Group Working-Capital Adviser

Convert balances into operating choices

Start by segmenting working capital by behaviour: disputed receivables, genuine customer-credit exposure, seasonal stock, slow-moving components, strategic buffers and payment practices. Reconcile management reporting to underlying transactions before recommending targets. Where a apparent improvement is caused by delayed supplier payment, factoring or a change in cut-off, make that distinction visible.

Investigations with operational consequences

Trace selected orders from quotation through cash receipt. Examine whether discounts, deposits, acceptance conditions and invoice triggers were agreed consistently. Review purchasing commitments against usable stock and demand variability, identifying decisions that require a commercial or operational owner. Assess how forecast changes reach procurement and whether minimum-order rules create avoidable cash commitments.

Recommendations should state the cash mechanism, service implications, implementation effort and accountable decision-maker. The adviser will facilitate agreement between finance, sales and operations where each function can otherwise optimise its own measure at the expense of the whole business.

What the client should receive

Deliver a reconciled opportunity register, a prioritised sequence of interventions and a dashboard that separates recurring cash improvement from temporary balance movements. Include a practical escalation route for disputes and exceptions. Management must be able to continue the discipline after the advisory engagement concludes, using definitions that do not require the adviser to interpret every result.

Experience that will withstand scrutiny

Strong candidates have worked with group finance and operating teams to release cash while protecting delivery and supplier continuity. They should demonstrate analytical depth, familiarity with order-to-cash and inventory processes, and the ability to challenge attractive but unrealistic targets. The role has no director office, signing authority or power to change credit limits. Proposed changes remain subject to management approval, and the adviser must identify where local contractual or accounting review is required before implementation.