The areas CMB Core examines in an operational review of a US business — people, process, finance, compliance and technology.
This is the checklist CMB Core works through when we review a US business. Use it as a self-assessment: anywhere you cannot answer confidently is usually where friction, cost or risk is hiding.
It is general guidance for US businesses and is not accounting, tax or legal advice. For your specific obligations, speak to a CPA or attorney and check federal and your state agencies directly.
Do you run a rolling 13-week cash-flow forecast? Do you know your cash conversion cycle and runway? Most owner-run businesses manage cash by bank balance rather than by forecast.
Are federal and state filings on a reliable calendar? For anyone selling across state lines, is sales-tax nexus mapped post-Wayfair? Nexus is the most common silent compliance gap for growing US SMBs.
Are workers correctly classified as W-2 employees vs 1099 contractors? Is payroll, withholding and benefits administration clean across the states you operate in? Misclassification carries real exposure.
Do you know gross margin by product or service line — not just blended? Have prices kept pace with input costs? Under-pricing is the quietest threat to an otherwise healthy business.
Is the core stack (accounting, CRM, payments, ops) integrated, or are staff re-keying between QuickBooks, spreadsheets and email? Manual hand-offs are where errors and lost hours accumulate.
Is the entity structure still right for the stage and state footprint? Are key-person risks documented and is there a basic continuity plan? Single points of failure are common and rarely written down.
A quick self-score. Rate each area honestly; the lowest scores are where a review pays for itself fastest.
| Area | Healthy looks like | Risk signal |
|---|---|---|
| Cash flow | 13-week rolling forecast | Managed by bank balance |
| Tax & nexus | Multi-state nexus mapped | Unsure where you owe |
| People | W-2/1099 clean | Classification guesswork |
| Margin | Known per line | Blended only |
| Systems | Integrated stack | Re-keying between tools |
This checklist is a prompt, not a compliance audit. Your obligations depend on entity, revenue, industry and the states you operate in.
CMB Core runs a structured operational review and returns a prioritised, written plan. Engagements are fixed-scope and fixed-fee in US$.
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