What gave you that impression? I always consulted my financials when making decisions. Unfortunately the books were wrong and I made incorrect choices from that bad data.
This is why you have to do a quick back of the envelope go over of the big numbers and make sure they are at least close. Loosing track of $300K is partly your fault. The scale means you have to be looking at it as part of a big picture summary uncontaminated by technology. With Nuclear Treaties it is called "Trust but Verify" and is applicable to business cash flows. You have to be skeptical of the automated numbers that employees touch as there can be either error or worse fraud.
When I go over my household budget I'd notice if I wasn't paying my mortgage even if someone deleted it from my spreadsheet. It's important enough to me that it's front of mind when I'm thinking about money. I expect to see it on the list. I'd look for it if it wasn't there. Salaries are apparently not that big of a deal in the same way so asking for a higher one seems like a good idea.
Generally good advice in general, $10-20k is nothing to even a small business but is probably a lot to you. It's not often an asymmetry works out in the employees favor.
