How to Build a Scalable Finance & Accounting Platform for Successful Rollups

Updated: March 12, 2025

For those Private Equity (PE) firms employing a rollup strategy, it’s critically important to develop a systematic, repeatable process to onboard acquisitions quickly and get a clear understanding of the true financial and operational status of the business.

Contents

  • Why PE firms are embracing the rollup strategy
  • The critical role of finance and accounting
  • Common challenges of the rollup strategy
  • What you need: The four building blocks of a rollup F&A platform
    1. Integrated and extensible best-of-breed software stack
    2. Experienced F&A personnel with a range of skillsets
    3. Robust statutory and management reporting
    4. Centralization, standardization and automation
  • Consero’s Rollup Platform for PE Firms

For a growing number of PE firms, the “rollup platform” provides the foundation for financial reporting and operational standards to improve visibility and accelerate acquisition returns.

In this eBook, we’ll explain how PE firms like yours are using rollup platforms to apply systematic processes to financial and operational functions. Aligning the people, processes and technology of acquisitions in less than two months—instead of a year or more—PE firms can scale the business quickly to achieve growth targets.
Read on to find out how you can bring visibility to hidden costs, inefficient processes and unnoticed opportunity to realize the returns on investment faster.

Why PE Firms are embracing the rollup

Bain’s 2019 Private Equity Report found that nearly 30% of PE firms are employing a rollup strategy. The rollup, where multiple small companies are acquired and merged, allows PE firms to build economies of scale through a single brand supported by shared sales, marketing and operations. To grow the business effectively, the administrative infrastructure and reporting systems should be standardized across the acquired operations. The ultimate value of the business is created through a much larger entity that will produce higher profits and command a higher valuation multiple upon exit.

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New PE Platform Investment F&A Challenges

Founder Owned Company Accounting:
  • Existing accounting done on a cash/hybrid basis
  • Run on SMB accounting software and other disparate applications
  • Inability to produce auditable financials
  • Lack of know-how to develop projections & KPIs
  • No consistency/structure to customer contracts
  • Underqualified staff
  • Non-scalable manual processes
Carve-Out Accounting:
  • Required to move off parent company accounting applications in a timely fashion
  • Have to build an entire F&A team
  • No documented operational policies and procedures
To Optimized Finance & Accounting:
  • Monthly financials available in 5-10 business days
  • Audit and diligence ready support details
  • Integrated enterprise grade accounting software
  • Budget and forecast reporting
  • Business KPIs
  • Efficient & scalable processes for rolling in add-ons