When Charlie Lehmann was named CEO of AutoData Systems two years ago, his first task came straight from the investor group that bought the company and recruited him: stop the red ink.

The company, a subsidiary of a larger firm, had been neglected for years as its parent went through hard times and regrouped, and while AutoData Systems was profitable for decades it was no longer so.

So Lehmann says he just started asking questions, line by line: Why do we spend this on that? Why do we spend that on this? While employees at the acquired firm were willing to pitch in to right the company, they didn’t have any answers to the questions because no one had asked them for so long.

It’s a simple exercise, but often overlooked as time goes by. “A big help was giving a fresh look at a company that hadn’t had a fresh look for a long time,” Lehmann says. Once expenses were cut he turned his attention to increasing revenue—but that’s a story for next time. Since January of this year AutoData has been profitable every month.

Bridget Manahan, a commercial banker with Western Bank and an Upsize Growth Challenge expert, applauds Lehmann’s line-by-line approach to expenses. “You’ve done a lot of great work in a short time, getting it cash-flow positive, which isn’t easy,” she says.

She says to look forward, too, realizing that as revenue grows expenses will do so as well. “It’s really important to have the sales culture, but as you crank that up, what does that mean for your infrastructure?”

How about you? Do you need to take a fresh look at your company’s finances?