Most reporting problems are not data problems. The dashboard has numbers, but nobody changes a decision because of it. What is missing is a rhythm: a small set of numbers, reviewed at a fixed time, by people who can act on them.
One page, three questions
A useful monthly review answers three questions: what did we spend, what did it return, and what changes next. Anything that does not help answer one of those belongs in an appendix. If a metric has no owner and no decision attached, it is decoration.
Give every number an owner
For each metric, name the person who can move it and the action available to them. Cost per acquisition belongs to whoever manages bids and creative. Margin belongs to whoever sets price and offer. Time from request to publication belongs to whoever controls the queue. Numbers without owners get reported and ignored.
Separate weekly from monthly
Weekly reviews are for pacing and creative: is spend on track, which asset is failing, what gets cut. Monthly reviews are for strategy and budget: which channels earned more, which tests passed, what changes next quarter. Mixing the two produces meetings that are too long and decisions that are too small.
Write the decision, not just the result
End every review with a short list: decision, owner, date. Send it the same day. This is what turns reporting into management, and it is also the fastest way to spot a team that is measuring activity rather than outcomes.
Prune the report every quarter
Reports accumulate. Once a quarter, remove every metric that has not led to a decision in the previous three months. What remains is short enough to read before the meeting, which is the only reliable test of whether a reporting rhythm will survive contact with a busy month.