How to use post-deal board meetings to deliver high-impact quarterly business reviews

Following a merger or acquisition, every board meeting becomes more than a formality. They become a strategic checkpoint, guiding integration, sharpening focus, and helping the business tell a clear, confident story about progress.  

That work becomes especially important in the run-up to a Quarterly Business Review (QBR). 

A QBR, particularly in the post‑deal context, is not just a reporting exercise. It is a powerful opportunity to reframe performance in light of the deal rationale, track early progress against synergy expectations, and ensure operational leaders are focused on the right outcomes. The stakes are high, not only because of the visibility such meetings demand, but because the first few QBRs post‑transaction help shape the narrative that stakeholders remember. 

Yet many boards miss the opportunity to use their own meetings as a launchpad. Instead of shaping the QBR, they review disconnected dashboards, debate tactical updates, or revisit the deal rationale without turning it into a roadmap. The result is a fragmented story that fails to match the ambitions of the transaction. 

This article explores how to turn board meetings into a strategic engine for QBRs. Here’s what you’ll learn:   

• Why the board meeting before the QBR matters more than most realise 

• How to spot whether your QBR is tracking performance or just activity 

• What successful boards do differently when preparing for QBRs after a deal

What is a quarterly business review (QBR)? 

A quarterly business review is one of the few structured moments where leadership steps back from day-to-day operations and asks a harder question: are we moving in the right direction?

Where monthly reviews tend to focus on activity, the QBR is about alignment. It connects performance to broader objectives and creates space to test assumptions, adjust plans, and focus attention where it matters most. As Christine Dzou, Director at Gong, puts it, “A quarterly business review (QBR) is a critical strategic touchpoint … it serves as a critical forum to analyse key performance indicators, identify challenges and opportunities, foster accountability across all levels…”

After a merger or acquisition, the role of the QBR becomes even more important. Integration changes priorities. It adds new risks, new goals, and more moving parts. The QBR provides a structured way to track whether early decisions are taking hold and whether the business is making progress against what was promised.

Gainsight Software describes QBRs as “a structured opportunity to evaluate progress against key metrics, identify successes, and uncover areas that require attention or improvement.” This matters more when integration is underway and leadership needs to balance momentum with control.

A well-run QBR helps bring that balance into view. It surfaces issues early, clarifies expectations, and keeps the leadership team focussed on the outcomes that matter. When guided by board-level direction, it becomes more than a reporting session. It becomes a mechanism for accountability, credibility, and forward motion.

How to ensure board meetings feed QBRs 

The impact of a QBR often comes down to the board meeting that precedes it. The board doesn't necessrily need to dive into every detail, but it does need to set the direction, which means selecting the right topics and ensuring the executive team leaves with clarity on what to track, what to communicate, and what to follow through on. 

Here’s what that preparation should include: 

1. A shared view of the post-deal vision 

Every QBR needs a north star. The board meeting is where leadership can reassert what success looks like across both the legacy business and the newly acquired entity. That might mean agreeing on how the business should be positioned in the market, which costs need attention, what kind of customer reach matters most, or where new capabilities are needed. Without that shared understanding, quarterly reporting risks becoming a box-ticking exercise instead of a tool for steering the business. 

2. Agreement on what should be measured 

Integration introduces new metrics. Boards should ensure there is agreement on which indicators matter most. This may include synergy realisation, cultural alignment, leadership retention, technology integration, or customer churn. According to Steve Kaufman, former CEO and Chairman of Arrow Electronics, “[post-merger] integrations are really different. You don’t know what you don’t know. You need capabilities that you’re unlikely to have in your organization.” The aim is not to track everything, but to track what matters and discard noise. 

3. Review of available data and potential gaps 

Post-merger reporting is rarely clean in the first quarter. Systems may not be fully integrated, and definitions often vary. The board should ask: What are we relying on to tell this story? Are the right inputs in place? Are we clear on baselines? If not, this is the moment to escalate and address it early. 

4. Clear ownership and governance 

Accountability across two organisations can quickly become blurred. The board can help reset ownership lines, particularly where QBR content depends on joint effort. As recent insight from BDO confirms, “While the Board will not be involved in the day‑to‑day integration execution, they should establish clear integration success criteria at the outset and require regular progress updates.” This may involve assigning a single executive to oversee integration reporting or establishing a cross-functional team to align QBR inputs. 

Board meeting to QBR: Data flows and follow-through 

What happens in the boardroom should shape more than just direction. It should shape how the organisation prepares, presents, and acts on the insights surfaced in the quarterly business review. 

Too often, these two meetings operate in parallel. The board flags integration risks, but those concerns never appear in the QBR. Decisions are made around key metrics, yet reporting continues to follow legacy structures. These gaps weaken both processes. 

