Your First 90 Days as a Finance Manager: What to Fix and What to Leave Alone
The first 90 days in a new Finance Manager role shape how you are seen for years to come.
In that time, the Managing Director, the CFO, the team and the wider business form a view of you. Are you someone who makes things clearer or more complicated? Do you listen before you act? Can the numbers be trusted now you are here? That view is hard to shift once it settles.
Most new Finance Managers make one of two mistakes. Some change too much too fast, before they understand why things are the way they are. Others change nothing, keep their head down and miss the window when the business expects a new person to make a difference.
This article sets out a practical approach to your first 90 days as a Finance Manager. What to learn, what to fix and what to leave alone. If you are still working towards your first Finance Manager role, this is how I help accountants make that step.
Why the first 90 days matter so much
When you join, people are paying close attention. The person who hired you is hoping they made the right call. The team is wondering what kind of manager you will be. Operational leaders are deciding whether finance is about to become more helpful or more annoying.
You also have something you will never have again. A fresh set of eyes. You will notice things that everyone else has stopped seeing. Spreadsheets that make no sense. Reports nobody reads. Controls that exist on paper but not in practice. That perspective is valuable, but only if you use it well.
Before day one
Good preparation starts before you arrive. If you can, ask for a few things in advance. Recent management accounts. The last audit management letter. An organisation chart. The finance team’s roles. The month-end calendar. The budget for the current year.
Read them with curiosity rather than judgement. You are building a first map of the business and its finance function. Note questions as you go. They will give you a head start in your first conversations.
Days 1 to 30: listen and learn
The first month is mostly about understanding. Resist the urge to fix things, even obvious ones, unless they are creating real risk.
Meet the team one-on-one. Ask each person what they do, what works well, what frustrates them and what they would change. You will learn more about the finance function in these conversations than from any process document.
Meet the key stakeholders. The Managing Director or CFO, operational leaders, sales, HR and anyone else who relies on finance. Ask what they need from finance, what they are getting and what is missing. Ask what the previous Finance Manager did well. It tells you what to keep.
Walk the business. Visit sites, warehouses, stores or project locations. See how money is made and spent. Finance Managers who understand operations earn trust much faster than those who stay at their desk.
Watch a full month-end. Observe your first close closely. Where are the delays? Where do errors come from? Who is carrying too much? Where does the process depend on one person?
Understand the numbers. Go through the balance sheet account by account. Check the big reconciliations. Understand the main revenue and cost drivers. Look for anything that does not make sense.
Watch for risk
There is one exception to the “do not fix yet” rule. If you find something that creates real financial, legal or reputational risk, deal with it straight away.
Examples include unreconciled bank accounts, overdue tax lodgements, payroll errors, missing approvals on large payments, or weak controls over supplier bank details. Raise these with your manager promptly, explain the risk and agree what to do. Acting on genuine risk early builds trust. Ignoring it can damage your reputation before you have properly started.
Days 31 to 60: diagnose and plan
By the second month, you should have a clear view of how the finance function works and where it falls short. Now it is time to turn that into a plan.
Write a short summary of what you have found. Keep it balanced. What is working well. What needs to improve. What the risks are. What the business needs from finance that it is not getting.
Then prioritise. Not everything can be fixed at once. A simple way to rank issues is by impact and effort. High-impact, low-effort items become your quick wins. High-impact, high-effort items become your longer projects. Low-impact items can wait.
Share the summary with your manager and agree on priorities. This conversation is important. It shows that you have listened, think clearly, and understand what matters to the business.
Choosing your quick wins
Quick wins matter because they build credibility. They show the business that having you there makes a practical difference.
Good quick wins for a new Finance Manager often include:
Moving the management accounts earlier by a day or two
Simplifying the monthly report so managers actually read it
Fixing a recurring error that annoys people
Clearing an old reconciliation problem
Answering a long-standing question a manager has been asking
Introducing a simple month-end checklist
Choose things that are visible and useful to people outside finance, not only inside it.
Days 61 to 90: deliver and set direction
In the third month, start delivering. Complete your quick wins. Begin the larger projects. Put structure around the team’s work if it is missing.
This is also the time to set expectations for the team. Clarify roles, deadlines and standards. If there are performance issues, start addressing them now rather than letting them drift. The longer you wait, the more you will be seen as accepting the status quo.
By the end of 90 days, you should be able to point to a few concrete improvements and a clear plan for the next six to twelve months.
What to leave alone
Part of doing this well is knowing what not to change.
Things that work. If a process is reliable and people are happy with it, leave it, even if you would have designed it differently.
Things you do not yet understand. A report or control that seems pointless may exist for a reason, such as a lender requirement or a past problem. Ask before you remove it.
Relationships you have not built yet. Do not challenge senior operational leaders hard in your first few weeks. Build the relationship first. Your challenge will carry more weight later.
Your predecessor’s reputation. Avoid criticising the person before you, even if you find problems. It rarely helps and often damages trust with people who liked them.
Building trust with the team
Your team is watching to see what kind of leader you are. Early actions carry a lot of weight.
Be visible and available. Learn how each person likes to work. Recognise good work publicly. Take a fair share of the load during your first month-end. Be clear about what you expect, and consistent in how you apply it.
If the team has been through a difficult period, such as a restructure or a string of departures, acknowledge it. People work better for a manager who understands what they have been through.
Building trust with your manager
Agree early on how your manager likes to work. How often do they want updates? In what format? What decisions do they want to be involved in? What should you handle yourself?
Then over-communicate slightly for the first few months. A short weekly update on what you have learned, what you have done and what you are planning keeps them informed and confident. It also makes them more likely to back you when you propose bigger changes.
Building trust with the business
Operational leaders judge finance by how useful it is to them. Early on, find one or two ways to make their lives easier. A clearer report. A quicker answer. A cost insight they lacked.
Follow through on every promise, however small. If you say you will send something on Thursday, send it on Thursday. Reliability is one of the fastest ways to build a reputation in a new role.
A simple 90-day plan on one page
It helps to write your plan down. A one-page plan might include:
Days 1 to 30: meetings with every team member and key stakeholder, site visits, observe month-end, balance sheet review
Days 31 to 60: written findings, agreed priorities with manager, two or three quick wins started
Days 61 to 90: quick wins delivered, team roles and standards clarified, plan for the next 12 months agreed
Share it with your manager. It provides structure and a clear way to report progress. If you are still interviewing, a version of this plan is also useful in the interview itself. See how to present a 90-day plan in an interview.
Common mistakes
Changing processes before understanding them
Staying invisible and changing nothing
Ignoring real risks because it is “too early”
Criticising the previous Finance Manager
Focusing only on finance and not meeting the business
Letting performance issues drift for months
Not agreeing priorities with your manager
Capture it for your resume
Keep a note of what you change and the results, from your very first month. The improvements you make in a new role often become the strongest achievements on your resume later. “Cut month-end from nine to five days within six months of joining” is a line future employers love, but only if you recorded the before and after.
Your next step
If you are about to start a new Finance Manager role, write your one-page 90-day plan this week. List who you need to meet, what you need to learn and what a good first quick win might look like.
If you want your resume and LinkedIn ready for the role after this one, my Gold package covers your resume, cover letter, LinkedIn and positioning strategy.
If you are weighing up a new Finance Manager offer and want an outside view, book a complimentary Clarity Session.
