Enhancing finance function capability post-investment

Following a Private Equity investment and the arrival of a new CFO, Swan Partners was engaged to assess and strengthen the finance function of a high-growth business. Working closely with senior management and subject matter experts across the business, we provided both strategic review and hands-on delivery support across multiple workstreams.

In a period of transition and heightened investor expectations, we helped the business stabilise reporting, define cost attribution models, and build the tools needed to support growth and accountability.

Establishing finance fundamentals under new ownership
A newly acquired portfolio company had welcomed a new CFO, who sought a clear understanding of the finance function’s maturity, capability, and readiness to support future growth.
Initial concerns centred around limited visibility into financial performance, fragmented reporting practices, and an absence of integrated forecasting tools. There was no consistent methodology for revenue or cost attribution across business units, making performance tracking and decision-making difficult.
The CFO needed independent support to evaluate the function, identify quick wins, and start laying the foundation for a more commercially focused finance team.

A structured review to surface gaps and opportunities
We kicked off with a finance function review, engaging the CFO and team representatives across six key areas:

• Finance structure
• Forecasting
• Reporting
• Strategic projects
• Financial accounting
• IT environment

Findings were documented and rated to prioritise subsequent actions. Key issues included:

• Absence of an integrated P&L, balance sheet and cash flow model
• Lack of robust investment appraisal processes
• Inconsistent and delayed internal reporting

In the short term, we focused on improving internal reporting processes—particularly the allocation of revenue and costs to vertical P&Ls. This became a springboard for further strategic and technical workstreams, including financial model development.

Building service line P&Ls to improve business insight
One of the key projects involved the creation of detailed service line P&Ls to improve transparency and accountability across the business.
Over 10 cross-functional workshops were conducted with subject matter experts (SMEs) to:

• Understand historic cost allocation practices
• Identify ideal allocation methods assuming unlimited data access
• Analyse cost drivers by nature and supplier
• Develop appropriate allocation methodologies (e.g. allocating cloud storage costs based on usage data)

The proposed allocation approach was documented and validated through SME, CFO and CEO sign-off. We rapidly built a proof-of-concept tool, which was tested over one month before being transitioned to a live reporting format.
We supported the FP&A lead during the rollout of the first live reporting cycle, ensuring the model provided the granularity and insight needed for Finance Business Partners to explain monthly variances confidently.

A finance function aligned with commercial needs
The review gave the CFO a clear picture of current capabilities, identified pain points, and created a plan for improvement. Through hands-on support and cross-functional collaboration, we helped establish robust P&Ls and drive meaningful change across the reporting process.
Finance was better equipped to support strategic decision-making, and the wider business benefited from greater visibility, accountability and clarity.

“Post-deal environments are fast-moving and demanding. CFOs often inherit legacy issues while being asked to deliver rapid insight and performance. Our job is to bring structure and momentum—building trust quickly, identifying the most impactful improvements, and supporting execution at pace. By combining technical expertise with practical delivery, we help finance teams move from reactive to proactive, enabling them to become true business partners.” – Swan Partners