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Approach

Diagnose first. Then build only what's needed.

Most advisory relationships start with a proposal and a hope. Ours start with a three-week, fixed-fee assessment you own outright — whether or not you hire us for what comes next.

Why the Order Matters

The scope shouldn't be written before anyone opens the books.

Here's how it usually goes. A firm listens for an hour and sends a twelve-month scope. You sign, because the problem is real and you need help. Six months in, you're paying for workstreams you no longer need and waiting on ones nobody scoped.

We do it in the other order. Look first, then scope, then build.

The Four Stages

From diagnosis to run-rate, in sequence.

  1. 1

    Weeks 1–3

    Assess

    A fixed-fee diagnostic of your finance function. We work through the general ledger, the close, the reporting, the systems, and the controls — and we talk to the people who actually run them.

    What we look at

    • How reliable the underlying accounting records really are
    • The close timeline, and what specifically causes the delay
    • Whether current reporting answers the questions management is actually asking
    • Cash visibility and forecasting capability
    • Systems, integrations, and where data is being re-keyed by hand
    • Control gaps and segregation-of-duties exposure at your team's real size
    • Readiness for what's coming: audit, financing, transaction, or transition

    What you get. A written assessment with findings ranked by risk and by sequence: what to fix now, what can wait two quarters, and what doesn't need fixing at all. Plus a scoped, priced recommendation for the work we'd propose.

    What it costs if you stop here. Nothing beyond the fixed fee. The findings are yours. Hand them to an internal hire or another firm if that's the better answer — several of our best referrals have come from companies we didn't end up serving.

  2. 2

    Weeks 4–8

    Stabilize

    Before anything gets built, the basics have to hold. This stage is unglamorous, and it's where most of the value lives.

    • Close the current month on a defined calendar with a documented checklist
    • Reconcile what isn't reconciled and resolve the differences
    • Fix the chart of accounts if reporting depends on it
    • Stand up thirteen-week cash visibility
    • Put approval and disbursement controls in place

    By the end of this stage, the numbers can be trusted. Nothing built on top of them matters until that's true.

  3. 3

    Weeks 9–16

    Build

    Now the finance function gets designed instead of patched.

    • A reporting package built for the specific audience that reads it
    • Budget and rolling forecast with driver-based assumptions
    • KPI framework connected to source systems
    • Written procedures your team can follow without us
    • AI designed into the processes above — anomaly detection in the close, exception clustering in reconciliations, draft variance narrative, document assembly — each with a defined human review point
    • Systems work where the current stack is the constraint
  4. 4

    Ongoing

    Run, then step back

    We operate the function at whatever intensity the business needs, and we're explicit about reducing it as your team absorbs the work.

    Every engagement gets a formal scope review at six months. The question on the table is whether the hours should come down. Sometimes the answer is no, because the company grew. Often it's yes — and we say so before you ask.

What We Ask of You

Honest access, and one decision-maker.

Show us the real records, not a cleaned-up version. And give us one person on your side who can say yes. Engagements stall on committee approval far more often than on technical difficulty.

Where AI Fits

AI does the work that shouldn't need judgment. People do the rest.

Extracting invoice data. Matching transactions. Flagging entries outside historical pattern. Assembling document packages. Drafting first-pass narrative. That's the work we hand to AI.

Every output is a draft. Every number that reaches you has been reviewed by the person accountable for it, and we document where those review points sit so your control environment is auditable rather than assumed. Before any engagement begins, we define in writing which tools touch your data, where it's retained, and what's excluded entirely. Our full practice is described in our Disclosures.

Start with the assessment.

Three weeks. Fixed fee. Findings you keep, whatever you decide next.

Schedule a Conversation

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