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About this practice
In today’s competitive and volatile markets, corporate finance is moving beyond simply managing value to creating maximum value. Its reach now extends deeper than ever before, touching every aspect of the business. McKinsey’s Corporate Finance practice is well positioned to serve CFOs and other leaders as they address these new cross-functional challenges.
Who we are
McKinsey is the leading independent adviser on finance and value creation. In the past four years, our Corporate Finance practice has supported clients on nearly 3,400 projects. We advise clients in a variety of industries, including consumer goods, energy, financial services, health care, high tech, and telecommunications. Our global team of more than 400 corporate finance consultants brings extensive functional expertise and deep industry knowledge to every project. Our consultants work closely with our experts and research analysts to deploy proven tools and to develop cutting-edge resources for our clients.
What we do
We take a holistic approach to corporate finance by dealing with a broader range of issues and taking a longer view than most financial advisers. Our involvement usually extends beyond support of a transaction, for example, to include the integration work needed to capture maximum value from a merger; similarly, we work with clients not just to assess performance in the finance function but more typically to define a long-term corporate transformation strategy. We combine strategic, financial, and organizational capabilities into a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. This, combined with our innovative approach to problem solving, helps to create sustained value for our clients.
Our Corporate Finance practice offers clients a unique combination of strategic, financial, and transactional advisory services. Because our fee is not transaction-based, we can maintain genuine objectivity and interest in our clients’ long-term success. When we discuss and execute a project, we carefully consider the client’s corporate strategy. At the same time, we work closely with our clients to build their internal skills throughout all phases of a project.
Our Corporate Finance practice supports clients in two broad areas:
- CFO: Capital Markets and Managing for Value: We support the CFOs and finance functions of leading companies. We help them link their corporate strategy decisions to capital markets performance and perception of value. We also support a variety of activities aimed at creating maximum value in the finance function, including lean finance, treasury optimization, and finance talent management.
- M&A/Transactions: We support clients through all phases of a transaction—from assessing its rationale to ensuring smooth execution and laying the foundation for a seamless integration. We help ensure that every transaction supports our client’s corporate strategy and value-creation goals.
As a complement to these two broader service lines, the McKinsey Corporate Performance Center (CPC) offers clients a range of analytical services. This team of world-class finance experts, strategists, and analysts collaborates closely with our consultants to address our clients’ most pressing finance and valuation challenges. The CPC unites our sophisticated financial analysis capabilities and proprietary tools and insights with our rich industry experience.
For more information on specific services, visit our Expertise page.
Latest thinking
McKinsey invests heavily in research and thought leadership. Our corporate finance consultants wrote Valuation, the definitive book on value creation, widely used by corporate finance professionals and academics, and we embed its principles in our work. In addition, Corporate Finance Practice shares its latest insights and advice in a quarterly publication, McKinsey on Finance.
For more, visit our Latest thinking page.