How We Work Together – The CLEAR Financial System™
Every engagement follows the same proven process—Clarity, Lock, Educate/Enable, Audit/Adjust, Review/Report. It's the system I built after decades of CFO work and forensic cleanups, designed to stabilize cash flow, enforce control discipline, and build transparency between leadership and accounting.
The CLEAR Financial System™
This isn't consulting theater. It's not a 90-day roadmap you'll never execute. It's the unsexy, high-stakes work of making your numbers bank-ready, audit-ready, and buyer-ready—so you can make decisions with confidence instead of hope.
Where you start in the system—and how long it takes—depends entirely on what we find in the CLEAR Readiness Review™.
Step 1: CLEAR Readiness Review™
Find out where you stand—and what it's going to take to fix it.
Before we do anything else, we need to know where you stand. The CLEAR Readiness Review™ is a focused diagnostic that reveals whether you have a reporting problem, a control problem, or both—and how deep the issues run.
What happens:
30-minute paid discovery call and document review
High-level financial stability assessment
CLEAR Financial Scorecard with prioritized gaps
Honest timeline and scope for what needs to happen next
Investment: $500 (credited toward your engagement)
This is where we determine the scope, the urgency, and the real timeline. Some manufacturers need 3 months. Some need 9. The Review tells us which one you are—so there are no surprises later.
Step 2: Fix the Foundation
Stabilize the numbers. Control cash. Restore confidence.
If the foundation is broken, we fix it first. This phase is about stopping the bleeding, correcting what's wrong, and building the control infrastructure you need to trust your financials.
What we do:
Identify and correct accounting errors
Reconcile every account and verify balances
Establish cash visibility and build a rolling forecast model
Document processes and train your team to maintain them
By the end of this phase, your books are clean, your cash is visible, and your team knows how to keep it that way.
Step 3: Close the Gap
From financial stability to strategic alignment.
Once the foundation is solid, we shift from cleanup to optimization. This phase is about refining your systems, empowering your team, and connecting your financials directly to your strategic goals.
What we do:
Refine reporting structure and strengthen controls
Align leadership and finance around what metrics matter
Build decision dashboards that answer your real questions
Connect financials directly to strategy and growth planning
This is where your financials stop being a compliance exercise and start being a competitive advantage.
Step 4: Continuous Clarity(Optional)
Sustain clarity, control, and confidence year-round.
The goal isn't to fix things once—it's to keep them fixed and use them to grow. This ongoing retainer ensures your finance function stays sharp, your numbers stay trustworthy, and your leadership stays aligned.
What you get:
Monthly close rhythm and cash management
Quarterly forecasting and scenario planning
Strategic advisory for M&A, financing, and scaling decisions
Annual control reviews and team development
Engagement structure: Monthly retainer after project phases are complete.
This is the partnership model: I stay in your corner, not just to maintain what we've built, but to help you use it to win.
Why the Timeline Varies
Some manufacturers breeze through Fix the Foundation in 8–12 weeks because their books are mostly clean—they just need tighter controls and better reporting.
Others need 6–9 months because reconciliations haven't been touched in years, the GL is a disaster, and nobody knows where last quarter's cash actually went.
The CLEAR Readiness Review™ tells us which camp you're in—so you know exactly what you're signing up for before we start.
I won't lowball the timeline to win the deal.
I won't tell you it's a quick fix when it's not.
And I won't leave halfway through because "the contract's up"—we're done when the foundation is solid, not when the calendar says so.
What I Won't Do
I won’t tell you everything’s fine when it’s not.
I won’t let your controller blame the software.
I won’t build you a model that looks impressive but doesn’t tie to the GL.
And I won’t disappear after the first fix—because getting the foundation right is just the beginning.
Let's Start Here
If you’re not sure your financials will survive scrutiny, the CLEAR Readiness Review™ is the first step. It’s the same diagnostic I use in the first 48 hours with every client—a focused assessment that exposes whether you’ve got a reporting problem or a control problem, and how long it's going to take to fix.
Because the difference matters—and you’re about to find out which one you have.
Ready to close the gap?
© 2025 Janssen Strategic Advisor, LLC | CLEAR Financial System™ and CLEAR Readiness Review™ are proprietary frameworks of Janssen Strategic Advisor, LLC.