SME financial analysis and diagnostic: a 360° reading of your company

What is an SME financial analysis?

An SME financial analysis, or financial diagnostic, reads a company's annual accounts and management data to answer three questions: does the business create value, does the financial structure hold, and does cash keep up? It starts from the figures, compares them over time and with the sector, and leads to recommendations.

• Collection: annual accounts filed with the National Bank, supplemented if you wish by your internal data (trial balances, dashboards, forecasts).
• Restatement: reclassifying items to read the margin, the working capital requirement and actual debt.
• Ratios: profitability, liquidity, solvency, inventory and receivables turnover, over several financial years.
• Comparison: position against comparable companies in the same sector.
• Conclusions: prioritised findings and quantified recommendations.

What the 360 diagnosis covers

The diagnosis reviews your company from every financial angle: formation of the result, balance sheet structure, cash and working capital, key ratios, position against the sector and risks. Each finding leads to a quantified, prioritised recommendation.

• Income statement: formation of the result, margins, cost structure and their evolution.
• Balance sheet: solidity, balance between stable resources and uses, indebtedness.
• Cash and working capital: where cash is created, where it gets tied up, on what trajectory.
• Key ratios: profitability, liquidity, solvency, interpreted and put into perspective.
• Sector benchmark: your position against comparable companies, based on annual accounts filed with the NBB.
• Risks and recommendations: prioritised findings, quantified actions, clear priorities.

A sample reading: Ziegler's 2024 accounts

Our public sample report covers the 2024 accounts of Ziegler SA, a Brussels-based transport and logistics provider that filed for bankruptcy on 1 June 2026. The warning signs were readable in its public accounts: cash down from €2.29M to €434k in one year, negative operating cash flow of €1.97M and a net loss of €1.59M. This is the kind of reading the diagnostic performs on your company, with your internal data on top.

The deliverable: 12 to 18 pages, readable and actionable

You receive a 12 to 18 page report written for an executive, not for an analyst: each section starts from the finding, explains it and leads to an action. A sample report is publicly available on this site so you can judge the level of detail before committing.

When to commission a diagnosis?

The 360 diagnosis is most useful when a decision is approaching: financing, investment, transfer of the business, or when a weak signal (eroding margin, cash under pressure) deserves to be objectified before it becomes a problem.

• Before a bank financing request, to present a situation under control.
• Ahead of a sale, a transfer or an opening of capital.
• When cash tightens without an obvious explanation.
• As an annual review, to objectify the trajectory and set priorities.

Financial analysis, accountant, statutory auditor: who does what?

All three look at the same accounts, with different and complementary roles.

• The accountant keeps or reviews the books and prepares the annual accounts.
• The statutory auditor certifies that the accounts give a true and fair view, where the law or the shareholders require it.
• Financial analysis interprets these accounts for decision-making: what they say about profitability, soundness and cash, and what to do about it.

Start with the free analysis

Before any assignment, you can request a first free analysis of your company, based on its public annual accounts. It gives you a concrete preview of our approach; the 360 diagnosis then deepens every dimension with you.