Experience That Comes From Doing the Work.
Clear Cycle Advisors helps finance and operations leaders improve liquidity, build scalable functions, and make better technology decisions—grounded in decades of real-world operating experience.
Our Story
Built by an operator, not a consultant.
After three decades leading global finance operations at S&P Global, Ian Thompson founded Clear Cycle Advisors with a simple idea:
Organizations don’t need more transformation theory. They need experienced people who understand how to make change work.
Throughout his career, Ian has built and led global Order-to-Cash teams, integrated multi-billion-dollar acquisitions, driven enterprise-wide risk and automation initiatives, and managed operations across more than ten countries.
He has worked across finance, risk, technology, outsourcing, insourcing, process transformation, and AI-enabled operations.
The work that mattered most was always practical: fixing broken processes, strengthening teams, aligning people and platforms, improving controls, making cash more visible, and helping organizations build functions that could perform long after the consultant left.
That experience became the foundation for Clear Cycle Advisors.
Today, we bring an operator’s mindset and an advisor’s independence to organizations navigating growth, complexity, and transformation.
Our Approach
Practical. Independent. Built around your business.
We don’t start with a technology platform. We don’t start with a prepackaged transformation methodology. And we don’t believe bigger automatically means better.
We start by understanding how your business actually works.
Then we identify the constraints, opportunities, and decisions that will have the greatest impact.
Our recommendations are designed around your scale, your people, your systems, your risk tolerance, and your goals.
Start with a small service
This was the time when we started our company. We had no idea how far we would go, we weren’t even sure that we would be able to survive for a few years. What drove us to start the company was the understanding that we could provide a service no one else was providing.
First employees
This was the first period when Consulting WP actually felt like it would stick around for a while. We realized we were growing more stable and expanding at the same time. We needed a new office as we had severely outgrown the last one. We started scouting for a new location.
First recognition
By this time we were a well known name within the industry. We had been prominent members of the industry for more than 16 years and worked for some of the biggest clients in the industry; we weren’t dismissed by anyone because we could not be dismissed by anyone.
Consulting wp — corporation or family
Our journey has only brought us higher. Information Technology completely changes the way we analyze and present data. We have embraced new technologies and have ensured that our clients receive cutting edge analytics. As we go on towards the future we intend to exploit the full potential of new technologies to power our services.
Our Mission
Make complex finance operations easier to understand—and easier to improve.
Visible
Leaders know where cash is and where it is going.
Human
Technology supports people rather than replacing judgment where judgment matters.
Controlled
Processes are designed with the right governance and accountability.
Practical
Recommendations can actually be implemented.
Scalable
Functions can support growth without adding unnecessary complexity.
Our Client
Built for organizations that have outgrown the old way.
We work with:
- Growing and mid-market businesses
- Finance and Operations leaders
- Companies building or restructuring GBS functions
- Organizations transforming O2C, P2P, or treasury
- Businesses evaluating finance technology
- Teams exploring responsible AI and automation
- Organizations that need experienced fractional leadership.
We work across industries because the fundamentals of cash, control, process, and operating discipline are universal.
Our experience
What Makes Us Different
We have been on the inside.
We understand what happens after the strategy deck.
The systems have to work. The team has to adopt the process. The controls have to hold. The data has to be reliable. And somebody has to own the outcome.
That’s why our work combines advisory perspective with operating experience.
We don’t just tell you what should change. We help you understand what it will take to change it.
80%
of AM LAW 100 Firms
50%
of Fortune 100 Companies
25%
of Fortune 500 Companies
Frequently Asked Questions
We work across industries and business sizes, particularly with organizations whose growth has created greater complexity across finance and operations.
No. O2C remains an important part of our expertise, but our work now spans the broader cash cycle—including inflows, outflows, treasury, GBS, technology, and responsible AI.
No. We are independent and vendor-agnostic. Our role is to help you determine what your business actually needs and evaluate technology accordingly.
Yes. We frequently work alongside existing finance, operations, technology, and GBS teams.
Yes. Depending on the engagement, we can provide implementation support, transformation leadership, team development, vendor evaluation, and fractional leadership.
Most engagements begin with a conversation and, where appropriate, a two-week Liquidity Diagnostic that evaluates the full cash cycle.
