A board report template for small businesses in Australia

Most board report templates online are about governance papers: agendas, minutes, directors' declarations. They matter, but the part small-business and advisory boards spend most time on is the financial report, and that is what this template covers.

1. Summary, one page. Revenue, gross margin, EBITDA, cash, and three points: what went well, what didn't, what needs a decision.
2. Profit and loss. The month, the year to date from 1 July, the same period last year, and budget. Grouped lines only.
3. Balance sheet. Month end against last month end, with GST, PAYG withholding and superannuation as lines of their own: a board should see what is owed to the ATO and to staff super.
4. Cash and runway. Closing cash, the main movements, and, if the business is burning cash, runway: cash divided by the average monthly net burn of the last three months.
5. KPIs. Five or six, the same every month. For most small businesses: revenue against last year, gross margin, wages as a share of revenue, debtor days, creditor days, runway.
6. Commentary and decisions. What moved, by how much, against what, and why; then what the board needs to decide or watch.

Cash at the end of October was A$188,000, and debtor days were 49.

Commentary:

Year-to-date revenue is A$1.59m, A$184,000 (13.1%) ahead of last year and A$66,000 (4.3%) ahead of budget, from two large commercial fitouts. Gross margin is 1.2 points below budget because materials on fixed-price jobs rose after quoting. EBITDA is A$13,800 behind budget as a result.

For the board: decide whether new quotes should carry a materials escalation clause, and note debtor days at 49 against 30-day terms, with one builder accounting for most of what is overdue.

[Company] · Board report · [Month] [Year]

Revenue A$[ ] ([+/-]% on last year, [+/-]% on budget) · Gross margin [ ]% · EBITDA A$[ ] · Cash A$[ ]

Went well: [one line, with a number]

Didn't: [one line, with a number and the reason]

Needs a decision: [one line: what, by when]

If the board reads only this box, they should still know how the month went and what they are being asked to decide. Everything else in the report is the evidence behind it.

• Use the July to June year. Year-to-date figures must follow the financial year, or every comparison is off.
• Show tax and super separately. GST, PAYG withholding and super payable shouldn't hide inside other creditors.
• Compare with last year, not just last month. Seasonality in construction, retail and hospitality makes month on month misleading.
• Limit variances to the top three, each with a reason.
• End with decisions. A board report that asks for nothing gets skimmed.

Send it monthly, on the same working day, ideally five to ten working days after the month end. A board that meets quarterly still benefits: it sees the trend before the meeting, not three months at once. The recurring mistakes are the accounting system's standard reports sent as the board report, ledger-level detail, no budget comparison when the board approved a budget, commentary without size or reason, and a different layout every month.

The board report starts from the trial balance whichever system keeps the books: export it, place each account on a report line once, then build the sections.

Magic MIS does that build from the export, with no live connection. The report comes back as a checked Excel workbook with live formulas, a board you can present full screen, and drafted commentary, in which the AI writes only the words: every figure in a sentence is filled in by the calculation engine from the ledgers, and a person reviews it before it goes anywhere. More in the board pack guide and the board report for Australian businesses; the template above works in a spreadsheet too.