Faster Close, Clearer Governance in 5 Months
Finance | £10m annual revenue
The Challenge
Before partnering with Board North, the client’s finance function struggled with:
- Manual spreadsheets across multiple systems slowing reconciliations.
- Month-end close exceeding 10 business days.
- Overlapping committee mandates and unclear decision rights.
- Audit Committee unable to see control health in one view.
- Board meetings consumed by reconciliation instead of strategy.
The Solution
- Conducted governance and finance diagnostic using process mining and executive interviews.
- Mapped decision rights with RACI and aligned them to COSO control objectives.
- Designed a target operating model with AI-assisted reconciliations and workflow automation.
- Introduced standard board packs featuring dashboards, risk indicators, and decision memos.
- Coached CFO, controller, and committee chairs to embed meeting discipline and accountability.
The Results
- 50% faster close: Reduced from 12 to 6 business days.
- 75% faster board pack prep: Down from four days to one.
- 40% fewer audit adjustments and stronger control confidence.
- Decision cycle shortened: From eight to five weeks, accelerating investment approvals.