An acquisition is one decision, but an integration is a hundred smaller ones, and most of them should be made before the deal completes.
Renzo Demartini, Chartered Accountant and finance executive · · 4 min read Drafted with AI, reviewed and spot-checked by me.
Exhibit 1What has to be in place before an acquisition completes?
Regional acquisition
Illustrative
Price
AgreedReopenedWithin walk-away
Walk-away point
Not setSet
Day-one list
Not writtenWritten
Weekly cash view
Not yetWeekly
Before day oneWalk-away point, day-one listPlan on one page
Vendor reopens termsLate, before completionTerms reopened
Days 1 to 100Stabilise, merge, make it routineOne set of numbers
A regional acquisition is close to completing. Three things are not in place.
Before day one: set the walk-away point and write the day-one list.
The vendor reopens terms late. The walk-away point makes it a talk about numbers.
The deal’s value is decided in the first 100 days, and much of it before day one.
Illustrative figures, not client data.
In short
The value of a deal is decided in its first 100 days, and much of what decides it happens before day one.
In the first 30 days, stabilise rather than redesign: people paid, suppliers paid, customers served and cash visible every week.
Merge early where the business carries risk or duplicated cost, and leave alone what customers value.
I have led two integrations I can point to with numbers. At a renewable-energy retailer, I led the financial due diligence and the post-merger integration of a regional business. At a window-furnishings manufacturer and retailer, we were close to completing when the vendor tried to renegotiate at the last minute. We saved the deal, completed it and integrated it.
Two different businesses. The same lesson. The value of a deal is decided in its first 100 days, and much of what decides it happens before day one.
Exhibit 2
Two integrations, each with a number
A$100K
a year in cost synergies, plus expansion into Southern NSW
Head of Finance, renewable-energy retailer: a regional integration.
5x
the A$500K purchase price, returned in EBIT within 18 months
CFO, window-furnishings manufacturer and retailer: a regional acquisition.
Four things are written down before the deal completes
01
Sort every finding
Each diligence finding is a price issue or a plan item. Write it down as one or the other.
02
The case on one page
Why you are buying, what must be true for the deal to have worked, and by when. What you will not touch.
03
Your walk-away point
Your model is what you negotiate with when a vendor reopens terms late.
04
The day-one list
Who signs, who gets paid and from which account, who tells staff and customers, who has access to which systems.
Exhibit 4
Rehearse four things before completion, with a time and the evidence for each
Area
What you rehearse
Evidence kept
Access
A named person signs in to the acquired ledger with the new login
A sign-in screenshot and the role list
Authority
A sample bill above the limit routes to the second approver
The approval path, and the old signatory removed
Payment preparation
A sample batch is prepared and checked, and not released
Batch total agreed to the bills; release refused
Reporting
The day-one trial balance maps to the group chart
The mapping check, and any rerun
A failure
Name the cause, roll back as agreed and run it again
The failure record, the rollback and the rerun result
Due diligence is the first draft of the integration plan, not only a check on the price. Write the integration case on a single page. If the leadership team can’t agree on that page, they won’t agree on anything harder later.
A checklist says access is set up. A rehearsal proves it, on sample records.
Know your walk-away point. When a vendor reopens terms late, your model is what you negotiate with. Know what the business is worth to you, which assumptions carry that value and where you stop. Then the conversation is about numbers, not nerves.
None of the day-one list is glamorous. All of it goes wrong if nobody owns it.
The first 30 days: stabilise, don’t redesign
Exhibit 5
In month one, change only what fixes a risk or delivers a planned cost item
Keep running
People paid correctly and on time
Suppliers paid
Customers served without noticing a change
Cash visible every week across both businesses
Routines that hold the place together, unless they create risk
Change early only to
Fix a risk
Deliver a cost item in the plan
Everything else
Wait for evidence
Spend the time listening. Meet the people in the acquired business, one by one if you can. Find out where the work really gets done, which is often not where the organisation chart says. Resist the urge to change things to show progress.
What to merge and what to leave alone
Exhibit 6
Merge what carries risk or duplicated cost. Leave alone what customers value
Merge early
Banking and payments
Payroll
Approval limits and delegations
Insurance and compliance
The acquired chart of accounts, mapped to yours
Book into the plan
Cost items from the integration case, with owners and dates
Synergies count once they show up in the ledger
Leave alone
Local relationships
People customers know by name
How the business sells in its area
Growth like the expansion into Southern NSW depends on keeping what made the acquired business work. Strip that out to tidy the structure and you can lose the reason you bought it.
The numbers to watch, to day 100
Exhibit 7
Six numbers on one page, against the deal model, show drift within weeks
Number
Measure
Weekly cash
Across both businesses
Revenue and gross margin
Acquired business, by month, against the model
Key customers
Retention
Key people
Turnover in the acquired team
Cost synergies
Booked in the ledger, against plan
Integration costs
Against budget
If one line drifts, you want to know within weeks, not months. By day 100 you should have one set of numbers, one operating rhythm, clear owners, the first cost items in the ledger and a short list of what comes next. The integration won’t be finished. It should be routine.
The people side
Exhibit 8
Four steps stop an integration stalling on people
01Name the accountabilities
One integration lead. A named owner for each workstream. Write the list down and share it.
02Set the decision rights
From day one, who decides on pricing, hiring, spending and customer terms.
03Keep a rhythm
A weekly meeting with a running list of open items. A monthly review against the case. A formal review at day 100.
04Communicate more than feels necessary
Tell them what will change, what won’t and when they will hear more.
Most integrations that stall do so on people, not numbers. Ambiguity doesn’t produce caution. It produces delay, and the best people leave because of it.
What to do first
Exhibit 9
Five steps before completion give you a plan you can run
01Sort the findings
Mark each diligence finding as a price issue or a plan item.
02Write the case
One page: why you are buying, what must be true, and what you will not touch.
03Set your walk-away point
Know what the business is worth to you and where you stop.
04Write the day-one list
Who signs, who is paid, who tells whom, who has access.
05Name the integration lead
Give each workstream a named owner, and share the list.
Common questions
What should you do in the first 100 days after an acquisition?
Plan before day one: sort each diligence finding into a price issue or a plan item, write the integration case on one page, know your walk-away point and prepare the day-one list. Then stabilise for 30 days, merge what carries risk or duplicated cost, and report a short list of numbers against the deal model.
What should you merge first after an acquisition?
Merge early where the business carries risk or duplicated cost: banking and payments, payroll, approval limits and delegations, insurance and compliance, and a mapping of the acquired chart of accounts to yours. Leave alone what customers value, which in a regional business is usually local.
Why do integrations stall?
Most that stall do so on people, not numbers. Name one integration lead and an owner for each workstream, say who decides on pricing, hiring, spending and customer terms, and keep a weekly meeting and a monthly review.
Chartered Accountant (CA ANZ) and finance executive, based in Canberra. Practical AI and automation for SMEs, and adviser to owners, CEOs and boards on integration and finance.
Facing an integration? I lead them hands-on, or support the board through one.
Renzo Demartini