Ingredient #5: Know how to use your financial data.

Either internally, or in association with your accountant, you should extract regular reports from your financial data to assess your progress.  These reports include profit and loss (P&L) statements, comparisons of actual revenue against budgeted revenue and of actual sales against budgeted sales.  The P&L statement compares the revenue earned against the cost of goods or services sold and other expenses.  Taken together, your budget and your P&L statement will enable you to identify problems as or before they arise, not when the become insurmountable.