BFDM – Beratung für den Mittelstand
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BFDM · Consulting for medium-sized businesses · Since 1991

Create clarity.
Set a clear direction.
Make change happen.

When a business needs a new direction, reliable financial planning or interim leadership, BFDM combines financial analysis with three decades of executive experience. From assessing the starting point to putting decisions into practice.

Let's talk Explore the BFDM planning system
Illustration einer modernen Produktionshalle
Management experience. At the heart of operations.AI-generated illustration · not a client facility
30 yearsin executive management
27 yearsas managing director or executive board member
Since 1991BFDM – Consulting grounded in experience

When decisions matter

A demanding situation needs a clear way forward.

When earnings decline, cash becomes tight or the business needs a new direction, financial figures, decisions and implementation must work together.

BFDM helps medium-sized businesses understand their position, develop workable measures and move change forward.

Advice and responsibility

What moves your business
forward.

From strategic direction to hands-on interim leadership.

Illustrative textile production facility
AI-generated production illustration · not a client's facility

Strategy & realignment

Turn the starting point into a workable direction.

Realignment starts with understanding the business: Where is value created? Which products, markets and structures contribute to earnings? Which assumptions shape its future development?

BFDM combines financial analysis with an understanding of day-to-day operations. This produces options that can be evaluated and put into practice within the business.

  • Examine the business model and financial starting point
  • Assess strategic options and their financial implications
  • Define priorities, responsibilities and implementation steps

Restructuring

Stabilise profitability and cash flow together.

When earnings and cash flow come under pressure, a single cost-cutting measure is often insufficient. The key is to identify causes, prioritise effective measures and make their impact across the business visible.

Verified improvements are incorporated into the plan. This makes it clear which measures contribute to stabilisation and where adjustments are needed.

  • Analyse earnings and cash flow trends
  • Plan measures separately and verify their monthly impact
  • Track implementation and discuss deviations openly

Integrated business planning

Create a shared basis for decisions.

Management and financing banks need figures they can trace and understand. The BFDM system combines trial balances and personnel records, jointly developed operating assumptions and separately planned and validated improvement projects into one integrated business plan.

Monthly updates show how the business is actually performing. The multi-year outlook is built on the same foundation.

  • Use the chart of accounts to connect company data with the plan
  • Consider earnings, cash flow and the balance sheet together
  • Plan project impacts and future years on a consistent basis

Interim management up to C-level

Take responsibility when leadership is needed.

Interim leadership may be needed during transitions, realignment or demanding changes. BFDM brings first-hand experience as a managing director and executive board member.

The assignment, decision-making authority and objectives are agreed at the outset. The focus is on concrete decisions, working with people throughout the business and implementation in day-to-day operations.

  • Agree the leadership role and scope of authority
  • Lead change on site and take responsibility
  • Document progress and prepare an orderly handover
AI-generated meeting with Martin Schmidt-Unverfehrt, managers and specialists in workwear
Planning in dialogue with the people in the business.AI-generated illustration based on a portrait · not a photograph of a client engagement

The BFDM planning system

Your data.
One shared plan.

A proprietary Excel-based system connects operating performance with its financial implications.

Build on actual company data.

Trial balances and personnel records form the starting point. New trial balances update the plan every month, allowing actual performance and planned results to be considered together.

01

The starting point

Trial balances provide the company's financial figures. Personnel records provide the basis for workforce planning. Mapping through the chart of accounts makes the source of planning figures traceable.

02

The monthly review

New trial balances update the system every month. Planned and actual performance are compared. Deviations are discussed and their significance for the current year is assessed.

03

The bigger picture

The plan considers earnings, cash flow and the balance sheet together, making the implications of decisions for financing and the ability to meet payment obligations visible.

Illustrative planning data; not company data

Company data → chart-of-accounts mapping → integrated planning → monthly updates

Earnings developmentCash flow & financingBalance sheet & outlook
Martin Schmidt-Unverfehrt
Martin Schmidt-UnverfehrtExecutive management & consulting

Your contact

Experience in
executive leadership.

“My advice is grounded in first-hand leadership experience.”

I have spent 30 years in executive management, including 27 years as a managing director or executive board member. Alongside these roles, I have run BFDM since 1991.

Making decisions, establishing production facilities, managing projects and implementing change together with the people in the business: this is the experience I bring to my assignments.

Down-to-earth advice. Grounded in experience.

My career took me from working as an installer on construction sites during my studies to serving on the executive board of a large medium-sized business. I have worked and held responsibility at different levels myself. I understand both employees' day-to-day work and the decisions facing senior management.

This experience shapes my consulting approach: I listen, ask questions and see the situation for myself on site. I communicate as clearly and directly with production employees as I do with senior management. Their knowledge and experience are part of the foundation for any change.

Sound analysis matters. Whether a proposal works becomes clear in practice: Can it be implemented? Do people understand what it means? Does it improve the business's financial position? Having held executive responsibility myself, I use these questions to guide my advice.

I have gained international experience establishing production facilities or delivering projects in India, the USA, Peru, Chile, China and South Korea.

India · USA · Peru · Chile · China · South Korea

Working together

From analysis
to implementation.

  1. Understand the situation

    Clarify objectives, the financial starting point and urgent priorities.

  2. Develop measures

    Analyse data, review assumptions and plan financial impacts.

  3. Take responsibility

    Support implementation or lead it directly in an interim role.

  4. Track performance

    Update monthly, review progress and adjust when performance deviates.

Starting an engagement

Define the task.
Then focus on delivery.

The scope and format of our work depend on your company's specific situation.

The first conversation

We discuss your challenge, its urgency and the desired outcome. This helps establish whether you need analysis, planning support, implementation support or interim leadership.

A shared foundation

Before work begins, we agree on objectives, the data basis, responsibilities and scope. Trial balances and personnel records provide the foundation for the planning system; existing plans and project assumptions are also considered.

Ongoing collaboration

We regularly review financial figures and implementation together. Monthly updates from trial balances provide fresh insights for decisions and necessary adjustments.

Business leaders and financing banks

A transparent basis for shared decisions.

BFDM supports business leaders seeking to stabilise their company, set a new direction or lead it through demanding change.

For banks, BFDM is a point of contact when medium-sized businesses need support with planning, restructuring or interim leadership.

Contact

Let's talk about
your situation.

Whether you face a specific challenge or need an initial assessment, a personal conversation helps us identify where support would be useful.

Request a conversation
Martin Schmidt-UnverfehrtBFDM Business Consulting · Bleckede

msu@bfdm.eu
05852 · 390 4671
Mobile: +49 151 108 61654