Performance & cost
Using Zero-Based Growth to sharpen focus and accountability
How ZBG shifts leadership focus, protects growth investment and improves EBITDA without adding complexity.
Read article →CFO Excellence Insights
Practical notes, frameworks and reflections for CEOs, founders, PE partners and finance leaders who want finance to drive value creation – not just reporting.
Browse by theme, or start with the most-read insights below. All are written from an operator’s perspective: what actually works in PE-backed, scale-up, AI-enabled and complex corporate environments.
Not sure where to start?
Start with the decision guide if you’re choosing CFO capacity. If interim CFO is on the table, make sure you pick the right type of interim CFO — not just “an interim”.
Or jump straight to: Fractional CFO · Interim CFO · CFO Advisory · Private Equity · Scale-ups · What CFO Excellence means · Interim CFO types · Interim vs Fractional CFO · AI in Finance · AI in FP&A
Use these themes to jump into the topics that are most relevant to your context. Each stream collects articles, frameworks and checklists.
Translating investment theses into earnings, cash and portfolio value.
Roles, processes and rhythms that let finance keep pace with the business.
How to think about interim, fractional, advisory and permanent CFO roles.
Building the data, reporting and digital backbone for decision-making.
What actually works today, where companies overhype it, and how CFOs build advantage over the next 3–5 years.
Practical notes on translating strategy and investment theses into earnings, cash and execution discipline across the organisation.
Relevant for: CFO for Private Equity → · PE finance mindset → · PE value creation →
Performance & cost
How ZBG shifts leadership focus, protects growth investment and improves EBITDA without adding complexity.
Read article →PE perspective
Value creation rarely fails in strategy. It fails in decision cadence, capital trade-offs and signal quality. A practical CFO lens on what needs to be enforced.
Read article →Board perspective
Boards rarely struggle with lack of data. They struggle with lack of clarity. What they value most is judgment, signal quality, and decision-ready communication.
Read article →M&A integration
A CFO lens on integration: governance, decision rights and the non-negotiables that protect value.
Read article →Leadership rhythm
How to design a rhythm leaders actually use — quarterly, monthly and weekly cadences that drive decisions.
Read article →PE mindset
What “PE-ready finance” really means — decision speed, capital discipline and the operating mechanisms that investors rely on to drive value creation.
Read article →Designing finance to keep pace with the business — roles, scope and operating rhythms that work in practice.
Relevant for: Fractional CFO → · Interim CFO →
When to use interim, fractional or permanent CFO models — and how to ensure leadership capacity matches your agenda.
Start here: When to hire a CFO → · Compare services → · Interim CFO types →
Flagship
A decision-grade definition of excellence: shaping decisions, capital allocation, scalable trust, operating rhythm, and leadership that scales.
Read article →Decision guide
Most interim CFO disappointments are profile mismatches. A practical guide to 8 common interim CFO assignment types, the profile each requires, and what to expect in the first 90 days.
Read guide →Decision guide
A board-level comparison of outcomes, time horizon, cost profile, and the signals that tell you which model you need.
Read guide →CFO role & capacity
Signs the CFO remit has outgrown the current setup — and practical options to add capacity without destabilising execution.
Read article →How CFOs build the data and reporting backbone that underpins earnings, cash and execution.
Often part of: Fractional CFO →
A practical, operator-led view on where AI is actually creating value in finance today, where it is still overhyped, and how CFOs should build advantage without waiting for perfect data or perfect tools.
Start with: Flagship AI in Finance → · AI in FP&A → · AI in R2R & SSC → · Why AI programs fail →
Flagship
A sharp CFO view on where AI actually works today, where it fails, and why the real advantage over the next 3–5 years will come from learning velocity and disciplined experimentation.
Read article →Deep dive
Why forecasting is not being automated, where AI does improve FP&A, and how CFOs should think about baseline forecasts, scenario modelling and the changing analyst role.
Read article →Deep dive
The most credible near-term finance ROI from AI still sits in the engine room: invoice processing, transaction classification, reconciliations, close support and controls.
Read article →Deep dive
The recurring failure patterns are surprisingly predictable: AI theatre, pilot factories, weak ownership, no P&L logic and too much faith in tools over process discipline.
Read article →If one or two articles resonated, we can translate that into a practical next step: advisory, fractional or interim.
A few questions that often come up when PE funds, CEOs or finance leaders start working with CFO Excellence.
No. I work with PE-backed platforms, founder-led scale-ups and corporate divisions or carve-outs. The common factor is a strong ambition, a degree of complexity and a clear need to upgrade finance.
I am based in the Netherlands and typically work across the Benelux, Germany, the UK and broader Europe. Remote work is possible for most advisory and some fractional engagements; interim roles often require a regular on-site presence.
Advisory work is often structured in sprints of 6–12 weeks. Fractional CFO roles typically run 6–18 months. Interim CFO mandates are usually 6–12 months with a clear start and handover.
Yes. A natural part of many engagements is shaping the finance operating model and then building the right team against it – including the permanent CFO or key leadership roles in business control, FP&A, SSC or data.