Finance Transformation

A finance function that costs less, closes faster and runs on one version of the data.

Acrobatic redesigns finance functions, from the case for change to a live, supported service: standardised processes, integrated systems and reliable data, led by senior practitioners with a record of measurable results.

Problems we solve

  • Nobody can say what finance costs or delivers. The function has grown by accretion.
  • The close is slow and manual, and the auditors keep finding the same things. Controls live in people's heads and spreadsheets, not in the system.
  • Planning runs on spreadsheets. A forecast takes weeks and is out of date when it lands.
  • A system is out of support, and the last implementation delivered the old process at a higher licence cost.
  • Reports disagree with each other. Master data is duplicated and the chart of accounts has grown by exception, so AI and analytics work stalls on the data.

What we offer

  • Finance Diagnostic.

    Six to eight weeks, fixed fee. A baseline of what finance costs and delivers, signed by your finance lead; a process inventory; a prioritised first wave; and an opening business case your board can decide on.

  • Finance Operating Model.

    What the function provides, how it is organised and sourced, and who may decide what. With standard processes, a controls matrix and a close calendar for each domain, role impact statements and formal consultation. Twelve to twenty weeks.

  • Systems & Partner Selection.

    A target architecture and a requirements catalogue derived from your standard process. Every supplier passes our buying rule before it is scored on your own scenarios and data. Eight to sixteen weeks.

  • Planning & Performance Transformation.

    Budgeting, forecasting and integrated business planning rebuilt end to end: a finance data model that reconciles to the ledger, a planning system selected and implemented, and management information cut to what serves a decision. Nine to fifteen months.

  • Core Finance & Close Modernisation.

    Ledger, purchase to pay, order to cash and the close, redesigned and implemented: one chart of accounts, controls built into the system, migration reconciled to the penny, and acceptance run by your own finance team. Twelve to eighteen months.

  • Finance Data Foundation.

    One chart of accounts; master data with an owner, a source and a duplicate threshold; a finance data model that reconciles plan to actuals every period; and a data contract for every feed. The foundation AI and analytics need. Three to six months.

  • Finance Function Build.

    For a new organisation, spin-out or merger: a finance function built without legacy, with every post tested against a frozen reference establishment and standard processes on a system of record from day one. Six to twelve months.

  • Programme Assurance & Recovery.

    An independent view of a finance systems or transformation programme that is late, over budget or has lost its board's confidence, with a dated recovery plan. Three to four weeks for assurance; interim programme leadership for recovery where you need it.

  • Finance Systems Service Management.

    After go-live, someone has to own the system. Second-line support, change control, upgrade testing, and master data and chart of accounts governance. A managed service, renewable yearly.

  • Fractional Transformation Director.

    Senior transformation leadership one to three days a week, on a six-month renewable retainer: sponsoring a programme from the inside, chairing the design authority, holding a supplier to account.

How we work

  1. Diagnose.

    Baseline, inventory, first wave, opening business case. Gate 0 at week eight.

  2. Design.

    Operating model, processes, controls, data and architecture, designed together. Gate 1 timed to land before your budget round.

  3. Select.

    Buying rule first, then scoring on your scenarios. The design is not changed to fit a supplier.

  4. Build and test.

    Two reconciled trial migrations, a parallel run and every key control tested. Gate 2 is the go/no-go.

  5. Go live and switch off.

    Legacy systems off within three months; licences cancelled.

  6. Realise and close.

    Posts and contracts released on their dates; a closing case twelve months after go-live. Gate 3.

Who it is for

Finance directors and financial controllers in organisations of roughly 50 to 2,000 staff, public bodies and grant-funded organisations, and groups with several units, ledgers or countries.

Experience

Thirty years of finance and technology transformation, led at CFO, group financial controller and ministerial level. Anonymised; client names on request where permission allows.

  • Global planning and forecasting. A planning platform for a global consumer healthcare company across 120 markets and about 2,000 users, and an in-house service management team created to run it.
  • Government consolidation and planning. A budgeting and consolidation platform for a UK central government department, holding the financial data of every central and local public body.
  • Finance operating model and planning. For a UK government agency with about 450 sites: a new finance operating model agreed through formal staff and union consultation, then an integrated planning platform.
  • Pension consolidation. For a UK justice-sector department: 34 pension funds consolidated and 102 separate member datasets migrated.
  • ERP and shared services. Oracle and SAP implementations for government agencies and an engineering services group; the merger of two departmental shared service centres serving 96,000 employees.
  • FP&A and performance management. Planning frameworks and activity-based costing for consumer goods, pharmaceutical and infrastructure companies, including an £850 million-a-year infrastructure consortium.

Results under this methodology are measured and reported to each client against its own baseline and reconciled to its accounts. We do not publish them.

Frequently asked questions

Do you implement the system yourselves?

We lead the implementation and are accountable for it. Configuration is done by the implementation partner selected with you, overseen by our associate specialists on that platform. Acceptance testing is run by your finance team, never by the supplier.

Why standardise the process before choosing the system?

Because otherwise configuration becomes design. Selection then scores suppliers against a known process, and the customisation log stays short.

How do you count benefits?

In three categories: cash, capacity and outcome. Only cash enters the cash case. A cash benefit is recognised when a post, a contract or a spend line leaves the budget, never at go-live.

What is the buying rule?

Four conditions no system we select may fail: access to all its data through an interface at no extra licence cost; full export rights; audit logs and single sign-on; and a clause barring the supplier from training on your data.

What happens after go-live?

The run state is designed in the first phase, not the last: a support model, legacy systems switched off within three months, and a closing business case twelve months after go-live.

Start with a Finance Diagnostic: six to eight weeks, fixed fee, and a case your board can decide on.

Email
[email protected]
Telephone
+44 7887 742418
Location
London, United Kingdom

See also: AI Enablement