Turn Last Year’s Numbers Into This Year’s Strategy: KPIs to Focus On in 2026

Year-end close is done, reports are sent, and you finally have a clean view of how last year went.

Now what?

For mortgage brokers, real estate firms, and property management companies, year-end numbers are more than a compliance box. They’re a roadmap. When you take a little time in January to read that roadmap, it becomes much easier to decide where to focus next.

In this article, we’ll walk through how to:

• Turn last year’s results into practical insights

• Choose a small set of KPIs that actually matter

• Use those KPIs to guide your monthly accounting cadence in 2026

1. Start With a Simple Look-Back

You don’t need a 50-page deck to pull value from your year-end numbers. Start with a few straightforward questions.

Look at your year-over-year P&L and ask:

• Did revenue grow, shrink, or stay flat?

• Did gross margins improve, hold steady, or get squeezed?

• Did net income move in the same direction as revenue — or tell a different story?

Then take one more step and segment the results:

• By branch or office

• By property or portfolio

• By line of business (mortgage / sales / management)

Patterns jump out quickly when you view the data this way. You might see a branch that outperformed, a property type that quietly became unprofitable, or a service line that deserves more attention this year.

The goal isn’t to analyze everything. It’s to spot a few places where your decisions can make the biggest impact.

2. Choose a Small, Powerful Set of KPIs

Once you’ve looked back, it’s time to decide what you’ll watch going forward.

A common mistake is trying to track too many metrics. That’s how dashboards turn into noise.

Instead, focus on 3–5 KPIs that will really move the needle this year.

Here are some strong candidates for mortgage, real estate, and property management teams:

1. Revenue by Line of Business

Are you making money from the services you want to grow?

• Mortgage production vs. sales commissions vs. management fees

• How each line of business performed vs. last year

• Whether your “focus areas” are actually driving revenue

  
  

2. Gross Margin by Branch or Property

Top-line revenue doesn’t tell you what you keep.

Track:

• Direct income minus direct costs by location or property

• Which branches or doors hit your margin targets — and which didn’t

• Whether growth is profitable or just keeping people busy

  
  

3. Operating Expense Ratio

This is your overhead check.

Operating expenses ÷ revenue = Operating expense ratio.

• Is overhead growing faster than revenue?

• Are there fixed costs that no longer fit your current size?

• Are you over-relying on overtime or short-term fixes?

  
  

4. Delinquency and AR Aging

For property management, past-due balances tell you a lot about:

• Collections processes

• Communication with residents or tenants

• Potential cash flow pressure coming your way

For mortgage teams, you might adapt this to:

• Fee collections

• Aged receivables from investors, partners, or affiliates

  
  

5. Cash Runway

Cash is what lets you sleep at night.

A simple version:

Current cash balance ÷ average monthly operating expenses

This tells you roughly how many months you can comfortably cover normal operations. You can refine it from there as needed.

3. Connect KPIs to Real-World Goals

Once you pick your KPIs, tie them directly to goals and decisions.

For example:

• If gross margin by branch is inconsistent, your goal might be to lift underperforming locations by 3–5 percentage points.

• If your operating expense ratio is creeping up, your goal might be to hold overhead flat while you grow revenue.

• If delinquency is climbing, your goal might be to cut 30+ day balances in half by mid-year.

The key is to make each KPI:

• Clear – everyone knows what it measures

• Owned – someone is responsible for watching it

• Actionable – you know what levers you can pull to improve it

4. Build a Monthly Review Cadence

A KPI only has value if you look at it regularly.

Here’s a simple cadence many firms use:

1. Monthly close date.For example: “We close and review the prior month by the 15th.”

2. Standard reporting package.

   1. P&L and balance sheet

   2. Bank reconciliations

   3. KPI dashboard

   4. Any key schedules (AR aging, delinquency, pipeline, escrow, etc.)

3. Short review meeting.

   1. What changed this month?

   2. Did any KPIs move in the wrong direction?

   3. Are there decisions to make or experiments to try?

4. Document decisions. Keep a simple log of actions you agreed on. When you look back in three months, you’ll be able to see what worked — and what didn’t.

   
   

5. Make Accounting & Operations Talk to Each Other

Your numbers are most powerful when they match what’s happening on the ground.

Bring operations into the conversation:

• Loan officers, property managers, or team leads can explain why certain KPIs moved.

• Accounting can highlight patterns and risks they’re seeing in the data.

When those two views match, it’s much easier to make confident decisions.

Final Thoughts

You’ve already put in the work to close the books and get last year’s numbers in order. Don’t let that effort stop at “we’re done.”

With a short look-back, a focused set of KPIs, and a simple monthly review cadence, you can turn your financials into a tool that supports better decisions all year long.

If you’d like help building a KPI dashboard or creating a monthly accounting rhythm that fits your firm, that’s exactly what we do at Greenkey Accounting Services.