CFO advisory for private equity sponsors and their portfolio companies.
A fund's returns are made inside its companies, one finance function at a time. We give sponsors and operating partners senior finance bandwidth they can deploy where it is needed — in diligence, in the first 100 days, through value creation and add-ons, and at exit — without adding permanent overhead to the portfolio company or the fund.
Lower-middle-market focus·$5M–$250M revenue·Healthcare, SaaS, e-commerce, logistics, industrial·Los Angeles·Miami·nationwide
Three seats at the table, one finance problem.
Sponsors and operating partners
Lower-middle-market and middle-market funds, independent sponsors, and family offices with direct holdings. You need portfolio companies that report cleanly, forecast credibly, and execute the value-creation plan — and you need it without hiring a full-time CFO into every company on day one.
Portfolio company chief executives
You were hired to run and grow the business, and the sponsor expects a monthly pack, a rolling forecast, covenant compliance, and a data room that is always nearly ready. We give you a finance leader who has done this under sponsor ownership before, and who speaks the fund's language as fluently as yours.
Founders selling to, or partnering with, a fund
You are about to go through diligence, a working-capital negotiation, and a change in how the business is measured. We prepare the numbers, sit beside you through the process, and build the finance function the new owner will expect on day one.
Where CFO-level work moves the return.
The value-creation plan is a finance plan. Each stage below is a defined engagement with a defined deliverable; sponsors use one, several, or the full sequence.
Financial diligence support
For sponsors evaluating a target, and for founders preparing to be evaluated.
A diligence memorandum with the adjusted-earnings bridge, working-capital analysis, risk register with dollar exposure, and a costed 100-day finance plan; coordinated with the fund's accounting and legal advisors so nothing is done twice.
What we do
- Quality-of-earnings review, buy-side or sell-side. Normalized earnings from source data: owner and management compensation, one-time items, cash-to-accrual timing, revenue recognized by date of service, deferred revenue, related-party items. Presented so the deal team sees the bridge from reported to adjusted, line by line.
- Working-capital peg. Trailing-twelve-month working capital normalized for seasonality, cut-off, and accounting-basis effects, with a defended peg and a mechanism recommendation for the purchase agreement.
- Revenue quality and cohort analysis. Concentration, churn and retention, recurring versus one-time, contract terms that survive a change of control, pricing power, and the unit economics behind the growth story.
- Cash conversion and debt-like items. True free cash flow, capital expenditure needs, deferred liabilities, accrued but unpaid obligations, contractor-classification exposure, sales-tax and payroll-tax exposure.
- Finance function assessment and the 100-day plan draft. What the target's close, systems, controls, and people can and cannot support post-close — and what it will cost to fix, before the price is set.
Finance stand-up and sponsor reporting
For newly acquired companies, and for portfolio companies whose finance function has not kept pace.
A finance function that produces a sponsor-grade monthly pack from month two, a cash forecast from week two, and a budget the board has approved by day 100.
What we do
- Opening balance sheet and purchase accounting support in coordination with the fund's auditors; day-one cash, debt, and working-capital true-up.
- Monthly close by a fixed business day. Accrual basis, reconciled, with revenue by date of service and a management-quality allowance for doubtful accounts — the discipline behind our financial reporting work.
- The sponsor reporting pack. A monthly package in the fund's format: KPI dashboard, income statement with budget and prior-year columns, balance sheet, cash flow, 13-week cash forecast, covenant compliance certificate, and a one-page management narrative the deal partner can read in five minutes.
- Lender reporting and covenant management. Borrowing base certificates, compliance certificates, and a covenant forecast that flags headroom problems two quarters ahead.
- Cash control. A weekly 13-week cash forecast owned by finance, with disbursement approval thresholds, and a cash floor agreed with the sponsor.
- The value-creation plan, translated into a budget. Initiatives costed and sequenced; hiring plan with credentialing or ramp lags built in; capital expenditure plan; management incentive plan metrics defined and measurable from month one.
- Controls and systems triage. Segregation of duties, approval workflows, and the decision on whether the accounting and reporting stack needs replacing now or can wait until the first add-on.
FP&A, margin, working capital, and systems
For companies in the hold period, where the return is actually earned.
A measurable improvement in the two or three levers the value-creation plan depends on, reported monthly in the sponsor pack.
What we do
- Financial planning and analysis as an operating discipline. Rolling 12-month forecast reforecast monthly; variance analysis that explains the business, not the accounts; scenario models for pricing, headcount, and capital decisions.
