supply vendor whose prices rose a little each month until it added up.
- Slow money. Insurance payments or receivables that take far longer to land than anyone assumed, which explains why the account feels tight in a good month.
- Personal and business mixed. Owner expenses running through the business account, which muddies every number and worries lenders.
- Fees. Card processing, bank and financing fees that are higher than expected once they’re added up in one place.
None of these require an accountant to spot. They require someone to lay every transaction out in one view. Once you see them, the fixes are usually simple: cancel, renegotiate, chase, separate.
Collision shops and CCC statements
Body shops have a particular problem. The estimating system says a job is closed, but the money arrives later, sometimes in pieces, from the insurer, the customer’s deductible and supplements. Matching CCC statements against bank deposits shows which jobs are fully paid, which are short and how long payment really takes.
Who it’s for
- Owners who run on the bank balance and want to see the full picture.
- Collision and repair shops juggling insurance payments, supplements, parts returns and CCC statements.
- Restaurants and retail businesses with heavy card volume and many vendors.
- Owners preparing to talk to a lender. See funding readiness.
- Partners who want an agreed-upon view of where money goes.
Pricing
Cash-flow reports are an add-on to our other services. The price depends on how many accounts and how many months we’re working with, so we quote it after a quick look at what you have. Book a call and bring a sense of how many bank and card accounts the business runs through. We’ll tell you what a first report would cover and what it would cost.