ML Finance & Transformation Advisory Michael Leswick, CPA, MBA

Finance & Transformation Advisory

Some finance problems can’t wait for the roadmap.

Advisory grounded in executive experience, from someone who has been on your side of the table.

ML Finance & Transformation Advisory works with finance leaders on reporting, planning, and process problems that resist internal fixes. It fits organizations large enough to carry real finance complexity but not so large that they can resolve it alone, with the deepest experience in financial services. The practice is built around a single instinct: understand what is happening before recommending what to do about it.

Book a 30-minute consultation Email Michael

Mississauga, Ontario · Serving the Greater Toronto Area · Hybrid

When finance leaders call

Three situations, one underlying need.

Most finance leaders know when something is not working. The harder part is getting an objective read on the root cause, which is difficult to do from inside the function.

A process that keeps breaking

Reporting or planning that fails the same way every cycle, despite repeated internal fixes.

A team under pressure

Capable people meeting commitments through unsustainable effort rather than a sound operating model.

No clear starting point

A function that needs to change, with no objective read on where to begin. Often a new leader taking stock of what they have inherited.

Areas of practice

Where the work tends to focus.

Three areas, each entered the same way: an independent read first, then practical work the team can sustain on its own.

Finance Function Diagnostic & Remediation

An independent perspective on what is working on your team, and a practical path to fixing what is not, with remediation that equips the team to sustain the fix.

Demonstrated results across a variety of finance domains.

Finance Automation & Modernization

A practical path from manual complexity to modern finance, without the over-promised technology project. The end-user layer between systems, not an ERP build.

Led automation programs as a finance executive.

FP&A Capability & Interim Leadership

Helping FP&A teams move from order-taker to strategic partner, or providing experienced coverage while you search. Simplify the operating model, reset business relationships, build durable capacity.

Ran FP&A at enterprise and business-unit level.

The entry point

A focused diagnostic is the natural place to start.

A fixed-price, time-limited read on a specific finance process, report, or model. It stands on its own, and can lead into a remediation or implementation engagement. You decide once you have the information to decide well.

1
AssessScope the process, report, or model
2
DiagnoseIsolate root causes and structural waste
3
RecommendPrioritized actions with rationale
4
DecideIn-house, another resource, or continue

What a diagnostic looks like: a fixed-price engagement, typically delivered within four weeks of kickoff. The deliverable is a written assessment of what is driving the problem plus a prioritized, practical action list the team can run with the tools it already has. Solutions live in your current stack. The time commitment for your team is modest by design.

About

Recommendations from someone who recently ran these functions.

Twenty-six years at a major Canadian bank, the last fifteen at the executive level, spanning finance and corporate transformation with hands-on leadership across multiple teams and particular depth in retail products. That work included leading finance automation programs and running FP&A at both enterprise and business-unit level.

Since then, independent engagements have preserved material annual benefits and restored confidence with regulators, often in domains entered without prior subject-matter expertise. The pattern is consistent: get to a useful read of an unfamiliar problem quickly, translate across the parts of a business that do not currently talk to each other, and be honest about where deep expertise needs to come from someone else.

The result is advice that is recognizable rather than theoretical, recent enough that the realities of the work are still fresh.

CPA MBA, Rotman School of Management Deep experience in financial services Proven executive

Also available: embedded senior support. Interim and project-based capacity across finance and transformation initiatives, for teams that need an experienced hand on an active program.

Writing. I publish regularly on finance, transformation, and putting new technology to work in established functions. Read recent posts on LinkedIn.

References available on request. Client examples and referees can be shared as a conversation progresses.

Get in touch

A short conversation is the best place to start.

Book a 30-minute consultation to talk through the problem you are looking at, or send a note and we will find a time.

Book a 30-minute consultation Email Michael

mleswick@mlfinanceadvisory.ca  ·  linkedin.com/in/michaelleswick