CPA depth and judgment for growing companies, lean teams, and complex transitions.
Dave works across controllership, reporting, process improvement, finance-side systems change, applied AI, and transaction support for teams that are stretched, scaling, or under pressure.
The work
Finance Operations
CPA depth inside the finance function.
- Controllership and the close: the calendar, reconciliations, and review discipline, with hands-on coaching for a stretched accounting team.
- Reporting and process improvement: close cycle time, reconciliation backlogs, handoffs, and the checklists that keep each month running clean with less rework.
- Systems change: finance-side ERP and reporting change, carried through to stabilization.
- Sell-side readiness: preparation that holds up when a buyer's diligence team starts asking questions.
- Post-acquisition support: the first close under new ownership, sponsor and lender reporting, and a finance function ready for its first audit.
Decision Support
Counsel to the owner or CEO on the decisions that shape the business, from strategy and capital to the timing of an exit.
- A budget and forecast the business can trust.
- A straight read on what the numbers will and will not support.
- The strategic frame around those numbers: where to grow, what to fund, and what to stop.
- An independent, objective view of the decision.
Applied AI
Practical AI in the finance function, in daily use where the payback is clear and the controls stay intact.
- A clear starting point, including where AI is not worth turning on.
- Built into the month-end routine the team already runs.
- Tools and habits that keep working after the engagement ends.
Who this is for
Dave works with founder-led, family-owned, and sponsor-backed companies.
These are the situations that usually start the work.
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A key person just left
The controller or accounting lead is gone, and the close cannot wait for a search to finish.
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The close has slipped
Month-end lands later each cycle, reconciliations are stacking up, and leadership sees the numbers late.
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Systems are changing
An ERP or reporting conversion is coming, and the finance side needs an owner for requirements, testing, and post-go-live cleanup.
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A sale or review is ahead
The company is heading into a sale, recapitalization, audit, or lender review, and the books need to hold up under diligence.
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The deal just closed
New ownership needs sponsor reporting, a predictable close, and a finance function ready for institutional scrutiny.
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A big decision is on the table
The owner wants an independent read on what the numbers support before committing.
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AI is on the list, but not started
There is interest in using AI in the finance function, and no clear view of where to start or how to keep controls intact.
About
Dave Russ, CPA, MBA
Chicago, Illinois
Dave has run finance, accounting, and IT for a division as its senior director, owning the close, the systems underneath it, and the budget. As an external auditor, he saw what has to hold up when someone outside the company starts asking questions.
Fortune 500 and sponsor-backed companies have brought him in when the finance function had a problem it couldn't staff for, from an empty controller seat to an ERP conversion on SAP S/4HANA or Workday. He has put AI to work inside the close and reconciliations, for those clients and in his own practice. The companies he works with now, between $10 million and $100 million in revenue, face the same problems with a smaller team to absorb them.
A graduate of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, Dave combines accounting discipline with a strategy-focused approach to finance operations. Finance should make the business easier to run. That means reliable reporting, repeatable processes, and the right amount of structure for the company's size and stage. The work is done alongside the people who already know the business.
Contact
If any of these situations sounds familiar, let's have a conversation.
Dave Russ
Russ Advisory
hello@russadvisory.com