Business Health Check
Ten questions, a score out of 100, and the three things to fix first, with the calculator for each. Takes about two minutes and nothing you enter is stored.
- Free, no sign-up
- Runs in your browser, nothing is stored
- Formula and worked example included
Business Health Check
Enter your figures to see results.
How healthy is my business, really?
Most owners judge the business by whether the bank balance looks fine this month. That misses the slow problems: a margin drifting down two points a year, one client quietly becoming 40% of revenue, or a pricing review that never happens. This check scores ten measurable signals, weights the ones that sink small businesses most often, and tells you which three to tackle first. It is a triage, not an audit.
How to use this calculator
- Answer the ten questions from your last set of accounts or management figures. Estimates are fine; use round numbers.
- Read your score and band. Under 50 usually means one or two things are seriously wrong rather than everything being slightly off.
- Work through the three priorities in order. Each links to the calculator that turns the priority into a number and a plan.
What your result means
How to read the figure, what counts as normal, and what to do about it.
How the score is built
Each question is scored 0 to 10 against ranges that reflect what tends to be sustainable for a UK small business, then weighted. Cash runway and margins carry the most weight because they are what actually closes businesses; owner dependence and customer concentration are next because they are what stops businesses being sold or scaled. The score is the weighted total out of 100.
| Signal | Weight | Full marks at |
|---|---|---|
| Cash runway | 15 | 6 months or more |
| Net margin | 15 | 15% or more |
| Gross margin | 10 | 50% or more |
| Owner dependence | 12 | Runs normally without you |
| Customer concentration | 12 | Biggest customer under 10% |
| Days to get paid | 10 | 14 days or less |
| Recurring revenue | 8 | 60% or more |
| Revenue trend | 8 | Growing 10% or more |
| Pricing review | 6 | Raised in the last year |
| Admin hours | 4 | Under 4 hours a week |
Reading your band
| Score | Band | What it usually means |
|---|---|---|
| 80 to 100 | Strong | Resilient and saleable. The priorities are about growth, not repair. |
| 60 to 79 | Sound | Profitable and stable with one or two weak spots worth a quarter's attention. |
| 40 to 59 | Exposed | Works while conditions are good. A lost customer, a slow quarter or an illness would hurt. |
| Under 40 | At risk | Cash or margin is already the problem. Fix those before anything else. |
Share the link to your result with your accountant or business partner: it carries your answers in the address, and nothing is sent to us.
Worked example: a design agency
Gross margin 45%, net margin 8%, two months of cash, paid in 45 days, biggest client 25% of revenue, 30% recurring, revenue flat, prices last raised 18 months ago, the business would struggle without the founder, and 8 hours a week on admin.
That scores 55: Exposed. The three priorities are cash runway (two months is one bad quarter from trouble), owner dependence, and net margin. The agency is not in crisis, but it is one lost client away from one.
Frequently asked questions
Is my data stored?
No. The check runs in your browser. If you copy the link, your answers are in the address bar only, for whoever you send it to.
How often should I do this?
Quarterly, when the management figures land. Track the score over time; the direction matters more than any single result.
What is a good score?
60 or more is sound for an established business. New businesses often score in the 40s on cash and dependence and that is normal for the first two years, as long as the trend improves.
Why does owner dependence weigh so much?
Because it caps everything else. A business that stops when the owner stops cannot be sold, cannot scale past the owner's hours, and turns every illness or holiday into a cash problem.
The maths behind this calculator
For anyone who wants to check the working or rebuild it in a spreadsheet.
Scoring rules
Each signal scores 0 to 10 on a straight line between its "poor" and "full marks" values: Runway: 0 at 0 months, 10 at 6+ months Net margin: 0 at 0% or below, 10 at 15%+ Gross margin: 0 at 15% or below, 10 at 50%+ Debtor days: 10 at 14 days or less, 0 at 90+ days Concentration: 10 at 10% or less, 0 at 50%+ Recurring: 0 at 0%, 10 at 60%+ Admin hours: 10 at 4 or fewer, 0 at 20+ Trend: growing 10, steady 7, flat 4, declining 0 Pricing: recent 10, 1-2 years 6, 2+ years 2, never 0 Dependence: fine 10, struggle 5, stop 0 Score = Σ (signal score ÷ 10 × weight), weights totalling 100 Priorities = the three signals with the largest (weight − points earned)
Assumptions and limits
- The ranges are general benchmarks for UK owner-managed businesses. A retailer with 25% gross margin is normal; a consultancy with 25% is in trouble. Read the priorities, not just the number.
- It scores what you enter. It cannot see debt, tax owed, disputes or a market shift.
- The result is a prompt for a conversation with your accountant or a mentor, not a substitute for one.
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