Bringing about a transformation in the finance function of an organisation is the first step towards CFO services. It involves sharing a vision with the organisation of the ideal functioning of the finance function vis-à-vis the existing situation and a roadmap to bridge this gap.

Our Approach

• Identification and evaluation of the existing practices in the finance function as against industry standard/ ideal practices, prioritising these changes and defining a detailed roadmap for the same.
• De-cluttering the unnecessary complexities in the finance function by visualising the ideal case scenarios and shaping the future state of the finance function.
• Combination of different roles for combining similar responsibilities in terms of efficiency, internal control, performance management and strategy definition.

Benefits of the approach

• Provides clarity of how a finance function supports the business operations in achieving the corporate business goals, no matter how lofty they may be, and the underlying key principles.
• Defining the expectations of stakeholders, external benchmarks and best practices in the industry enables comparison with the current performance. This comparison acts as a guide for roadmap to bridge these gaps.
• Defining the sequencing and prioritisation of the improvement efforts, required resources and appropriate measurements of the implementation ensures smooth transition in a time bound manner.

Situations demanding our assistance

• Uncertainty about the efficiency and reliability of the finance function and looking for assurance.
• Dissatisfaction among the users (mainly management) of the financial information and reports generated by the finance function w.r.t. quality, timing, restatements and financial management.
• Requirement of cost reduction in the finance function.
• Transformation of business strategy or restructuring requires the realignment of the finance function in sync with the transformational plan.

“Financial transaction process optimisation” aims to provide quick and seamless access to high quality financial and operational data to the management for better decision making and risk management. Our CFO Services can help you achieve maximum efficiency by improving and integrating the transaction processes with appropriate information technology.

Our Approach

FTPO is more than mere capturing of the financial data and transactions; it involves the daily business activities which are fundamental for a finance department to be cost and time efficient and able to deliver high quality information. Our activities under this service include:

• Analysis of the current information system (ERP) and its configurations.
• Reviewing the current accounting function against the industry benchmarks to identify the gaps to be filled.
• Redesigning and implementation of the operations and accounting processes to optimise ledger processing on an on-going basis.
• Defining segregation of duties, restriction of accesses and internal controls to optimise accounting transaction processing.
• Reviewing of system capacity to deliver business-defined objectives.
• Reporting on misalignment, including issues and corrective recommendations.

Benefits of the approach

• Optimising the accounting function w.r.t. reporting, accounts receivable/ payable, closure of books and other labour intensive reduces finance costs and the finance professionals can spend time on higher value responsibilities.
• FTPO and value chain automation gives the client a competitive advantage- the best implementer company has significant lower finance department costs than the average company.
• Accounting function automation also rationalises the human resources involved and enhances their productivity.

Situations demanding our assistance

• Decentralised operating model; lack of standardisation and multiple number of accounting systems.
• Difficulties in providing timely, accurate and meaningful financial and operating information at the end of each period.
• Weak infrastructure to support automation of the accounts processing function.
• Lack of segregation of duties, governance over data and manual/ poor controls.
• Heavy reliance on manual processing of data leading to higher chances of human errors/ frauds.
• No alignment of systems and data, complicating the consolidation of information across business units.
• No clear connection between reports and performance measures of transaction processes.

Lack of an expert hindsight on the flow of funds can lead to congestion in the cash/fund flow of a company, which otherwise could have been employed to sustainably increase the profitability. The optimisation of working capital not only releases significant cash for the business in a relatively shorter span of time but also reduces the finance and carrying costs Cashcow CFO services provide you with the requisite expertise for efficient working capital management in your organisation.

Our Approach

Turning around the working capital cycle of a company requires reviewing your organisation to identify and assess the potential optimisation of working capital needs in close collaboration with the management to include the commercial and operating perspective. It involves:

• Analysis and detailed review of the different cycles pertaining to account receivable, account payable, inventory in order to identify and quantify potential cash flow improvement and forecast cash flow evolution.
• Debtor and vendor de-risking and better negotiations based on their financial data.
• Rationalisation of the levels of stock, debtor, creditors, cash and credit facilities as per the budgets based on company’s financial plans.
• Insurance against credit risk pertaining to receivables.

Benefits of the approach

• Proactive receivable management with reduced risks of bad debts.
• Optimising the operational structure to free up funds for further investments or reducing debt, thereby saving finance costs.
• Identification and monitoring the working capital management risks.
• Improving efficiency of the order-to-cash and purchase-to-pay processes leading to additional cost benefits.
• Increasing flexibility by simplifying the supply chain and streamlining business practices.
• Boosting the confidence of stakeholders, thanks to smooth flow of daily operations due to an improved working capital structure.

Situations demanding our assistance

• Working capital stuck in the form of unwanted inventory pile up or high levels of debtor.
• Need to regularly infuse promoters capital or additional funding for maintaining the continuity of daily operations in the organisation.
• Erroneous diversion of short term funds for long term/ capital purposes leading to working capital crunch.
• Working capital management for scaling up operations/ future projects.
• Need for sustainable rationalisation of working capital.
• Cash flow volatility and working capital forecasting.

