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Practical Lean Finance (extended)

No theory. No hype. No BS. One tool, one process, one article.

Extended and refined articles from my LinkedIn newsletter: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/practical-lean-finance-7439414508923568128/

Lean Six Sigma for Finance • New article every week • Published in series

A tired detective in a rumpled suit stands at a desk in a dim, run-down office, holding a flashlight and a plastic evidence bag with a printed spreadsheet sealed inside. Numbered evidence tents sit on the desk and on stacks of binders, and investigation tape crosses the filing cabinets behind him. The word AUDIT runs across the top in large capital letters.

  • Jul 12

Readiness Is a Byproduct, Not a Season

Composite case: 260 audit requests, 73 already existed. Readiness is whether your process keeps its own proof all year. First of eight, one Lean tool each.
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A CEO drives a car at night while the CFO in the back seat clutches a goldfish bowl that is sloshing over, and the heads of Sales, Procurement, and Operations argue around them. Finance holds the cash but not the wheel.

  • Jul 5

You Hold the Cash. You Don't Hold the Wheel.

You own the working capital number. The four people who can actually move it do not report to you. Here is how to make them act on it.
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A man in a white shirt and tie sits alone on a small yellow crate in the center aisle of a dim, near-empty industrial warehouse, working on a laptop, with empty steel storage racks down both sides and the word LEAN in large yellow letters followed by a white question mark across the top.

  • Jun 28

Minimum Inventory Is Wrong. Sometimes.

Minimum inventory is the wrong default: when a volume discount, a pre-buy, or a named safety stock beats your 25% carrying cost, more stock wins.
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A finance professional in shirt and tie inspecting cardboard boxes on warehouse pallet racking, with bold text reading "Days Inventory Outstanding" and the letters D, I, O highlighted in yellow to spell DIO.

  • Jun 21

Your DIO Hasn't Moved in a Year. That's the Problem.

A DIO that sits at 78 days for a year isn't stable. It's hiding a supply problem and a demand problem. Here's how to cut it into decisions.
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A middle-aged businessman in a shirt and tie wearing an oversized inflatable muscle suit strikes a double-biceps bodybuilder pose in a dark industrial alley at night, a hand air pump on the ground beside him, with the word INFLATED in large yellow letters across the image.

  • Jun 14

A Bigger DPO Is Only Good News Once You Know How You Got It

A higher DPO is not automatically a win. The best payables number is the one you can explain supplier by supplier, discount by discount.
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A businesswoman in a dark suit pulls a large lever set into a wall while holding one finger to her lips, banknotes drifting in a shaft of light beside her. Bold text reads "Days Payable Outstanding," with the D, P and O highlighted in yellow.

  • Jun 7

The Working Capital Lever No Customer Gets to Veto

Days payable outstanding is the working-capital lever you control most directly, yet most teams measure it with a borrowed denominator and a flat average.
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Dark blue cinematic scene: a smiling man in a fedora and overcoat walks forward holding a brown briefcase overflowing with cash, while two men scuffle in the smoky background. Bold white serif text reads WRONG CHASE.

  • May 31

You're Chasing the Wrong Customers

Sorting AR aging by overdue balance only gets you a priority list; classifying the top customers by cause is what turns it into collected cash.
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Hourglass with bright blue sand draining through against a dark background, with the title "Days Sales Outstanding" displayed on the left in white and yellow stencil-style lettering.

  • May 24

Your DSO Is Lying to You

Standard DSO moves with revenue, not with how fast customers pay. Countback DSO shows what they actually do. The gap is real cash.
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Silhouetted businessman in a suit against a deep blue background, gesturing with one palm open and the other holding a folder, in a posture suggesting uncertainty or shrugging. Large white text overlay reads "Net Working Capital."

  • May 17

Your Cash Is Trapped. Here's Where.

Net working capital as one number hides everything. Decompose it into three levers and three conversations.
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AI-generated image of businessmen in suits running on an athletics track, passing stacks of paper documents to each other like relay batons. The lead runner looks stressed and is reaching forward to hand off a pile of folders. Bold yellow hand-painted text reads "HAND OFFS" across the left side of the image. Stadium lighting and haze in the background.

  • May 10

Your Close Is Slow Because of Handoffs That Shouldn't Exist

Learn five ways to fix upstream dependencies in your month-end close, ranked from permanent elimination to SLA formalization. Real examples from manufacturing and capex.
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A doctor calmly examines a thermometer while the room burns behind his patient. Root Cause Analysis in large yellow text on left side with halftone overlay.

  • May 3

If You Think Treating Symptoms Is the Same as Solving the Root Cause, You'd Be a Terrible Doctor

78% of recurring close overruns trace to systems and upstream handoffs, not people. How to use 5-Whys and fishbone analysis to find structural root causes in your month-end close.
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Cinematic image of a man in a suit driving a rusted-out car with an oversized exposed engine in a dark industrial setting. Bold yellow text reads DOWNTIME. Visual metaphor: the process looks like it runs, but most of the energy is going to waste.

  • Apr 26

You're Fixing the Wrong Problem. Here's How to Tell.

Learn to classify month-end close waste into two families and match the right fix to the right cause. Eight Lean wastes applied to real finance processes.
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