Company and individuals anonymized.
The Situation
A field service and installation company with $10 million in annual recurring revenue was in the middle of a significant systems migration. The old setup — a loosely coupled mix of legacy accounting software and a field service order management system — had run its course. The software vendor proposed a new ERP platform with inventory and purchase order management, paired with a specialized field service application.
On paper, it made sense. In practice, it was coming apart.
The Problem
By the time we were called in, the project had accumulated a serious set of compounding problems:
The people problem. The VP of Finance was resistant to the change and uncooperative when it came to sorting through job costing setup issues in the new field service application. Meanwhile, the software vendor was experiencing high consultant turnover from over-utilization — the project had no strong leader on the vendor side and no continuity.
The data problem. Job costs were being systematically overstated due to configuration errors in the system. Technicians were getting work orders and completing jobs — operations were running — but the financial activity wasn’t being reflected accurately in the accounting system. The numbers didn’t match reality. Job materials typically run about 20-25% of revenues. However, materials were running at almost double that, with gross margin down to 15-20% per job.
The reporting problem. Basic financial statements — income statement, balance sheet, statement of cash flows — were not being delivered. The owner was running a $10 million business without reliable financials.
The communications problem. The relationship between Accounting and Operations had been a chronic problem and this project had brought it to the breaking point. Two departments that needed to work together were no longer talking.
What We Did
We were hired specifically to get financial reporting under control. We started there and worked outward.
First: deliver the financial package. We traced it back and discovered that materials were being expensed upon receipt and upon job completion. We fixed that. And the owner got the core financial statements produced — income statement, balance sheet, cash flow. The owner finally had numbers he could trust.
Second: take over the accounting system. As the software vendor’s staffing turnover worsened, we stepped in and assumed direct responsibility for the accounting system, bypassing the vendor entirely. Stability required ownership.
Third: find and fix the root cause. We identified the specific configuration errors causing job costs to be overstated and reconfigured the systems accordingly. The numbers stopped lying.
What Changed
Accurate financial results started flowing. Both the VP of Finance and the owner gained confidence — not just in the numbers, but in our ability to get things done in a difficult environment.
Then the situation evolved. The relationship between the owner and the VP of Finance had long been strained. She was a hold-over from the previous owner and knew the legacy systems — both accounting and operations — inside and out. With the migration to the new systems, her knowledge of the systems — and her control — was becoming irrelevant. Several months after our arrival, long-festering matters between the two came to a head and she walked out with no notice. The owner asked us to assume day-to-day CFO responsibilities while a permanent replacement was vetted and hired.
We did exactly that — stepping into an interim CFO role and keeping financial operations running through the leadership transition.
The arc, in time. The core engagement — getting reporting and systems on track — ran about three months. The interim CFO role ran another three. We then spent an additional three months alongside the incoming CFO, layering in BI reporting and related IT work. The client stayed with us for more than eight years.
The Takeaway
ERP implementations fail for predictable reasons: people problems, configuration problems, and leadership vacuums. When all three hit at once, the business stops seeing itself clearly — and decisions made without accurate financials are decisions made blind.
Getting control of the numbers first, then working outward, is almost always the right sequence. The systems can be fixed. The reporting can be restored. But someone has to take ownership of the problem — and that’s where we come in.
Industry: Field Service & Installation | Revenue: $10M ARR | Engagement type: ERP rescue → Interim CFO → 8+ year client