Client names are withheld by default — confidentiality is part of the job. References are available on request, with the client's permission.
A fast-growing manufacturer with solid, compliant accounting in place — but no CFO layer above it. The owners, focused on building the business, were carrying the profitability and cash flow questions themselves, without the reporting to answer them.
The missing CFO function, built in layers: product cost calculations first, then profitability, then cash flow planning the owners could see ahead of time. Underneath it, Monitor ERP implemented across finance and operations, and a fixed monthly reporting cadence that the external accountants' work feeds straight into. Big decisions stopped being made on instinct — they now start from current, trusted numbers.
Monthly close cut from 25 calendar days to 7 working days — reporting ready by the 7th–10th of the following month. Turnover has since nearly doubled, from €6M towards €11M, with no additional accounting hires: the system scaled, the headcount didn't. Due diligence support contributed to the owners selling a 70% stake at a premium valuation.
A Baltic industrial manufacturer agreed to buy a smaller competitor for its customer base and production synergies. On paper the target looked strong: profit up around 80% in a year, with cash flow fully covering earnings. But the purchase price included a working-capital adjustment — whatever sat in receivables, stock and short-term liabilities at closing would move the price euro for euro.
A full financial and tax due diligence: every account checked, transactions reviewed line by line, tax figures matched against tax authority records. Where the seller couldn't provide data, it was tested another way — year-end receivables were checked against the following month's bank statements to see what was actually paid. Every finding was tied to its effect on the price and turned into a specific protection for the purchase agreement: a closing balance check, seller warranties, a tax indemnity, and an earn-out option given the customer concentration. The client received the written report plus full Excel workings, so every number could be traced.
Before signing, the buyer knew that up to ~€70k of working capital — receivables unlikely to be paid, holiday pay never recorded — could come straight off the price; that over €100k of stock could not be verified; that up to ~€15k of tax exposure sat outside the price mechanism; and that the business needed ~€1.2M of revenue to break even, with two customers making up over 40% of sales and no contracts behind them. The buyer took these findings into negotiation. The deal did not close — the seller withdrew. The buyer never took on risks it couldn't see.
An early-stage platform selling marketing and sales services to local businesses through subscription packages. The founders had the product idea and ambitions across several English-speaking markets — but not yet the numbers a funder would believe: how big each market was, what share was realistic, and what the subscription model could earn.
Market research across Australia, New Zealand, the UK and the USA to size each market and the realistic share of it. A business plan and financial model built on SaaS principles — the operating model, the key subscription metrics, and valuation methods — so the founders could explain not just the idea, but the economics behind it.
The business plan and financial model were used to secure a Microsoft grant, funding the team's work on the product. After two years of development, the startup has reached the highest level of the Pegasus startup programme — with meetings with Silicon Valley investors now on the horizon.
Before OPlan
Ten years as CFO and COO inside private-equity-owned and international groups. These were in-house roles, not client engagements — but they're where the methods I use today were built and tested.
After a private-equity acquisition, the group had to stand on its own. The purchase agreement required new IT infrastructure, there was no in-house IT team, each country ran a different ERP, service visits were logged on paper — and the growth plan relied on buying and integrating other companies.
IT infrastructure built from scratch, fully in the cloud, with outsourced partners — connecting all three countries. A new ERP (technical phase in three months), one chart of accounts across countries, and consolidated reporting by working day 10. Power BI across finance, operations and sales, with the change management to make teams actually rely on it. Service operations digitised: calls registered online or via the call centre, jobs assigned automatically to the right technician by skill and location, spare parts recorded in real time and synced with accounting, and a client dashboard showing KPIs against contract terms. IoT on the vending fleet — from tender and testing to the board business case and tax compliance for unattended payments. And a finance team rebuilt across three countries, with four acquisitions integrated into systems, processes and culture.
Revenue grew from €10M to €30M in four years. IoT-based restocking and maintenance lifted operational efficiency by 50%. Consolidated monthly reporting arrived by working day 10, and decisions moved from paper and spreadsheets to real-time dashboards.
The company carried a large acquisition loan, with monthly reporting to shareholders and quarterly reporting to banks. When COVID hit, the business was significantly impacted while the debt obligations stayed — cash became the question of every single day.
Cash managed day by day: every incoming payment analysed, every outgoing payment planned. Negotiations with key suppliers that cut the amounts owed to them by 35% and set new payment terms. A rolling 12-month forecast for both profit and cash, with online BI reports, so shareholders and banks saw the real picture in monthly meetings — no surprises. Separately, the company's financing was moved from one bank to another, a refinancing led end to end.
The 35% reduction in supplier debt and the renegotiated payment terms gave the company the room it needed to get through the crisis — with shareholders and banks informed and on side throughout.
Every engagement starts the same way: a conversation about where the numbers stand today.
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