- Margin architecture. Contribution margin by product, service line, customer, location, or payer; cost-to-serve; price realization; the discipline to exit or reprice what does not earn its cost of capital.
- Working-capital release. Days sales outstanding, days payable outstanding, and inventory turns managed against targets, with the cash released tracked as a value-creation initiative in its own right.
- Pricing and commercial finance. Price-volume-mix analysis, contract profitability, discount governance, and sales compensation tied to margin rather than revenue.
- Systems and data. Selection and implementation of the accounting, planning, and reporting stack that supports the next stage of scale — including the integration layer that makes add-ons reportable on a common basis.
- Management-team capability. Building or upgrading the controller and FP&A roles under the CFO, so the function outlasts our involvement.
Integration finance
For platforms executing a buy-and-build strategy.
Each add-on reportable on the platform's basis within 60 days, with synergies visible in the monthly pack.
What we do
- Add-on diligence at the right depth. A lighter, faster version of pre-close work sized to the deal — normalized earnings, working capital, and the integration cost — so the platform does not overpay for a tuck-in or under-prepare for it.
- Integration playbook. Chart-of-accounts mapping, systems cutover, banking and payroll consolidation, policy alignment, and the reporting cadence that brings the add-on into the sponsor pack by the second month.
- Synergy tracking. Cost and revenue synergies defined at signing, tracked monthly against the deal model, and reported separately from organic performance so the board can see whether the strategy is working.
- Earn-out and rollover administration. Metrics defined so they cannot be gamed, calculated on schedule, and reconciled with the sellers.
Sell-side readiness and transition
For companies 12 to 24 months from a sale, recapitalization, or public listing.
A company that enters the process with its numbers already proven — which shortens diligence, protects the price, and reduces the risk of a re-trade.
What we do
- Exit-readiness assessment. Where the company stands against what a buyer's diligence team will test — quality of earnings, working capital, revenue quality, systems, controls, management depth — with a prioritized fix list and timeline.
- Sell-side quality-of-earnings preparation. The adjusted-earnings bridge built before the buyer's advisors arrive, so the story is the company's, not theirs; supporting schedules for every adjustment.
- Data room and financial narrative. A data room organized the way a diligence team works, with monthly financials, KPI history, customer and cohort data, contracts, and reconciliations ready before the process launches.
- Management presentation and model support. The financial section of the confidential information memorandum, the management presentation, and the projection model that the banker will market and the buyer will stress.
- Process support. Diligence request-list management, buyer question responses, working-capital negotiation, and the purchase-agreement financial provisions.
- Transition. Closing balance sheet, post-close true-ups, and handover to the buyer's finance leadership, or continuity under the new owner where the buyer prefers it.
For the deal mechanics behind stages 1, 4, and 5, see M&A & transaction support; for how a company prepares for a buyer, see preparing a practice for sale or investment.
Senior finance capacity, deployed where the fund needs it.
Interim and dedicated portfolio CFO
A CFO in the seat at a portfolio company for a defined period — through the stand-up, a systems change, a leadership gap, or the exit process — with the option to hire behind us when the company is ready for a permanent leader. We recruit and onboard the successor as part of the engagement.
Operating-partner support
Operating partners cover a portfolio; they cannot be inside every company every month. We take the finance work of specific companies off their desk — the pack, the forecast, the covenant model, the add-on integration — and report to them in their format, on their calendar.
Project capacity
Defined projects with defined outputs: a working-capital release program, a pricing rebuild, a systems implementation, a carve-out finance stand-up, a lender refinancing package, a sell-side quality-of-earnings preparation. Scoped, priced, and delivered without the company hiring for a temporary need.
One firm, one standard across the portfolio: the same pack format, the same forecast discipline, the same close calendar in every company we touch — so the fund's reporting rolls up without translation.
The rigor of a large advisory practice, delivered by the people who do the work.
They staff teams;
we staff a CFO.
Large firms deliver diligence and value-creation work through leveraged teams overseen by a partner who appears at the readout. We deliver it through a senior finance executive who has run portfolio company finance from the inside — and who is the same person on the diligence call, in the first-100-days plan, and at the exit.
They hand over a report;
we stay to execute.
A diligence memorandum or a value-creation assessment is only worth what gets implemented. We are built to move from the memo into the seat: the person who found the working-capital opportunity is the person who releases the cash.
They price by the hour;
we price by the outcome.
Fixed-scope diligence and project work, fixed monthly retainers for portfolio CFO capacity. The sponsor knows the cost before the work starts.
They serve the fund;
we serve the company and the fund.
