One of the cardinal tenets of running a good board meeting is to pre-meet with the board members on all basic facts and figures and avoid any surprises in the board meeting (unless they are very good, positive ones).
If you provide the financials with enough advance notice before the board meeting and meet with each board member (by phone or in person) to discuss the facts, then the board meeting itself can be focused on the strategic or decision-making concepts instead of the basic facts and figures.
Avoid surprises unless they are very good ones. Sales, forecasts, etc., should all be socialized in advance so that the board is not surprised.
A first time CEO describes this nicely in his post