Finance
Reporting, controls, and close processes that have to run in duplicate during the transition — smaller in dollars than IT, but persistent.
Finance stranded costs are usually smaller in absolute terms than HR or IT, but tend to persist for the full transition period because financial reporting and controls can't have a gap — someone has to own the close, the audit, and the controls environment for the divested unit until it's fully independent or absorbed.
- Group reporting and consolidation support during the transition
- Duplicated close, controls, and audit processes while systems are still shared
- Treasury and cash management support if banking relationships haven't been separated
- Interim CFO or controller support for a standalone entity that doesn't yet have its own finance function
Tip: Finance stranded costs are usually the most straightforwardly time-bound of the major categories — they resolve once the divested unit's finance function is stood up, which makes them a good candidate for early recovery-action planning, e.g. outsourcing interim close support rather than building permanent capacity for a temporary need.
Typical persistence: 12 months, shorter than IT or HR in most deals.
HR / People
Shared HR, payroll, and benefits infrastructure rarely shrinks in step with headcount — and partial-FTE roles are the hardest to cleanly split.
Stranded Costs
Fixed costs that don't shrink when a business is divested — the single biggest driver of the gap between headline price and true proceeds.