Public‑company rigor, without the full‑time hire.
McHugh Advisory helps companies through ERP implementations, audits, and their most complex accounting events — acquisitions, financings, IPO readiness, and finance-system transformation — with senior, Big-4-trained expertise, exactly when it's needed.
Or email info@mchughadvisory.com
We arrive at the pivotal moments.
Most finance teams are built to run the close. The events below need someone who has carried the technical work before — and can hand it back cleanly when it's done.
When companies call
- A completed or pending acquisition
- A debt or equity financing
- A first-time or expanded audit, or audit findings
- An ERP or close-tool migration
- A sale, recapitalization, or IPO on the horizon
- Controller or senior accounting turnover
Who we work with
- Small and middle-market companies with $30M–$250M in revenue
- PE-backed or founder-led businesses scaling toward a transaction
- Lean finance teams without a dedicated technical accounting role
- Public companies that need short-term coverage through turnover or leave
Services
Technical accounting, SEC reporting, and finance transformation — scoped as a single deliverable or as ongoing coverage.
Technical accounting and GAAP positions
Audit-ready memos on revenue, business combinations, share-based pay, leases, and debt-versus-equity.
ASC 606ASC 805ASC 718ASC 842ASC 480M&A and purchase accounting
Full-cycle business combination accounting: opening balance sheets, valuation coordination, contingent consideration.
ASC 805SEC reporting and IPO readiness
S-1 drafting, 10-K and 10-Q, MD&A. Workiva and ActiveDisclosure implementation.
S-110-K10-QSOX and internal controls
Framework design, risk assessment, documentation, and remediation.
SOX 404Audit readiness and restatement remediation
PBC preparation, auditor liaison, and error correction when the numbers have to be restated.
ASC 250Interim or fractional technical accounting lead
Senior coverage through turnover or a transaction crunch.
Close and finance transformation
Close acceleration and automation on BlackLine, NetSuite, Oracle Fusion Cloud ERP, and SAP.
ERP implementation, client-side lead
Your advocate for on-time, on-budget delivery: separating must-haves from nice-to-haves and pushing back on the drift toward over-customization.
Why Michael
Twenty-plus years in technical accounting, SEC reporting, and controllership. Most fractional providers can run a close. Few have personally carried the hardest work.
Michael McHugh, CPA
Big 4 audit background, followed by technical accounting and SEC reporting leadership at public, PE-backed, and Fortune 500 companies.
- SEC filings, written firsthandFinancial statements, MD&A, and risk factors — including most of an S-1.
- A multi-period restatement, ledPrimary liaison to the board, audit committee, and auditors; debt covenant compliance restored.
- Cross-border M&AFull-cycle ASC 805 on acquisitions that doubled revenue and expanded into Europe.
- Reporting built from scratchWorkiva, SOX-readiness controls, bank compliance reporting, and ERP-integrated reporting.
- Public-company seasonedPost-IPO reporting at a newly public company; debt, credit facility, and hedging work at a Fortune 500 manufacturer.
How we engage
Three ways to work together, depending on whether you need a deliverable, coverage, or a second opinion.
Fixed-fee project
A defined deliverable — a technical memo, a purchase price allocation, a readiness assessment. Priced to scope and quoted up front.
Monthly retainer
Interim or fractional coverage with a defined scope and availability through a transition or transaction.
Advisory on call
Senior judgment on standby for the questions that still need to be right.
Tell us what's coming.
An acquisition closing next quarter, an audit that just surfaced findings, a controller who gave notice — a short note is enough to start.