A new survey by Accordion, an AI and data-powered financial consulting firm focused on private equity, has revealed a striking misalignment between private equity sponsors and portfolio company CFOs on what it means, and takes, to be “exit ready.”
Exit Readiness in Private Equity, the firm’s latest report in its ongoing series The State of the PE Sponsor & CFO Relationship also reveals that the disconnect is costing value: while 97% of sponsors expect CFOs to maintain an “always exit-ready” posture, only 20% of CFOs say they operate that way. Most (61%) shift into exit mode only when a sale window appears, a compressed sprint that sponsors say can reduce valuation by 1–3 turns of exit multiple.
“Exit readiness isn’t a checklist to complete in the eleventh hour. It’s a continuous discipline,” said Nick Leopard, CEO of Accordion. “Sponsors are training for a marathon, but too many CFOs are preparing for a sprint. That gap puts real value at risk – especially now, as market conditions begin to shift. With the Fed’s recent rate cut, a resurgence in dry powder, and a potential multi-year exit cycle ahead, those who treat readiness as a last-minute exercise risk missing the moment. The firms that win will be those who’ve embedded exit readiness into their operating model long before the banker’s call.”
According to the survey, 81% of sponsors want exit prep to start 12–24 months before a sale, yet 54% of CFOs begin just three to six months out, while 71% of sponsors say compressed prep correlates with lower deal multiples, and 39% cite rushed exits as a cause of post-sale adjustments.
Sponsors define readiness holistically with 86% citing active value creation levers, 79% integrated systems, and 73% credible equity stories as markers of readiness.
CFOs, however, prioritise tactical tasks, with 64% list diligence packs, 58% audit-ready financials, and only 32% include value creation in their definition.
Some 72% of sponsors say CFOs fall short on exit readiness, citing weak data (67%), limited exit experience (59%), under-resourced teams (46%), and insufficient scenario planning/storytelling (48%), while only 9% of sponsors say their CFOs exceed expectations.
CFOs cite bandwidth constraints (49%), fragmented systems (44%), unclear sponsor expectations (36%), and lack of prior exit experience (31%) as key challenges, each of which sponsors say contributes directly to lost valuation.
Some 85% of buyers meanwhile, now consider AI-enabled finance capabilities when valuing companies.
Sponsors report CFOs who embed AI in planning, forecasting, and reporting are 2x more likely to achieve smoother exits and higher perceived valuations.
Even amid slow M&A activity, 71% of sponsors monitor whether CFOs use downtime to optimise for exit readiness.
Portfolios that do are 58% more likely to achieve faster diligence cycles and stronger valuations when exits resume.
Withhold periods are now averaging 6.7 years, with 82% of sponsors saying that the extended window raises expectations for CFO-led transformation, yet only 38% of CFOs say they adapt their approach accordingly.
High-performing CFOs start exit prep more than 18 months in advance, are four-times more likely to have prior exit experience, and 2.5-times more likely to proactively align with sponsors on the definition of readiness. They treat exit readiness as a state, not a stage, embedding it into the operating model through continuous value creation, clean data, and AI-enabled decision-making.
“This survey makes clear that being ‘exit ready’ can no longer be episodic,” said Pamela Stern, Managing Director and Head of Commercial Excellence, Accordion. “CFOs need a playbook for what we call ‘always-on readiness’, a framework that embeds exit discipline into day-to-day operations, aligns sponsors and finance teams around shared definitions of value creation, and ensures no opportunity for optimisation is left on the table. That’s the next evolution of the sponsor–CFO relationship.”
The State of the PE Sponsor & CFO Relationship survey was conducted by Accordion in partnership with Wakefield Research in September 2025. It polled 200 senior executives at private equity sponsors and 200 CFOs at PE-backed companies with annual revenues exceeding $50m.
