Accounting & Finance Leadership · New York

Pankaj Kumar SahaMBA, LSSMBB

I build the financial infrastructure behind PE-backed growth.

Senior director of accounting and finance who owns the full function for a $100M, private-equity-backed studio platform - the close, the capital, the controls, and the decisions that depend on all three. Founder of Quiet Quarter, bringing that same finance function to companies fractionally.

Explore the work Get in touch
The record

Numbers that reconcile, and move the business.

A finance leader is only as credible as their figures. Each of these is measured, sourced, and signed off across four consecutive clean audits.

0
Annual savings. 20% of the operating-expense base.
0
Balance sheet. Assets under finance ownership.
0
Revenue platform. Consolidated and multi-entity.
0
Operating expense base. Owned end to end.
0
Legal entities. Consolidated across three locations.
0
Audit adjustments. Across four consecutive EY cycles.
Signature

The work, compressed.

Standardized reconciliations, a dual-reviewer close, and automation gave private-equity ownership decision-grade numbers faster, tighter, and with far less manual effort. Three of the gains:

0%
Month-end close
20 days to 7 days
0%
Forecast variance
15% down to 5%
0%
Manual reporting
100+ hours to under 25 a month
Interactive · FP&A in miniature

Move the levers.

A driver-based model, scaled down - the same logic behind a real operating plan. Drag the drivers and watch EBITDA respond.

Revenue
$112M
Gross profit
$62M
EBITDA
$15M
$15.1M
Projected EBITDA
13.5%
EBITDA margin

Illustrative model for demonstration - not a forecast of any company.

The mandate

One person, the whole finance function.

Not a controller with a forecast attached. Full ownership across five disciplines, from the journal entry to the capital structure to the boardroom. Open any pillar to see the surface area.

Interactive · Revenue recognition · ASC 606

Revenue recognition, in motion.

ASC 606 on one screen. Set a contract, choose how the performance obligation is satisfied, and scrub the timeline to watch revenue move off the balance sheet into the P&L, with the deferred-revenue liability drawing down as it goes.

Recognition pattern
$60,000
Recognized to date
$60,000
Deferred revenue (liability)

Ratable recognition: equal revenue each period over the contract term.

Interactive · Lease accounting · ASC 842

Leases, on the balance sheet.

ASC 842 brought leases onto the books. Set the lease, pick operating or finance, and watch the right-of-use asset and lease liability take shape, then see how the two classifications hit the income statement differently over time.

Lease classification
$0
Lease liability (remaining)
$0
ROU asset (carrying)

Operating lease: a single straight-line lease cost each period.

The toolkit

The software behind the work.

A finance function is only as good as the systems under it. These are the platforms I've implemented, reported from, and automated - filter by what you're running.

Experience

A decade of compounding scope.

From staff accountant to head of finance through four promotions - each role wider than the last. Select any to open the detail.

Case study

One result, in full.

Metrics tell you what happened. This is how. A look at the highest-stakes call of the last cycle, start to finish.

Capital · Refinancing

Refinancing $323M without giving up covenant room.

The challenge

A $323M facility was coming due against a tightening rate backdrop, with covenant headroom narrow enough to constrain the platform's next moves. A weak lender package risked a worse rate, tighter terms, or a fresh equity check.

What I did

Authored the full lender package end to end - debt-yield modeling, downside and stress scenarios, and the narrative that framed the platform's cash durability - then ran point with the bank group through diligence as the finance lead alongside the CFO and PE ownership.

The outcome

The facility refinanced at 150 bps lower, covenant headroom widened roughly 30%, and the platform freed capacity for growth without diluting ownership - on a timeline that kept the close calendar untouched.

150 bps
Lower borrowing rate
30%
More covenant headroom
$323M
Facility refinanced
Advisory
Quiet Quarter
Accepting 1-2 new engagements as of July 2026

Every quarter should be a quiet one.

Quiet Quarter brings full-scale finance leadership to companies that aren't ready for a full-time CFO, or that need a steady hand through a stretch that is anything but quiet. Fractional, interim, or project-based, built for IT services, distribution, and PE-backed lower-middle-market businesses.

FractionalInterimProject
Discuss an engagement
Portrait of Pankaj Kumar Saha Pankaj Kumar Saha · New York
The through-line

Precision and improvisation, in the same hands.

A clean close is precision. A good forecast is improvisation. Finance leadership is knowing which one the moment is asking for.

I came to finance from biology, so I run the function like an experiment: a hypothesis, a clean measurement, a result you can defend to an auditor. The scientific method is my reporting standard.

I am also a trained classical Indian violinist and tabla percussionist. Years of holding a tight rhythm while leaving room to improvise turn out to describe the job exactly - disciplined controls underneath, judgment on top.

Background

Education & credentials.

MBA, Public Accounting

St. John's University · Tobin College of Business

BA, Biology

University of Rochester
Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt Forensic Accounting & Fraud Examination · WVU Financial Engineering & Risk Management · Columbia Agentic AI & AI Agents · Vanderbilt Construction Management · Columbia
In their words

What it's like on the other side.

From the people who've sat across the table - sponsors, operators, and clients.

He rebuilt our month-end from a three-week scramble into a seven-day machine. The first time our sponsor saw the numbers, they trusted them - that had never happened before.

CF
[Name to add]
CFO, PE-backed platform

Pankaj ran our refinancing like a banker on our side of the table. The lender package was airtight, and we came out a full 150 basis points better than where we started.

OP
[Name to add]
Operating Partner, middle-market PE

As our fractional finance lead he gave the firm CFO-grade structure without the CFO overhead - clean books, real forecasts, and partner economics finally sorted.

MP
[Name to add]
Managing Partner, IT services firm
Market & industry watch

What I'm reading right now.

A live pull of current headlines - private equity and finance, plus the studio and production world I operate in. Refreshed each time the page loads.

Private equity & finance
Studios & production
Let's talk

Two ways to work together.

Open to VP of Finance and CFO-track roles at PE-backed and lower-middle-market platforms, and available for fractional, interim, and project engagements through Quiet Quarter. Tell me which, and a little about the situation.

pankajksaha@gmail.com LinkedIn