· 1 min read
How to Read a Project Status Report Like a CFO
Strip the color-coding and ask what a balance sheet would: where is cash, risk, and authority drifting.
Most status decks drown you in green-yellow-red. CFOs care about control of cash, risk, and authority. Apply that lens and the noise fades.
Problem: color without controls
- Traffic lights hide burn variance and unfunded dependencies.
- Risks are logged, not priced.
- Decision rights are unclear, so approvals stall and vendors drift.
Solution: three CFO questions
- Cash exposure: What is the forecast at completion vs. approved budget? Show deltas and confidence bands.
- Risk price tags: Which top three risks have dollarized impact and a funded mitigation owner? If none, the report is fiction.
- Authority map: Which decisions are blocked, by whom, and what is the date-cost impact per week of delay?
Ask for numbers, not adjectives. A status line that lacks a cost or decision owner is a warning by itself.
Smart conclusions
- Recut status reports to one page that ties scope variance, schedule slip, and risk to money.
- Require that every “on track” claim cite a recent decision that kept it so.
- When reports stop answering these questions, you are financing drift, not delivery.
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