Over the holidays, my husband was telling his cousin about our monthly month-end meeting. We sit down, laptops open, and review our finances. Spend, priorities, savings, the usual adult (boring) things. Somewhere along the way, his cousin misheard and thought we called it a muffin meeting. Which was, of course, absolutely hilarious.
But honestly? The name has stuck. Calling it something a little more playful and lighthearted has taken out some of the emotion and heaviness that can come when talking about finances. And this came back to mind recently when I was on a group coaching call and asked a simple question:
“What do you talk about in your month-end meeting?”
The response was… silence. A few blank stares. Some polite discomfort.
Which I get. If you don’t already have a cadence, starting one can feel intimidating. Month-end can sound like a big, scary accounting event instead of what it actually is. A chance to pause, look at the same numbers together, and course-correct early.
Start With One Number. Seriously.
If you do nothing else, you should know how profitable you were the previous month.
Usually I see this as Invoiced Amount - Costs Incurred in the month.
Once that feels comfortable, you can break it down slightly:
Recurring profitability versus one-time revenue - what % of your Revenue is recurring? Has that been increasing or decreasing?
Revenue by Customer - especially % of Revenue by Customer. Where did the top 20% of your revenue come from? Was it all one customer, or a mix?
Profitability by department of line of Business
Revenue versus Forecast - if you don’t have a forecast, did you make more or less last month than the same month last year?
By starting with as few numbers as possible, you can check the data and assumptions, ensure the reporting is correct, and start to develop standard numbers you look at every month.
Who Should Be in the Room?
My recommendation is usually to go wider, not narrower.
If someone owns a function that impacts the numbers, they should be there. And more importantly, they should be able to explain why the numbers look the way they do.
This isn’t about accountability theater. It’s about context.
When the same people look at the same numbers every month, patterns become obvious. When there is an outlier or edge case, it’s easy to identify and learn from early. Plus, since everyone is in the room anyways, it’s a good way to bring visibility to an exception or something that happened outside of regular process, to try and avoid the same thing happening again in the future.
A Few Ways to Make This Work
If you’re trying to build a month-end cadence, here’s what I’ve seen work best:
Use the same metrics every month. Consistency matters more than sophistication.
Start with fewer numbers than you think you need. You can always add later.
Share the report ahead of time. Give people space to review, validate data, and flag issues. Especially early on, when reports are still settling.
Make it predictable. Same time. Same agenda. No surprises.
Keep it human. You’re all learning together. The first one is going to be uncomfortable, and that’s ok. Communicate that this is a meeting that will evolve and change over time.
This shouldn’t feel like a pop quiz. People should know the meeting is coming and feel prepared to participate.
Why This Matters More Than the Numbers
When teams don’t look at performance regularly, they drift. Decisions become reactive. Course corrections happen late, when they’re more painful and more expensive.
A simple, repeatable month-end meeting gives you direction. It gives everyone a shared reality. And it makes small adjustments possible before small problems turn into big ones.
You don’t need a perfect dashboard.
You don’t need every metric figured out.
You just need to start showing up, together, and looking at the same numbers.
And if calling it a muffin meeting makes that easier? Why not!
Just make sure you do, actually, provide muffins.
Do you have a month end meeting in your business? Who do you include?
How has it helped set direction for your team?
