To understand how well your small business is doing, you need to know both how it’s doing on a particular time frame (e.g., every month and quarter) as well as how it’s doing overall (how much it is actually worth). If you’ve ever thought of selling your franchise, this really matters. Getting a holistic picture of your business’s financial health is critical so that you’re not blindsided by bad news—you thought you were doing well because you had a great few months… but when you want to sell your franchise, you suddenly find out that it isn’t worth as much as you thought. Think of it like going to the doctor. Maybe you haven’t gained weight in the past six months (yay!) and you think you’re in great shape. But if you look back since your early 20s, you’ve put on an extra 30 pounds and your blood pressure is too high. If you simply track your weight month to month, you only get a limited view. If you examine other factors and your health overall, you know that you need to make a few changes.