Interim CFO for PE portfolios.
‍Clarity after closing.

Which bottleneck does your portfolio company face?

The monthly close arrives too late for decisions

Interim accounting prioritises outstanding entries and reconciliations with your team. Initial deliverables: a backlog register, a close calendar and clear owners. We start with the last reconciled month, unresolved accounts and the next reporting deadline.

The fund's reporting does not match internal reporting

FP&A aligns metrics, data sources and reconciliations with management and the fund; the CFO owns financial communication. Initial deliverable: a board pack with earnings and cash bridges, commentary on variances and decisions still required.

The plan was built at acquisition and has not been updated since

FP&A connects current actuals to revenue, headcount and cash drivers. Initial deliverable: a base and downside forecast with documented assumptions, owners and a review date. Where finance leadership is missing, a CFO takes responsibility for priorities.

What the engagement should put in place

Reliable closes and consistent reporting

An agreed closing calendar, clear ownership and one reporting format for management and the fund. Data gaps are made visible and prioritised.

Visibility over liquidity and covenants

A rolling 13-week cash forecast, with documented metrics, deadlines and responsibilities for lender reporting.

Finance leadership and a documented handover

Payment approvals, points of contact and responsibilities are clear. The successor receives documented processes and a prioritised action plan.

References from portfolio companies

Since 2019 Sebastian Janus has taken on more than twelve mandates as interim CFO and advisor, mostly in B2B software and SaaS companies with 30 to more than 500 employees. On the shareholder side these included Main Capital Partners, Verdane, Paragon Partners, AEM Capital, Insight Partners, eCapital and BayBG. The mandates covered transition and bridging, post-merger integration, Series A to C financing rounds, exit preparation and restructuring.

See all twelve mandates with brief, scope and outcome

Frequently asked questions from investment firms

What does a private equity investor expect from the finance function in the first 100 days?

Three things: a monthly report on a fixed date with an EBITDA bridge, a cash bridge and working capital development; a rolling 13-week liquidity forecast; and integrated planning that lets covenant compliance be projected forward. System changes, team restructuring and process optimisation come afterwards.

How quickly can an interim CFO start in a portfolio company?

Ready to start within 24 hours. We propose suitable profiles from our own network; the assignment usually begins within a few days of the selection - even when the vacancy came up unexpectedly.

What scope do you work at in portfolio companies?

From two days a week to a full-time appointment, depending on the situation. Building a reporting function is no longer a full-time job after the first few weeks; in smaller portfolio companies a reduced scope is therefore often the economically right answer. The scope is adjusted during the mandate.

Do you also handle consolidation in buy-and-build strategies?

Yes. That covers defining the consolidation scope, reconciling intercompany balances, a unified chart of accounts with a mapping, and a shared closing calendar - plus a repeatable integration routine, so that the fifth add-on does not trigger the same work as the first.

Do you support exit preparation?

Yes. It makes sense to start twelve to eighteen months before the planned process, because the figures under review cover the three years before it. The work includes audit-ready monthly closes, substantiated earnings adjustments, preparing a factbook and setting up the data room.

What does an interim CFO cost for a portfolio company?

According to the DDIM market study, the average day rate in the German interim market for 2026 is around €1,317 across all functions. CFO mandates with transaction and private equity experience sit above that; the market range typically extends to around €2,500. Alongside the rate, the agreed scope is what really drives total cost.

Why an interim CFO rather than going straight to a permanent hire?

Usually both together are the right answer. A permanent hire takes six to nine months including the notice period, plus recruiting fees of 25 to 30 per cent of an annual salary. During that time the holding runs without finance leadership – in exactly the phase in which the fund is looking most closely. An interim mandate keeps the function operational, creates the basis on which the permanent role can sensibly be advertised in the first place, and ends with the successor being brought up to speed.

What happens if the interim CFO drops out?

Roles are filled from a team spanning CFO, controlling and accounting level, not from a single person. If someone drops out, we propose a replacement within 24 hours. Independently of that, the brief includes documenting the reporting and closing process so that it works without the person running it – something a mandate can be measured against after 90 days.

Service agreement or employee leasing – how is a mandate set up contractually?

As a service agreement with a described scope of work, without being bound by instructions and without being integrated into the holding's organisation. Employee leasing is a different model with its own licensing requirement. Which features decide the distinction in practice is covered in a separate article; none of this replaces legal advice.

We already work with an interim provider. What is the difference?

A provider matches profiles against a role specification and charges a market-standard mark-up of 25 to 35 per cent on the placed person's day rate. With us the assessment comes first: what is missing in the holding's finance function, which role in which scope closes that – and only then the appointment. On our side there is a shareholder with twelve mandates as interim CFO and advisor in portfolio companies of his own. Where the purchasing route runs through a framework agreement, the two can be combined.

Self-check: does the holding need finance leadership on a temporary basis?

Six questions that open every intro call. If three of them stay unanswered, the holding's finance function cannot be steered today – however well the bookkeeping is run.

1. When is the next date on which the fund expects a set of figures – and what is still missing until then?

2. Is there a rolling liquidity forecast that lets covenant compliance be projected forward?

3. Who actually runs the finance function today – and for how much longer?

4. How many entities are consolidated, and in which system?

5. If the exit runs in eighteen months: who prepares the factbook, and from when?

6. What should be in place when the mandate ends – a person, a process or a trained successor?

The answers take thirty minutes. After that it is clear whether this calls for a role, a project or neither.