An M&A deal runs from a confidentiality agreement and teaser through an indicative offer, due diligence, a signed sale and purchase agreement, then integration. For an Australian startup or scale-up, the finance work that makes or breaks the timeline sits almost entirely in the diligence stage.
How a deal actually runs
Whether your business is the acquirer or the target, the shape is the same. A short, anonymised teaser goes out under a confidentiality agreement. A qualified party makes a non-binding indicative offer or letter of intent, often with an exclusivity window attached. Due diligence tests the numbers, the legal position and the commercial story. A sale and purchase agreement gets signed, conditions are satisfied, and the deal completes. Then integration starts, and that is often where the next finance hire gets triggered.
Why the finance function carries the deal
A recruiter search brief for an M&A-heavy role tells you what actually gets tested. For one infrastructure-sector client I worked with, the three critical skills were work-in-progress accounting, treasury and working capital management, and M&A experience specifically in completion accounting and the acquisition process itself, not just “having done a deal.”[1] That is the level of specificity a real M&A-capable finance hire needs, and it is a different skill set from running the day-to-day close.
The candidates who stand out on paper reflect it too. On a strong LinkedIn profile for this kind of role, I look for two or three impactful achievements tied to a real transaction, large transformation work, M&A activity or a successful exit, with a number attached, not a generic “strategic leadership” line.[2] The same specificity a deal demands in the data room is what a genuinely M&A-tested finance leader carries into the interview.
What deal activity means for your finance team
When M&A activity hits a growing business, the finance function is usually the bottleneck, not the strategy. I see this pattern often enough to trust it: clients who have been through a deal before make their first call to whoever helped them build out finance for it, sometimes before the deal is even confirmed, because the trust in that relationship was built well before the deal existed.[3] If M&A is realistically on your roadmap, the finance hire that gets you deal-ready is worth making before a live process forces the timeline.
I set out what a diligence process actually tests, and where deals stall.
For the broader signals on timing a finance hire, see when to hire your first finance leader.
Common questions
How does an M&A deal actually run, step by step?
An NDA and anonymised teaser go out first, followed by a non-binding indicative offer or letter of intent, often with exclusivity attached. Due diligence tests the financial, legal and commercial position. A sale and purchase agreement is signed and conditions satisfied, the deal completes, then integration begins. Small-to-mid market Australian deals typically compress this to three to six months.
What finance skills matter most in an M&A-heavy role?
Completion accounting and hands-on acquisition process experience matter more than a general claim of 'having done a deal.' For roles with heavy transaction activity, work-in-progress accounting and treasury or working capital management alongside M&A experience are the specific, technical skills that separate a genuine deal hire from a generalist.
Should a startup build M&A capability into its finance team before a deal is live?
If a deal is realistically on the roadmap, yes. The finance work that makes or breaks a deal timeline, mainly the diligence readiness, is hard to build under pressure once a process is already running. Businesses that have been through a deal before consistently reach for the finance leadership they already trust rather than starting from scratch.
Does an M&A deal always mean hiring a CFO?
Not always. A strong Head of Finance or Financial Controller with genuine transaction experience can carry a small-to-mid market deal. A CFO becomes the right hire when the deal is large relative to the business, or when the board and investors need one owner across the model, the diligence and the investor relationship at once.
References
- From a search brief I ran for an infrastructure-sector client: the three critical skills were work-in-progress accounting, treasury and working capital management, and hands-on M&A completion accounting experience.
- How I coach candidates to write their LinkedIn profile: two or three achievements tied to a real transaction, transformation project or exit, with a number attached, not a generic leadership line.
- A pattern from my own client relationships: when M&A hits a business, the first call often comes to whoever already helped build out its finance function, sometimes before the deal is even confirmed.
These guides set out how we see it, drawn from the searches we run and the finance leaders we place. They are general information about the market, not financial, accounting or legal advice, and they are no substitute for advice on your own circumstances.