Case study
PE-backed multi-unit operator: liquidity and cash management
Multi-brand portfolio, many locations, active lender relationship
- Function
- Cash & liquidity / Forecasting & planning rigor
- Context
- PE-backed / Multi-unit franchise
- Engagement
- Multi-year
- PE-sponsor
- Board-reported
The challenge
Where it started.
At scale, cash decisions happen before the financials close. A multi-brand platform operating across many locations needs to know where liquidity is going before it arrives, not after. The business lacked the forecasting precision to make proactive cash decisions or manage vendor payables strategically. Lender conversations were reactive rather than informed. The board and sponsor were making capital allocation decisions without a reliable read on the cash position that would follow.
13-week cash horizon
The approach
How the work was done.
The 13-week model was built with a clear owner, a weekly cadence, and a defined relationship between operating performance and cash generation. A liquidity forecast that nobody maintains is just a spreadsheet. One with ownership and a process is a management tool.
The model was designed to surface decisions, not just report outcomes. Every week the output answered the same questions: where is cash tight, what levers are available, and what needs to happen in the next two weeks to protect the position. That framing turned the forecast from a reporting exercise into a decision-support tool.
Vendor payables were integrated into the liquidity model rather than managed in isolation. Payment timing, terms, and vendor relationships were treated as levers, pulled in coordination with the cash position, not independent of it.
Lender relations were managed with the forecast as the foundation. Coming to lender conversations with a model that holds close to actual outcomes changes the dynamic. It is the difference between a lender who trusts the management team and one who is always asking for more information.
Cash decisions happen before the financials close. The forecast is not a report. It is the tool that gives leadership time to act.
The outcome
What changed.
A 13-week liquidity forecasting process built to hold within tight tolerances, consistently close to actual cash outcomes. Proactive cash decisions replaced reactive ones. Vendor payables were managed as a strategic lever connected to the liquidity position rather than as a separate function. Lender relations were run on a stable, informed footing with the forecast as the primary communication tool.
- Precision
- Tight tolerance
- Forecast held close to actual cash outcomes across the full 13-week horizon
- Horizon
- 13 weeks
- Proactive cash decisions made before the financials close
- Lever
- Vendor payables
- Managed in coordination with the cash position, not independent of it
Where this work fits
Part of a broader practice.
This engagement is part of a broader practice. If this is the kind of problem you have, start here:
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