Stories

Evidence from meetings, not from a score

These notes come from practices that commissioned panels, rewrote a pack, printed a lock-up wall, or sat through a half-day of silent reading. They mention the awkward bits as well as the sheets that finally got used.

The four-panel set arrived in time for the April partners’ meeting. Cash and drawings were on the first sheet, which meant we stopped opening with a ten-minute tour of the P&L nobody had asked for. I still want the fee-by-partner split we used to print; it now lives in the appendix and I do look at it, just not while we are trying to decide whether to hire.

Helen Cartwright · Managing partner, six-partner practice, Leeds · Planning dashboard commission

We sent them three messy packs and a budget that still had last year’s office in it. The source map came back with questions in the margin rather than a polite silence. The first boards used the wrong VAT week; we caught it in review two, and they recut the column without a fuss.

James Okonkwo · Finance director, mid-tier office, Manchester · Planning dashboard commission

The lock-up wall is in the accounts corridor. Staff walk past it. That was the point. Credit control still has to make the calls — the print does not chase anyone — but the oldest five debtors are no longer a surprise in the partner meeting.

Priya Nair · Office manager, mixed tax and accounts team, Bristol · Lock-up and cash wall

I run owner-manager planning meetings twice a year. The client board meant I could leave a paper copy on the table instead of sharing a screen of the accounts file. One client asked why the tax dates were in a larger type than the profit; I told them that was deliberate.

Owen Griffiths · Advisory senior, Cardiff · Client advisory planning board

The half-day with partners was awkward in the first twenty minutes, which I will not pretend was enjoyable. Silent reading is not our habit. By the break they were arguing about a drawings row rather than asking me to ‘talk us through the pack’. That is a better argument.

Francesca Bell · FD, eight-partner firm, Newcastle · Partner briefing session

Two longer notes

Planning dashboard commission

A year pack before the bank review

Four-partner accountancy practice, Edinburgh

The practice had a facility review in June and a partner pack that still opened with a full trial balance. We drew a six-panel set: 13-week cash, budget versus actual on six lines, lock-up, drawings, a one-page year outlook, and an appendix map. The constraint was time — four weeks, and the budget file arrived on day nine. The first boards went out with a clearly marked ‘budget pending’ on the variance panel rather than a guessed year. After the second review the managing partner used the cash panel in the bank meeting and kept the trial balance in the folder. We did not attend the bank; that was never the engagement.

Board pack visual rewrite

Rewriting a client board pack that had grown to 28 pages

Advisory team inside a general practice, Norwich

The team issued a 28-page PDF to a manufacturing client each quarter. The client’s FD read the covering email. We marked seven pages as front matter and moved the rest behind a labelled appendix, then redrew the cash and order-book panels so the two decisions — hire a shift, delay a machine — sat on page one. One adviser missed the old graphs; we kept a smaller version in the appendix rather than pretending the preference did not exist. The next quarter’s meeting ran to the agenda for the first time that year.