What metrics does your board actually want?

The core SME board pack covers six areas: operations, liquidity, order book, financing, cash flow and risk. That is the minimum. If one of the six is missing, the board has no way to judge whether the business is on track.

The six core areas

The standard pack:

1. Operations — revenue, gross margin, EBITDA against budget and prior period.
2. Liquidity — cash, available facility, days to empty under worst case.
3. Order book — value, duration, top five customers, wins and losses.
4. Financing — debt, covenants, headroom, refinancing need within 12 months.
5. Cash flow — operating, investing, financing.
6. Risk — top 3–5 risks with status, change since last meeting, and plan.

Comparison is the requirement

A single number means little on its own. The board expects three dimensions:

• Against budget — are we ahead or behind, and why?
• Against prior period — are we moving in the right direction?
• Against the same period last year — seasonal or trend?

A report that shows the quarter's numbers without comparison signals either laziness or something to hide.

Sector overlays

On top of the core, most boards add two to four sector-specific metrics:

• Manufacturing: on-time delivery, inventory days, capacity utilisation.
• SaaS / services: MRR, churn, CAC, customer concentration.
• Distribution / trading: working capital, debtor days, top ten customers as % of revenue.
• Construction / project: project margin, tender pipeline, resource utilisation.

The point is no surprises

The single most important rule for board metrics is not which ones, but that they never surprise the board. If a number turns up dramatically different from last quarter with no prior warning, the CEO loses credibility — regardless of whether the number itself is good or bad.

Agree the set before you need it

Many boards run for years before agreeing exactly which metrics the CEO report should contain. The agreement should be explicit, documented, and reviewed annually. Once it is in place, every meeting runs faster — and variances become easier to spot.