A transaction can have excellent lawyers, accountants and financiers and still move slowly. Each adviser may be completing their own work, while decisions between workstreams remain unresolved. The result is familiar: repeated requests, inconsistent assumptions and an owner or investor spending evenings trying to work out who is waiting for whom. The missing ingredient may be clear coordination rather than another specialist.
Make responsibilities explicit
Begin with a simple responsibility map. Identify who makes commercial decisions, who provides each category of advice and who communicates with the counterparty. Confirm who is maintaining the timetable and following up outstanding actions. These roles can sit with different people, but everyone should understand how decisions move from a question to an authorised instruction.
For example, a lawyer may need instructions about a price adjustment, the accountant may need updated figures, and the buyer may be waiting for a funding response. If those requests travel independently, the same issue can circulate for days. Bringing the participants together around one defined question can reveal the information and decision actually required.
Use one set of assumptions
Check that everyone is working from the same transaction structure, price proposal and completion date. Advisers can unintentionally work from different versions after a commercial conversation changes direction. Record the revised assumptions and distribute them promptly. Where a change affects another workstream, ask the relevant adviser to confirm its implications before treating the position as settled.
Coordination does not replace specialist advice. The lawyer remains responsible for legal advice and documentation within their engagement. The accountant addresses the financial and tax work they have been retained to perform. The coordinator helps those inputs reach the right decision-maker at the right time, without claiming expertise or authority that belongs elsewhere.
Focus meetings on decisions
A useful transaction meeting starts with decisions needed, not a round of general updates. For each item, ask what is outstanding, who owns it and what would allow it to close. Keep routine progress reporting brief. Circulate an action list that identifies dependencies, because a task can be overdue simply because its prerequisite has not been completed.
Track significant changes in a short decision log. Record the commercial rationale as well as the outcome. If an issue is reopened later, the participants can see why the earlier position was taken. This is particularly helpful where founders, boards, lenders and investment committees are involved at different stages and have different approval responsibilities.
Keep authority with the client
The client should remain clear about who can commit it to a position. A coordinator can negotiate within agreed parameters, organise discussions and escalate unresolved issues, but authority should be defined. Establish which matters require your approval and how urgent decisions will be handled. Good coordination should make your choices easier to understand, rather than obscure who is making them.
If your deal has plenty of activity but little clarity, gather the adviser list, latest timetable and outstanding issues. Ardian Law helps clients coordinate transaction discussions and progress commercial decisions. Call 02 8111 7700 to discuss where your process needs support.