Board reporting guide: Mistakes to avoid & free templates

What is the purpose of a board report?

A board report is a bridge between the executive team and the Board of Directors, designed to provide a clear and concise overview of the organization’s financial health, operational performance, and strategic progress. It equips board members with the information they need to make informed decisions and fulfill their governance responsibilities.

By focusing on key metrics, risks, and opportunities, board reports allow directors to ask the right questions and guide the organization’s strategic direction. They’re not just a summary of data—they’re a tool for ensuring alignment, driving accountability, and supporting meaningful discussions between leadership and the board.

An effective board report simplifies complex information, highlights trends, and ties performance back to the company's goals. 

Download this free quarterly board deck template for the perfect board meeting deck. 

Board reporting template: What to include in a board report

A well-structured board report ensures your board members have everything they need to make informed, strategic decisions. While every organization’s needs are unique, here’s a breakdown of several items to include:

• Executive summary: Offer a clear, concise snapshot of the most important updates. Focus on key financial results, progress on strategic initiatives, and any critical decisions that require attention. Think of this as the "need-to-know" section for busy board members.
• Financial overview: Highlight the organization’s financial performance. Include metrics like revenue and profit, expenses, and cash flow. Make sure to point out any trends, comparisons to the budget, or unexpected changes that might need discussion.
• Strategic company updates: Share updates on major projects or initiatives. Explain how they’re progressing, any challenges that have come up, and what’s next. Tie everything back to the company’s broader goals to show alignment.
• Departmental reports (optional): If appropriate, include concise updates from core departments. Focus on how their performance supports overall strategy rather than overwhelming the report with unnecessary detail.
• Key discussions: This section outlines the critical financial topics the CFO should cover when reporting to the board. It should include things like financial performance, strategic initiatives, compliance, investment decisions, and budget planning and forecasting.
• Risk analysis: Outline the financial risks that could impact the business, whether they’re financial, operational, or external factors. Briefly explain how leadership is addressing or mitigating those risks to provide confidence in your approach.
• Action items: Be clear about what’s required from the board. Whether it’s a key decision or approval, specify the actions needed and why they matter.
• Market and industry updates: Offer insights into external factors affecting the company. Whether it’s regulatory changes, competitive trends, or shifts in the market, keep this section relevant and actionable.
• Financial summary: Highlight the organization’s financial performance. Include metrics like revenue and profit, expenses, and cash flow. Make sure to point out any trends, comparisons to the budget, or unexpected changes that might need discussion.
• Databook/appendix: This section provides detailed financial data and supporting documents to complement the CFO’s report. It should include comprehensive financial statements; KPIs and metrics used for financial analysis; detailed breakdowns of revenue, expenses, capital expenditures, and other critical financial data; supporting graphs, charts, and tables to visualize trends and performance; and any supplementary information referenced during the presentation for deeper insights.

Clarity is everything when it comes to board reports. Your goal should be to respect the board’s time while providing the depth they need to ask meaningful questions.

Download this free board deck template with ready-to-use financial dashboards, charts, and summaries.

How to prepare board reports

Let's get strategic. How do you prepare to report to the board? What does the Board of Directors want to see? Who are the committee members? How do you present your financials in a clear and concise format?

When you present financials during board meetings, you must consider several factors. We'll get into those in this section.

Use this free quarterly board deck template with 40+ slides for comprehensive reporting.

Getting started (What documents do you need for board reporting?)

What's the base for what you must include in your reports to the Board of Directors? At a high level, the board is concerned with the company's financial performance. They need the confidence that you're making the right moves and taking the right steps.

Here's a bare minimum every successful CFO prepares before walking into that board meeting:

• Financial statements: Your company's three financial statements (the income statement, balance sheet, and statement of cash flows) are super important. As the CFO, you must be familiar with every item on those, especially expenses like OpEx and CapEx. 
• Good news and bad news: You need to share both the positives and the negatives. The good news should serve your company's narrative. The bad news should too—frame it as a challenge you're already solving.
• Summary of quarterly and annual reports: Is the business performing to plan? What’s the projection if the current level of performance continues? What deviations do you expect to see from now until the end of the planned period?
• Talk tracks and the company's financial story: There's an opportunity in your financial reporting to make the Board bullish on your company. What story do these numbers tell? What change is your company making, and how does the financial data give context to that? If the CEO report is visionary, then your report needs to supply data and context.
• Key performance indicators: Create a reference document with the company's KPIs and any additional metrics or financial ratios you know the Board will want to see. For example, EBITDA, runway, and burn multiple are a few examples you'll want to include.

Assign tasks to your team (Who is responsible for writing board reports?)

Board reports aren’t a one-person job. While the CFO leads the charge, the process works best when responsibilities are divided among the team. Assign specific sections of the report based on expertise. For instance, your accounting lead can handle the financial statements, while your financial planning and analysis (FP&A) team can focus on financial KPIs and budget forecasting.

