100-day plan post-acquisition: securing cash, people and margins

Short answer. The first 100 days after an acquisition are won or lost on three parallel axes: cash (cash control, 13-week rolling forecast, financing lines), people (retention of key staff, structured communication, governance) and margins (rapid review of pricing, procurement and contracts). Anything not framed within this window becomes twice as hard later. This guide outlines a week-by-week action plan for an executive buyer or a fund taking control of an SME, with roles, deliverables and success indicators.

100 days isn't magical. It maps three operational realities:

• Cash: the first quarterly close post-closing reveals plan deviations. Adjustments are needed in September for a June closing;
• People: key people evaluate new governance within 90 days. Beyond that, the stay-or-leave decision is set. A team lost at D+120 is very hard to rebuild;
• Margins: three months are enough to identify the contracts, customers and suppliers where value can be created. Inertia works against the buyer afterwards.

100 days is not the deadline to finish integration. It is the deadline to lay the foundations. The rest plays out over 18–24 months.

On closing day (or the day after), three actions are mandatory:

1. Internal announcement: a plenary meeting of all employees. Buyer presentation, project, known changes, calendar. No absolute promises, but a clear frame.
2. Access security: change bank signatures, critical-system access (ERP, payroll, CRM), secure-storage codes. Document who has access to what.
3. Information collection kick-off: send to all department leaders the list of documents needed within 72 hours (customer status, supplier status, ongoing contracts, team, calendars).

Classic mistake: deferring internal communication. The longer the wait, the more rumour replaces leadership.

W1.1. Cash daily report#

In place from the Monday after closing:

• daily bank balance (all banks, all accounts);
• prior-day customer collections;
• disbursements;
• 7-day commitments.

An Excel file or Pennylane module suffices initially. The goal is daily visibility, not reporting elegance.

W1.2. 13-week cash flow forecast#

The 13-week rolling cash flow is the post-acquisition steering standard. Build:

• inflows: weekly customer collections based on order book and ageing;
• outflows: payroll, social charges, suppliers (smoothed by ageing), VAT, CIT, acquisition debt;
• residual cash needs.

Any negative cash alert at 4–6 weeks triggers immediate action: supplier negotiation, credit-line drawdown, factoring.

W1.3. Bank line inventory#

Map:

• current accounts;
• authorised overdrafts;
• short-term credit lines (Dailly, factoring, MCNE);
• medium-long-term loans and maturities;
• guarantees, sureties, pledges.

Renegotiate with the target's relationship bank a signature amendment and a relationship statement. Banks value a buyer who shows up early with a clear plan.

W1.4. Quick validation of in-flight commitments#

• customer purchase orders pending delivery;
• supplier purchase orders pending receipt;
• lease, maintenance, subscription contracts;
• off-balance-sheet items already identified in DD.

Weeks 1-2 deliverables#

W2.1. Key-people mapping#

Identify across all sites and functions:

• rare technical skills (product know-how, R&D, safety);
• business introducers and supplier negotiators;
• middle managers maintaining cohesion;
• holders of customer / supplier institutional memory.

For each, 30–45 minute one-on-one in the first two weeks. Goals: business understanding, perception of buyer, personal expectations, departure signals.

W2.2. Communication plan#

Three circles to activate:

• Whole team: short weekly meetings (15 min) sharing concrete progress;
• Managers: weekly arbitration and steering meeting;
• Key people: monthly one-on-ones for at least 6 months.

W2.3. Post-acquisition governance#

Set up:

• weekly executive committee;
• monthly finance committee (with CPA and CFO);
• quarterly board or strategic committee (depending on structure).

Document delegations of authority: signatures, hires, spend, purchasing, supplier contracts.

W2.4. Contractual security#

• drafting or refreshing key-people contracts (non-compete, duration, compensation);
• profit-sharing scheme (PEE, collective PER, intéressement);
• for strategic profiles: free shares or BSPCE depending on structure.

Weeks 3-4 deliverables#

W3.1. Pricing review#

• margin by top-20 customers;
• margin by top-20 products;
• loss-making contracts;
• prices unchanged for 24+ months.

Done with the sales lead. Goal: identify 3–5 short-term pricing actions (with or without customer renegotiation).

W3.2. Procurement review#

• top-10 suppliers: volumes, contracts, conditions, alternatives;
• supplier duplication (3 vendors on the same purchase category);
• 6-month renewal pipeline.

Reviewing 10% of the procurement portfolio can yield 1–3% immediate savings.

W3.3. Recurring contract review#

• software subscriptions (often obsolete or redundant);
• insurance contracts (annual review often skipped);
• energy contracts (frequently renegotiable);
• maintenance contracts (sometimes unjustified multiplicity).

W3.4. Monthly KPI dashboard#

Set up the monthly dashboard for the executive committee:

For fundamentals, see our SME financial steering and dashboards 2026 guide.

Weeks 5-8 deliverables#

W4.1. Interim review#

At D+90, a formal steering committee:

• cash status: where are we vs. 13-week forecast?
• people status: who stayed, who left, who pivoted?
• margin status: what worked, what failed?
• bank covenant status: are we within limits?

