CFO/CEO/Board Relationship

A topic I’m frequently asked about – when is it appropriate for the CFO to talk to the Board Directors directly?  There is a range of opinions and styles amongst my peers.  My style is to partner with the CEO in supporting their communication with the Board.  The CEO has a vision for the business, planned messaging around that vision, as well as strong opinions about the current status of the Company along the journey to fulfilling that vision.  The CFO can add credibility to that messaging by sharing related metrics, forecasts and observations.  For this to work, it is important that these two people are aligned and working together as a team, otherwise, they will both look bad in the eyes of the Board.  What happens when you can’t reach alignment?  The CFO has a duty to the Board, and the Board also has a duty to require certain minimum financial and operating information.   If there are issues that rise to the level of required reporting eg fraud, and the CEO won’t inform the Board then the CFO has no choice but to act.  However this is rare.  It is far more likely that the CEO is optimistic (“the gas”) and the CFO’s professional skepticism is less sure of outcomes (the “brake”).  Reality will be somewhere in between.  This should be a healthy tension between the positions providing more balanced messaging.  Note if you can’t agree on most issues, then the CEO and CFO are not the right fit.