What PE Firms Really Want from Their Portfolio Companies’ Finance Teams

Private equity ownership brings capital, strategic vision, and a clear expectation: accelerate value creation. Within that equation, few functions are more critical or more scrutinized than the finance team.

While most finance leaders understand their core responsibilities (monthly closes, compliance, audits) operating under PE ownership raises the bar. Private equity sponsors expect finance teams to play an active role in strategy, drive operational efficiency, and deliver insights that inform decision-making at both the portfolio and investor level.

So, what do PE firms really want from their portfolio companies’ finance teams? The answer lies in five essential capabilities.

1. Clear, Timely, and Actionable Reporting
Consistent and accurate financial reporting is the foundation of any PE-backed operation. But timeliness and clarity are just as important. PE sponsors need to know what’s happening in the business; not weeks after month-end, but often within days.
This means finance teams must produce clean monthly closes, standardized reporting packages, and dashboards that track key metrics like EBITDA, working capital, and cash flow. These reports are used to steer boardroom discussions, monitor covenant compliance, and track progress against the value creation plan. Precision and predictability in reporting builds trust and gives PE firms confidence that the business is under control.

2. Forecasting and Forward-Looking Insight
While historical reporting tells the story of where the company has been, PE firms are focused on where it’s going. They want finance teams who can see around corners.
This includes rolling 13-week cash forecasts, dynamic P&L models, and sensitivity analyses that show how changes in pricing, volume, or cost structure affect the bottom line. Strong finance functions don’t just report outcomes; they model them, challenge assumptions, and provide a forward-looking view that enables smarter, faster decisions.

3. Strategic Partnership and Operational Leverage
PE firms increasingly expect CFOs and their teams to operate as strategic business partners. That means going beyond financial stewardship to engage cross-functionally — aligning budgeting with operational plans, helping evaluate expansion initiatives, and translating financial data into actionable insights for sales and operations teams.
A finance function that can link unit economics to pricing strategy, or break down margin performance by channel or product, creates significant leverage. It turns the CFO into a thought partner for both the CEO and the PE sponsor. Someone who can accelerate execution, not just measure it.

4. Execution Support During Key Initiatives
Value creation in PE isn’t passive. Sponsors often drive initiatives like bolt-on acquisitions, ERP implementations, cost transformation, or geographic expansion; and finance plays a central role in all of them.
Whether it’s leading financial due diligence on an M&A target, building synergy models, or standing up new reporting structures post-acquisition, finance teams must operate with agility. They must be able to drop into cross-functional projects and bring structure, financial discipline, and a results-oriented mindset.

5. PE-Ready Talent and Scalable Infrastructure
Finally, PE firms look for finance teams that are built to scale. That means having not only the right people in place (capable controllers, analysts, FP&A leads), but also the right systems and processes to support growth.
Manual processes and spreadsheet chaos might work in a founder-led business, but they don’t survive under institutional ownership. Sponsors want to see investments in ERP systems, automation, and internal controls that can support diligence, audits, and eventually, a smooth exit process. Scalable infrastructure isn’t a luxury, it’s a requirement.

Closing the Gap Between Finance and Value Creation

Ultimately, private equity sponsors aren’t just looking for finance teams that can keep score; they want teams that can help win the game. The most effective finance functions in PE-backed companies are those that balance rigor with agility, combine technical skill with business acumen, and proactively support strategic decision-making.

When finance teams embrace this expanded role, they become more than a back-office function. They become a driver of value creation and a true partner to both management and investors.

How Vector Advisory Delivers PE-Ready Finance Excellence

At Vector Advisory, we understand these demands intimately because we’ve lived them alongside our over 55 PE clients since our founding in the summer of 2020. Our first engagement with Trivest Partners set the foundation for what has become our core expertise: accelerating value creation through M&A for lower-middle market PE firm portfolio companies – through post-merger integration management and by building finance functions that don’t just meet PE expectations but exceed them.