A Key Person Resigned: How to Manage the Next 90 Days

The departure of a single leader rarely brings down a company. Problems arise from things that only they knew. The same applies whether the departee is a CFO, production director, HR director, or the owner of a systems project.

Whose credentials are used to approve payments? When is the lender’s covenant report due? Who promised the customer a delivery next month? Use this list to capture that information before they leave.

What to do when the CFO or another key person resigns?

Ensure nothing stops: approvers, credentials, authorizations, and signing rights.
Capture tacit knowledge in a written handover memo.
Meet the most important stakeholders together with the departee: lenders, key customers, main suppliers, or authorities, depending on the role.
Decide who will handle the interim period: an internal deputy, an outsourced service, or an interim manager.
Prepare the role for the successor so that no surprises remain hidden.

More detailed checklists are below.

Who is a key person?

A key person is not a title but a dependency: the person whose departure causes something to stop. In a company with a turnover of 10–100 million euros, it is usually one of these.

CFO

Board reporting, negotiations with financiers, and forecasts depend on them. The same disruption occurs if the person leaving is a business controller or a finance manager. The monthly closing and consolidation are equally dependent on one person, even if the title is more modest.

Replacement: interim CFO or an experienced business controller.

CEO or Business Area Director

Decisions are left unmade, and the owner, board, and personnel wait for direction. The departure of a single business leader is enough to stop an entire unit, even if the rest of the group continues as normal.

Replacement: interim CEO.

HR Director

Ongoing change negotiations, recruitment, and support for supervisors. These cannot be put on hold while a new leader is being sought.

Replacement: interim HR Director. If negotiations are underway, also read about change negotiations.

Production or Supply Chain Director

Security of supply, procurement contracts, and daily factory operations. Promises made to customers do not flex based on who happens to be in the building.

Replacement: an experienced operational interim manager.

Sales or Marketing Director

The sales pipeline, key accounts, and campaigns are left without an owner. The figures will only reflect this a quarter from now. The cause is created this week.

Replacement: interim Sales Director or interim CMO.

IT Director or Systems Project Owner

An ongoing ERP or data project is left without an owner, and the supplier continues billing as usual. The project doesn’t stop. It drifts, which is more expensive.

Replacement: interim CTO.

First week: decide and communicate before others start guessing

Appoint one person to be responsible for the role starting tomorrow. In practice, “we’ll handle it together” means no one handles it.
Read the executive contract: notice period, non-compete clause, non-solicitation clause, and where they are going. These determine whether they continue working or if responsibilities must be transferred immediately.
Check financing agreements and the shareholders’ agreement. Many contain a key person clause or a notification obligation, and it is better for the financier to hear the news from you than from elsewhere.
Decide on a communication sequence for a single day: your own team, management team, key customers, main suppliers. One version of the story, and the departing person tells it themselves to those they have worked with.
See who else might follow. When a key person leaves, those they recruited often follow. Have those conversations this week, not next month.
Ensure nothing is locked behind a single user ID: payment approvers, purchase orders, signing rights, Suomi.fi authorizations, and system administrator rights. Add a second approver at the same time.
Request a list of recurring deadlines: monthly closing, board reports, financier reports, and contract reviews.
Ask what has been promised verbally. A promise made to a customer or supplier does not appear in any system.

First month: capture information and decide on the direction

Request a written handover memo: ongoing projects, open risks, contracts with their due dates, and the three things they would do next.
Meet the most important stakeholders together with the departee: lenders and the auditor, key customers, main suppliers, or the project steering group.
Go through commitments with a date: covenants, delivery schedules, project milestones, and their reporting.
Redefine the role before you recruit. A forty-million-euro company rarely needs the same role that was sufficient for a fifteen-million-euro company.
Agree with the board on what is expected of the interim manager in 90 days and which metrics will be discussed at the next meeting.
Tell personnel and stakeholders who is responsible for the role during the interim period and for how long. Uncertainty costs more than a temporary solution.

Three Ways to Manage the Interim Period

Option	Works When	Risk
Internal deputy from within the house	The situation is stable and the interim period is short	Their own work is left undone, and the deputy lacks experience with the board, lenders, or similar changes
Purchased service, for example, an accounting firm or consultant	The need is limited to a specific deliverable, such as bookkeeping or a single report	No one leads the whole, makes decisions, or is accountable to the board
Interim manager	The role is vacant now, and ahead are financing, a transaction, a profit shortfall, change negotiations, or a major project	Costs more per day than an internal deputy. What the cost consists of →

What does an interim manager do during the first 90 days?

Temporary does not mean waiting around. The professional joins the company to manage the role and hand it over to a successor in better condition than it was left.

Days 1–14

Focus: Taking charge of responsibilities, mandates, and pending matters. Meetings with the team, financiers, and key customers.

Result: No one is left waiting for a decision because they don’t know who to ask.

Days 15–60

Focus: The role’s core work: reporting, negotiations, ongoing projects, and commitments made.

Result: The monthly closing, board report, and commitments are handled on time, and the board doesn’t have to follow up.

Days 61–90

Focus: Documentation and handover. If necessary, they also assist in selecting a successor.

Result: The successor starts in a situation where there are no hidden surprises.

Before the successor starts

Our clients are mostly companies with a turnover of 10–100 million euros: family businesses, group subsidiaries, and private equity portfolio companies. In this size category, there are no backups in the management team. The departure of one person or a single unfinished project is visible to the board and financiers within the same month.

Recruiting a leader typically takes months. When the successor starts, they should inherit a role where figures are up to date, stakeholders are informed, and no surprises are hidden. If an interim manager handles the transition, their final task is to hand over the role to the successor.

Not sure whether to recruit immediately or hire an interim manager first? Interim vs. Recruitment →

Do you need a professional as early as next week?

Tell us which role became vacant and what is ongoing. We will pick 2–4 experienced leaders from our talent pool within 48 hours. You meet them and decide.

Is it actually a different situation?

Situations often overlap. If needed, see temporary absence, projects and development initiatives, corporate restructuring, fractional or part-time, or all situations on one page.

Tell us who left and what was left unfinished.

A free assessment takes about half an hour. After that, you will know what kind of expert suits your situation, when they can start, and what it will cost.

In a hurry? Call any of us directly.

Sampo Salmi050 386 6565
Ilari Kallio040 070 5050
Petri Kujala040 076 7767
Samppa Seppälä050 568 0533

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Are you an interim manager yourself? Apply for the Cherry Pool →