What goes in a board pack — and what gets cut.

Page one — decisions, not news

Start with what you want the meeting to decide, in three bullets, each with the number that makes it a question. If a section does not lead to a decision or a challenge, it is an appendix. Directors who read the news in advance read nothing.

Page two — cash

The single most useful page in the pack, and the one most often left out.

• Cash at the close date, by account, and the drawn facility alongside it.
• The lowest forecast closing balance in the next thirteen weeks, and the date it occurs.
• Receipts and payments over 30 days old, named. This is where a healthy P&L hides an unhealthy business.

Page three — six to eight KPIs with a tolerance

Revenue, gross margin, operating profit, debtor days, cash runway and whatever one operational number your business is actually run on — bookings, utilisation, churn. Every metric carries a target, an actual and a tolerance. Green inside tolerance, amber approaching, red outside. The tolerance is the whole trick: without it, a board spends an hour discussing a number that has not moved.

Page four — exceptions and asks

Risks that changed since the last meeting, items where a decision was deferred, and what management needs from the board. Written by the team, not tidied by an assistant — the editing is where the signal goes.

Timing and provenance

Circulate 48 hours before the meeting, and never assemble the pack by hand. Every figure should come from the same closed period as the accounts, on the same date, or the meeting becomes an argument about which spreadsheet is right. If the pack is rebuilt manually each month it will eventually be rebuilt late, and the first thing a board notices is the delay.