Before founding my own practice, I worked with a £320 million UK-based building services company facing a familiar challenge: too much cash tied up in work-in-progress (WIP), and limited visibility into how quickly that cash could be converted.
The Client Issue
The company operated across multiple service lines, with complex project lifecycles and a high volume of ongoing work. While revenue was strong, a significant portion of cash was trapped in WIP — slowing down liquidity and limiting the business’s ability to invest in growth or respond to market opportunities.
Despite efforts to improve billing cycles and project close-outs, WIP days remained stubbornly high. Leadership recognised that without a targeted intervention, they risked continued inefficiencies and missed opportunities to unlock value from their operations.
What We Did
Working closely with finance and operational teams, we undertook a focused three-month initiative to reduce WIP and improve working capital performance. The approach included:
- Data Diagnostics: We mapped the end-to-end WIP lifecycle across service lines, identifying bottlenecks in project completion, billing, and approval processes.
- Process Optimisation: We streamlined workflows, introduced tighter controls around project milestones, and improved coordination between commercial and finance teams.
- Behavioural Change: Through targeted engagement with project managers and finance leads, we embedded a culture of accountability around WIP management — ensuring that cash conversion became a shared priority.
- Performance Tracking: We implemented simple but effective dashboards to monitor WIP movement and flag delays in real time.
The Outcome
The results were both immediate and impactful:
- WIP Days Reduced: Over the three-month period, WIP days were reduced by 9 days, significantly accelerating the cash conversion cycle.
- Cash Released: This reduction unlocked £8 million in working capital — a substantial injection of liquidity that could be redeployed across the business.
- DSO Maintained: Importantly, Days Sales Outstanding (DSO) remained stable at an average of 41 days, demonstrating that improvements in WIP did not come at the expense of receivables performance.
This engagement reinforced a core principle that continues to shape my approach: working capital is not just a finance issue — it’s an operational opportunity. With the right focus, even short-term interventions can deliver lasting financial impact.
More soon on how this philosophy is evolving.
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