Impactful Financial Dashboards

Download the complete publication or explore the table of contents to discover eight considerations that will help you deploy impactful financial dashboards that contextualize critical metrics, support supplementary resources, and meet the needs of cross-campus stakeholders.

While colleges and university governing boards have long maintained fiduciary responsibility over institutional resources, the tough budgetary climate has heightened boards’ interest in institutional financial health.

In 2014, a majority of board members at both public and private institutions identified fiscal sustainability and affordability as their top two priorities, and board support staff report a related increase in financial reporting requests from board members.

Boards increasingly focused on financial data

At a minimum, finance leaders need to find more efficient and effective ways to address rising board demands for financial information. However, simply distributing financial reports is not enough.

“Board members are worried, and when you’re worried you tend to be a little more detail-oriented.” -President, Small Liberal Arts College

While college and university governing boards have long maintained fiduciary responsibility over institutional resources, the tough budgetary climate has heightened boards’ interest in their institutions’ financial health. In 2014, 59% of board members at public institutions and 76% at private institutions identified fiscal sustainability and affordability as their top two priorities. In particular, this increased attention to institutional finance has led to a greater demand for data, as 65% of support staff indicate that boards are requesting data reports more frequently post-recession.

Senior leaders must engage board members as strategic partners who not only ask good questions about finances but also help those leaders develop innovative solutions to their institution’s most pressing financial challenges.

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A delicate balance

However, there are challenges in communicating meaningful financial information to boards. For senior leaders, determining how much financial information to share can be a tricky balancing act. Communicating too little information can cause board members to misinterpret the institution’s true financial position or question if administrative leaders are “hiding the ball.”

Ultimately, senior leaders should aim to communicate just enough information to generate trust and leverage boards’ financial expertise but not enough to generate unwanted scrutiny or data fatigue among board member

On the other hand, communicating too much financial information can cause board members to focus undue attention on less significant details (e.g., employee travel spend).

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Considerations to support data-driven decision making

Even when board members have the right amount of financial information, they do not always understand it. The second challenge in communicating meaningful financial information is conveying the distinctions between higher education and private sector finance. Notably, 75% of board members at private institutions and 50% at public institutions have backgrounds in private-sector finance or accounting—experience that undoubtedly prepares them to fulfill their responsibilities as financial stewards.

However, private-sector finance expertise can also render board members quick to underestimate important differences between higher education and the private sector. This sometimes leads board members to incorrectly believe they can directly apply private-sector solutions to higher education challenges.

Step 1: Design and build a board-facing financial dashboard

Selecting key performance indicators and financial metrics can initially seem overwhelming, as the possibilities are extensive. For example, a recent AGB1 survey on higher education performance indicators identified more than 200 different ratios and indices that colleges and universities are utilizing to measure operating and financial performance.

Learn why the first consideration in building board-facing financial dashboards is selecting the right metrics to display and contextualize.

Compendium of Sample Dashboards

To further assist finance leaders in designing and building a board-level dashboard, explore the compendium of high-functioning sample dashboards from both inside and outside higher education. These dashboards provide concrete examples of which metrics institutions have included and how they have displayed them. For each dashboard, the three design characteristics most worthy of emulation are highlighted, along with a brief description.

You’ll see example dashboards from Marquette University, Trinity University, Southern Illinois University, and more.

See the Sample Dashboards

Step 2: Continually support dashboard users

Financial dashboard narratives can be shared as written reports or oral presentations. Advantages and disadvantages of the two approaches are detailed below. Sample written narratives from Trinity University and Marquette University are available in the appendix of this publication.

Discover how you can translate dashboard data into member-friendly narratives and when you need to provide supplementary resources.

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Step 3: Adapt the dashboard to different audiences

Academic leaders and board members, however, engage with financial data in different ways. Many business officers wonder if they should build a separate dashboard for academics, tailored to their unique needs. However, most institutions have found this approach is not worth the effort. Multiple dashboards are unnecessarily complex for administrators to maintain and can lead to distrust, as stakeholders perceive different dashboards as providing different accounts of financial health.

Leverage the existing dashboard to engage academic leaders in financial conversations.

Put it into practice: Find helpful templates and tools in our resource appendix

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