Many successful business owners now follow a 90-day planning rhythm, as popularised by books like The 12 Week Year (Moran & Lennington) and embraced by growth-focused frameworks like EOS®. The principle is simple: when you shorten the planning horizon, you sharpen your execution. And that’s where quarterly check-ins come into their own.
Here’s why a regular cadence of accountability and reflection with your adviser makes a meaningful difference:
It Helps You Stay on Track with the Right Goals
Quarterly sessions create a natural pause point to assess what’s been achieved, what’s off course, and where to focus next. This regular rhythm helps translate annual plans into real-world results — one quarter at a time.
It Keeps Momentum High
Without regular checkpoints, even the best intentions can lose steam. We’ve all been there, doing our homework late the night before lesson….
These sessions re-energise your efforts and ensure that key actions don’t slip through the cracks, especially when things get busy.
It Enables Early Course-Correction
A quarterly conversation creates space to surface challenges before they escalate. Instead of reacting to issues after the fact, you can take a proactive approach — solving problems while they’re still manageable and giving yourself the time you deserve to think about what is working and what could be improved, and checking that the current activities are aligning with your longer term goals and ethos.
It Strengthens Your Decision-Making
These meetings are not just about ticking boxes — they provide the structure to step back, reflect, and make smarter decisions. With your adviser bringing financial insight and a broader perspective, you’re not just working in the business — you’re working on it.
It Builds a Stronger Working Relationship
Regular contact builds trust. You’ll benefit from an adviser who genuinely understands your business, your priorities, and your challenges — and who’s invested in helping you achieve results, not just producing reports. They will be learning more about you too, ensuring that the know exactly what you’re aiming for, what your personal values and ethics are, and what the impact on a high-performing business will be for them, their family and their colleagues. Your trusted FD will take pride in being your side-kick in this roller-coaster ride of entrepreneurship, and be there to experience the highs and lows.
Whether you’re scaling, stabilising, or navigating change, quarterly check-ins help bring structure, clarity, and accountability — all key ingredients for sustainable growth.
It’s not just a meeting. It’s a discipline that supports better thinking, sharper focus, and more consistent progress.
Monthly management accounts reviews are of course, imperative, but they often focus on the short-term past and a cursory review of budgets, cashflow and resources. They do not engage the wider team, or consider the bigger picture.
How about arranging quarterly strategy review meetings with your trusted adviser?