High growth CFO’s are a key driver of investment and exit execution, valuation stories, due diligence prep and post deal integration.
In this article, we explore how CFOs lead successful transactions, manage risk and prepare businesses for exit, including IPO readiness, drawing inspiration from CFO Forum.
At the event, hosted collaboratively by Cooper Parry and Founders Forum Group, Imran Khan (Laka), Tom Oldham (Monzo) and Peter Glover (Montreal Park) shared their well-versed views of M&A, exit strategy, and the modern-day CFO’s role through it all.
The Evolving Role of the CFO in M&A
Across the panel, there was strong consensus that successful M&A requires CFOs to take end-to-end ownership of the process. From identifying opportunities through to valuation, negotiation, due diligence and integration, the CFO is increasingly the connective thread holding the deal together. Not just a project manager, but the key to understanding, managing, and smoothing stakeholder emotions throughout the process.
- Leading deal origination and strategic evaluation
- Owning valuation frameworks and negotiation strategy
- Multi-stakeholder management
- Driving due diligence and risk assessment
- Overseeing post-deal integration
A delicate balancing act.
Founders often bring ambition and conviction, which the CFO must complement with discipline and objectivity. In some cases, that means having the confidence to push back – or stop a deal entirely – when the fundamentals don’t stack up.
Building the capability to operate this way doesn’t happen overnight. Teams tend to evolve in stages:
- Start lean: CEO, CFO, and minimal legal support
- Scale gradually as deal activity increases
- Avoid early signalling to maintain focus on core operations
Experience remains the ultimate differentiator. While strong external advisors can significantly accelerate the process and help avoid common pitfalls, organisations still build lasting capability by doing. The most effective CFOs combine high-quality external support with hands-on involvement – ensuring they aren’t only executing transactions successfully but also building internal judgement over time.
Starting with smaller transactions allows teams to develop confidence and repeatable processes, supported by the right expertise at key moments. The most effective companies then:
- Capture learnings through retrospectives
- Build internal M&A playbooks
- Institutionalise knowledge beyond individuals
CFO Best Practices for Successful M&A Execution
Not all deals are equal – and size matters more than many expect.
- Small deals (acqui-hires):
- Faster execution
- Lighter diligence
- Simpler integration
- Large transactions:
- Deploy external advisors
- Demand dedicated cross functional internal teams
- Involve significant governance
- Mid-sized deals:
- Often the most challenging
- Full integration complexity
- Limited transformational upside
Regardless of size, successful deals start with strategic clarity. Before entering the market, CFOs need a clear framework for deciding when to build, buy, or partner.
Then, key enablers of success include:
- Strong stakeholder alignment early on
- Business owner buy-in to support integration
Despite all the technical and financial considerations, the biggest point of failure is still culture. As one speaker put it, integration goes wrong “ten times out of ten” when culture isn’t addressed properly.
Effective cultural integration requires deliberate action:
- Align compensation, equity and performance frameworks from day one
- Cross-seed teams early to build shared ownership
- Maintain continuous listening and feedback over multiple years
The CFO Forum panel also highlighted several recurring red flags in due diligence:
- Opportunities that appear “too good to be true”
- Assets that have been bought and sold multiple times
- Weak underlying data quality
- Questionable customer authenticity
- Hidden issues in payment behaviour or defaults
IPO Preparation: The CFO’s Role in Exit Strategy
When it comes to exits, the conversation challenged the long-standing assumption that an IPO is the natural end goal. For 99.9% of businesses, this is not the case.
Going public brings structural change. It requires predictable performance, robust governance, and a level of transparency that fundamentally alters how a business operates.
CFOs preparing for an IPO must ensure the business is already operating at public-company standard:
- Predictable and consistent financial performance
- Strong governance and reporting frameworks
- Readiness for market-facing disclosures (including profit warnings)
Preparation timelines are often underestimated. In reality:
- IPO readiness takes years, not months
- Experienced leadership teams must be built early
- Relationships with auditors, legal counsel and advisors should be established well in advance
Equally important is clarity around ‘the way’. Leaders must understand why they’re pursuing an IPO – and what will change as a result. Life as a public company introduces a different level of scrutiny, pressure and accountability.
In a more personal reflection, the panel closed with a simple but practical piece of advice:
- Take a meaningful break before starting an IPO process. Once it begins, the intensity rarely eases
Key Takeaways for CFOs Leading M&A and Exits
Success in M&A and exits goes far beyond financial oversight for the modern-day CFO, with leadership, judgement and execution all coming to the fore.
For CFOs navigating this landscape, a few priorities stand out:
- Own the deal end-to-end (including the emotions in the room!)
- Build capability incrementally
- Stay anchored in strategy
- Prioritise cultural integration
- Maintain discipline in diligence
- Treat IPO as a strategic choice, not your default route
Transactions may be finite, but their impact is long-lasting. For today’s CFO, the challenge – and equally, the opportunity – is to shape that impact deliberately.
Get in touch
If you’re considering an acquisition, fundraise, preparing for an exit, or simply looking to build internal readiness for a future transaction, our Deals, Tech & High Growth, Tax and wider CP teams work closely with CFOs to support every stage of the journey – from strategy and diligence through to execution and integration.
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