CFODestination · Where are we going?
How do we tell the financial story?
Numbers don’t speak for themselves. A short monthly report turns them into decisions the team acts on.
Most financial reports are written for accountants. The one that changes behavior is short, the same every month, and ends with a decision.
An approach
- Pick the audience. Your leadership team, your board or your lender each needs something different.
- Keep it to one page. Five to seven numbers that matter, each with its trend and target.
- Add three sentences. What happened, why, and what we’re doing about it.
- Send it the same day every month, and walk through it in the meeting rather than just distributing it.
- End with decisions. Name the calls the numbers point to.
You can answer it when
- A monthly report the leadership team actually reads.
- Each report ends with the decisions it points to.
Related
Want to work through this with us? We’ll bring the forward view.
Work through this with usA short starting guide. More detail is on the way.
