Financial Statement Accuracy Scorecard
Answer seven questions about your latest financial package and get a 0–100 confidence score, a flag on every weak area, and a printable question card for your next board meeting.
Based on the seven questions in Dr. Michelle Gordon's guide, How to Tell If Your Financial Statements Are Accurate.
How do I know if my financial statements are accurate?
Test the package, not the person who prepared it. Check whether the records are current through the reporting date, whether the balance sheet accounts have been reconciled and reviewed, whether the results match what you know happened in the business, whether you know how much cash is actually available, who verifies the work, whether past issues were resolved, and whether the reports help you decide anything. A package that passes all seven is one you can act on. A package that looks professional and fails three of them is not.
How to use this tool
- 1
Answer the seven questions
Yes, Partly, or No for your most recent financial package, using the two sub-questions under each as the test.
- 2
Read the score and the flags
Get a 0 to 100 confidence score and a next step for every question you could not answer with a clear yes.
- 3
Print the question card
Take the questions for your weak areas into the next board or finance review.
A professional-looking report is not a verified one
Most leaders judge a financial package by how it looks and whether it arrived on time. Neither tells you whether the numbers are right. Dr. Gordon's closing line names the balance: "Trust without verification creates vulnerability. Verification without trust creates bureaucracy. Good leadership requires both."
On time is not the same as complete
A report dated at month end can still be missing bills sitting in an inbox, unapplied customer payments, and accruals nobody booked. The date tells you when the report was produced, not what it contains.
Totals that add up prove arithmetic, not accuracy
A balance sheet always balances. It balances whether or not the bank account behind it was reconciled last month or nine months ago. Ask for the reconciliations, not the totals.
Your operational knowledge is a control
You know when you hired, when a big order shipped, and which customer is slow. If the numbers do not show it, that gap is the most useful question you can ask. You do not need to be an accountant to ask it.
A raised issue is not a resolved one
The same unusual balance showing up three months running is a follow-through failure, not an accounting one. Confidence needs a record of what was found, who fixed it, and who checked the fix.
A score tells you where to look, not what is wrong
This scorecard shows which of the seven areas you cannot vouch for. Finding out what is actually wrong inside them still means pulling the ledger, the bank statements, and the subledgers and comparing them line by line. That is the work DataWyse does on every question: each figure comes back with the formula and source rows behind it, so verification is a click rather than a week.
See how DataWyse answers thisQuestions finance teams ask about this tool
How can I tell if my financial statements are accurate?
Check seven things: records are current, balances are reconciled and reviewed, results match what happened operationally, you know your available cash, someone independent verifies the work, past issues were resolved, and the reports support decisions. This scorecard walks through each one using the questions in Dr. Michelle Gordon's guide.
What questions should a CEO ask about the financial statements?
Start with the sub-questions under each of the seven areas in the scorecard, for example whether all significant balance sheet accounts are reconciled and reviewed each month. The printable question card lists the ones that matter most for your package, based on your answers.
How is the confidence score calculated?
Each of the seven questions carries equal weight. Yes scores 1, Partly scores 0.5, No scores 0. The total is divided by seven and multiplied by 100. The weighting and bands are DataWyse's; the questions are Dr. Gordon's.
Does a high score mean my financial statements are correct?
No. It means the processes that catch errors are in place, which makes the package reasonable to rely on. Only an audit or a detailed review tests the individual numbers. A low score is the stronger signal: it tells you the package has not earned your confidence yet.
Can I print the questions for a board meeting?
Yes. After you score, use the Print button under the result. Only the question card prints, with the date, your score, and the questions for every area you answered Partly or No.
Is this tool really free?
Yes. No signup, no email required, no usage limit. It runs entirely in your browser: nothing you type is uploaded to a server or stored anywhere. We build these because the people who find them useful are the people who eventually need a financial analyst that works the same way.
Related reading
- How to Tell If Your Financial Statements Are Accurate: 7 Questions Every CEO Should Ask Industry Expert · Dr. Michelle Gordon, CPA, CMA, CPHR, EMBA, DBA · 7 min read
DataWyse answers the next thirty
Variance deep-dives, cash re-forecasts, scenario plans, board prep: asked in plain English, answered in minutes, with every number traceable to its formula and source data.