Operational Finance
Senior finance capability, applied to how the business actually runs its cash, its reporting and its decisions — without the cost of a permanent CFO team.
The problem we are usually called into
The accounts are filed and the bookkeeping is fine, but nobody can answer the questions that matter: how much cash will we hold in fourteen weeks, what does this contract actually earn after servicing it, and can we afford the next hire, facility or acquisition.
That gap is rarely an accounting problem. It is a finance-function design problem — the data exists, but it is not organised into anything a decision can be made from.
What we do
- Cash flow and working capital. Thirteen-week rolling cash forecasting, cash conversion cycle analysis, and practical intervention across receivables, payables and inventory.
- Budgeting, forecasting and FP&A. A driver-based operating model that connects volume, price and cost to the P&L, balance sheet and cash — with variance reporting that explains the movement rather than restating it.
- Financial control and close. Month-end close calendar, reconciliations, accruals discipline, and a management pack that a board can read in ten minutes.
- Treasury and banking. Cash pooling and liquidity policy, facility structuring and covenant tracking, banking relationship strategy, and FX exposure identification.
- Costing and unit economics. Contribution margin by product, contract or customer; break-even and pricing sensitivity; identifying what is actually subsidising what.
- Funding readiness. The model, data room and reporting discipline a lender or investor will expect — assembled before the process starts, not during it.
- Systems and process. Chart of accounts redesign, reporting automation, and specification of the finance stack the business will need at its next stage.
What you receive
- A working, documented financial model owned by your team
- A rolling cash forecast with a maintenance routine attached
- A board and lender reporting pack, with definitions
- A prioritised action list — sequenced by cash impact and effort
How engagements run
Typically a fixed-fee diagnostic first — two to four weeks — followed by either a defined build project or an ongoing monthly retainer where we sit in as the senior finance voice for management meetings and board reporting.
Not sure which practice you need?
Most engagements begin as one question and turn out to be another. The introductory call is free and diagnostic.