Turnaround / Distressed CFO
Turnaround & Distressed CFO
For the rooms where the bank is already on the phone — forbearance, covenant breach, restructuring. This is the work most fractional shops never touch.
Distressed situations are a different discipline. When a covenant has breached, a lender has lost patience, or cash is measured in weeks, the playbook is not the same one that serves a comfortable growth-stage company — and most fractional CFOs have never run it.
This is the core of the practice. Ten-plus years of CFO-level work in distressed, PE-backed, and turnaround environments: negotiating forbearance agreements, managing lender relations under pressure, building the 13-week cash flow that keeps the doors open, monitoring covenants, and preparing the lender-ready package that buys time and trust.
Speed and discipline matter most here, because distressed work is reporting-intensive under deadline. Producing a credible 13-week cash flow, a covenant bridge, and a lender package fast — and updating them weekly — is exactly where experience earns its keep.
What lands each month
Concrete deliverables with a defined scope — so you see exactly what you get, not an open hourly meter.
13-week cash flow
Built fast, updated weekly, with the receipts-and-disbursements detail lenders expect.
Lender-ready package
The reporting, narrative, and forecast that rebuild lender confidence and buy runway.
Covenant bridge & monitoring
Where you stand against each covenant, the path back into compliance, and early warning.
Forbearance support
Preparation and analysis behind forbearance negotiations and amended terms.
Restructuring analysis
Scenario and liquidity modeling to inform a workout, refinancing, or restructuring.
When you need a turnaround CFO
Two situations, one discipline
Most turnaround work falls into one of two buyer realities. Read both — you'll know which one you're in.
Performance enhancement
Stable but underperforming: margin erosion, cash conversion problems, an FP&A gap, a plan you keep missing. Not a crisis — value leaking quietly, and the board knows it. The work is finding the cash and the margin that are already there.
Crisis management
Covenant breach risk, forbearance, an imminent lender event, cash measured in weeks. The bank is on the phone and wants a 13-week cash flow by Friday. This is triage with a clock — and it is the core of this practice.
The first 90 days
What a turnaround CFO does in the first 30 / 60 / 90 days
Concrete, in operator language. Day 1 is a cash assessment, not a kickoff deck.
Days 1–30
Stabilize and see clearly
- Day 1: a 13-week cash flow assessment, not an onboarding kickoff
- Map covenant exposure and the next lender date
- Impose disbursement discipline and set a liquidity floor
Days 31–60
Rebuild lender confidence
- Deliver the lender package — forecast, narrative, covenant bridge
- Open or reset the forbearance conversation on credible numbers
- Tighten the close so weekly reporting is dependable
Days 61–90
Create options
- Model the workout, refinancing, or sale scenarios
- Execute the working-capital and margin levers that move cash
- Hand the board a defensible path, not just a problem
Covenant headroom — the number the lender watches
The first thing a lender asks for, computed the way we present it. Illustrative figures, real formula.
Covenant monitor · illustrative
DSCR- EBITDA (TTM)
- $4.80M
- Total debt service (annual)
- $2.60M
- DSCR = EBITDA ÷ debt service
- 4.80 ÷ 2.60
Debt-service coverage
0.00×
vs. 1.25× covenant · +0.60× headroom
Why not a staffing firm
A 300-person staffing bench optimized for steady-state bookkeeping is structurally the wrong tool for a workout. Distressed work needs an operator who has sat across the table from a lender — and that's the specific experience this practice is built on.
Case study · Manufacturing
13-week
cash flow stood up and run weekly through the workout
A covenant breach put the company into a lender workout. The bank wanted weekly cash visibility and a credible plan; the founder had neither the time nor a finance function built for that pressure.
Read the case studyQuestions
What is a turnaround CFO?
A senior finance operator who steps into a distressed or underperforming company and runs the financial side of the recovery: weekly cash control, covenant analysis, lender-ready reporting, forbearance support, and the scenario modeling behind a workout, refinancing, or sale. The job is to protect the business and create options while there are still options to create.
Turnaround CFO vs. restructuring advisor — what's the difference?
A restructuring advisor (or CRO) typically leads the process and the negotiation; the turnaround CFO produces and owns the numbers that process runs on — the 13-week cash flow, the covenant bridge, the lender reporting. The roles are complementary. On many engagements the CFO is the only finance seat the company needs; on larger ones, we work alongside the legal and restructuring team.
When should I bring in a turnaround CFO?
Earlier than most founders do. The moment a covenant looks tight, cash visibility is thin, or a lender starts asking harder questions, a turnaround CFO buys you options. Waiting until you've defaulted narrows them — and narrows your leverage in any forbearance conversation.
How quickly can a turnaround CFO start?
Days, not weeks. In a live situation the first priority is triage: stand up the 13-week cash flow, assess covenant exposure, and stabilize lender communication, so nothing critical slips while we get oriented.
Performance enhancement vs. crisis management — which do I need?
If you're missing the plan and leaving margin or cash on the table but the lender is calm, that's performance enhancement — the work is finding value that's already there. If a covenant is breaching, forbearance is in play, or cash is measured in weeks, that's crisis management — triage with a clock. Both are core here; the cadence and urgency differ.
What happens in the first week?
A 13-week cash flow stood up fast, a read on covenant exposure and the next lender date, disbursement discipline so cash stops leaking, and a stabilized line of communication to the bank. By the end of week one you have visibility and a plan for the lender, not just a list of problems.
How much does a Turnaround / Distressed CFO cost?
Turnaround engagements start at $15K/month, reflecting the weekly cash cadence, lender reporting, and forbearance work involved. A Diagnostic Sprint ($7,500) is often the fastest way to get a read first. See Pricing.
Related engagements
Distressed-Company CFO
When liquidity is tight and the lender is watching, you need a CFO who has done this before — cash measured in weeks, a bank that wants answers, and a way through.
PE-Backed CFO
Sponsor-grade reporting and covenant discipline for portfolio companies — built for the cadence a PE owner expects, without a full-time hire the platform can't yet justify.
Manufacturing / CDMO CFO
Manufacturers and CDMOs carry a finance problem most CFOs underestimate: real product-level margin, working capital tied up in inventory, and lenders who watch covenants closely.
If your situation is time-sensitive, book a call today.
A calm, senior read on where you stand — cash, covenants, and the next lender date — and a straight answer on what the first two weeks would look like. No pressure, no theater.