In the order we do it.
Nothing is ring-fenced, so an approved project competes for cash with payroll every month. And almost nobody goes back eighteen months later to ask what the last one actually returned, which means the same optimistic assumptions get used again.
Every request goes through the same appraisal, whatever its size: the cash it consumes, when it turns, what it returns against a hurdle that reflects your actual cost of capital, and what happens if the ramp takes twice as long. Lease against buy, build against acquire, and the option of doing nothing costed properly — because doing nothing is always available and rarely priced.
Approved projects are ring-fenced in the cash forecast so they stop competing with operations for the same money each month.
And every material investment gets a post-investment review at a fixed point after completion: what it cost, what it returned, and where the original case was wrong. Not to allocate blame, but because a business that reviews its last five decisions makes better sixth ones.
What you can do afterwards that you cannot do now.
Rank competing projects against each other on the same basis.
Say no to a proposal for a reason you can articulate.
Know what your last three capital decisions actually returned.
Your CFO does not do this alone.
With a named controller alongside them, a named backup on every seat, and the specialist bench behind both — all inside one fixed monthly fee.
The situations that route here.
“We keep approving projects and I cannot tell you what they returned”
Nobody needs all of it at once.
The diagnostic decides which two or three matter first in your business, and you keep that assessment either way.
Tell us what your month looks like. We will tell you whether this is the first thing to fix.
One hour on your business, with the CFO who would hold the seat rather than a salesperson. Nothing to prepare and nothing to sign. A written note back within two working days saying what we heard and what we would look at first.