Choosing ERP for private equity portfolio companies is a different problem from choosing it for one business. The sponsor wants the same reporting from every company, add-on acquisitions folded in without a new project each time, and numbers that hold up in lender reviews and at exit. Lucentive helps operating partners and portfolio CFOs set that up once and repeat it.
A standard setup you can repeat
- One chart of accounts and set of reporting dimensions defined for the portfolio.
- Each company, and each add-on, becomes an entity on a consistent structure.
- Board packs, covenant calculations and KPI reports come from the ledger in the same format every month.
Add-ons without starting over
When a platform company acquires, the target’s balances, vendors and customers move onto the platform’s structure through a repeatable onboarding, with a parallel close before anyone relies on the combined numbers.
Sized to each company
Portfolio companies vary widely. Accounting and inventory sit at the core, while payroll, CRM, bill pay and industry systems are chosen for each business and connected, rather than forcing one suite on every company.
An honest assessment at the start
The fixed-fee ERP advisory can assess one company or a group, and the recommendation stands on its merits, including keeping a company’s current system where it already works. Related: multi-entity accounting software.
Common questions
Can one advisory cover several portfolio companies?
Yes. It can assess one company or a group, and set a standard chart of accounts and reporting package that each company adopts at its own pace.
What if a company already has a system that works?
Then it keeps it. The goal is consistent reporting across the portfolio, and a working system can often be mapped to the standard without a replacement.
How does this help at exit?
Buyers and their advisors ask for monthly financials, KPIs and entity detail going back several years. When that comes straight from a consistent ledger, diligence requests take less rework and the numbers are easier to defend.
How we work
- Assess: a fixed-fee advisory, usually two to four weeks, built from your actual close and ending in a recommendation you can act on.
- Implement: chart of accounts, integrations and data migration, proved by a parallel close before go-live.
- Support: the principal consultants who built the system stay on after launch.
Related services: Post-Merger ERP Integration, Family Office Accounting Software and ERP for Financial Services Firms. Or see all our ERP consulting services.