Where this fits

Demand → Pricing → Cash → EBITDA → Network → Visibility → Value

Working Capital & Cash Conversion

Profitable on paper. Cash keeps disappearing.

Your P&L shows profit. Your bank account doesn't show cash. The gap is inventory climbing, debtor terms drifting, creditor terms tightening, working capital absorbing your margin.

This isn't a sales problem. It's an operating system problem — and it requires someone who understands cash conversion, not someone who manages balance sheet accounts.

Founder Intelligence Platform™

Business Transferability Snapshot

See how financial visibility, profit trend and operating indicators connect to the transferability of a business. Move the levers and see what changes.

Explore the snapshot →

Profit looks right. Cash doesn't.

Profit without cash conversion is a delay, not an outcome. Pricing, inventory, receivables and payment terms each create a gap between what the P&L shows and what reaches the bank.

Margin looks strong — but discounting happens after the quote, not before it

Revenue grows — but working capital absorbs the gain before it converts to cash

Cash tightens — while the P&L reports a healthy period

What happens is the P&L shows a strong quarter while the overdraft facility creeps up — and the board asks why cash is tight when profit looks fine.

If you're not connecting profit to cash in the right order, you're reading two different stories from the same business.

Explore working capital and cash flow improvement

Part of The Commercial Engine™ → Working Capital & Cash

Inventory EBITDA

Profit doesn’t leak slowly.
It erodes through small, undisciplined decisions repeated every day.

Where Value Is Lost

The leakage is real.
It is also fixable.

These are not complex problems. They are common operational failures that accumulate quietly — until they become visible in the P&L or on the balance sheet.

Inventory control and product mix are two of the most common sources. Poorly managed inventory ties up cash and distorts margin; an undisciplined product mix dilutes contribution and hides the true cost of complexity.

01

Discounting without control

Salespeople applying discounts without margin visibility. Revenue maintained while profit erodes below the surface.
02

Inconsistent pricing across customers or branches

Same product, different prices, no structural reason. Signals pricing fragility and creates customer-level margin compression.
03

Excess or slow-moving inventory

Capital locked in stock that is not turning. Cash consumed, carrying costs rising, and margin diluted by a long product tail.
04

Poor visibility of true margin by product or customer

Revenue is tracked. Gross margin by customer or SKU is not. Business grows into low-margin work without realising it.
05

Weak operating cadence and accountability

No consistent rhythm of performance review. Problems compound between reporting cycles. Accountability sits at the top — not through the organisation.

Working capital is not a finance issue.

It is an operational discipline issue.

Inventory levels, debtor days, supplier terms — these are not set by the CFO. They are the result of decisions made every day by operations, sales, and procurement teams operating without the right discipline or visibility.

That is where the intervention happens.

What I Actually Do

Not analysis.
Intervention.

This is not a review of your P&L or a presentation of findings. It is embedded operational work — inside the business, with the teams, implementing controls that hold after I leave.

→ Restoring pricing discipline at customer and product level
→ Improving margin visibility across the book
→ Reducing excess and slow-moving inventory
→ Tightening cash conversion — debtors, suppliers, freight
→ Installing operating cadence and accountability frameworks
→ Building KPI infrastructure that leadership can own and sustain

What This Unlocks

Immediate outcomes.
Sustained performance.

Outcome 01

Immediate EBITDA improvement

Margin recovery through pricing correction and cost discipline — visible in the P&L within the first engagement period.

Outcome 02

Stronger cash flow

Working capital release through inventory reduction and debtor discipline. Cash generated from operational improvement — not financing.

Outcome 03

Clearer performance visibility

Margin by customer, product and branch. Leadership that can see what is working and what is not — in real time.

Outcome 04

A more valuable business

Higher EBITDA, lower working capital, stronger operating systems. A business that performs under scrutiny — from buyers, investors or management.

$1.3m → $5.2m

EBITDA Expansion

500bps+

Margin Improvement

$12.6m → $9.3m

Inventory Reduction

When I Get Called

Specific situations.
A specific need.

This engagement is not for businesses that want a general review. It is for businesses where the problem is visible — and the owner or investor wants it fixed.

01 Margins are under pressure despite stable or growing revenue
02 Cash is tight despite reported profitability
03 Inventory continues to grow without a clear operational reason
04 Leadership lacks clear visibility on true margin by customer or product
05 PE investor or board wants measurable improvement before the next reporting period

Next Step

If you can see the problem,
the next step is straightforward.

A direct conversation. Scott will tell you directly whether there is a fit and what the engagement would look like.

Discuss a Situation →

Working Capital Improvement Pricing Discipline EBITDA and Cash Performance Issues Mandates Contact

Performance Visibility

How this is made visible and controlled

This only works when the business can clearly see where cash and margin are going — debtors, inventory positions, pricing variance and cost structure in real time.

View Performance Visibility

Next Step

Cash pressure is usually visible operationally before it appears in the P&L. The gap between EBITDA and cash is almost always structural — and almost always addressable without additional capital or revenue.

Working capital discipline is the financial foundation of an owner dependent business that transfers well. It is Layer 1 of the Shape Executive framework to reduce the Transferability Gap™ .

EBITDA and cash are not the same. Businesses with strong EBITDA growth often have tightening cash because of working capital absorption — debtors, inventory and creditor compression all move in the wrong direction as revenue grows.

Working Capital Definition improvement releases cash trapped in the operating cycle — faster debtor collection, leaner inventory and extended creditor terms each compound into meaningful cash release.

Use the working capital improvement calculator to model DSO, DIO and DPO gains — and quantify the cash release that flows from each improvement.

The value leakage diagnostic identifies where cash is being absorbed across pricing, demand and execution — the root cause picture before any working capital programme.

Working capital release and margin improvement are the operational levers in a private equity value creation advisory mandate — both compound directly into the exit multiple.

Working capital management that operates independently of founder oversight is a founder exit readiness indicator — and a direct input to how buyers assess the quality of earnings.

Working capital management is a sell-side readiness requirement — buyers will lock a working capital peg into the deal structure, and businesses with poor cash conversion face value adjustments at settlement.

Working capital management is a standard operational due diligence readiness category — how the business manages debtors, inventory and creditors determines both valuation and deal structure.

The working capital translation explains why EBITDA and cash often diverge — and why the gap between them matters as much to buyers as the EBITDA number itself.

A focused mandate targeting working capital and profit improvement is the operating equivalent of a financial restructure — tactical, measurable and time-bounded.

Go to next step: Working Capital to Cash View full sequence

Profitable on paper. Cash keeps disappearing.

Business Transferability Snapshot

The leakage is real. It is also fixable.

Not analysis. Intervention.

Immediate outcomes. Sustained performance.

Specific situations. A specific need.

If you can see the problem, the next step is straightforward.

How this is made visible and controlled

Next Step

The leakage is real.
It is also fixable.

Not analysis.
Intervention.

Immediate outcomes.
Sustained performance.

Specific situations.
A specific need.

If you can see the problem,
the next step is straightforward.