If he's looking at the backs of the cards, he could be looking for marks. If he's looking at the fronts of the cards, he could be attempting to ascertain the count so as to confirm his suspicions as to the ability of one or more of the players at the table.
There is also the possibility that he's simply running through them to see if they are worn and a new deck needs to be brought into play. Or he could have spotted a bent or damaged card which he is trying to find and replace. I'm sure there are plenty of other possibilities.
It should be obvious in any situation what the reason is and, if it is not obvious, perhaps it is time to wrap up your session without making anymore count-based plays or bet variations and just move on.
In addition to the things mentioned by 98%, here are two common scenarios:
1. The boss thinks she noticed a mispay on the previous hand, and is flipping through the cards on the top of the discard pile trying to reconstruct the hand. She does this only if she thinks the player has been overpaid. Therefore, for her to do this indicates her bad attitude or lack of apathy.
2. The boss is bluffing. Many bosses can't really count. They'll go through the discards hoping to see lots of paint to explain your bet drop, or lots of little cards to explain your bet jump. For these half-sharp bosses, the bigger tell is your reaction to the move, rather than the actual content of the discards. Don't panic. Just look for a way to get out of the game casually.
Note that all of the reasons the boss might go through the discards are bad for you. If nothing else, we now know that the boss cares. This is not a good thing for your game. We like apathy.
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