How do small businesses track and manage their financial performance?

Small businesses are usually terrible at gauging their financial performance on the whole. Very few businesses have a very acute view of their finances. Most businesses will know if they are in the Red or Black, but a few accounting mistakes and all this can be devastating.

Regular/periodic visits to a financial planner or a good accountant are very critical for small businesses so that they learn sooner (than later) about understanding finance and how to correctly place each item under its right accounting head.

How to put a dollar figure on many variables (like the time they spend on their business, or use products/services not in their accounts).