To avoid this, clear handover points are needed. Start by capturing board-level decisions that have a bearing on reporting, metrics, or messaging. These need to be reflected in the structure and content of the QBR, not left behind in board minutes. 

Ownership is equally important. Assign clear responsibility for follow-up items. Define who is responsible for integrating the board’s input into operational planning, data collection, and review materials. 

When this connection works, the QBR becomes more than an update. It becomes a continuation of the board’s strategic direction, reinforced through clear metrics and targeted execution. And for leadership teams navigating post-deal integration, this consistency builds trust and accelerates outcomes. 

Pitfalls to avoid in the post‑M&A QBR cycle 

Even well-intentioned QBRs can misfire if they aren’t designed to reflect the new shape of the business. In the early days post-deal, where the pace is high and alignment is fragile, small missteps can compound quickly. As Brian Johnson, Strategy Consultant at Introlution, highlights, “The first 100 days post‑merger integration are as much about psychology as they are about process.” What should be a forum for clarity becomes a source of noise, and a few patterns tend to repeat. These include:  

Relying on outdated templates 

Many QBRs fall into the trap of using pre-deal formats. Metrics, charts, and commentary continue on autopilot, ignoring the complexity that now exists. These legacy structures might feel familiar, but they fail to reveal where value is being created or lost. 

Allowing for board meeting déjà vu 

If the QBR mirrors the last board conversation, stakeholders will quickly disengage. A review that revisits the same decisions without showing movement isn’t a review, it’s a rerun. 

Too much content, not enough meaning 

Integration creates pressure to show progress across multiple workstreams. But when every team presents every update, the QBR loses shape. Leaders need less data and more perspective. Insight is what creates traction. 

Neglecting integration KPIs 

It’s easy to focus on revenue, margin, and cost. But after a merger, these tell only half the story. Leadership retention, cultural alignment, and operational harmony also need to be tracked. If those signals are missing, risks can go unnoticed until they grow too large to fix quietly. 

In short, post-M&A QBRs must be designed with intention. They should reflect the complexity of the deal, the expectations of the board, and the signals that matter to long-term value creation. 

Five ways technology can enhance board meetings and QBRs 

Technology plays a quiet but critical role in keeping leadership aligned, especially when priorities shift and the pressure is high. After a deal, decisions need to move quickly, and information has to flow cleanly across teams. A well-designed board platform helps make that possible by turning strategy into something people can act on. 

Here are five ways the right platform can strengthen both board meetings and quarterly business reviews: 

1. Keep everyone working from the same source of truth 

After a deal, reporting lines often shift, and teams may not be used to working together. Under these conditions, it's easy for people to end up looking at different versions of the same data. Utilising a unified board platform, like Sherpany , helps avoid this, giving board members access to the right documents, decisions, and deadlines, so conversations stay focused and based on the same facts. 

2. Ensure continuity between meetings 

When board-level decisions are recorded, tracked, and easy to reference, they inform what comes next. This creates a clear link between strategy and review, making QBRs a continuation of board direction rather than a standalone exercise. 

3. Reduce version control issues and prep time 

Instead of managing multiple email threads and scattered slide decks, leaders can collaborate in a central environment. Comments are made in context, updates are faster to implement, and meeting preparation becomes more focussed and efficient. 

4. Protect sensitive information at every stage 

Board materials after a transaction often include commercially sensitive data. A digital platform provides a secure space where access is controlled, document history is tracked, and confidentiality is preserved throughout the meeting lifecycle. 

5. Make accountability visible and consistent 

Ownership matters more when timelines tighten. A centralised platform helps leadership teams assign responsibilities, follow up on actions, and maintain visibility on progress. This reinforces trust and ensures decisions are followed through. 

Technology cannot replace good governance, but it can support it by removing avoidable obstacles. In periods of complexity, that clarity becomes a real advantage. 

Make post-deal board meetings work harder with Sherpany 

A well-run QBR after an acquisition does more than report results. It reveals whether the business is moving with purpose. 

The foundation for that review is laid in the boardroom. When the board aligns on strategy, sharpens the narrative, and identifies the signals that matter, it sets the stage for a focused, credible, and action-driven review. 

Clarity builds from the top. The questions the board asks, the priorities it sets, and the issues it raises all shape the structure and tone of the QBR. When those two meetings are disconnected, the QBR becomes an exercise in information sharing. When they are aligned, it becomes a tool for acceleration. 

To get this right, organisations must treat the board meeting and the QBR as part of the same cycle. The handover needs to be deliberate. Decisions must be captured, accountabilities confirmed, and progress tracked. 

If you’re ready to optimise your post-deal board meetings and QBRs, book a free consultation and find out how Sherpany can help.