Blog · Board and management reporting
The ten numbers a board of a sales-led B2B company should see every month, each with a one-sentence definition, the source it is computed from, the identity that proves it, and the trap that makes it wrong: revenue against plan, revenue by segment, customer concentration, net retention, coverage, share of wallet against norm, pipeline coverage, forecast against history, cost of sales per dollar, and the movements page that ties the other nine together.
A board pack for a sales-led company is usually revenue, a pipeline chart, and a narrative. It is missing the base, the coverage and the check. This guide sets out ten metrics with their definitions, sources, identities and traps, in the order a board should read them.
| # | Metric | Definition | Source | Identity | Trap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Revenue against plan | Invoiced revenue net of credits, by invoice date, against the plan for the period | Ledger | Equals the ledger | Bookings shown as revenue |
| 2 | Revenue by segment | Metric 1 split by segment from the customer master | Ledger, master | Sums to metric 1 | Segments defined by behaviour |
| 3 | Customer concentration | Top-ten share of revenue and count to half | Ledger | Customers sum to the ledger | Duplicates splitting a large customer |
| 4 | Net revenue retention | ARR now from last year's customers ÷ their ARR then, by cohort | Ledger or subscription ledger | Cohorts sum to the bridge | Company figure hiding a failing cohort |
| 5 | Coverage | Accounts touched at their tier's cadence ÷ assigned, by region | CRM, assignments, tiers | Rep list equals metric 1's | Any activity counted as a touch |
| 6 | Share of wallet | Revenue ÷ wallet at the company's own norm, by segment | Ledger, master, norms | Numerator equals metric 2 | Averaged percentages; external benchmark |
| 7 | Pipeline coverage | Open pipeline closing in period ÷ remaining target, by stage, against the needed multiple | Pipeline snapshots, targets | Snapshot equals control total | One multiple for all stages |
| 8 | Forecast against history | Rep roll-up beside historical conversion, with the bridge | Snapshots, outcomes | Bridge lines sum | One method shown as the forecast |
| 9 | Cost of sales per dollar | Sales cost ÷ revenue, by segment | Ledger, cost centres | Cost sums to the cost ledger | Allocation by headcount |
| 10 | Movements | Every measure past its threshold since last month, cited | Metrics 1 to 9 | Every line cites a row | Narrative without citation |
One to three say what was sold and to whom. Four to six say whether the base is held and worked. Seven and eight say what is coming and whether to believe it. Nine says what it costs. Ten says what changed.
Every metric's definition is one sentence, dated and versioned, in the pack's appendix. When one changes, the version changes and the prior months are marked. A board member who asks what coverage means gets the sentence, not a conversation.
| # | Metric | This month | Last month | Threshold | Movement |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Revenue vs plan | 97% | 101% | 3 pts | Yes: table 1, North region row |
| 3 | Count to half | 9 | 11 | 2 | Yes: table 3, two customers |
| 5 | Coverage, North | 54% | 68% | 5 pts | Yes: table 5, rep R-04 |
| 6 | Share of wallet, mid | 27% | 31% | 3 pts | Yes: table 6, mid segment |
| 7 | Pipeline coverage, Q4 | 2.1× | 2.4× | 0.3× | Yes: table 7, proposal stage |
Five movements, each with a row behind it. The narrative is five sentences, and every one can be checked.
Revenue and pipeline only. The base is invisible until it leaves.
Definitions in someone's head. Two board members mean two things by coverage.
Metrics from different sources. They do not agree and the meeting is about which is right.
No movements page. Forty numbers and no story, or a story with no numbers.
Mapped once, the ledger, the CRM exports, the pipeline snapshots and the cost centres produce the ten metrics, their identities and the movements page every month. Covirage builds this from the exports as they are. The board reporting solution describes the setup, and the monthly commercial pack guide covers the tables the ten metrics are read from.
Five leaves out either the base or the pipeline, and a board that sees only one of them asks about the other. Ten is the smallest set that covers what was sold, who it was sold to, whether they are staying, whether the team is working the book, and what is coming. More than ten becomes a pack nobody reads.
Share of wallet against the company's own norm. Boards see revenue and pipeline and almost never see how much of the existing customers' spend the company holds. It is the measure that says whether growth is coming from the base or has to come from new logos, and it is computed from data the company already has.
The tenth metric is not a number; it is the list of the other nine's movements past their stated thresholds since last month, each citing the table and row. It replaces the narrative. A board that reads it knows what changed and can check every line.