The PE–CFO tandem: redefining the finance function in private equity-backed companies

In private equity-backed companies, CFOs are no longer traditional finance leaders. They are expected to operate as strategic partners, embedded in the business and central to value creation.

At the same time, private equity firms are taking a more active role, setting expectations while supporting and shaping the finance function across their portfolio companies.

To understand how this collaboration works in practice, Eight Advisory surveyed private equity firms on their interaction with CFOs.

As highlighted by our experts:

“PEs, in their role of active shareholder, have a unique capability to support their portfolio company with the next phase of their growth. Leveraging knowledge sharing, building out functional expertise, infusing the business with an M&A strategy and focusing on a scalable tech-stack are key traits to support a portfolio company with increasing its enterprise value.”

The analysis reveals a structured framework built around six core priorities, which together form the foundation of finance transformation under PE ownership:

1. Operating model & collaboration
2. CFO role & positioning
3. Cash & working capital
4. FP&A & performance steering
5. Exit readiness
6. Digital transformation

Across these priorities, one common reality emerges: there is often a gap between expectations and execution. Finance teams are expected to deliver strategic insights, real-time visibility, and operational impact, but do not always have the tools, processes, or maturity to do so.

This gap sits at the core of the PE–CFO dynamic, shaping both performance and value creation throughout the investment lifecycle.

What is at stake now is the ability of private equity firms and CFOs to align on the priorities, capabilities, and operating models required to deliver on shared value creation ambitions.

How Eight Advisory can support you

Across these six dimensions, Eight Advisory has defined maturity levels (from “insufficient” to “optimised”), to assess how effectively private equity firms and CFOs collaborate and translate ambition into execution.

This maturity matrix provides a structured way to:

• benchmark finance functions across portfolio companies
• identify gaps between current capabilities and expected performance
• prioritise the initiatives required to reach desired standards

By combining these maturity levels across all six priorities, the matrix offers an integrated view of where value creation is enabled – or constrained – within the PE–CFO tandem.

Explore the full PE x CFO study to understand how leading firms are structuring and accelerating finance transformation.