Corporate Governance

What helps you start can quietly sabotage your ability to grow. A business owner once shared: “We were five people doing everything. No roles, no job descriptions—just hustle. It worked... until it didn’t.” Another said: “I used to approve vendor payments on WhatsApp. Now, with 20 people and 3 locations, things are slipping—and I’m firefighting.” Welcome to the growing pain of informality.

before you’re asked. A business owner once said: “I wasn’t worried about the audit—until I realized our expense records were scattered across four inboxes.” Another shared: “We were doing fine. But when the auditor started asking for bank reconciliations and GST returns, it became a scramble.” Here’s the truth: Most small businesses don’t fail audits—they just lose time, credibility, and confidence during them.

You don’t need a boardroom to benefit from a board. You just need structure and outside perspective. A business owner once told me: “We’re not a funded startup or a listed company—why would I need a board?” Another shared: “I handle all decisions myself. That way, nothing slows down.” Both make sense in the early years.

Memory is unreliable. Paper (or spreadsheets) aren’t. A business owner once told me: “I approved a ₹3 lakh vendor payout last quarter. Now I don’t remember why—and my accountant’s asking for a reason.” Another said: “We moved ₹10 lakhs from business to personal account for ‘investment’—but now we can’t trace where or why it went.” In both cases, money moved.

Poor contracts don’t just hurt margins—they erode trust, control, and credibility. A business owner once shared: “We never signed a formal contract—just a WhatsApp rate confirmation. When things went wrong, there was no accountability.” Another said: “We signed a service agreement with a standard clause template. Only later did we realise it allowed auto-renewal without a cost cap.” Small businesses often rely on long-standing vendor relationships and verbal understandin

Money doesn't just follow growth—it follows visibility, clarity, and discipline. A founder once said: “Our revenue was growing steadily, but banks kept asking for more documentation. I realised our internal reporting wasn’t investor-grade—even though our numbers were strong.” Another shared: “We had good margins, loyal customers, and zero outside debt—but no one wanted to fund us. The books looked informal. The systems weren’t tight.”