Send your board deck 48-72 hours before the meeting as a best practice. This gives directors sufficient time to review thoroughly, formulate questions, and prepare for productive discussion. Some boards specify timing in their governance guidelines—follow those requirements. Earlier is generally better, though sending more than a week ahead risks the information feeling stale by meeting time. If you're making material updates after initial distribution, clearly flag changes in your email when sending the updated version. Consider a brief email summary highlighting the 3-5 most important points or decisions needed—busy board members appreciate the guidance on where to focus their pre-read attention. For first-time CFOs, err on the side of sending earlier and being available for questions before the meeting rather than rushing distribution at the last minute.

If 10 slides truly can't contain essential information, you have a few options: create an appendix with detailed backup slides you can reference if questions arise but don't present unless needed; provide a written memo alongside the deck covering additional context or analysis; distribute detailed materials in advance (financial statements, operational dashboards) and reference them in your deck rather than reproducing everything; or consider whether you're trying to include too much detail—boards need strategic insight, not comprehensive reports. The discipline of 10 slides forces prioritization, which is valuable. Most information that "doesn't fit" is detail that boards don't actually need in the meeting—they need summary-level strategic context with the option to drill deeper on specific questions. If your business is genuinely complex enough to require more (multi-entity international operations, multiple distinct business lines), you might extend to 12-15 slides maximum, but recognize you're trading comprehension for comprehensiveness. Most boards prefer focused presentations with great discussion over exhaustive presentations with no time to talk.

This varies by company stage, board composition, and CEO/CFO partnership. Typical patterns: Early stage (pre-Series A), CEO typically presents everything including financials; Series A-B, CEO presents overall narrative with CFO presenting financial slides (3-5) in detail; Series C+, CFO often presents entire deck with CEO providing strategic context and fielding business questions. The goal is playing to strengths—whoever can best deliver each section should present it. Many effective partnerships have the CEO present the executive summary and forward plan (slides 1 and 10) to set strategic context, with the CFO presenting the operational and financial core (slides 2-9). What matters most is seamless collaboration where both executives demonstrate command of material and alignment on strategy. First-time CFOs should discuss presentation approach with their CEO and lead director to understand board preferences. Some boards prefer hearing from the CEO as final decision-maker; others value CFO perspective on operational details. Adapt to your board's norms while building toward the CFO taking increasing ownership of the presentation as you gain experience and credibility.

Best practice is encouraging questions throughout rather than forcing directors to wait until the end. This creates dialogue rather than monologue, addresses confusion immediately before it compounds, shows you're confident in the material, and makes meetings more engaging and productive. However, manage this by setting expectations upfront: "I'll pause for questions after each major section" or "Please interrupt with questions as we go." Watch your time to ensure you complete the presentation—if a question spawns lengthy discussion, acknowledge the importance but suggest tabling detailed discussion until after you've covered the full deck. Some questions reveal that you haven't been clear; address these immediately. Others are truly tangential; capture them and commit to following up. Board chairs often help manage this balance. The worst approach is rushing through slides to "get through" your presentation, then having directors ask questions that require going back to slides you glossed over. Better to present fewer slides well with good discussion than race through all 10 with no time for questions. If time is running short, skip to the most important slides rather than superficially covering everything.

Lead with transparency, own the results, explain what happened, and outline your corrective actions. Bad news delivered proactively with a plan builds more trust than good news without substance. Structure your approach: acknowledge the miss directly ("We came in 15% below revenue plan"), explain root causes without making excuses ("Enterprise sales cycle extended due to budget freezes; our forecast didn't account for macro headwinds"), describe what you learned ("We now include economic sensitivity in pipeline probability"), outline corrective actions ("Implemented weekly pipeline reviews, hired enterprise sales consultant, adjusted Q2 plan to reflect new conversion assumptions"), and show you're still in control ("Despite the miss, unit economics improved and customer retention hit all-time highs"). Boards understand that plans are assumptions, not guarantees. What they can't tolerate is lack of transparency, finger-pointing, or no plan to fix problems. The CFOs who lose board confidence are those who consistently miss without explanation or improvement. Those who maintain credibility are honest about challenges while demonstrating they're learning and adapting. Frame setbacks as opportunities to showcase your analytical rigor and strategic thinking.