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When two companies merge, the spreadsheets don't merge themselves.
The promise of M&A is always growth, “synergy”, and expanded capability. The reality, particularly for finance teams, is often months of chaos as incompatible systems collide, historical data fragments, and forecasting becomes an exercise in educated guesswork.
On Kluster's Next Exit podcast, finance leaders who have navigated acquisitions, integrations, and multi-system environments shared hard-won lessons about maintaining forecasting integrity when the ground beneath you is shifting.
Meet the experts
1. Historical Data Is the Foundation Everything Else Stands On
Every CFO we spoke with began in the same place: before you can forecast the future, you must be able to trust the past. In post-M&A environments, where data often arrives fragmented across multiple systems with different taxonomies and reporting standards, this foundational work becomes even more critical.
Sun Choi, a consulting CFO who specialises in early and growth-stage B2B SaaS companies, puts it directly: "If your historicals aren't right, then your forecast will probably be wrong." When he joins a company, particularly one that has recently been through a transaction, his first priority is reconstructing an accurate financial history before building any forward-looking models.
Marie Charpentier, CFO of Accredit Solutions, frames the challenge through an architectural metaphor. "It's like when you build a house, you need the right foundation. And the right foundation is to have clean data," she explains. "Often when you join a startup company where everything has been done on a day-to-day basis because we don't have time to think, we just process, process - the data is not always clean."
The problem intensifies when multiple companies merge. Each organisation brings its own definitions of revenue recognition, its own customer categorisations, and its own approach to pipeline staging. Before any unified forecasting can occur, finance teams must undertake the painstaking work of harmonising these different approaches into a single source of truth.
Michael Vigario, CFO of the Americas for ACT Group, experienced this directly during a billion-dollar private equity raise. The diligence process required "around-the-clock, reconciliation work, audit-level rigour - making sure our numbers had perfect backups to all the underlying trades." He describes going back years to reconstruct data that predated their current infrastructure: "In hindsight, you want these 25 columns of data. At the time, you may only have 15. So trying to marry up and get that information as best we could to create a full tie to the financial statements backup."
📌 Takeaway for CFOs: Before attempting to forecast in a post-M&A environment, invest the time to create unified, auditable historical data. This foundation work, while unglamorous, determines whether your forecasts will be credible or contested.
2. CRM Integration Makes or Breaks Revenue Forecasting
In the aftermath of M&A, few systems create more forecasting headaches than customer relationship management platforms. Suddenly, pipeline data exists in multiple systems with different stage definitions, different probability weightings, and different conversion assumptions. Without rapid harmonisation, revenue forecasting becomes nearly impossible.
Richard Simons, a serial private equity CFO at IDX, argues that finance leaders need to be directly involved in CRM implementation and integration - not waiting downstream for whatever data sales teams choose to share. "It's essential to get an interface between the finance function and the commercial organisation," he explains. "Otherwise, the commercial organisation will do its own thing and report in its own way, and the financial forecasting does its own thing and may not be suitably informed with the right data."
This integration goes far beyond simply accessing the same database. Simons describes the specific metrics that must flow from CRM to forecasting: "What's the cycle time from a qualified lead to a won deal? Critically, what conversion rate is in play in the organisation? Essentially, how many qualified leads would you need before you're actually going to win a deal, as well as average order value."
The goal is building forecasts grounded in observable, historical behaviour rather than optimistic assumptions. CRMs typically provide reliable visibility for 90 to 120 days, but Simons pushes finance teams to extend that horizon using efficiency metrics: "How many qualified leads does each AE generate on a historic basis? What order value? And back into those conversion rates. So you can then look forward beyond the 120 days with some level of backup and data."
Michael Vigario emphasises the critical role of business analysts who can bridge the gap between sales systems and financial models. "Having that business analyst that is interested enough in the underlying product, that can bridge that gap, has been for me the game changer," he notes. These translators understand both the unique identifiers that link systems together and the financial implications of how data flows through them.
📌 Takeaway for CFOs: Don't treat CRM integration as someone else's problem. Finance must be at the table when systems are being harmonised, ensuring that pipeline data converts into forecasts using consistent, defensible conversion assumptions.
3. Forecasting Is How You Build (or Destroy) Credibility
In a post-M&A environment, forecasting carries weight far beyond predicting revenue. It becomes the mechanism through which the combined leadership team demonstrates (or fails to demonstrate) that they understand their new, larger business. Consistent delivery against forecasts builds the trust that boards and investors need to support continued investment. Repeated misses, even small ones, erode confidence that can take years to rebuild.
Keith Taylor, CFO of Equinix for over two decades, has overseen the integration of numerous acquisitions into a company that has grown into a hundred-billion-dollar enterprise. His perspective on forecasting is uncompromising: "We've only missed our guidance once in all those years. And I remember it was the third quarter of 2010. And it was actually a forecasting mistake."
That single miss in over two decades of quarters reflects both the discipline Equinix brings to forecasting and the recurring revenue model that provides stability. But Taylor doesn't dismiss the challenge for companies with less predictable revenue streams. "I feel for those CFOs and others who have to - their year restarts every single quarter end, because they got to start at zero and we don't," he acknowledges.
For companies navigating M&A integration, the forecasting challenge is even more acute. Richard Simons warns that forecast misses during an exit process can be fatal to valuations: "Make sure that you've set yourself up to meet or preferably exceed, not by too much, your forecast and your budget. That spooks investors."
