My top three priorities, carried out in parallel, are people, financial due diligence and business and processes.

Forging effective relationships is vital. In the first 100 days I aim to build seven connections: my CEO, the HR manager, the accounts team, the executive board, non-executive directors, staff members and key external contacts. The chief executive is Batman to your Robin. They lead and you support. Work out their preferred style of being kept informed.

Meet with your fellow executive directors to understand strengths and interests. Non-executives need an email or phone call to set up an informal meeting later, once you have gained further knowledge of the business. The HR manager is a natural ally and will help you understand morale and people issues within the business. Take time to understand your own people in the accounts team – their roles and aspirations. You should undertake a tour to see staff face to face, try to cover items of personal interest such as a favourite football team (even if it is Coventry City). Make time for external contacts such as the audit partner, bank manager and enterprise resource planning (ERP) support company staff. An FD is likely to own the ERP system. Using the system is a good icebreaker for initial discussions with staff around the business, as most people have an opinion.

While all this handshaking is occurring it is important to find out the current state of the business and direction of travel. What is the cash projection? Are the latest management accounts and forecasts consistent? See if you can also identify any critical areas that need immediate attention. For risk mitigation I check there are no ‘bombs’ by reviewing the whole balance sheet. Are there any old or worrying items? What insurance does the company have in place and is it appropriate? I then turn to “The chief executive is Batman to your Robin. They lead and you support”the monthly reporting cycle. Ask those who receive the information if they gain what they need to know from it. By the end of the first month you should have a to-do list.

Check the company financial reporting position, when the next set of published accounts and corporation tax payment are due. This will avoid potential early embarrassment. Have any research and development tax credit claims been overlooked? Are you missing out on any free money? I like to understand financial fitness. I review debtor reports and the process for chasing debt. I also look at who reviews stock, supplier payment processes, and how supplier credit is agreed. Study competitors and their business models for examples of processes that you could adopt.

Immerse yourself in the market of the products the business sells and observe how it changes. Can you attend a trade show? Are there dependencies on individual equipment, people or suppliers? Are there capacity or licencing issues? You can ask the questions that others may have forgotten to ask because you are new. Look at the life cycle of the products to see if the business forecasts tie in to sales projections. I see the FD as a radar as he has the luxury of seeing across the whole business.

Don’t overlook the opportunity to experience key processes on the shop floor. I have shifted dispatch boxes, worked on a production line and manned telesales. I believe in authenticity. If you can build genuine relationships and understand the business in your first 100 days, you can then work with people to grow and improve it.

How your first 100 days pan out depends on your experience of the industry and the business itself. When I joined Digital Window from another company, it floored me if I’m honest.

The very first thing I did was meet all the members of the team, which wasn’t too challenging, given there were only 15 of them at that time. But I think that is really important for a new FD, as these are the people you will be working with very closely.

In a larger organisation it is impossible to meet everyone straight away, so I’d say your priority should be to focus on your finance controllers (FCs) and finance managers, plus other senior people. Then it is down to you how far down the organisation you go with your intention to meet other people in those early days. It’s important to find out what those who are closest to your role do, their background, and just try to get a general feel of the team and function dynamics.

You need to get to know the systems as quickly as possible. On my second or third day in post I recall reading the August 2010 management accounts. Over the course of your first 100 days you get to know the people and the nature of the business. You also get a good idea of what other parts of the business need from finance. So you have a good sense of the scale of the project that lies ahead.

If I had my first 100 days again, there are things I would change. I would make more of an effort to spend time with people outside finance. As FD you are the face of finance; had I invested more time early on in forging relationships with those from other functions, things would have happened much faster.

The biggest challenge of my first 100 days was closing our Newcastle office and migrating to London, but it also became my biggest triumph. Making people redundant is always incredibly difficult, more so when you are a new face and people don’t know you. However, we achieved our objective in six months. This included hiring and training, and we managed to do an audit in that time frame; that project really became the foundation of how well our finance function performs today.

Your priority when you come into a role at that level should be to build trust with the members of your team, your stakeholders, and your new managers. That has to start from day one. When meeting your team you want to know pretty quickly what everyone does. My area is financial planning, and a lot of our accounting is done offshore, but I do have to work closely with FCs based in Prague.

You can’t understand every system, so you need to find out who the experts are in your team, in accounting and payroll for example. Identify the exceptional ‘go to’ people. Having established what everyone does, you then need to look at how they are serving their customers and stakeholders. This is how you get to know about the processes, and most importantly, what you do and don’t need to do.

Be mindful of how you go about making changes. For many people, change creates uncertainty, so one thing you have to get right as the new head of the function is communicating your plans and your expectations. People need to be clear about what you are asking of them. Don’t make changes for the sake of it. Listen to the current team. The days of the direct management style are behind us; today it is about collaboration and good teamwork. Remember, you can’t be an expert in all aspects of your job.

During those first 100 days it is really important to get a quick win. This is effectively your first business quarter and you want to be able to demonstrate that you and your team are on top of the job. Mine was getting baseline reporting packs out, quickly building trust within the organisation, and using that as a stepping stone towards getting more specific, timely, relevant and accurate information out.

Amid the excitement and pressures, things like the work-life balance can easily get overlooked. Your first 100 days are very busy and stressful, so it is vital to try to maintain a good work-life balance for yourself, your team and for your family.

• An FD's first 100 days
  Finance & Management Magazine, Issue 236,October 2015

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