Governance documents · Gixo Business
Board Paper & Decision Log Builder
Prepare a board paper with an explicit decision header and a reusable decision-log record.
Board report template
A board report is the paper a board reads before the meeting, so the meeting can start at the decision instead of the background. Commonwealth boards call the same document a board paper. This builder fills one template every time, in the order a board reads it, and a required field left empty stays visible in the output as [ ] rather than being quietly dropped.
The sections below are the template. They are the same groups the form asks for, so the blank paper and the finished one have the same shape.
- Paper header — company, meeting date, paper number, author, and whether the paper is for decision or for information.
- Purpose — the single thing the board is being asked to do.
- Background — what a director who missed the last two meetings needs before the recommendation makes sense.
- Options — each with a summary, its financial impact and its risk, including the option of doing nothing.
- Impacts — financial, risk, and legal or regulatory, stated separately so none of the three is buried in the prose.
- Recommendation — one course of action, not a shortlist.
- Appendices — the supporting material, each referenced from the body so nothing arrives unexplained.
- Decision log — decision, date, owner, rationale, reversal condition and review date: the row the next board reads instead of re-arguing this one.
A filled header and one decision-log row, in the format the fields accept:
Paper BP-014 · Meeting 18 September 2026 · Author: Chief Financial Officer · Decision required Purpose: approve the FY27 service-expansion budget of $1.8m and the hiring plan behind it. Decision log: Approve FY27 expansion | 2026-09-18 | CFO | Capacity is the binding constraint on renewals | Utilisation below 70% for two consecutive quarters | 2027-03-18
Document inputs
Required gaps remain visible as [ ], so the downloaded handoff never silently hides unfinished work.
Need a different artifact?
Browse all 12 governed builders on the public template hub, or use the smaller checkers on the free tools hub.
Details
Board Paper & Decision Log Builder details
See the accepted inputs, generated sections, output formats, and important limits.| Topic | Details | What to know |
|---|---|---|
| Inputs | 14 fields across 8 groups | Every field required by this template is shown before generation. |
| Required inputs | 10 required fields | Unfilled required values remain visible instead of being silently invented. |
| Repeatable sections | 3 repeatable sections | Templates without a row field render each field once. |
| Outputs | HTML, Markdown, embed snippet, and print-ready HTML | Every output is generated from the same validated field values. |
Do I need an account to use Board Paper & Decision Log Builder?
No. The builder runs without an account.
Does the builder invent missing information?
No. Required gaps remain visibly marked for review.
Is my document stored?
No. The public builder does not save the submitted field values.
Which formats can I download?
The public result supports HTML and Markdown downloads, an embed snippet, and print-to-PDF through the browser.
What goes in a board report?
A purpose line, enough background to follow it, the options considered with their financial and risk impact, one recommendation, and the decision recorded with an owner and a review date. This builder asks for those across fourteen clearly labelled fields, in that order, and marks the required ones you skip instead of filling them in for you.
Board paper or board report?
The same document under two vocabularies. "Board paper" is the usual term in UK, Australian and other Commonwealth governance; "board report" is the usual US phrasing. What a board expects inside it — purpose, background, options, impacts, recommendation, decision — does not differ between them.