Raffles Consulting Services
An SFO first-year board reporting pack should connect family decisions, investment evidence, tax-incentive conditions, operations and exceptions.
An SFO first-year board reporting pack should show whether the family office is operating as approved, not just whether investments rose or fell. It needs a clear view of governance decisions, portfolio risk, liquidity, people, local operations, service providers, incentive conditions and unresolved exceptions.
Use a stable monthly or quarterly structure, then add papers for decisions that require approval. The board should be able to trace each reported figure to an owner and supporting record without reading every custodian statement or supplier invoice.
Start from the family office mandate
The EDB guide to setting up a single family office begins with the family’s needs, including wealth preservation, diversification, tax certainty, succession and philanthropy. Put the approved mandate at the front of the board pack.
Summarise the purpose in one page. State which assets and family branches are within scope, which decisions are reserved to the family council or principals and which authority has been delegated to the board, investment committee and executives.
Record changes to family circumstances that may affect the mandate. A liquidity event, succession decision, new beneficiary, relocation or philanthropic commitment can change risk and cash needs even when the legal structure remains the same.
Separate oversight from investment detail
The board needs a portfolio summary, not a copy of the entire investment book. Show asset allocation against approved ranges, performance against agreed benchmarks, major exposures, liquidity, leverage, currency and the largest changes since the last meeting.
Highlight concentrations by asset, manager, counterparty, country and family operating business. Explain any breach of an investment policy limit and the proposed response. Do not hide an exception inside an appendix because it was temporary at the reporting date.
Give the investment committee responsibility for detailed manager and security review. The board pack should record significant recommendations, approvals and rejected proposals so decision rights remain visible.
Maintain a condition register
Where a family fund relies on Section 13O, 13OA or 13U, record the exact incentive section, award date, commencement date, basis period, approval letter and current conditions. The Income Tax Act 1947 makes clear that an exemption can be subject to prescribed conditions and conditions in an approval letter or later notice.
The board pack should not reduce the condition register to a green status. Show the requirement, current evidence, forecast, owner, last review date and remaining uncertainty. A status without the applicable award terms can be misleading.
Track investment professionals, assets under management in the relevant investments, local business spending, capital deployment, banking arrangements and any other condition in the specific award. Use the applicable definitions and advice rather than copying thresholds from another SFO’s presentation.
Report people and actual responsibilities
List directors, investment professionals, finance, risk, operations and outsourced specialists. Show start dates, location, family relationships, reporting lines and the work each person performed during the period.
For an investment professional, connect the job description to investment research, committee papers, monitoring and decisions. For an outsourced provider, identify the agreement, deliverables, service review and any issue that management has accepted or escalated.
Include hiring milestones and notice-period risk. If a first-year concession allows time to complete the team, the board should see the last safe recruitment date and the evidence needed to confirm employment, not only the final deadline.
Show cash and operating capacity
Prepare a 12-month cash forecast covering family distributions, tax, payroll, professional fees, investment commitments, debt service and operating costs. Separate liquid assets from positions that may take longer to realise.
Reconcile actual local spending to the ledger and supplier evidence. Classify expenditure consistently and identify related-party charges. If the forecast is close to an incentive condition, explain the operational plan and obtain tax advice before assuming that a disputed cost qualifies.
Report bank accounts, authorised signatories, payment limits and any new settlement instruction. A change in beneficiary or bank details should require independent verification, dual approval and a recorded callback.
Meet the directors’ reporting duties
ACRA’s company directors’ duties guidance says directors must keep proper accounting records, prepare compliant financial statements where required and maintain company information and registers. Outsourcing does not remove directors’ responsibility.
Add a finance section that reconciles the management accounts to bank, custody and administrator records. Identify valuation judgements, related-party transactions, unreconciled balances and any auditor or tax-adviser question.
Keep board minutes focused on decisions and challenge. Record the information considered, conflicts declared, alternatives discussed and action owner. Avoid minutes that merely repeat the slide titles.
Use one board pack index
| Section | Core content | Exception to highlight |
|---|---|---|
| Mandate | Purpose, scope and reserved matters | Family decision changes |
| Portfolio | Allocation, risk, liquidity and performance | Limit breach or concentration |
| Conditions | Award terms, evidence and forecast | Unclear or threatened condition |
| People | Roles, hiring and service providers | Vacancy or responsibility gap |
| Finance | Accounts, cash forecast and local spending | Unreconciled or disputed amount |
| Governance | Decisions, conflicts and action register | Overdue board action |
Close actions between meetings
Maintain a single action register with the decision, owner, due date, current evidence and closure approval. Circulate it between meetings. A board pack should not rediscover the same unresolved item every quarter.
Give urgent exceptions a shorter reporting route. A regulatory breach, missed condition, payment fraud concern, key-person departure or material liquidity event should reach the chair and relevant advisers promptly rather than wait for the next scheduled meeting.
At year end, archive the packs, minutes, committee papers and supporting schedules under a consistent index. The annual tax, audit and corporate filing teams should be able to use the same evidence without rebuilding the year’s history from email.
Keep the pack useful to the family
A large pack is not necessarily a good pack. Remove repeated background, put decisions and exceptions first and use appendices for detailed reconciliations. Explain technical terms when they affect a family decision.
The family office governance operating model is the pillar cornerstone. The first-year hiring guide covers the current staffing sequence, while the SFO annual return data guide covers a separate filing preparation task. The Family Office and UHNW Advisory hub connects related guidance.
A consistent board pack gives the family an honest operating record. It shows not only what the office owns, but whether its people, decisions, controls and evidence continue to support the structure the family chose.