Case Studies
Specialist Engineering Company
As well as experiencing significant financial difficulties brought on by a downturn in business and having to service a high facility cost, this Essex based specialist engineering business, had seen a major breakdown in their internal accounting and financial controls, resulting in little or no reliable information.
Some informal deals with creditors initiated by our affiliated firm, KSA, and financial support from the companys German parent has ensured their financial survival. We have now established a formal monthly reporting cycle producing meaningful and reliable information about the business. Work continues to improve the systems and processes further, which will enable them to better anticipate the businesses needs going forward
This is a typical example of how we provide a wide ranging solution by using our specialist skills and working together with our affiliate KSA.
Restructuring of UK operations of US Corporate
We have been providing very hands on financial management support to this US based group for many years, but following management changes in America they asked us to assist them in restructuring the UK businesses.
What followed was the sale of the principle UK business to a Management Buyin/Buyout team which completed some months later. With our intimate knowledge of the UK operations we were central to the successful completion of this transaction, and are pleased to report that we have been retained by the new owners to continue to fill our “Finance Director” role to the business.
One impact of the sale was that the remaining UK company was left without a finance and accounting function as it had previously shared this with the business that had been sold. Here again we have been able to offer a solution to this long term client by taking all the financial functions in house at Insight Associates and effectively providing them with a full outsourced facility.
This is a good example of how we continue to add great value to the many long term relationships that we enjoy. Here a change in circumstances and needs has meant that our flexibility in offering solutions when they are needed has helped everyone!
A better image
A change in the management of a UK subsidiary of a large US-based royalty-free image supplier highlighted that the accounting and back office administration left something to be desired.
The result was that the individuals that had responsibilities in these areas, and had been in post for many years, had been removed from the business, leaving a large gap and no real way to quickly fill it. We received a call from a close colleague who was already working with the business and were invited to go and have a look.
The situation immediately passed two of our clear tests for any new situation: the chemistry seemed right with us and the general manager and the business was clearly viable. What was also quite quickly evident was that the financial controls and accounting were far from where they needed to be! Then came the icing on the cake… financial year end was less than two months away and we had to achieve a clean audit… and we had to report to the US parent within a week!
Further investigation highlighted all manner of issues in the integrity of the accounts and it became evident that this was not going to be a five-minute job. In addition a number of different computerised systems were in use and none of them effectively talked to one another… and certainly did not give the same answer to the same question! However, a clear action plan was drawn up and working together with the incumbent accounts assistant we started trailing through the numbers and back over 18 months to try and make some sense of it all. Significant commitment and some long days achieved reporting to the US parent in just over a week (with numerous caveats!), and some weeks later a position ready for audit review.
As is typical with situations such as this, a period of intensive activity clears up the situation and then this is followed by an on-going brief to oversee things and try to ensure that the same state of affairs does not occur again.
This is perhaps not a typical situation for us, as there was no financial distress involved – just administrative chaos. Our input was initiated by a certain chain of events. However, it does illustrate that our financial management skills can be brought to bear in all manner of situations!