This is not a recruiting service. JPS-iQ does not source, screen or place a candidate, and we don't run a search process on your behalf. When a finance leadership gap opens — through a departure, a stalled hire, an M&A integration or an ERP transformation — a JPS-iQ person steps into the role directly, takes on operational or leadership responsibility, and is accountable for the outcome for as long as the mandate runs.
None of these are edge cases. They are the recurring moments when a finance function needs leadership continuity faster than a normal hiring process can deliver it.
This is a direct assumption of operational or leadership responsibility by a JPS-iQ person — not a staffing placement, not a search, and not a body sent over on a timesheet. The person who takes the mandate is accountable for the outcome inside the role, the same way an internal hire would be.
Before the mandate starts, three things are agreed explicitly rather than assumed: the scope of the mandate, the authority that comes with it, and who it reports to. Nothing here is filled in after the fact.
Scope boundary: JPS-iQ is not a recruiting agency, a search firm or a staffing broker — we don't source candidates, run interviews or hand over a shortlist. And where a task requires licensed tax advisory authority, JPS-iQ is not a tax advisory firm; we bring in a qualified tax advisory partner rather than acting as one.
What the role owns — process by process, entity by entity — fixed at the start, not renegotiated mid-flight.
Sign-off rights, budget authority and decision rights that go with the role, so the mandate can actually act, not just advise.
Who the interim leader reports to, at what cadence, and how escalation works if the mandate needs to change.
Which level fits depends on what actually needs to be owned — not on a fixed package. Scope can start at one level and move to another as the situation develops.
Additional hands-on accounting capacity inside an existing team, absorbing transaction volume, close tasks or a temporary gap without taking over ownership of the function. Reports into the existing finance leadership structure.
Day-to-day ownership of the accounting function — the ledger, AP/AR, reconciliations, close preparation and the team executing them. Accountable for accounting accuracy and close discipline.
Ownership of the finance function as a whole — accounting, reporting, planning input, controls and leadership of the finance team — typically reporting to the CEO or the board where no CFO is in place.
Full finance leadership responsibility — strategic finance, board and investor reporting, banking relationships, controls and the finance organization — for the duration of the mandate, with the same accountability a permanent CFO would carry.
Facing a departure, an unfilled vacancy, an M&A integration or an ERP program eating your finance leadership's bandwidth? 30 minutes to scope what's actually needed.
Book a Diagnostic CallJPS-iQ's BPO operating model runs from adding accounting capacity to a full transformation program. Interim Finance Management sits at the leadership end of that spectrum, and it rarely runs in isolation — it's frequently combined with the process-BPO or transformation work happening around it.
Where an interim mandate coincides with an ERP program, the two run on the same lifecycle rather than as separate engagements — see ERP & Finance Stabilization for how that combination typically works. For the full five-level operating model behind all of this, see the Operating Model on the BPO homepage.
Add individual roles or accounting resources into an existing team, without changing who owns the process.
Hand over defined finance processes end-to-end — the function stays internal, specific processes don't.
Larger finance areas run as a managed service, inside your ERP, under agreed SLAs.
Leadership responsibility — Head of Finance to Interim CFO — for the duration of a vacancy or transformation.
Temporary operational responsibility through an ERP implementation, go-live and hypercare, until the organization is stable again.
An interim mandate is only as good as its entry and its exit. Both are designed upfront, not improvised.
Current finance leadership structure, decision rights, stakeholder map and the specific trigger — departure, vacancy, M&A, ERP program or growth — captured before the mandate starts.
Scope, authority and reporting line are agreed and put in writing. Stakeholders — leadership team, board, bank, auditors — are introduced to the interim leader directly, so external confidence doesn't depend on a title change alone.
Day-to-day decision-making, reporting, team leadership and stakeholder management at the level the mandate calls for — the same accountability a permanent hire in that role would carry.
Knowledge transfer, documentation and onboarding support for the permanent hire, plus training and enablement for the team left behind — so the handover is a structured transfer, not a gap.
The strongest documented evidence for JPS-iQ's finance operations discipline so far comes from a 14-entity, seven-country group recovery — but that program was a broader finance-and-system stabilization effort, not an interim-leadership mandate. BPO's specific role there was operational accounting for two smaller entities. We cite it here as evidence of operating discipline at multi-entity scale, not as an interim case study.
This programme is cited as general operating evidence; it was a team effort across finance architecture, ERP configuration and operational execution, not an interim-leadership engagement. Read the full case →
A dedicated interim-management case study — mandate detail, duration, sector mix — will be added here once one is ready to publish.
Handing someone operational or leadership authority over your finance function requires trust. The clearest way to build it is to say plainly who this fits, and who it doesn't.
Organizations that need someone accountable in a finance leadership role now — not in three to six months. A Head of Finance or CFO vacancy that can't sit open; an M&A integration or ERP program that needs senior finance bandwidth on top of business as usual; a board or investor group that needs to see continuity of leadership, not an empty seat; a growing organization whose finance leadership layer hasn't caught up yet.
Organizations that specifically want a recruiting agency to run a permanent search, build a candidate shortlist and manage interviews — that's a different service, and we won't pretend to be one. For a placement-focused search process, a dedicated executive search or staffing firm is the right partner, not JPS-iQ. Also less of a good fit: anyone expecting the mandate to include licensed tax advisory work directly — for that, we bring in a qualified tax advisory partner.
No marketing gloss. The questions CFOs, boards and managing directors actually ask before an interim mandate — and the clear answers on how we work.
No. JPS-iQ does not source, screen or place candidates, and we do not run a search process on your behalf. A JPS-iQ person takes on the operational or leadership role directly and is accountable for the outcome for the duration of the mandate.
If what you actually need is a permanent search or staffing, a dedicated executive search or staffing firm is the right partner, not JPS-iQ.
Faster than a permanent search, because there is no sourcing, screening or shortlist stage — the conversation moves straight to scope, authority and reporting line with a person who is available to take the mandate.
A typical start timeline depends on the mandate and current availability — exact timing is confirmed for your specific situation in the diagnostic call.
Whatever the role requires, agreed explicitly before the mandate starts — sign-off rights, budget authority and decision rights are defined in writing, not left implicit.
Reporting line and cadence are agreed at the same time, so the mandate can act, not just advise.
Through a documented transfer built into the mandate from day one: process documentation, decision logs, knowledge-transfer sessions and structured onboarding support for the permanent hire.
Where useful, we also help build up the permanent team underneath the interim role, so the handover reduces key-person risk rather than recreating it.
Yes — this is one of the most common combinations we see. An ERP implementation, migration or stabilization program is exactly the kind of situation where finance leadership bandwidth runs out first.
Interim Finance Management and ERP & Finance Stabilization are frequently run together, on the same lifecycle, rather than as two separate engagements.
It depends on the trigger: a vacancy bridge typically runs until a permanent hire is onboarded, and an M&A integration or ERP program typically runs until that specific work is stable.
There is no fixed average — mandate length follows the trigger, not a template. Expected duration is scoped explicitly in the diagnostic call.
No. JPS-iQ is not a tax advisory firm and does not act as one, including within an interim mandate. The interim leader owns the operational and leadership side of finance.
Wherever a decision requires licensed tax advisory authority, we bring in a qualified tax advisory partner rather than replacing one.
Start with a diagnostic call. We look at the trigger, the scope and the authority the role needs — and tell you plainly whether an interim mandate is the right answer or not.