Board Reporting


Site Map Our Sponsors Home

Compliance Gurus
Lending Gurus
Operations Gurus
Marketing Gurus
Technology Gurus
eBanking Gurus

Print Friendly!

Email This Article!

Discuss NOW!

Board Reporting
by Barry Thompson, BOL Guru

Many Bank Security Officers have informed me over the years that one of the hardest parts of their jobs is reporting to the Board of Directors. Each year the Security Officer is required to report to the Board on the Implementation, Administration and Effectiveness of the Security Program. The problem is usually two fold. First, the board sometimes appears as an intimidating body and secondly, the time the officer has to present their information is extremely restricted. How does one proceed to make their presentation and stay within the time confines set by management?

The Board:
Board members generally are not bankers. Normally, the individual Board Member only has a couple of meetings per month at the institution. They may devote a couple of hours a month reading material sent to them by banking organizations and reviewing material sent to them to prepare for Board Meetings. The material sent to the board by the institution will be minutes of the latest committee meetings, the financial statements for the previous months and any items deemed important by the President or Chairman of the Board. Therefore, when you appear in front of the full Board or one of its committees, you are the expert. Never be worried about being asked questions you can't answer. If someone should ask you such a question, acknowledge you don't know the answer but you can obtain it. The mark of a true professional is someone who can obtain information and isn't threatened by the situation.

Your Presentation:
Most Security Professionals are given a window of only ten minutes to make their report. This isn't unusual, in fact, most reports given at Board Meeting are time restricted. Even as the Executive Vice President of the financial institution, my reports were time-limited if other events were more important to the Board.

Your presentation needs to be short and to the point when you are preparing to meet the Board. Remember, Board Members aren't financial professionals and you need to catch their attention much like a sales person presenting a product. You may use slide shows, PowerPoint presentations, overheads or written reports to get your message across. Let's review these items for their strengths and weaknesses.

Media
PowerPoint:
PowerPoint is the coming item in boardrooms and conferences across the United States. It is dynamic as it allows one to show slides, play music, and present graphics better than any medium we have used in the past. However, I have witnessed more than one professional presentation fail because of their depending solely on the laptop computer.

The computer can crash, a power failure has occurred or a virus destroys the presentation while it's being given. I have witnessed all of these events in recent years, to the horror of the presenter.

When using PowerPoint, you may avoid these problems with a simple device. Have your presentation printed out in paper form. It's amazing how prepared you will look to your Board when you nonchalantly change your presentation in midstream and maintain your time window. In this way, you are never held hostage to technology.

The last point is that this vehicle takes time to learn and use effectively. If this is the only presentation you will produce with PowerPoint, consider one of the following methods.

Slides:
It has been said "a picture is worth a thousand words", so slide presentations can be quite effective to your board. If you don't have the ability to use PowerPoint, slide presentations can hold your audience focused on your presentation. Pictures will automatically draw your Board's attention to you and away from paperwork on the board table. Many times physical problems in security are better explained with slides than any other media. A good example would be showing pictures of the old equipment to be replaced contrasting it with the new equipment. I obtained funding to replace alarm panels at all offices once by showing pictures of what we had versus what we needed. The old technology was easily identifiable as being out of date when compared with the slides of the new equipment.

When using slides, the biggest drawback is the possibility of them jamming in the projector or a blown bulb. This can ruin your presentation faster than any computer virus. Always have your slides duplicated in paper form or have snapshots of your comparison photographs available.

Overheads:
Overheads are a tried and true technology that seldom fails you. However, we are still subject to power failures and blown bulbs.

Rules of the Road:
When presenting to your Board, make no more than 7 points on any single page or slide. In fact, I always try to stick to a rule of three points on any single page. Have your report reviewed by someone not involved in or knowledgeable about your area. If they can't understand your material, the Board won't either.

The Time Element For My Report Is Too Small:
Some Officers reporting to the Board have told me that the time isn't adequate to get their points across. "I have a big budget that needs approval and in no way will the time allotted work for me."

My best advice is to prepare a written report well in advance of the Board Meeting. Review it and be certain it states all of your points. When you are satisfied with the report, present it to the proper Management for inclusion in the information being mailed to your Board prior to the meeting date. This will give you the ability to sum up the report in your allotted time, gaining the approvals you need.

Another method to access your Board and Management is to produce a security newsletter for their eyes only. This will allow you to offer such basic information as how many cases were resolved during the year or the dollar amount of recoveries. In addition, it gives you a vehicle to educate the Board and Management on security issues important to your institution.

First published on BankersOnline.com 3/12/01

BOL Archives Privacy Policy Important Disclaimer Recommend This Site ! Contact Us

BankersOnline is a free service made possible by the generous support of our advertisers and sponsors. Advertisers and sponsors are not responsible for site content. Please help us keep BankersOnline FREE to all banking professionals. Support our advertisers and sponsors by clicking through to learn more about their products and services.