M&A Finance: Diligence & Integration

From pre-deal diligence to post-deal integration, we're in it with you. Before the deal, we assess the target's finance structure against the buyer's setup — an assessment, not a full technical or financial due diligence. After the deal, we run the full finance integration — the target, the buyer's finance function and the support functions around it (mobility, legal, travel, HR, IT, etc.) — through day-100 and into the steady state, run by us or handed back.

Discuss your transaction Read: Integration vs. the grey zone

The grey zone where deals lose value

Post-deal finance work has two fundamentally different natures. Integration is urgent and compliance-driven: the acquired entity must report into the group, meet statutory deadlines, and survive its first audit under new ownership. Transformation is strategic and mandate-driven: harmonising systems, redesigning processes, capturing synergies.

The most expensive mistake is mixing the two. Transformation ambitions get smuggled into the integration plan, the critical path balloons, deadlines slip — and suddenly the things that had to happen by Day 1 or first close are competing with things that merely should happen someday.

We keep the lists separate. Integration gets a deadline and a plan. Transformation gets a mandate and a business case — or it waits.

That discipline comes from leading finance integration hand-in-hand with the integration management office (IMO) on major acquisitions — and from the post-acquisition finance transformations that followed.

From diligence to a finance function that reports

We work on both sides of signing. Before the deal: an assessment of the target's finance structure in relation to the buyer's setup — not a full technical due diligence — focused on what integration will actually cost and where the operational risks sit. After the deal: leading or supporting the finance integration workstream — combining the target's finance function with the buyer's and the support functions around it (mobility, legal, travel, HR, etc.) — the work between signing and operational integration that typically falls between corporate development and business-as-usual (BAU) finance.

Typical deliverables

  • Finance structure assessment — the target's setup in relation to the buyer's: entity structure, governance, compliance status and integration cost estimate
  • Day-1 readiness plan — the non-negotiables: payroll runs, payments flow, control is established, reporting line works
  • First-100-days integration plan — sequenced, compliance-first, with clear owners on both sides
  • Entity structure & governance integration — directorships, signatory rights, statutory obligations, intercompany setup
  • Chart of accounts & reporting alignment — group reporting from the first close, harmonisation roadmap after
  • Finance workstream leadership & IMO coordination — cadence, tracking, escalation and cross-functional alignment
  • Separation of integration vs. transformation backlog — so the deadline list stays deliverable
How It Runs

A deadline-driven cadence

Pre-Sign

Diligence

What does this finance function actually look like — and what will it cost to integrate? Findings feed the sale and purchase agreement (SPA) and the price.

Day 1

Control

Payments flow, payroll runs, signatories are in place, cash is visible. Nothing breaks on the morning after close.

Day 100

Compliance

Group reporting works, statutory obligations are mapped and met, governance is integrated, audit-readiness confirmed.

Beyond

Transformation

Now — with control established — harmonisation and synergy work proceeds as a scoped programme, not a side effect.

An instant back office for the acquired entity

Acquired companies often lose finance staff exactly when reporting demands double. Our shared services center can take over the acquired entity's accounting, AP and AR during — or permanently after — integration, giving the deal team a stable back office instead of a retention crisis.

How the shared services center works

A transaction on the horizon?

The earlier integration thinking enters the deal, the cheaper it gets. Talk to us before signing — or the week after, if that's where you are.

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