Other Discussion

My CFO's acquisition-by-August mandate is making my finance team mutinous

Femi Zhang · 26 Jul 2026

Our CFO announced in the June board meeting that we're buying a small competitor before summer's out, but he won't tell anyone which one, just that there's a shortlist. So my whole finance team's been told to drop everything and model three different integration scenarios simultaneously, with zero specifics on deal structure, headcount, or timeline. We're working Saturdays, the auditors are circling for half-year close, and my best analyst handed in her notice yesterday because this isn't what I signed up for. How are you lot managing due diligence when the people doing the buying won't give you anything solid to diligence against?

👍 545 💬 3

3 replies

Fatima Sarkar · 26 Jul 2026

I tried using Asana to manage all the extra workload but it didn't really help, we're still struggling to keep up with the CFO's demands. We've got 17 different spreadsheets open at the moment and it's a nightmare to keep them all updated, I'm starting to think we need to bring in some external help to get everything done by August.

Eugene Sullivan · 26 Jul 2026

Sounds like your team's under a lot of pressure, I'm guessing morale's pretty low. What's the CFO's rationale for not sharing more details about the potential acquisition, is it just usual caution or something more?

Eva Perez · 26 Jul 2026

Given the uncertainty, I've found it helpful to have a daily huddle with my team to review priorities and set realistic goals for the next 24 hours, it helps us stay focused on what we can control.