Let’s walk that back. He had just said that financial results… well, there was really nothing else he could say. Numbers were just numbers. The quarterly results were good, fortunately. So what was there to talk about during the board meeting?

Then I popped my coaching question: “Were they easy to produce?”

It turned out that he had a lot to bring to his boss’s attention.

Lesson 1: Always a story behind the numbers

This story can be quite short, in fact. Bad conjuncture, adapting a hamstrung strategy to be more effective, closing the gaps in galloping expenses, then a powerful boost in unleashed performance. Great story, in seconds flat. But it needs to be punctuated by telling numbers. Numbers are the teeth of any good argument or presentation. The human mind – especially the boss’s mind – is wired to capture details, especially surprising and impactful highlights. There is nothing more forgetful than a predictable line by line slog through the Excel sheet and KPIs.

Here’s a corollary to consider: your boss wants to know what’s going on. Sure, bosses think they know already everything you can possibly report. Good bosses probably do. Assuming all’s well, one basic function of a financial report is to validate the boss’s own strategy, that the KPIs are working and on the move, all heading in the right direction, at least in this best-case scenario. We forget, though, that numbers are not static. They signify dynamic trends. Once the boss sees that the forecast is in line, so reassuring, this hard-thinking pragmatist begins to expect something in the report that adds to his or her business acumen.

Lesson 2: What if the trends aren’t so great?

If we’re going to discuss trends, the presenter needs to pack some insights. What does such and such a number mean, in the end? I work with clients to get them to ask the rhetorical question before the boss does. The Romans understood that a rhetorical question commands the public’s attention, especially one that everyone is ruminating about at the same time. The reporter is channelling their thoughts. Obviously, the speaker has analysed what is triggering performance, or lack thereof, and is ready with good options, if not a single fix-it solution. Options don’t come without pain, yet that is what the boss expects from a reliable finance director or auditor.

Companies try to be proactive, yet deciders don’t always have the visibility they wish for. True, there are all kinds of experts and consultants who do good forecasting. But the corporate officer standing up before a board with the financial results is playing the part of a navigator, capable of telling business deciders at any moment where they are and where they need to get to. Once the Captain chooses, this is the person who assumes responsibility for carrying out orders in a competent way.

Lesson 3: Investment and leverage

Unless the company is privately held, able to invest in longer cycles with a bit more latitude perhaps, financial reports are of course quarterly, as in ready or not. Investors demand this frank and transparent appraisal in a timely fashion. Let me take the high road here: things are going according to plan in a well-run company, so much the better. Still, what is the company learning about itself and its place in the market? Financial analysts will provide measurements of how working capital is being utilised to good effect. Are they able to tell a company’s officers what opportunities need to be seized now? I think it is the financial director who can take financial analysis and interpret it in terms of consequences… and opportunities.

I was amazed once by how a boss was able to read the flow of certain numbers in his chart. “See,” he told me confidently, “Here we’re investing in this new technology and here…” He scrutinised his flowchart a few seconds, then pinpointed the figure he was searching for, “…we see the impact.”

Today SAP and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) gives us up to the minute data. We now know what’s flowing in and around in the company, and precisely when and where. But what is the fresh opportunity that may require further development to succeed? We are talking about the company’s future here, which entails leveraging effort, resources, time, internal expertise… in a word, risk, measurable risk, yet risk all the same. If this leads to discussion, I’ll grant you that it is not the financial director who will make the ultimate call. But the board will want an opinion about mitigating risk. What a great opportunity for the reporter to demonstrate competence and business intelligence, to be the “how” person in the room, garnering a modicum of respect.

Lesson 4: But we don’t like risk

I have discovered that financial folk shun risk. They are schooled in controlling the financial health of the company. They are the Voices of Responsibility. If the company is in a fast growth & expansion cycle, they attempt to corral wasteful expenditures. If the company is in trouble, they go into raging cost-cuts, letting people go, chopping off R&D. When it comes time to give the financial report, and all the director knows how to do is propose tighter and tighter controls, this is not fulfilling his or her promise to provide insights and possible alternatives the board can take into consideration.

If the financial director is responsible for the company’s balance sheet, it behooves him or her to balance apparent risks and potential opportunities. They often become nay-sayers in their everyday operational role. Of course, there are a lot of things to say No to! What bothers me is the facile ROI reflex of shooting down fresh ideas. So I coach leaders who propose these ideas to use the RDN technique. This technique does not actually exist; I made it up: The Risk of Doing Nothing. I get my leaders to carry out a study of lost revenue if the company does not make its move, does not change how it operates, does not invest in innovations the market is calling for. Now then, RDN is a dangerous stick of dynamite -- unless the numbers do the talking. The numbers have to come from proven sources, be indisputable, get the decider to think twice.

A financial director is often faced with everyday operational dilemmas. If we turn this around, when this finance director reports on results, this may not be the best time to provoke the boss with RDN, I readily admit. There is the matter of having good timing, preparing the ground, picking worthy battles.

Lesson 5: Show due diligence

In these more strategic exchanges, when appropriate, the finance director needs to step up and show he or she has looked hard at the other side of issues or a business proposal, and seriously considered the opportunity of investment and weighed the risks. Again, the boss expects some value-add from the meeting. The financial director rises to the occasion, becoming now a valued adviser, a reliable partner.