The perfect executive reporting template

Executive reporting serves as the backbone for how a company measures itself (this includes board and management reporting).

Getting executive reporting right means the whole company will move in the right direction.

Getting it wrong ensures a lack of alignment across departments.

Unfortunately, some FP&A teams struggle to steer the organization in the right direction. The number 1 reason this happens:

They don’t have a comprehensive template for executive reporting.

When your executive reporting leaves the leaders searching for insights, it guarantees they will leave the meeting without clarity.

But I’m going to teach you my core executive reporting template that drives clarity and alignment.

Here it is, page-by-page:

Executive Overview (1 page)

This is a text-only page (no graphs or charts) that highlights what executives absolutely need to know from the rest of the report.

If they read no other slides except this one, they will know everything critical about the business.

I highly recommend you write this page after all of the other sections have been completed.

Balanced KPI Scorecard (1 page)

As Finance professionals, we tend to lose sight of non-financial metrics. But it’s important to anchor your KPI scorecard to the company’s strategic objectives. These typically include: financial outcomes, customer experience, employee experience, and internal processes.

Here are a few common metrics that I include in all executive KPI scorecards:

• Revenue

• Gross Margin %

• Net Income

• Net Promoter Score

• Customer Retention

• Employee Satisfaction

Anything above target is green.

Anything below target less than 5% is yellow.

Everything else is red.

Roadmap (1 page)

This page shows what strategic initiatives company is planning to make progress on over the next 12-18 months. This is typically shown as a visual timeline with specific actions aligned to start and finish dates.

You will find the roadmap arranged by business unit, department, or strategic initiative. This page is more qualitative than quantitative and ensures the whole company is moving in unison.

Key Risks and Opportunities (1 page)

In every business, there are things that come up throughout the year that can change your ability to hit the plan.

List all the opportunities to beat the plan on the left side of the page.

On the right, list all potential obstacles to achieving plan.

Now quantify each item you listed.

Work with your business partners to come up with ideas for how you could maximize the left side of the page and minimize the right.

The quantifications should become your high/low scenarios for your financial forecast in the next section.

Financial Review (2 pages)

The first page should clearly show how current month and year to date P&L results compare to plan. Typically, this section will only show an abbreviated P&L with key factors like: Sales, Revenue, Gross Margin, Operating Expenses, EBITDA, and Net Income.

The second page should have a very similar layout as the first, but instead of showing historical results compared to plan it should show full year forecasted results compared to plan and prior forecast. You may also elect to show future years if applicable.

Another consideration for this section (otherwise it should be included in the appendix) is to include the most critical balance sheet metrics and any loan covenant requirements you have.

In Summary:

Getting your executive reporting correct will ensure everyone is focused on the metrics and outcomes that matter.

Keep it simple. Keep it targeted. Move the business towards action.

How will you take action on this?

See you next Saturday.

P.S. If you are finding this newsletter helpful, then consider checking out my guide to implementing a world-class FP&A Operating System. This is the exact system I used to go from FP&A Analyst to Director in 8 years and increase my income by $150k.