Chartered Accountants, Inc. is an expanding professional services firm providing senior level financial expertise and business advisory services. Clients benefit from extensive technical skills gained in Europe and North America enhanced by proven commercial and practical sense from leading senior level financial professionals. Service offering is based on years of experience spanning many industries, countries and stages in business life. This blend of knowledge, skills and experience enables Chartered Accountants, Inc to identify and implement effective solutions immediately - important where there is no time for on the job training.

Service Specialization:

Issue

Mergers and Acquisition Integration

Creating value via mergers and acquisitions is frequently a keystone business strategy. However too high a proportion of acquisitions disappoint as companies fail to devote the appropriate level of attention and resources to the integration process. Post acquisition integration is more than making them the same as us instead integration success comes with practice, applying lessons learned from experience, and balancing what is acquired with synergy creation. Chartered Accountants, Inc places with clients the benefits of extensive and successful integration experience spanning many industries, this approach draws on accumulated experience but is highly tailored to the specifics of the deal thus ensuring immediate resolution of any potential barriers to a successful integration.

International Subsidiaries

Chartered Accountants, Inc is a preeminent provider of senior level financial expertise and business advisory services to international subsidiaries of public and private companies headquartered in Europe and North America. Clients gain advantage from proficiency in U.S. GAAP and International Financial Accounting Standards enhanced by practical experience spanning many industries and countries, this combination provides the added value expertise that is essential to overcome the unique challenges faced in the global market place.

Start-Up Companies

Chartered Accountants, Inc’s knowledge and experience base ensure understanding and resolution of the unique issues and challenges that confront start-up and emerging companies. Practical experience includes establishing new companies in China, Thailand, Mexico, Germany and North America. Chartered Accountants, Inc international business network provide proactive, innovative and practical solutions during a company’s start up period.

Divestitures

Needless to say divestitures are not business as usual but invariably companies fail to devote the appropriate level of resources to the divestiture process. Proven experience gained from numerous divestitures enable Chartered Accountants, Inc to consistently maximize a business’s exit value and provide the level of competence to resolve quickly the myriad of challenges faced throughout the divestiture process, ensuring that momentum is maintained and the divestiture proceeds smoothly.

 

Deliverable

 Interim Finance Executive Assignments

Management streamlining has resulted in leaner and more competitive companies but many of these companies now find they lack the short term resources and flexibility to tackle new challenges, problems or opportunities. The interim executive solution offered by Chartered Accountants, Inc places with clients the benefits of experience spanning many industries, countries and stages in business life, without the cost or commitment of employing full time personnel. Examples of assignments undertaken include implementation of finance shared services operations, management of outsourcing non-core services and organizational design conversion from multi system environment through to a single integrated ERP platform.

International Accounting & Consulting

The U.S. GAAP and International Accounting Standards knowledge pool of Chartered Accountants, Inc augmented by extensive practical international experience gained implementing effective solutions to the myriad of issues facing international business today will help any company overcome the challenges of prospering in the global market place. Countries where Chartered Accountants, Inc has successfully concluded assignments include:-

Financial Management Coaching

Chartered Accountants, Inc create and implement tailored financial management coaching programs, delivered by professionals with broad practical experience in businesses of all sizes and types.

• Coached non financial executives in the interpretation of key financial metrics in order for them to gain a better understanding of the opportunities/concerns being identified.
  

• Designed and organized international training programs for accountants from twelve countries in the new International Financial Accounting Standards.
  

• Developed training courses and facilitated coaching workshops to lead the way in transitioning finance managers from performance reporters to value creators.
  

These workshops give an insight into achieving a balance between driving performance and reporting on performance - particularly relevant with the growing emphasis and demanding burden of regulatory requirements. During a recent workshop a financial executive stated “With so much emphasis on reporting standards I was becoming a technical scorekeeper and being distracted from my job as a business partner helping to create value. With C.A.’s help I was able to see the wood for the trees again”

Finance Function Advisory

Occasionally situations and issues arise when a company needs an independent perspective. Building on extensive international experience, Chartered Accountants, Inc professionals are able to quickly assess the effectiveness of a client’s finance function, diagnose problems, implement effective solutions and facilitate transformation into a world-class finance organization. Recent assignments undertaken include providing an independent assessment of the effectiveness of the finance function of a global company operating on three continents. The assessment was used as the foundation for an accountancy improvement program integrating global best practices to achieve world-class finance standard.
 

