Situations
When to call me
Most conversations start with a sentence that sounds like a single problem. Behind it there is almost always something structural. Here is what I look at first in these cases and what is different after four weeks.
- 01
Our monthly close takes three weeks.
- How you notice it
- The numbers are outdated before anyone reads them. The meeting debates whether they are correct rather than what they mean.
- What is usually behind it
- Rarely the accounting team. Usually reconciliation steps that were never automated, approvals without deadlines and reports stitched together from three sources.
- What I look at first
- The last close, step by step, with the people who did it: who waits for whom and which file gets touched by hand.
- What is in place after four weeks
- A closing calendar with clear responsibilities and a list of the steps to be automated — separated into technical and organizational delays.
- 02
We have five entities and no group view.
- How you notice it
- Each company’s books are clean on their own, the total is built in an Excel workbook maintained by one person.
- What is usually behind it
- Differing charts of accounts, intercompany without rules and no layer between accounting and analysis that keeps the logic in one place.
- What I look at first
- The charts of accounts side by side, the consolidation workbook and the question of which reports the shareholders actually need.
- What is in place after four weeks
- A shared reporting model with account mapping and a clear decision: a custom data layer or Datenbrücke, if everything lives in DATEV.
- 03
The ERP project is getting out of hand.
- How you notice it
- Deadline, budget and scope have drifted apart. The implementation partner sends change requests, the organization feels misunderstood.
- What is usually behind it
- Scope was defined by feature lists rather than processes. Every feature gets delivered, and the result still does not fit how the business runs.
- What I look at first
- Contract, acceptance criteria and open items — and, in the departments, which processes the system really has to carry.
- What is in place after four weeks
- A re-cut scope, written acceptance criteria, a realistic date and client-side project leadership that steers the partner.
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- 04
We plan liquidity in Excel and know it won’t hold.
- How you notice it
- One person understands the plan. It is fed by hand every month and drifts off after three weeks without anyone knowing why.
- What is usually behind it
- Not a calculation problem but a data problem: open items, payment behavior and due dates come in by hand and age at different rates.
- What I look at first
- Where each input of the plan comes from, how old it is and which assumptions explain the largest variances.
- What is in place after four weeks
- A 13-week plan connected to open items and accounting data, with a few named drivers and a weekly plan-vs-actual.
- 05
The deal is signed — now the company has to go into the group accounts.
- How you notice it
- Different charts of accounts, different systems and different ideas of what a monthly close is. The next transaction is already on the way.
- What is usually behind it
- Each integration is treated as a one-off. In buy-and-build, only an approach that can be repeated scales.
- What I look at first
- Systems, chart of accounts and closing process of the target — and the people in its accounting team who know the special cases.
- What is in place after four weeks
- An integration plan with fixed phases, entry and acceptance criteria that can be reused for the next company.
- 06
The head of finance position is vacant.
- How you notice it
- The position is open, or the finance lead has not had time to steer for months. Hiring takes time, but the close has to run anyway.
- What is usually behind it
- Knowledge sits with people rather than processes. When one person is missing, it is not just capacity that goes, but the overview.
- What I look at first
- The close, liquidity and the most urgent open topics with banks, shareholders and auditors — in that order.
- What is in place after four weeks
- A closing calendar that holds, a liquidity overview and a prioritized list of what needs to be in order before the handover.
None of this fits exactly?
Then the Clarity Check is the right starting point: one or two weeks, fixed fee, with a prioritized roadmap at the end.