The Client
This technology solutions client has a strong position in the market. From their base in the South of England, they employ 300-plus staff, have a turnover of over £100 million and are part of a multi-billion-dollar group. It aims to grow and be recognised as a ‘partner of choice’ for technology solutions in the UK.
The Requirement
This client had a financial planning and analysis skills gap in their finance function following the unexpected resignation of their two-person FP&A team. Thus, they needed interim support with three projects while they recruited their replacements.
The Solution
Commission Model
This client had a highly complex commission plan and model developed and maintained by one of the outgoing FP&A teams. The first step was to review the plan and model to determine how it worked and how best to maintain it going forward. After reviewing it with the CFO, a simplified model was created, making it easier for the finance team to use and providing a more accurate and reliable output.
Budget Forecast
The client wanted a 5-year forecast model. The Isosceles’ FP&A specialist worked closely with the Group CFO on the data-gathering phase to determine the inputs and outputs, how the model needed to work, and what degree of ‘what if?’ scenario analysis would be required. Once the model was complete, it was presented to the Group CFO and CEO for signoff.
Group Cash Flow Forecast Model
The client’s existing cash flow model was bulky and complicated, and some of its inner workings had broken. Therefore, a significant update and adjustment of the current data was required before it could be approved by the Group CFO and shared with the bank. The Isosceles FP&A Specialist worked within a tight deadline imposed by the bank to produce an updated model that met the bank’s requirements.
Why Isosceles
Isosceles has an ongoing relationship with this client. The relationship began with mentoring and coaching for the newly promoted CFO to help them introduce change within the business. The transition of the existing team to the high-functioning finance team needed to achieve their growth ambitions. Since then, Isosceles has supported this client on several projects requiring specialist finance knowledge.
As Isosceles interacts with the board and makes strategy recommendations, they understand this client’s culture and business and can seamlessly and flexibly slip into the team. Therefore, a high level of trust exists between Isosceles and this client. They had FP&A experts immediately available, so their decision to choose Isosceles for this project was easy.
The Results:
- The Isosceles team took over the internal FP&A function on short notice with minimal handover.
- The updated commission model captured the complexities of the client’s various commission plans but simplified the updating process. Built-in controls ensured the output was accurate.
- The client now has a 5-year budget and forecasting model and can assess the impact of different scenarios when needed.
- The FP&A specialist met the Bank’s deadline and expectations for a revised Group-level cashflow forecast.
- The client has successfully recruited two in-house FP&A specialists, but Isosceles continues to support the FP&A function.