Industry

Chartered Accountants, Inc provides in depth practical experience across many business sectors, recent examples of successes in different industries include:

Aerospace

Assignment - Create a tight financially controlled environment, initiate profit and cash improvements, and build a robust information management reporting system in a strong technical but commercially naive company transitioning from a cost plus to fixed selling price environment.

Outcome – Successfully decentralized the accounting analysis and control to business unit which heightened the finance functions commercial awareness and improved the financial proficiency and accountability of business managers. Launched and conducted financial awareness training courses and established monthly business reviews which included key tasks to achieve plan. Introduced controls and a professional skepticism approach to the pre contract bid process, particularly targeting areas where judgment was required.
These actions resulted in the creation of a focused profit and cash aware organization and were a key contributor to the company achieving a 15% operating profit improvement year on year in an increasingly competitive and demanding market.

Automotive

Assignment - Identify and implement financial performance improvements for a global multi-site automotive OEM & after market supplier.

Outcome - Improvement in profitability through formulation and implementation of a restructuring plan which reduced costs, simplified structures and closed uncompetitive capacity. This performance turnaround increased company operating profit to over 12% ROS and significantly improved free cash flow. Headcount reduction of 600 and closure and site consolidation of five low profit margin international plants contributed to turnaround.

Aviation

Assignment – Reduce inventory holding of a major aircraft engine overhaul and repair company.

Outcome - Ascertained means to successfully drive $15m inventory reduction, reduce manufacturing costs and decrease turn time during engine overhaul and repair. Recovery actions included introducing greater inventory transparency, enhancing information system to ensure intelligent repair/buy decisions relating to component engine parts, creating a family tree of both alternative component parts and those parts requiring minor modifications to achieve specification requirements.

Construction

Assignment – Improve contract bid process and supplement monthly information reporting to include early warning system for potential cost overruns on major construction projects.

Outcome - Enhanced project cost control by monthly cost to completion and project reviews, compared actual and forecast performance to estimate, implemented process for capturing and recovering costs relating to contract change orders, and ensured a value creation partnership between finance and project management. Introduced professional skepticism concept into pre sales contract bid review process to ensure critical assessment of all areas of judgment and sensitivity were scrutinized prior to bid finalization. Post contract review process introduced to ensure feedback for future contracts.  This methodology was introduced on a $35m competitive bid, the project was awarded and on final contract completion the project return exceeded 15%.

Electronics
 
Assignment - Recommend and implement the strategic options for an electronics division of a major company in four different business sectors.

Outcome – Electronics division was sold for $800 million following a critical analysis of the financial performance, technologies, capabilities and capacities. Pre sale process included preparing the company for vendor due diligence and maximizing the business’s exit value. Funds from the sale were made available for growth investments in the remaining core divisions.

Engineering

Assignment – Ensure greater cost transparency and identify the cost drivers of selling, general and administration (S.G. & A.) overhead increases.

Outcome – Identified methodology of introducing S.G. & A. overhead to products manufactured. Implemented process highlighting the root cause of the cost increase and focused attention on those products requiring greater demands on overhead resources.   This initiative led to $2m reduction in the company’s S.G. & A. overheads and some selling price increases following a critical review of those products requiring greater design, advertising or customer support.

Nonwovens
 
Assignment – Identify and implement actions to improve the competitiveness of a major global multi site nonwovens company which had grown rapidly by acquisition resulting in a multiple information system environment, no business process standardization and significant duplication throughout the organization.

Outcome - Created a centralized, core Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system and administrative organization in North America as the foundation for this optimization process. Designed, built and implemented a shared service operation consolidating from 12 locations into one the functional areas of finance, purchasing, information technology, customer sales support and planning & scheduling. Efficiency was boosted by standardizing processes, improving information flow and ensuring high level of expertise in each functional area. Benefits gained included annual cost savings of $4m, improvements in working capital management, reduced operational and commercial risk and more meaningful information for decision making. Internal customer services were improved especially in the IT function due to introducing service level agreements.