The sponsor gets its pack and its forecast. The chief executive gets a finance partner who is on their side in the boardroom, because the return depends on both.
Where the large firms are the right answer.
Audited financial statements, tax structuring, formal quality-of-earnings reports for a lender or a public process, and multi-jurisdiction carve-outs of scale. We work alongside those firms, and a company that arrives with its numbers already proven makes their work more efficient.
How a dedicated CFO compares with a fractional CFO, a finance platform, or a full-time hire: Full comparison →
What the first year looks like in a portfolio company.
A sponsor acquires a founder-led healthcare services company with about $18 million in revenue, cash-basis books, no forecast, and a value-creation plan built on three add-ons and a margin improvement. The founder stays as chief executive. Here is the finance work over the first twelve months, with illustrative figures.
Illustrative figures for a hypothetical portfolio company; not a client's data.
Where we bring operating depth, not just finance.
Healthcare and behavioral health services
Multi-site groups, payer-reimbursed revenue, clinician economics, de novo and add-on growth.
Healthcare →Software and technology-enabled services
Recurring-revenue quality, retention cohorts, gross margin on hosting and support, rule-of-40 discipline.
SaaS →E-commerce and consumer
Channel margin, inventory and landed cost, returns, marketplace dependence.
E-commerce →Logistics and transportation services
Asset-light margins, carrier cost, per-lane and per-shipment economics, fuel and surcharge pass-through.
Industrial and business services
Job costing, project accounting, backlog and pipeline conversion, working capital in receivables and inventory.
Infrastructure and energy
Project finance structures, long-lived asset accounting, lender reporting, tax-credit monetization.
Three ways to work with us.
Project
Diligence support, exit readiness, working-capital release, systems implementation, integration of a specific add-on. Fixed scope, fixed fee, defined deliverable and timeline.
Portfolio CFO retainer
Dedicated or interim CFO capacity inside a portfolio company on a fixed monthly retainer, with the close, the pack, the forecast, and the board cadence owned by us. Deliberately limited engagements so the calendar holds.
Portfolio-wide standard
For sponsors with several lower-middle-market companies: one finance standard — pack format, forecast discipline, close calendar, covenant model — implemented across the portfolio, with our capacity allocated where each company needs it that quarter.
Every engagement begins with a scoping conversation and a written proposal. Sponsors typically start with one company or one project and expand from there.
Do you replace the portfolio company's existing finance team?
Rarely. We usually sit above a controller or bookkeeper and build the function around them, hiring where needed. Where a permanent CFO is the right answer, we serve as interim, define the role, help recruit, and hand over.
How do you work with the fund's audit, tax, and legal advisors?
As the company-side counterpart. We prepare the schedules the auditors need, coordinate purchase accounting and tax structuring inputs, and manage the diligence request list so the advisors' time is spent on judgment rather than on chasing data.
Can you support a carve-out?
Yes, at lower-middle-market scale: the standalone finance function, transition-service agreement management, opening balance sheet, and the first sponsor pack. Large multi-jurisdiction carve-outs are better served by the large firms, and we say so.
What does an engagement cost?
Projects are fixed-fee against a written scope. Portfolio CFO capacity is a fixed monthly retainer scoped to the company's size and complexity. We quote after a scoping conversation and, for a new portfolio company, usually after a short Finance Diagnostic (see Get Started).
Do you take equity or success fees?
No. We are paid fees only, which keeps our advice independent of the transaction outcome.
What size of fund and company do you work with?
Sponsors from independent and emerging managers through established lower-middle-market and middle-market funds, and portfolio companies from roughly $5 million to $250 million in revenue. Below that range a diagnostic and a lighter engagement usually fit; above it the company should have a full-time CFO, and we support that CFO on projects.
How quickly can you start?
For a project, typically within two weeks of a signed scope. For a portfolio CFO seat, we agree the start date against our current engagement load, because the limited-engagement model is what makes the calendar reliable.
Tell us about the company.
One conversation about the portfolio company, the stage it is in, and what the value-creation plan needs from finance. We will tell you where we can help, where you need someone else, and what it would cost.
Talk to us → Start with a Finance Diagnostic →The information on this page is provided for general informational purposes and does not constitute accounting, tax, legal, or investment advice. Diligence and readiness work described here is advisory in nature and does not constitute an audit, review, or attest engagement, and is not a substitute for formal reports required by lenders, regulators, or a public process. Figures in examples are illustrative. Engagement scope and deliverables are agreed in writing. See our full Legal Disclaimer.