By Jude Bolger, DWS Consultant

Regular attendance by committee members at board meetings can often be characterised by the presentation of incomprehensible and irrelevant data to committees from management. The presentation of such data can often be lost on committee members as the requisite skill set to interpret such data is often akin to that of an accountant.

The presentation of operational trading data and associated comments should not exceed one page for a standard licensed club operation. Ideally, KPIs should be concisely presented in monthly and year-to-date formats with defined targets or benchmarks such that the committee can instantly form an assessment without labouring on the numbers.

Knowledge of interpreting such data is easily assimilated and the construction of board reporting models to suit any configuration of club is possible. Confidence in the interpretation of this data is essential in order to perform duties as a committee member effectively and in order to engage with management and question initiatives competently.

The data above is presented in percentage terms as opposed to actual amounts and has significant relevance as it is possible to benchmark the trading operation to averages achieved in the industry and allows a meaningful comparison to be undertaken. Issues with a trading operation are easily identifiable such as an unusually high bar cost of sales or overhead expenses. Benchmarking KPIs has the ability to ‘raise the alarm' for operational issues that would otherwise not be identified.

Configuration of club property management systems is often not user friendly and does not consider concise and presentable board reporting. Notwithstanding this, data from month-end reports of existing property management systems is configurable into a concise reporting format without the need for extensive capital expenditure on new property management software.