Look beyond the totals to understand the story in your books.
What does the business own and owe?
The balance sheet presents assets, liabilities and equity at a point in time. Start with the larger balances and ask what records support them.
How did the period perform?
The profit and loss statement summarises income and expenses over a period. Compare meaningful groups with earlier periods and investigate material changes.
Where did the cash go?
Profit and available cash are different measures. Review customer collections, supplier payments, borrowing, investment and other cash movements.
Read reports together
Use the statements alongside the bank reconciliation and the customer and supplier ageing reports. A useful review asks questions about the underlying transactions rather than looking only at the final total.