Finance Seat Maturity Model: session worksheet
One page. Four levels. Put a client on the map in about two minutes, and name the single next step that moves them, instead of debating which finance hire they need.
The levels are cumulative. You can't manage what you can't trust, and you can't forecast what you can't measure, so the next step is always the one directly above where they sit, never the one they wish they were ready for.
- Monthly close finishes weeks late, or not at all
- Scorecard financial numbers are estimates nobody believes
- Cash is whatever the bank balance says today
- Decisions get made on gut because the data isn't reliable
Next step: Get a reliable monthly close in place. Nothing else is stable until this is.
- Monthly close lands on a predictable date
- Financial statements are accurate and trusted
- Reporting explains what already happened
- Little forward visibility, no real forecast or cash runway
Next step: Add forward-looking measurables, a 13-week cash view and trusted Scorecard financials.
- Trustworthy Scorecard measurables the team acts on
- A rolling cash forecast informs decisions
- Reporting ties to the Rocks and V/TO
- The leadership team runs the business on the numbers
Next step: Layer in forecasting and decision support, move from managing to steering.
- Scenario planning and forecasting guide big decisions
- Finance actively shapes strategy and capital allocation
- The numbers support growth bets, hiring, and expansion
- Finance is a driver of traction, not a constraint on it
Next step: Sustain it, and use finance to pursue the opportunities the Vision calls for.
The four levels
The chain underneath the model
Books → Close → Scorecard → Cash → Insight → Decisions
A company's level is set by the first link that breaks. If the close is unreliable, everything downstream is decoration, which is why a company at Level 1 hiring for strategy usually stays at Level 1 with a more expensive person in the seat.
A facilitation tool from the Averan EOS finance library, an independent finance resource for the EOS community. Free to use and share with clients. Full library and diagnostics at financeforeos.com.
Use it when a leadership team is arguing about who to hire before they've agreed on what's broken. Read the four levels aloud and let them place themselves, most teams land a level higher than the evidence supports, and the gap between their answer and yours is the conversation worth having. Then hold them to the single next step for the level they're at.
Pair it with the Finance Readiness Check for the evidence, the interactive diagnostic if they want a scored result, or read the full write-up of the model.
This is a self-assessment tool for discussion, not accounting, tax, or legal advice, and it does not account for your specific circumstances. Decisions about your accounting basis, tax treatment, or financial reporting belong with your CPA or qualified advisor.
Where this leaves your own numbers
If the close lands late, the Scorecard is an estimate, or nobody owns the numbers between L10s, that is the gap the finance seat fills. Start with the readiness check, or talk it through with us.
Book a consult →Next in the library
These pages are meant to be read in order, and each one assumes the one before it.
- Finance for EOSwhy the finance seat is the one seat with no agreed standard
- What the finance seat isthe seat, and what it owns
- Who owns finance in an EOS companyvisionary, integrator, or somebody else
Start anywhere
- The EOS finance libraryeverything here, in order
- The field guidesthe long-form versions
- The toolsdiagnostics and checklists that run in the browser
Outside the EOS frame
- Controller servicessomeone who owns the close and the reporting
- Bookkeeper, controller or CFOthe decision guide, by symptom and revenue
If you want this done for you
What happens next
The close, the Scorecard and the cash forecast all need somebody accountable for them between L10s. That is what the finance seat is, and it is what we do.
- The call, twenty minutesYou describe the business and where the numbers are letting you down. We tell you honestly whether we can help, and what we would start with. No pitch deck.
- We look at the fileYou give us read access to the books as they are. We come back with what is wrong, what it will take to fix, and whether the answer is bookkeeping, controller work, or something else.
- A written scope and a priceWhat we do each month, what you get, the date it lands, and the fee. Agreed before anything starts, and it does not move without you agreeing it.
- Transition, then the first closeAccess, systems, and the opening balances. The first close lands on the date in the scope, and every one after it does too.
Averan is not a CPA firm and does not file taxes. Your CPA keeps that, and we keep the books they file from.