📊 Flexible Modeling Is the CFO’s Carve-Out Advantage

Dynamic Models Enable Fast Adaptation and Protect Value

Author

Vanessa Carter
August 27, 2025

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Hey there, CFOs! 💼

In this issue, we spotlight the buy-side carve-out playbook CFOs need today. Success requires more than sharp deal pricing.

Finance leaders must anticipate dis-synergies, manage stranded costs, and design flexible models while negotiating transition service agreements that keep operations running smoothly.

📰 Upcoming in this issue

  • 📊 What You Need To Get Right In Buy-Side Carve-Outs

  • 🏢 Why Real Estate CFOs Are Ditching Legacy Systems

  • 📊 The CFO as Strategic Value Creator

📊 What You Need To Get Right In Buy-Side Carve-Outs

Buy-side carve-outs make up 28% of M&A. The catch: CFOs must tame dis-synergies, stranded costs, and high-stakes transitional service agreements.

Key Takeaways:

  • ⚠️ Dis-Synergies And Stranded Costs: Surface and mitigate dis-synergies and stranded costs early, update assumptions as new cost data emerges during separation and integration.

  • 📐 Flexible Financial Baseline: Build flexible models, sometimes with manual tools, to create a true baseline, run scenarios, and keep value capture plans aligned with reality.

  • 📑 TSA Mastery: Scope, price, and govern TSAs carefully, clarify owners and processes, and plan exits early to protect continuity and avoid hidden costs.

  • 🎯 Value Capture Discipline: Keep original value goals visible, coordinate value capture, business, and functional teams, and recalibrate targets as TSA terms and cost realities shift.

🏢 Why Real Estate CFOs Are Ditching Legacy Systems

Legacy systems slow closes, obscure cash, and struggle with multi-entity growth. This piece shows how modern cloud finance restores control, speed, and investor-ready reporting.

Key Takeaways:

  • 📊 Real-Time Visibility: Unified dashboards consolidate entities and properties, revealing cash, NOI, and variances fast for sharper decisions.

  • 🤖 Automation Speeds Close: AP, allocations, and consolidations automate, month-end shrinks, and teams refocus on analysis instead of data wrangling.

  • 🔗 Seamless Integrations: Cloud platforms connect to property management, banks, and BI tools, eliminating manual spreadsheets and rekeyed entries.

  • 🛡️ Stronger Controls And Compliance: Role-based access, audit trails, and standard workflows support lenders and investors, and align with lease accounting requirements.

📊 The CFO as Strategic Value Creator

EY says tomorrow’s CFO becomes a Chief Value Officer. Continuous close, prescriptive analytics, and on-demand reporting move finance from scorekeeper to strategist.

Key Takeaways:

  • 🧠 From CFO To Chief Value Officer: CFOs leverage data, AI, and real-time insights to drive sustainable growth and long-term value.

  • ⏱️ Continuous Close Becomes Normal: Automation and cloud enable near real-time closings, easing workload and improving cash visibility during uncertainty.

  • 📈 Prescriptive Analytics Guides Action: Advanced algorithms recommend next steps, improving budgeting, forecasting, and proactive risk mitigation.

  • 🧱 Build A Future-Ready Finance Core: Flexible architecture, governed data, redesigned processes, agile models, and new skills underpin durable transformation.

Why It Matters

CFOs who build adaptive financial frameworks and tightly scoped TSAs can turn carved-out assets into growth engines instead of hidden liabilities. Precision in execution is what separates value creation from value erosion in today’s M&A environment.

Vanessa Carter
Editor-in-Chief
CFO Executive Insights

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