The first 100 days of finance integration.

Day 1: keep the business operating

The first question is whether the acquired business can continue to collect cash, pay employees and suppliers, access its systems, and preserve reliable financial records. A complete ERP migration is a different objective. Separate the minimum operating requirements at close from the later improvements you want to make.

PwC describes integration as a sequence beginning before close and continuing through the first 100 days and beyond, with governance and coordination across workstreams. Its finance integration approach emphasizes reporting, budgeting and approvals while maintaining day-to-day operations.[1]

Use a short Day 1 evidence list. Each item needs an owner and a practical demonstration of readiness:

• Cash and payments: authorized people can see balances and run approved payment processes; payroll dependencies and near-term obligations are understood.
• Access and approval: finance permissions and delegated authority match the intended responsibilities. Work with authorized IT and banking administrators.
• Records: source ledgers, reconciliations and supporting documents are preserved. Name the owner for opening-balance work and the specialist accounting questions.
• People: local and group teams know their reporting contacts, escalation route and critical deadlines.

Day 30: make the combined numbers visible

The first combined report should have an explicit boundary: which entities, periods and measures it covers, and what remains provisional. Define the group reporting package before requesting a long list of exports. Otherwise the acquired team can spend the month producing data that does not answer the CFO’s questions.

A useful first package includes a reconciled trial-balance submission, an agreed mapping to group categories, a liquidity view and a short list of material exceptions. Keep the source ledger intact and make transformation steps visible. An interim reporting process may be appropriate while systems work continues.

• Agree the close calendar: submission dates, review dates, escalation times and owners.
• Review mappings: identify unmapped accounts, inconsistent classifications and missing dimensions before combining entities.
• Resolve intercompany exceptions: record both counterparties, the difference, the cause and who will clear it.
• Document the baseline: distinguish ordinary operating performance, integration costs and expected benefits.

See the multi-entity reporting guide for a suggested submission and reconciliation design. Use Pro Forma Financials when exploring the combined financial picture, with acquisition timing and presentation assumptions stated explicitly.

Day 60: make the process repeatable

After the first close, convert workarounds into an owned process. Start with the exceptions that created rework: late data, conflicting definitions, missing reconciliations or unclear approval authority. Standardize the steps that remove those problems before expanding the reporting package.

The target is not identical spreadsheets everywhere. It is a consistent set of definitions and review requirements. Entity teams can use different local systems if their submissions remain traceable and comparable. Document how the source balances become group reports, who may change mappings and how exceptions are approved.

Use a brief close retrospective:

1. Which deadlines were missed, and what dependency caused the delay?
2. Which adjustments were made after submission, and could the entity team have identified them earlier?
3. Which tasks depend on one person, and what backup or documentation is needed?
4. What should move into the recurring close checklist at PE Close?

Day 100: hand over a finance operating model

Day 100 is a checkpoint, not a claim that every system has been integrated. By this stage, name the recurring owners, agree the reporting routine and show which open issues remain. Major migrations need their own plan, capacity assessment, testing and approval process.

Review integration outcomes against the deal baseline. Keep realized benefits separate from forecast benefits, and record the costs incurred to achieve them. If an initiative is behind, show the required decision and the expected financial effect rather than describing it as simply “in progress.” Value Creation Plans provides a related place to frame those initiatives.

Run a decision meeting, not a status recital

Begin the weekly integration review with overdue critical work and blocked dependencies. For each issue, record the decision required, the person authorized to make it and the latest useful decision date. Then review upcoming milestones and whether the team has enough capacity to meet them.

The integration planner shows task completion and overdue work. Those measures are deliberately simple. A high completion percentage does not offset one unresolved critical payment or reporting dependency, and it does not verify the quality of completed work.

Carry diligence findings into the plan where they require action. For example, an unresolved revenue-quality question may need a reporting control, while a one-time adjustment may need documentation. QoE Kit addresses that earlier diligence work; this plan addresses execution after the handoff.

This is an illustrative management framework. Dates are examples, not statutory deadlines. Transaction-specific accounting, contractual, tax and legal requirements need qualified review.