Integrated Performance management involves closing the insight gap to provide information for making good business decisions. Under outsourced CFO services, we also define the responsibility and accountability of all the personnel of the organisation.

Our Approach

The objective of IPM is to deliver a framework to facilitate the translation of strategic objectives into operational results and create value for the organisation. This is done through:

• Defining an elaborate organisational hierarchy to fix reporting and accountability of personnel across the organisation.
• Defining extensive KPIs, KRAs and SOPs for all the resources of the organisation.
• Instituting a system of rewards and learning to encourage adherence to the formal code of conduct.
• Formalising the operations in the organisation to enable appraisal and holding accountability.
• Improving the placement of manpower based on their relevant skillset and experience to improve efficiencies.
• Rationalisation of human resources across the organisation to address any understaffing or overstaffing issues.

Benefits of the approach

• Improved flow of communication of the strategy to the operational levels in the organisation through the organisational hierarchy.
• Focus on value-adding initiatives with leading indicators providing early insight into areas of challenge or opportunities.
• Alignment of rewards, learning and development with the organisational strategy boosts confidence in staff and motivates them.
• Improved identification of the areas of improvement and performance linked appraisal ensures continuous development of the human resources.
• IPM provides a robust platform of control and security within the organisation and leads to mitigation of enterprise risks.

Situations demanding our assistance

• Forecasting and budgeting have become a regular and mechanical activity, than being a dynamic tool to deploy and align the resources as per the strategy.
• The organisation is failing to align its strategy with the long term planning by the management.
• KPIs or SOPs are non-existent or are unrealistic.
• It is difficult to hold responsibility and accountability of the workforce.

The dynamic financial environment in our country offers numerous funding solutions for corporates which are becoming complex and time consuming. The choice for the perfect solution is becoming increasingly difficult due to lack of expertise and financial ignorance. Cashcow CFO Services help you to match your funding needs as per your plans and strategies with the appropriate funding solutions to save on the finance costs and provide you the requisite flexibility.

Our Approach

• Understanding and analysing the existing finance mechanism and debt arrangements vis-à-vis the credibility of the company. (The credit assessment of the company is based on historical performance, financials and credit rating etc. of the company).
• Assessing the proposals from lenders and advising on the best option based on covenants, flexibility, suitability and cost.
• Assisting investment documentation and paper work that aim at attracting investors and lenders and facilitating negotiations with them.
• Rationalisation of the credit rating and guarantees and collaterals asked by the bank.
• Access to international financing sources and assistance in structuring and arranging highly customised financial solutions.

Benefits of the approach

• Ensuring the right mix of funding options that match the company’s strategy and requirements.
• Facilitating procurement of low-cost project funding (thanks to our decades of experience and access to the comprehensive network of investors and lenders).
• Ensuring timely disbursement of funds/ sanctioning of limits by regular follow ups with the lender and leveraging on our experience and network.
• Ensuring only adequate covenants, reasonable warranties and collaterals are agreed to with the lender.
• Helping to provide stable, sufficient and adequate funding sources to finance growth or investment projects over the coming years.

Situations demanding our assistance

• Evaluation of existing or new debt or financing options is needed.
• Optimisation of finance structure from the tax, risk and cost perspective.
• Significant part of your debt will mature within a couple of years.
• (Re)negotiation of credit facilities is required due to expansion/ curtailment of operations.
• Need of temporary or additional working capital liquid funds to support operations.
• Shareholder value is limited due to inefficiencies in the deployment of the funds or the existing BS structure.

In order to meet the goals of the organisation in regards to profits, proactive cost containment and expense management is necessary. Such exercise does not pertain to a one time activity or planning, rather it requires continuous analysis, appraisal and prompt corrective actions. Cashcow CFO services combine such approaches, and with the integrated with the integrated process management ensures the achievement of the goals of management.

Our Approach

• Preparation of detailed budgets based on an elaborate analysis of all the expenses and incomes in the organisation.
• Rationalisation of each head of expense by performing a walkthrough of the related processes with an aim to promote efficiency thereby reducing costs or improving productivity.
• Regular monitoring of the expense management plan and variance analysis with the budgets to facilitate prompt corrective actions.
• Implementing dynamic pricing mechanism for work orders taking into consideration any addition/deletion of overheads.

Benefits of the approach

• Improved competency of the company in the industry, leaving more room to tweak product prices or enjoy better margins at existing price levels.
• Boosting confidence of the stakeholders in relation to product pricing and expected margins/ profitability.
• Effective planning due to realistic, dynamic and achievable budgets.
• Enhanced value creation and progressive growth for all the stakeholders of the company.

Situations demanding our assistance

• Regular changes in the cost structure of a product due to fluctuation of product prices, which are not effectively covered in the existing pricing mechanism.
• Unexpected losses for a financial year where management has been confident about profits.
• Continuous failure to achieve targets and unrealistic budgets at the commencement of the year.
• Inability of the company to match the prices of the industry leading to cash burns and bleeding books in a moderate to low competitive environment.