John Henderson, Deputy CFO at MIQ, describes forecasting as requiring a delicate balance between staying close enough to operations to understand what drives outcomes, while avoiding drowning the organisation in reporting demands. "There's two elements," he explains. "You want to make sure you're in the details and fully understand the business. But the flip side, being too controlling, too in the weeds, too much time spent on this - takes up a lot of your time, also a lot of their time, and away from things which could be driving sales or product innovation."
📌 Takeaway for CFOs: Treat forecasting accuracy as a strategic priority, not an administrative exercise. Every forecast you deliver either builds or depletes the trust account you have with your board and investors.
4. Process Standardisation Must Precede System Integration
The natural instinct after an acquisition is to rush toward unified systems. But the CFOs we interviewed counsel patience: standardising processes across the combined organisation should precede technical integration. Without aligned processes, even the best systems will produce inconsistent outputs.
Neil Hodson, who has led finance and operations across both FTSE 100 companies and private equity-backed businesses, describes his approach when he joined FONN, a SaaS platform for construction house builders. "Whenever I go into any organisation, I think there's always a desire to take what you've learned before and start making changes. For me, I think it's always critical to go in and perform that as-is position across each area of the organisation."
This diagnostic phase extends beyond finance. Hodson interviews team members at all levels to understand not just what processes exist, but why they evolved that way. "Understand not just from the execs and the senior managers, but from the team. Where are we? What are we doing well? What are we not doing as well? What is our current position?"
Only after establishing this baseline does he begin building toward standardised processes. "What are the good things? What are the bad things? What could be amended? Here's where I want to go next on my to-do list. And then your strategy is that progression from one to the other."
Bob Gold, who has served as CFO for nine private equity-backed companies, brings a Danaher-inspired rigour to process standardisation. His "war on working capital" methodology exemplifies how structured processes can drive forecasting discipline - visual management boards tracking AR, inventory, and AP with regular stand-up meetings that bring cross-functional teams into the forecasting conversation.
📌 Takeaway for CFOs: Resist the pressure to rush system integration. Map processes across both organisations first, identify best practices, and standardise before attempting to unify technology platforms.
5. The People Risk Is Greater Than the Systems Risk
Financial models can be rebuilt. CRM data can be harmonised. What cannot be easily recovered is the loss of key personnel who carry institutional knowledge about customers, markets, and operational realities that never made it into any system.
Keith Taylor describes hiring as one of his most consequential responsibilities: "Don't be scared to hire people who are smarter than you. People who fill in your holes and can run the business differently than you."
Neil Hodson frames the exit process itself as a stress test for team resilience: "From an exec position and senior management position, you've now got two jobs. Not only are you running an exit process, but you've also got to keep your eye very closely on the day-to-day business."
This dual burden can expose weaknesses in team depth. Hodson's response: "It may all come right, but it may not. We've got to look at the business today and ensure that we're in a position, an operating position that if it doesn't, that you continue to operate properly."
Marie Charpentier observes that the CFO role itself must adapt when ownership structures change: "The role of the CFO is different when it comes to VC and private equity. VC, you've got less board involvement. PE, they see me as more of a strategic partner where we have a closer relationship."
📌 Takeaway for CFOs: During integration, prioritise retaining team members who carry critical knowledge. Document assumptions and validate them with multiple people. Build redundancy into your forecasting capability so that no single departure can undermine accuracy.
6. Technology Enables, But Discipline Delivers
Every CFO we interviewed uses sophisticated forecasting tools. The consistent message: tools matter, but only when combined with disciplined processes and rigorous assumptions.
Keith Taylor describes Equinix's forecasting cadence: "We re-forecast every single month. So after every month, we're re-forecasting the rest of the quarter and the year. And then we have a budget that we operate with. So you have that rigor and that oversight that I just think is to a very, very high end."
This monthly re-forecasting discipline extends across a global business with operations in 76 markets and 35 countries. The principle is simple: forecasts must continuously incorporate the latest information.
Michael Vigario emphasises the importance of building forecasting infrastructure before it becomes urgent: "Building robust processes from the start with data integrity checks, with a team that really understands the intersection of data and business is just paramount. To prevent you from firefighting at the wrong times—you don't really want to be firefighting when you're at the end of a deal."
📌 Takeaway for CFOs: Invest in forecasting technology, but recognise that technology is an enabler, not a solution. The discipline of regular re-forecasting, assumption validation, and process rigour delivers accuracy regardless of what systems you use.
The CFO as Integration Architect
The CFOs we interviewed shared one consistent perspective: forecasting through M&A integration is not primarily a technical challenge. It is a leadership challenge.
Richard Simons captures the tension directly: "Exiting a business is two full-time jobs - running the company and running the process." The same could be said of any major integration.
For CFOs navigating these transitions, the imperative is to build your forecasts on clean, harmonised historical data. Ensure finance has direct access to CRM and pipeline data. Treat every forecast as a trust-building opportunity. Standardise processes before integrating systems. Protect the people who carry critical institutional knowledge. And maintain the discipline of rigorous, regular re-forecasting regardless of what tools you have available.
Do this, and when the integration dust settles, your forecasts will be the foundation of credibility that positions the combined organisation for its next chapter of growth.
Build Integration-Ready Forecasting with Kluster
M&A success depends on forecasting credibility from day one. Kluster helps finance and revenue teams unify pipeline data, standardise conversion assumptions, and maintain forecast accuracy through the complexity of integration.
Start your test pilot: https://www.kluster.com/free-forecasting-pilot?utm_source=Blog&utm_campaign=forecasting+after+M%26A
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