The Challenge

Cavalcanti Vidros is a glass and aluminum distribution company with strong market presence and solid revenue. The business has the fundamentals to grow. But behind the scenes, financial management was a mess.

Data lived in multiple places. Bank statements sat in separate silos—Santander, Itaú, Caixa, Bradesco, and others. Transactions were classified inconsistently. Transfers between accounts got mixed up with actual revenue and expenses, distorting the real picture of profitability. Spreadsheets were fragmented across team members, creating duplicate work and confusion about where to pick up where someone else left off.

"The revenue forecast was extremely far from reality," the team acknowledged during early discussions. Cash flow planning was reactive, not proactive. Purchases swung wildly month to month—sometimes R$1.3 million, sometimes R$2.1 million—with no clear link to sales forecasts. Owner withdrawals weren't clearly separated from business investments. And closing the books each month took forever, with no standardized process.

The real problem wasn't complexity. It was invisibility. Leadership couldn't see what was actually happening with cash. They couldn't answer basic questions: Where is money coming from? Where is it going? What's our real margin? Without answers, every decision felt like a guess.

This invisibility created risk. High debt service obligations—around 500k monthly—pressed hard on cash flow. Receivables from customers didn't align with payables to suppliers. Cheques bounced. Deposits got duplicated in the records. The company was profitable on paper but cash-strapped in reality.

Growth was stalled. The team knew they could do better, but they couldn't see the path forward.

The Solution

The turning point came when leadership decided to stop managing by intuition. They brought in a structured approach to financial governance. The goal was simple: make the numbers visible, make them reliable, and make them actionable.

The first step was to centralize and standardize. A new workflow was created to classify every bank transaction consistently. Transactions were labeled clearly: revenue (entrada), expense (saída), or transfer between accounts (entre contas). Each entry got a detailed description so anyone could understand what happened. Transfers between accounts were explicitly excluded from profit-and-loss calculations to prevent distortion.

This sounds basic, but it was transformative. What used to take hours of confusion now took less than two hours per session. The team could reconcile across all six banks in a single, organized workflow.

Next came cash-flow forecasting. A structured monthly forecast was built, linking expected sales to planned purchases and expenses. The forecast included a "planned vs. actual" comparison so the team could spot gaps early. This wasn't just a spreadsheet—it became the heartbeat of decision-making.

"We needed to see the cash picture clearly," the team explained. "Once we could forecast what was coming in and going out, we could actually plan."

The company also tackled purchasing discipline. Instead of buying reactively, they began planning purchases based on sales forecasts. They negotiated better terms with suppliers and explored direct importation for key materials like glass. Payments were structured with longer terms to ease cash pressure. One strategic move—buying glass in advance to capture discounts—delivered an 11% margin gain on that product line alone in July.

Owner withdrawals were reclassified. Instead of mixing personal draws with business investments, the company separated them clearly. This gave a true picture of what the business was actually earning versus what was being taken out.

Finally, real-time dashboards were built. The team created a monthly DRE (Demonstração de Resultado do Exercício—income statement) with a clear breakdown by cost center. A one-page summary showed contribution margin, EBITDA, and cash position at a glance. This wasn't locked away in a file—it was shared, discussed, and used to guide decisions.

The commitment came from the top. Leadership embraced the new discipline. The team trained on the new processes. New consultants were brought in and integrated into the workflow. Everyone understood: better data meant better decisions.

The Transformation

The results came fast.

By July, the company had achieved a 55% contribution margin—a dramatic improvement in cash generation after covering the cost of goods and taxes. EBITDA turned positive. The cash position swung from negative to positive, with approximately R$185,000 in available liquidity by month-end.

The margin on the glass product line jumped 11% thanks to smarter purchasing. The company's gross margin of 32.87% now sat comfortably within market benchmarks. More importantly, the team could see exactly where profit was coming from and where it was leaking.

But the numbers tell only part of the story. The real transformation was in how the company operated.

Decisions that used to take weeks now took days. When the team needed to evaluate a new supplier or adjust pricing, they had data to back it up. When they needed to talk to lenders about refinancing debt, they had clean, auditable financial statements. When they wanted to plan for growth, they could forecast cash needs with confidence.

The team's capability grew too. New consultants were trained in the classification process. The workflow became repeatable. Each month got easier. The company moved from chaos to discipline.

"Once we could see the real numbers, everything changed," leadership reflected. "We stopped guessing and started planning."

The company also gained strategic clarity. By separating costs by product line and material type, they could see which products were truly profitable. This informed decisions about where to focus sales effort and where to negotiate harder with suppliers. The focus on high-velocity products like glass, combined with direct importation, became a competitive advantage.

Looking ahead, the foundation is solid. The company has the visibility to manage debt more strategically. They can forecast cash needs three to six months out. They can negotiate with suppliers from a position of strength. They can invest in growth without fear of cash surprises.

The transformation at Cavalcanti Vidros shows what's possible when a business commits to financial discipline. It's not about fancy software or complex models. It's about making the numbers visible, keeping them honest, and using them to guide decisions. That clarity unlocks growth.

The company is now positioned to scale. With reliable financial data, a disciplined purchasing process, and a clear view of cash flow, they can pursue new opportunities with confidence. The path forward is no longer hidden in spreadsheet chaos—it's visible, measurable, and achievable.