Financial Leadership Transition for an Established Manufacturing Business
Situation
The client is an established manufacturing company whose CFO had given notice. The departure would leave the Accounting & Finance department with a part-time bookkeeper and two team members with little to no financial background, and no one to lead the function. The outgoing CFO had handled day-to-day tasks but had not provided the strategic guidance leadership had been seeking for years. The President was involved in nearly every decision across the business and needed to step back from the operational details to focus on growth.
Approach
The outgoing CFO provided limited support during the transition, leaving our team to reverse engineer the month-end close process and a complex chart of accounts. Within the first month of his departure, we had gained the clarity needed to close the books and begin establishing a reliable reporting rhythm.
We immediately focused on two priorities: building the financial foundation and freeing up leadership. On the finance side, we took over weekly reporting, trained the remaining team members, and prepared the company’s first formal budget. We helped leadership understand their monthly overhead burden and the gross profit required each month to achieve profitability. On the operational side, we partnered with the President and VP of Business Development to identify and delegate non-high-value tasks, taking on some ourselves and redistributing others to the appropriate team members. We also added immediate value across a range of areas including HR guidance, customer credit applications, AR collection processes, banking efficiencies such as initiating Positive Pay for fraud protection and a Line of Credit sweep to minimize interest costs, and identifying gaps in the company’s Loss of Business Income insurance coverage.
Results
- Zero disruption to financial reporting through the CFO transition
- Leadership gained clear visibility into monthly overhead and the gross profit threshold needed for profitability
- First formal budget in company history
- President successfully transitioned away from day-to-day operational decisions and refocused on growth
- Internal team developed from limited financial background into capable contributors owning weekly reporting responsibilities
- Fraud protection and interest cost savings realized through banking improvements
- Insurance coverage gaps closed
- Clear roadmap established for chart of accounts redesign, accrual conversion, and pricing strategy improvements
The engagement transformed what could have been a disruptive leadership vacancy into an opportunity to upgrade the company’s financial infrastructure, develop internal talent, and position leadership to focus on scaling the business.
