Interim financial leadership — for companies growing faster than their structures.
When an interim CFO is the right step
When the finance function no longer keeps up with the pace of the company. Typical triggers: a growth phase in which reporting, forecast and processes fall behind; a vacancy after the CFO leaves; an ERP implementation; a transaction such as an acquisition, spin-off or exit; or missing leadership in finance. In all five cases the need is acute and time-limited, and that is what an interim mandate is built for: available immediately, usually within one to two weeks, without recruiting lead time and without permanent fixed cost.
The four most common starting positions, each with an example mandate, are on the Diagnosis page; the distinction from fractional CFO, consultant and permanent hire is in the guide Interim CFO, fractional CFO, consultant or permanent hire?
How I work
Every mandate follows four phases: create clarity, deliver fast, secure results, hand over cleanly. From day one I take on operational line responsibility, make decisions and lead the team, full-time or three to five days a week, on site and remote. Billing is by days worked; experienced interim CFOs in Germany charge between €1,200 and €2,500 per day. The worked example for a whole mandate is in the guide What does an Interim CFO cost?
I use AI where the data base can carry it: master data and chart of accounts first, then one process with a metric. How that works is under AI automation in finance. The four phases in detail on the Approach page.
Who I work for
Companies with €4m to €100m revenue that grow faster than their structures: PE- and VC-backed portfolio companies, start-ups from Series A and scale-ups, high-growth SMEs. Industry experience in SaaS, high-tech, med-tech, e-mobility, automotive, FMCG and NGOs. Assignments across Germany, home base Bonn.
Three examples: at vialytics I built the finance function from zero to Series B level in 30 months, ARR grew from €3m to €15m. At KRÜSS, an owner-managed hidden champion, I led finance and the CRM rollout and handed over to the permanent successor. At PeriGuard the task after the management buy-out was stabilisation, finance build-up and bank financing. All 15+ documented mandates, filterable by target group, under Results.
What you keep after the mandate
A mandate that makes itself redundant. At the end there are reliable processes, a well-functioning team and a documented handover to the permanent successor or the internal finance team. In numbers: two accounting departments built from zero to investor-ready, six ERP and CRM systems implemented, three board-ready KPI dashboards, six financing rounds with more than €100m supported.
What that looks like in the first 90 days after a financing round is in the guide Finance function after Series A, why ERP projects fail in the guide ERP implementation in a scale-up. What clients say after the mandate: Testimonials. The 27 most frequent questions, from daily rate to the use of AI tools, are answered in the FAQ.
AI automation in finance: clean up first, then automate
In both mandate cases since July 2026 the problem was the data base: master data in several systems, 11 files without a single link, two lists without a shared key. So I work in two stages. Stage 1 cleans master data and chart of accounts. Stage 2 automates one process, with a metric before and after.
Three formats: an inventory in 2 to 3 days, an implementation over 60 to 90 days, or part of an interim CFO mandate. Your figures stay on a company platform with a data processing agreement and EU hosting; public chat tools are not used. Scope, deliverables and prices: AI automation in finance.
What this delivered in a mandate
At PeriGuard, an auction of around 240 lots was neither settled nor booked ten months after the hammer fell. A seemingly inextricable tangle of data became a continuous, auditable document and data package, booked correctly, reconciled and closed by mutual agreement. The machine read around 600 pages and tied every figure to its document. What to claim, it did not decide.
The same mandate produced a knowledge document with a chronology from November 2024 and 20 documented pitfalls, plus an archive of 271 files and 374 machine-checked cross-references. Both results with date and evidence status: Results; the position behind them: AI in finance.