Is your back-office quietly eroding the gains from your transformation?

Why Back-Office Breakdowns Silently Erode Transformation ROI

Big transformations (mergers & acquisitions, carve-outs, ERP rollouts, hypergrowth) create momentum and complexity at the same time. These events often change how work gets done faster than governance, processes, data, and delivery models can keep up. That gap looks small at first but left untouched, creates compounding operational friction that erodes working capital, ties up your people, and undermines the ROI you expected

Left untouched, these issues can shave 0.5 - 2.0 percentage points off EBITDA depending on the domain.

Are you Struggling with these pain points?

Revenue stalls at the finish line

Symptoms sales, billing & credit teams feel

• Billing delays

• Increasing unapplied cash

• Order fulfillment delays

• Pricing disputes

Warning Signs

⚠️ Rising DSO month-over-month

⚠️ Growing A/R reconciliation items

⚠️ Spiking customer billing disputes & credit memos

⚠️ Order holds or delivery delays

Financial Impact

• Revenue leakage and delayed cash collection

• Higher borrowing costs

• Dispute-driven write-offs

Purchasing becomes manual and expensive

Symptoms procurement and AP teams feel

• Fragmented purchasing channels

• Inconsistent supplier onboarding

• Delayed invoice approvals and heavy manual intervention

Warning Signs

⚠️ Manual PO entries or "after the fact" POs

⚠️ Supplier escalations or duplicate payments

⚠️ Inability to produce timely spend or reports

⚠️ Invoice exceptions, credit holds, delayed approvals

Financial Impact

• Missed early pay discounts

• Higher rework and error correction labor cost

• Working capital leakage from unmanaged credits and DPO volatility

Numbers don't add up on close day

Symptoms FP&A & controllership teams feel

• Extended month end cycles

• Incomplete balance sheet reconciliations

• Chart-of-account inconsistencies

• Intercompany mismatches

Warning Signs

⚠️ Month-end consistently > 10 days

⚠️ Frequent post-close adjustments or restatements

⚠️ Multiple versions of financial statements

Financial Impact

• Higher cost to close the books

• Increased audit and remediation costs

• Reduced decision speed

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Themes We Consistently See (and Fix)

Ordering, payments, and accounting workflow problems tend to stem from a combination of multiple root causes that impair transformation ROI and leave you with a shaky foundation. In our experience, common patterns emerge:

Operating Model Drift

Rapid transformation outpaces governance realignment, leaving "white space" in accountability and unclear ownership

Process Fragmentation

Legacy processes remain embedded in the organization, resisting standardization despite new systems or organizational changes

Data Fragility

Master data integrity erodes with inconsistencies across GL, vendors, customers, and cost centers

Resource Bandwidth

Teams operate reactively, prioritizing firefighting over root cause analysis and continuous improvement

Our 3 Dimension Diagnostic

We don't sell generic assessments or boardroom Powerpoint. We stabilize back offices and bridge the gap between strategy and execution by diagnosing root causes across 3 dimensions - operating model, process & data, and resource & delivery - to deliver prioritized fixes with measurable impact.

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Dimension 2 - Process & Data

Workflows, integrations, master data, and automation gaps

Dimension 3 - Resource & Delivery

Capacity, skills, shared services maturity and external vendors

Dimension 1 - Operating Model & Governance

Who owns what, decision rights, and end-to-end accountability

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Our View on Consulting

We're not your typical consultancy. We've scrapped the traditional pyramid model for a more 'hands on' way of working with a bias towards action, execution, and outcomes. With today's advancements in artificial intelligence, organizations are seeking practical insights and rapid outcomes focused on continuous value delivery. Our role is simple - we work alongside your teams to help you do the same boring things slightly better every single week.

Waypoint Business Advisory’s team is intentionally designed to be lean, agile, and hands-on, fully embedded across multiple levels of an organization—from the boardroom to front-line employees

30+

45

Years of Combined Experience

Happy clients

Industries Served

Healthcare Provider Services

Energy & Chemicals

Financial Services

Pharmaceutical