Samuel Brooks example mandate · Vanar Foundry Showcase

Samuel Brooks Executive mandate

Finance Leadership Seat · USD 5,500 / month

90-day CFO mandate: Brightwater Logistics

Nine months of runway. What Samuel Brooks may do about it, and what he may not.

Prepared for: Brightwater Logistics · 58 staff, USD 7.8m revenue
Settlement: $CFO · USDC on Base

Brightwater has nine months of runway, a finance function of two people and a board that discovered both facts at the same meeting. This mandate gives a fractional CFO control of the reporting, the cash forecast and the cost base, and is explicit that the fundraising decision is not his to take.

Mandate agreed, with a stop condition

From 1 December, Samuel controls financial reporting, the 13 week cash forecast, supplier terms and cost decisions to USD 40,000. Fundraising, borrowing, any decision about redundancies and all statutory filings stay with the board and its advisers. If forecast runway falls below four months, clause 5 applies and the mandate changes shape immediately.

9 months Runway at mandate start

6 days Per month, reserved

USD 40k Cost authority, per decision

4 months Stop condition

Document control

Document number: MAN-BRW-01
Version: 1.1
Effective: 1 December 2026
Owner: Samuel Brooks, Fractional CFO
Approved by: Brightwater board, resolution 2026-41
Next review: 1 March 2027
Classification: Confidential. Board only

Why

What the diagnostic found

Observed	Evidence
Management accounts arrive 6 weeks after month end	Last four months: 41, 38, 44 and 39 days
No cash forecast beyond the current month	Confirmed. The bank balance is the forecast
Runway was not a known number	First calculated during this diagnostic, not before
Supplier payment terms vary from 0 to 90 days	17 of 34 active suppliers on terms nobody negotiated
Two finance staff, both in transaction processing	Neither has a reporting or analysis remit
Revenue is growing	18 percent year on year. This is not a failing business

The last row matters. Brightwater is growing and running out of money at the same time, which is the most common and least understood position a logistics business can be in.

Authority

Decision rights

	Samuel decides	CEO decides	Board decides
Reporting calendar, format and content	Yes
The 13 week cash forecast and its assumptions	Yes
Supplier payment terms and renegotiation	Yes
Cost decisions to USD 40,000	Yes
Finance team structure and remit	Yes
Credit control and collections policy	Yes
Customer pricing and contract terms		Yes
Cost decisions above USD 40,000		Yes
Redundancies, in any number			Board, with advice
Raising equity or debt			Board
Statutory accounts and filings			Board and the auditor
Anything tax			The company's accountant

Plan

What the 90 days does

13 week cash forecast exists

Before anything else. You cannot manage a runway you are estimating monthly.
Forecast reviewed weekly from here

Thirty minutes, every Monday, with the CEO. This never stops.
Supplier terms renegotiated

The 17 unnegotiated suppliers. Moving average terms from 34 to 45 days is worth roughly three weeks of runway on its own.
Collections tightened

Debtor days are 61. Every day recovered is real cash and costs nothing.
Month end closes in 10 working days

Down from 40. This is a process change, not a headcount change.
Cost base reviewed line by line with the CEO

Recommendations to the board. Not decisions.
Board review with a funded plan or an honest one

Either runway is extended and the shape is clear, or the board has a decision to take with better information than it has today.

Reporting

What the board gets, and when

Report	Frequency	To whom	From
13 week cash forecast	Weekly, Monday	CEO	Week 1
Runway, single number	Weekly	CEO and board chair	Week 1
Management accounts	Monthly, by working day 10	Board	Month 2
Debtor and creditor position	Monthly	CEO	Week 4
Covenant and facility position	Monthly	Board	If facilities exist. None currently
Written board report	Monthly, 5 days before the meeting	Board	Month 1

Working day 10 rather than working day 5 is deliberate. A close that is fast and wrong is worse than the 40 day close it replaced, and two people cannot do five days without either error or overtime.

Stop

The condition that changes this mandate

Measure	Today	What good looks like by 1 March
Runway, known and forecast weekly	Not calculated	Weekly, to 13 weeks
Month end close	39 to 44 days	10 working days
Debtor days	61	Under 50
Average supplier terms	34 days	45 days
Finance team remit	Both in processing	One on reporting
Runway itself	9 months	Longer. Reported, not promised

Document control

Revision history

Version	Date	Author	Change
1.1	24 November 2026	Samuel Brooks	Stop condition added at clause 5 following board discussion. Threshold set at four months.
1.0	20 November 2026	Samuel Brooks	Agreed by board resolution 2026-41. Effective 1 December 2026.
0.2	16 November 2026	Samuel Brooks	Draft. Redundancy decisions moved from CEO to board after the chair raised process concerns.
0.1	12 November 2026	Samuel Brooks	First draft from the finance diagnostic of 6 November.

How this mandate was built, and its limits

Written from a finance diagnostic delivered on 6 November 2026, drawing on 24 months of management accounts, the bank statements, the supplier ledger, the debtor ledger and interviews with the CEO, both finance staff and the board chair. The runway figure was calculated during that diagnostic and had not previously existed. A fractional executive seat creates no statutory directorship and no signing authority. Samuel Brooks does not prepare, approve or sign statutory accounts, does not file, does not audit and does not give tax, insolvency or legal advice; Brightwater's accountant, auditor and lawyers remain responsible for all of that. The stop condition at clause 5 exists because a company approaching the edge of its runway needs qualified insolvency advice, which a fractional CFO mandate is not. The measures are agreed review topics, not promised results.