Set deadlines to keep everyone on track and establish a review process to ensure consistency and accuracy. The CFO should oversee the final version, ensuring all sections align with the company’s narrative and strategic goals. 

By involving the team, you’ll create a more comprehensive and polished report while saving time.

Tailor board reports to different stakeholders (Who are the board members?)

The personalities that comprise the Board of Directors are a big factor in how you present your information. For example, one board member might be good at zeroing in on your weak spots. How do you report to that person? By being honest about those weak points and having a plan to remedy them in the upcoming quarter(s).

Another board member might be interested in quantifying financial performance in terms of financial ratios. So you need to know which ratios and financial metrics they want to see.

Plan early (When is the board meeting?)

Start planning for the board meeting as soon as the previous one is finished. No, really. A long-range view of planning will make your life that much easier.

After all, your job is to do more than simply present information to the board. You want to sell them on the company. So this means pulling out all the planning chops: begin early.

Download the free all-in-one financial planning calendar for an organized planning schedule.

Look at earlier board reports (What are the board’s expectations?)

If you or your predecessor presented something in a previous board meeting, you need to include it again. Even if that's to explain why you're not including it. (For example: there's a better metric, and here's why it's better.)

Remember: No surprises from the CFO! It's your job to anticipate expectations and have an answer to them. Of course, you can (and should) ask the board whether they found something helpful before cutting it from your report.

Tell the story of the business (What's in a good board report?)

Your board report should do more than present data—it should tell a clear, compelling story about your business. Build your board report structure to support the story you're telling about the business. This begins with knowing the story you want to tell about the business. Your CEO should drive this, so make sure you're clear on their narrative before organizing your slides.

Use this Quarterly Board Deck template to craft an informative and engaging report.

The top mistakes CFOs make when reporting to the board

Reporting to the board is a skill, but it's also a relatively high-stakes situation. So what are the common mistakes to avoid?

We asked our CEO (a former CFO) and an investor to devise a list of common pitfalls for CFOs to avoid. Here's what they said.

Mistake #1: Data dumping instead of storytelling

We love charts and graphs. They give people a visual way to interpret and understand numbers and trends. Up and to the right? Everybody knows what that means. But even charts and graphs are guilty of data dumping.

So you need to be hyper-intentional about what story you're telling. Then you can pull the data—as charts and graphs—to support that story. Here are our tips for best presenting financial information and raw data:

1. Answer "so what?" upfront: Board members' time is limited. Tell them why this matters, support that with KPIs, and back it up with raw data. Every slide or section should have a narrative purpose.
2. Send your KPIs in advance: Allow the board members time to review your KPIs, at least a week in advance. This gives them the context they need when you include those metrics in your storytelling.
3. Chart your financial statements: Even though your audience may be sophisticated, cognitive load is a real consideration. Make your financials as simple to digest as possible, using clean visuals that highlight key takeaways.
4. Don't data dump: Most of the raw data should live in an appendix or a separate financial package. The data in the board deck should be distilled to its minimum effective dose—just enough to clearly support your key points.

Mistake #2: No surprises. Not having a plan for delivering bad news

The CFO is the "no surprises" role. As the gatekeeper of the company's finances, you need to be intimately familiar with everything on your financial statements.

That includes the bad news. But bad news happens, so what’s the best way to deliver it? Here are some quick tips for delivering bad news:

1. Communicate ahead of time: Transparency is key. If there's bad news, coordinate with your CEO and inform the board ahead of the meeting. This gives them time to process and come prepared for a thoughtful discussion.
2. Develop a plan with your team: Work with your executive and finance teams to understand "why" the issue arose and create a "what to do" plan for fixing it or preventing it in the future. Present the solution alongside the problem.
3. Send the deck the week before the meeting: Remember: no surprises from the CFO. Consistent communication, including a monthly financial report or sending the deck in advance, builds trust and ensures the board has time to prepare questions.

Mistake #3: Failing to win buy-in from the Board

The quarterly or annual board report is an opportunity to help the board understand your company's story. If the CEO is the chief executive hype officer, the CFO is their right hand. You need to support the hype and secure buy-in from the Board committees.

One of the best ways to do this is to tap into why people joined the Board in the first place: they want to be involved. So involve them. Here are our top tips for getting the board invested in the company all over again:

1. The board works with you: The board isn’t just a governance body—they’re a resource. Treat them as collaborators who are there to support the business and help you succeed.
2. Put the board to work: Ask for their insights, introductions, or advice based on their prior experiences. Treat parts of the meeting like a strategy session to fully leverage their expertise.
3. Don’t crowd the agenda: Leave time for one or two significant strategic discussions. This keeps the meeting engaging and ensures the board has time to meaningfully contribute.

Mistake #4: Not having multiple plans

This goes back to scenario planning 101, but it's an important reminder. Just like you create multiple what-if scenarios during your planning and forecasting process, you must have multiple versions of the plan to present to the board.

