Field notes
Preparing the closed session after fieldwork
After testing ends, some boards want a closed conversation before papers circulate. Keep the session short. Trustees need the period, the sample, the material exceptions, and what management has already fixed.
A workable agenda
- Remind everyone what was not in scope
- Walk through exceptions ranked by board risk
- Note open items still awaiting documents
- Agree what appears in the circulated pack
Tone
Blunt language helps when approvals were missing. Softening every finding into “opportunities” wastes the hour. Equally, avoid courtroom rhetoric — the goal is remediation and a clean donor report, not theatre.