1. Establish Financial Control and Transparency
Objective: Quickly build confidence with investors and the board by ensuring robust, accurate, and timely financial information.
Key Actions:
- Review and validate financial statements, management accounts, and KPIs.
- Implement or tighten internal controls, governance, and compliance procedures.
- Ensure finance function is audit-ready and aligned with PE reporting standards.
- Deliver fast, reliable monthly close and performance dashboards.
2. Strengthen Cash Flow and Working Capital Management
Objective: Protect liquidity and optimise cash to maximise value creation.
Key Actions:
- Implement 13-week rolling cash flow forecasts and scenario models.
- Identify working capital inefficiencies (e.g., receivables, inventory, payables).
- Manage covenant compliance and banking relationships.
- Improve capital allocation discipline across business units or investments.
3. Drive Financial Planning and Performance Management
Objective: Build a clear bridge between strategic goals and financial outcomes.
Key Actions:
- Lead the annual budget and reforecast processes with commercial rigor.
- Establish performance KPIs tied to the investment thesis.
- Develop financial models to assess growth initiatives, bolt-on acquisitions, and exit scenarios.
- Challenge business assumptions to ensure credible, data-driven plans.
4. Support Value Creation and Exit Preparation
Objective: Align finance with the PE sponsor’s value creation plan and potential exit timeline.
Key Actions:
- Translate the PE firm’s investment thesis into measurable financial drivers.
- Partner with operations to deliver margin improvement and cost optimisation initiatives.
- Prepare for diligence — ensuring clean data rooms, normalised EBITDA, and defensible metrics.
- Contribute to valuation, debt refinancing, or M&A readiness.
5. Strengthen the Finance Function and Leadership Transition
Objective: Leave behind a finance organisation capable of sustaining performance post-interim.
Key Actions:
- Assess and reshape the finance team to meet PE expectations.
- Introduce systems, tools, and processes that support scalability and investor reporting.
- Mentor the finance team and ensure knowledge transfer to the incoming permanent CFO.
- Establish a disciplined finance cadence — board packs, forecasts, and variance analysis.
