Corporate finance improves when the organization can see its commitments, evaluate choices consistently and act before a funding problem becomes urgent.
A focused 90-day program can establish those foundations. It should target the most consequential gaps rather than attempt to rebuild every finance process at once.
Days 1 to 15: map cash and commitments
Build a common view of available cash, expected receipts, required payments, facilities, maturities and significant investment commitments.
Reconcile the view with operations, commercial teams and the relevant legal entities. Identify uncertain receipts and conditions attached to funding.
Select the most important question: an approaching liquidity low point, weak investment cases, a refinancing concentration or another material exposure.
Name the accountable executive and working owners.
Days 16 to 30: establish consistent decision rules
Agree cash-flow definitions, appraisal conventions and the treatment of tax, inflation, currency and financing.
Document how discount rates are estimated and when project risk differs from the corporate business. Define the evidence required for an investment or funding decision.
A hypothetical manufacturing group discovers that project teams use different working-capital assumptions and treat labor time released as immediate cash savings. Correcting those rules can change the portfolio before any new spending occurs.
Days 31 to 45: reassess the critical decisions
Review a small number of major projects, funding obligations and discretionary capital uses.
Rebuild the incremental cash case where necessary. Compare alternatives, stage options and downside consequences. Check the operational resources needed to deliver.
Do not reopen every historical decision simply to create a complete database. Focus on commitments that can still change and assumptions capable of affecting the outcome.
Days 46 to 75: test the management routine
Run two connected reviews:
- A short-term cash review addresses timing and obligations.
- A capital review addresses value, risk and portfolio choices.
Use coherent scenarios and identify action triggers. Confirm who can approve a response and which options remain feasible.
Assign owners for benefits, covenant monitoring and significant forecasts. Record decisions and unresolved conditions.
Where a pilot can improve an uncertain investment choice, define the learning and the next release criterion.
Days 76 to 90: verify and prioritize
Check forecast accuracy, the quality of decisions and whether actions reduced the intended exposure.
Review investment assumptions against early operating evidence. Distinguish actual cash improvement from timing shifts or revised reporting.
Decide what to scale, redesign or stop. Set priorities for deeper valuation, refinancing or process work that needs more time.
Maintain coherence after the program
Refresh dated market inputs and reassess material changes in business risk. Preserve the original decision basis for post-investment learning.
Keep earnings, cash, value and liquidity visible as distinct but connected views. A favorable result in one does not automatically resolve the others.
For the next executive meeting, present the three most consequential capital choices, the lowest expected liquidity point and the evidence required for the next decision.
The objective is a business that can invest in valuable opportunities while retaining the financial capacity to execute and adapt.