W4.2. 100-180-day plan#

Reset 6-month priorities:

• IT consolidation;
• possible restructurings (redundancies, sites);
• commercial acceleration (team, marketing, internationalisation);
• tax optimisation (consolidation, holding refresh);
• preparation for the first annual close.

W4.3. Investor / bank reporting#

If the buyer has a fund or material bank debt:

• monthly reporting pack (P&L, cash, KPIs, narrative);
• quarterly investment committee;
• proactive communication on plan deviations.

Weeks 9-12 deliverables#

Acquisition success is built in the first 100 days but prepared before the LOI. A buyer arriving without serious pre-DD spends those 100 days discovering risks. A buyer who has done the upstream work spends those 100 days executing a plan, not improvising.

Our conviction: an executive buyer should embed from D+1 a dedicated CFO or interim CFO for 6 months. The cost (€50k–€80k for 6 months) is marginal vs. the risks avoided. The CFO owns daily cash, the 13-week forecast, the monthly dashboard, the bank and investor reporting. That frees the buyer for commercial and strategic missions.

The most underestimated risk is neither operational nor financial — it is cultural. An SME has a culture forged over 20–30 years by its founder. The buyer arrives with their methods, tools and metrics. If the cultural gap isn't managed, the team perceives every change as an identity threat. Result: silent quitting, lower engagement, productivity erosion — invisible in numbers for 3–6 months, then brutal in Q2.

Three useful practices: preserve existing rituals for 6 months (not all, but symbolically a few), name a culture champion within the legacy team, communicate what is preserved at least as much as what is changing.

1. Hire a dedicated CFO or use an interim CFO? For SMEs under €30m revenue, an interim CFO covers 6 months; beyond, a permanent CFO is needed.
2. Keep or replace the head of sales? The most impactful 100-day decision. Default: keep for at least 6 months unless a major incompatibility.
3. Migrate to the buyer's ERP / tools or keep the target's? IT call to make based on integration cost and operational criticality.
4. External communication pace? Top-10 customers and top-5 suppliers in the first 30 days. No noisy public announcement in the first weeks.

• E-invoicing 2026-2027: if the target isn't ready, the 100 days must include the compliance project.
• CSRD / VSME: mid-caps or targets in CSRD value chains must integrate sustainability reporting from year 1.
• B2B payment terms: DGCCRF enforcement is intensifying; audit compliance from D+30.
• 2026 Finance Law: track potential changes to tax consolidation and interest deductibility.
• Talent retention: tight market on technical and finance profiles — anticipate counter-offers.

Binary success indicators at D+100:

• ☐ Cash under control (13-week visibility, deviations < 5%);
• ☐ No key-person resignation;
• ☐ Pricing or procurement plan delivering ≥ 1% EBITDA effect;
• ☐ Monthly reporting pack operational;
• ☐ No bank covenant alert.

If three out of five boxes are unchecked at D+100, an internal audit is required.

Should the seller-CEO stay during the 100 days?#

Very often yes, on a 3–12 month transition mandate (duration and compensation set in the SPA). Their customer-knowledge and handover contribution matters. Watch for governance tensions: roles must be explicitly delineated.

How much does an interim CFO cost?#

Indicative: €8k–€15k excl. VAT per month depending on seniority and duration. Compare with a permanent hire (annual compensation + charges + search costs).

Should employees be informed of changes immediately?#

Yes, within what is settled. A cautious but clear frame beats weeks of silence. Internal rumour costs more than awkward communication.

Should customer contracts be audited immediately for change-of-control clauses?#

Yes, from week 1. An undetected change-of-control clause can lead to the termination of a key contract.

When can the target be added to the tax consolidation perimeter?#

The option for tax consolidation (CGI Article 223 A) must be notified within 3 months of the start of the relevant fiscal year. To document at closing if applicable.

The 100-day plan is not an admin checklist. It is the phase where the buyer earns legitimacy, the team forms its opinion of new governance, and early margin gains are realised. Three axes — cash, people, margins — executed with discipline, weekly deliverables, formal steering. The rest is direction and patience.

Last updated: 28 April 2026.

This English section is written for international readers who need to apply the French guidance to a real management decision. The key point for the first 100 days after an acquisition is not to memorise every technical rule, but to connect the rule to documents, deadlines, cash impact and governance. For buyers integrating a French SME after closing, the right approach is to identify the decision to be made, collect reliable evidence, and only then choose the accounting, tax, payroll or legal treatment.

The practical decision is which cash, people, margin and reporting actions must happen before integration fatigue sets in. That decision should be documented before the year-end close, financing discussion, payroll run, transaction signing or tax filing concerned by the topic. When the matter is material, the file should include who decided, which assumptions were used, and which professional advice was obtained.

Evidence to keep#

• closing accounts;
• cash bridge;
• customer and supplier list;
• payroll and HR risks;
• weekly KPI pack;

The first 100 days should not be a slide deck. It must become a weekly operating rhythm with owners, deadlines and numbers. A clean file also helps the company answer questions from banks, investors, auditors, tax authorities, employees or buyers. It is usually cheaper to prepare that evidence during the process than to reconstruct it after a dispute, audit or urgent financing request.