Free E-book
Look past the deck. Build the relationship behind it.
A practical guide and workbook on who sits at the table, how to prepare, how to present the financials and the plan, and what to do between meetings. Includes a prep calendar and a board-pack checklist.
Get E-book
What you'll learn
The work happens between meetings
Eight chapters cover who sits at the table, how to prepare, and how to present the financials and the plan. The last three cover the weeks between meetings, difficult directors, and the habits that keep the deck on time. A final page is written for the CEO.
01
Know your board
The lead investor, other investors, independent directors, and audit chair each read the deck through a different lens. Learn what each one watches for, then follow a month-long prep calendar and build the agenda around two or three topics.
02
Present the financials
Show fewer numbers and explain each one. Score every KPI on track, watch, or off track, send an appendix in advance, and report at the level where a director would make a different decision. The detail stays available without taking meeting time.
03
Bring a plan they approve
Lead with the narrative, then show the goals, the drivers, and best, worst, and most likely scenarios built from the same drivers. Preview the plan with the lead investor and audit chair first, and check it against a plan-readiness checklist.
04
Keep trust between meetings
Monthly updates, event-driven notes, and bad news delivered early keep directors current. Learn four patterns of difficult directors and how finance responds, then run the board-pack checklist before the deck goes out.
INSIDE THE E-BOOK
Eight chapters, from the table to the weeks between meetings
Know Your Board
Each seat has its own lens. Learn what the lead investor, independent directors, and audit chair watch for, and ask what they want to see next.
The Prep Calendar and the Agenda
A fixed five-week calendar takes you from topics to meeting day. Build the agenda around two or three topics, each with a stated ask.
Present the Financials
Show fewer numbers and explain each one. Score every KPI on track, watch, or off track, and keep the detail in an appendix sent in advance.
Bring a Plan the Board Can Say Yes To
Show the goals, the drivers, and best, worst, and most likely scenarios. Preview the plan with the lead investor and audit chair first.
Between Meetings
Monthly updates, event-driven notes, and a post-meeting follow-up keep directors current. Bad news goes out early, after you align with your CEO.
Difficult Directors and Pitfalls
Four patterns, from the detail seeker to the surprise raiser, and how finance responds. Then the common deck problems, their fixes, and a board-pack checklist.
Your Part in the Board Relationship
Written for the CEO. What the CEO owns, what finance needs, and five questions to ask your finance leader before every board meeting.
Cube Keeps You Board-Ready
One governed set of numbers behind every board deck and investor update. See how finance teams use Cube for scenarios, variance analysis, and board decks that match the ledger.
The deck is the part everyone sees. The relationship is built in the weeks between meetings.
Cube · The Finance Leader’s Guide to Board and Investor Relations
Who's behind it
Written by a three-time CFO
Christina Ross has been CFO three times, at companies from high-growth startups to global enterprises. This e-book comes out of a conversation she has had dozens of times, with controllers who were excellent at their jobs and still not ready for hers.
It ends where Cube starts. When 60 to 80 percent of a finance team's capacity goes to reconciliation, the strategic work never gets a calendar slot. Cube's four FP&Agents work on a single governed data layer, so the hours the close used to take go to the judgment only you can supply.
Get your copy
Get The Finance Leader’s Guide to Board and Investor Relations
Who sits at the table, how to prepare, and how to present the financials and the plan, plus a prep calendar, a board-pack checklist, and five questions to ask before every meeting. Yours in one download.
Free download
Get your copy
Tell us where to send it and the e-book lands in your inbox.
We’ll email you the download link right away.