This does two things: First, it shows that you're prepared. You have plenty of plans. Second, it's an opportunity to show off the company's performance or how well you know the team. If you're not hitting the Board plan, at least you're hitting the company plan—which you know was realistic. Or, if you're exceeding the Board plan, you can show how individual teams are hitting their team plan.

Here are our top tips for creating multiple plans:

1. A plan is not a budget: A plan has measurable results beyond money out and money in. What are the leading indicators? How is the plan followed throughout the reporting period?
2. Create multiple versions of your plan. We recommend three:
   1. Company plan: Realistic and achievable.
   2. Board plan: Ideally about 10% lower than the company plan.
   3. Team plan: Like revenue, this can be as much as 10% higher than the company plan.
3. Reforecast when necessary: Nobody hits plan 100% of the time. But if you're going to miss by a lot, then you should reforecast (and be confident of hitting that reforecast). One deep cut to your plan is better than missing multiple times in a row.

Mistake #5: Not being conscious that everything written is a record

The bullet points you provided on the deck are the easiest to remember. They're written down. So besides ensuring that you write all the key points and relevant information, you should also briefly summarize your larger points--- especially the good news---in an appendix.

Here are our top tips for taking advantage of the written record:

1. Think towards future funding: Board decks can be recorded or used in consequent funding rounds. Words on paper carry extra meaning. How do you want to present your story in your next round of funding?
2. Sell the story to offset the risks: Don’t be an alarmist: present risks with mitigation plans. Sell the story of your business, not just doom and gloom.
3. Ask for help: Present what you want the board to help you with. This effective memory prompt leaves action items written down for the board to follow up on.

Mistake #6: Not gathering feedback from board members to improve your future reports

Feedback from the board isn’t just helpful—it’s necessary. Without it, you risk continuing to deliver reports that miss the mark or don’t meet their expectations. Every board has its own preferences and understanding them can elevate the quality of your communication.

Here’s how you can gather and use feedback effectively:

1. Ask specific questions during or after the meeting: For example, ask, “Was there a section you’d like more detail on?” or “Did the visuals help clarify the financials?” These questions show you’re open to improvement.
2. Document what works and what doesn’t: Keep a record of board member preferences, like which metrics they value most or whether they prefer charts over tables. Use this to tailor your next report.
3. Iterate with purpose: Make adjustments based on feedback and show the board you’re listening. This builds trust and ensures your next report aligns with their needs.

Bonus mistake: Not having support from their team

The CFO is not an island. And even the best-prepared CFO will encounter questions from the Board that they don't know the answer to. In those cases, you must deliver an answer as soon as possible. Having a trusted team member on standby to deliver that data is extra important.

Support from the team lets you have more productive, real-time conversations with the Board. It also builds trust and confidence in you as the leader of the organization's finances. Here are our top tips for organizing support from your team on the side:

1. Communicate ahead of time and schedule it out: Make sure your team knows when the board meeting is and when you're presenting. Put a hold or reminder of their calendar and communicate in advance over Slack or whatever internal communications system you use. Make a contingency plan for any anticipated OOOs or day-of emergencies.
2. Brainstorm with the team and prepare: Nobody knows your weaknesses better than your team, so ask them, "what questions are we ill-positioned to answer?" Then use your extra time to get the legwork done on preparing an answer.
3. Set up your tech for easy day-of reporting: Google Docs is amazing for sharing real-time reports. If you're using a tool like Cube that integrates with Excel, Google Sheets, and your source systems, you can have a custom report built in minutes and be confident in its accuracy.

Use this Quarterly Board Deck template to streamline your board reporting process.

Our favorite board management software for CFOs

The tech you use for board reporting can be the difference between a stressful meeting and an easy one. So it's worth reviewing the tech stack. Here are our recommendations:

1. Microsoft Excel: Your bread-and-butter. You'll use Excel for most of your data prep and have your reports set up there. Irreplaceable.
2. Google Sheets: Google Sheets is definitely easier to share. Copy and paste your key takeaways into Google Sheets and make it easy for board members to take them home.
3. Google Slides: More collaborative than Microsoft PowerPoint, Google Slides are easier for the Board to take home and review on their own time.
4. Cube: Cube simplifies the prep work. We know that FP&A teams spend upwards of 75% of their time on manual, no-value-add tasks like cleansing and prepping data. Cube does that work for you, letting you reinvest that time into something more valuable like preparing talk tracks and pulling together your most important financial KPIs.

A stress-free board report for the Board of Directors

Now you have the tools and knowledge you need to create successful board reports. You might want to consider some board management software like Cube. Cube is the first spreadsheet-native FP&A software designed to keep CFOs and FP&A teams in their favored Excel environment while removing all the friction from the manual, time-consuming work that has to be done.

Request a free demo to get started.

Or download this free Quarterly Board Deck template.