I asked Jim the question about the level of transparency he maintains with the board. He divided his response in multiple layers.
The CFOs role with the board is to be the guy that provides transparency and tells them how the business is doing. That's how trust is built between the the board and the CFO. Obviously there is an art here - the CFO shouldn't submarine the CEO or rest of the leadership team - but that's where messaging comes in.
From a transparency perspective, Jim maintains two types of messaging. One that's for the management and the board, and one that's for the investors. The investor bit is covered in another blog post (https://akaleaderperspectives.blogspot.com/2025/05/on-earnings-calls.html). For the management, it's complete transparency - so leaders know what they have to do and the success metrics. For the board, the messaging is similar to the management, albeit with some variations.
The management gets the unvarnished version of numbers and narrative (eg. if new customers count is not upto expectations, it is shown as such, discussed openly and actions are derived/tracked). The board however gets a view of the softness in new customer count, but without getting into too much detail. This softness is shared, and it is narrated that the management is aware of it and taking necessary actions. If need be, some more detail is provided.
The budget discussion is also similar. Management gets a clearer and aggressive view of the budget being planned, whereas the board gets a budget view that has some haircuts to the targets. Read: https://akaleaderperspectives.blogspot.com/2025/03/on-numbers-for-board-investors-and.html
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