In a carve-out, a unit has to present numbers it never had. We provide the finance function that builds the carve-out balance sheet, substantiates the stand-alone costs and carries the unit to its first day of independence – for a fixed term, with a clear end date.
A business unit is to be sold or made independent. Until now it was a division, not a company: no balance sheet of its own, no history, no commercial leadership. Revenue and direct costs can be allocated; everything else cannot.
At the same time, day-to-day business carries on, and the buyer side tests every assumption. The need for financial leadership is immediate but time-limited – exactly the profile a fixed-term appointment is made for.
The interim CFO leads the finance side of the carve-out and takes responsibility for the result. In practice that means: building the carve-out balance sheet with a documented allocation logic, determining and defending the stand-alone costs, capturing and pricing the transitional services including an exit plan, and setting up bookkeeping, payments and reporting up to the first day of independence.
Added to this is the role of counterpart to the buyer side, the auditors and the banks – the point at which most carve-outs lose time, because nobody inside the company can fully vouch for the numbers.
Define what belongs to the unit and what does not: assets, liabilities, contracts, staff. Every allocation is documented as a decision, because it will be negotiated later.
Build the carve-out balance sheet for two to three financial years, determine stand-alone costs, align with auditors and the buyer side.
Own company code, own payment runs, opening balance sheet, signing authorities, insurance. Whatever is not in place on day one costs double in month one.
Own close before reporting, reporting before planning, planning before systems. In parallel, the exit from transitional services with fixed dates.
Before the perimeter decision, not after. Whoever allocates assets and costs without financial leadership corrects the allocation later under negotiating pressure.
In the first year, almost always. The function sat in head office until now and does not transfer, while the set-up is more demanding than later steady-state operation. After that, a smaller solution is often enough.
Depending on size and scope of responsibility, the day rate is between EUR 1,400 and 2,500. The ranges by role are on the pricing page.
The preparation comes from the company, the attestation from the auditor. The interim CFO supplies the data base and the documented assumptions the auditor builds on.
Stand-alone costs set too low. They make the post-closing earnings plan untenable at once – and the buyer side checks exactly this point.
Suitable profiles usually within 24 hours; start after interview and contract signature.
The service: Interim CFO for private equity portfolios. How a mandate runs is set out under Interim CFO, day rates by role on the pricing page.
Terms in the glossary: Carve-out and Carve-out balance sheet.
In depth in the article Carve-out finance: stand-alone balance sheet and day-one readiness.