| CASE STUDIES
Interim management assignments Special projects that Riverpark Group consultants have completed Corporate Governance projects that Riverpark Group consultants have completed |
Case Studies
Special projects
that Riverpark Group consultants have completed:
Case Study: Systems Integration and acquisition/organization combination
Hired as interim CFO for a $40 million hi-tech manufacturing company. As a result of a recent acquisition, the company had two separate accounting functions lead by two accounting managers. The challenge was to integrate the different manufacturing and finance systems in addition to combining the accounting and finance functions of the two operations.
Under the direction of the consultant a new manufacturing /financial system was defined, purchased and installed over a period of 6 months. The two functions were combined with a new organization structure and position descriptions and a full-time controller to run the operation was hired.
Case Study: Installing Long-Term Planning in a closely-held company
This Riverpark assignment was to facilitate a strategic planning exercise for a ninety-year-old distribution firm with revenue in excess of $120 million that had never done any longer range planning other than a yearly budget. Meeting with 15 senior executives and reviewing the general parameters and objectives of a strategic plan; it was agreed that the end product would contain very specific long-term stretch objectives. These objectives were established along with the financial and other measurable metrics that would indicate that the company was on plan.
To further assure achieving the end result while bringing about near term identifiable changes in the company, twelve specific objectives along with individual action plans were then developed. Each objective had an end point with agreed upon milestones and one of the senior executives as the designated leader. More interim objectives will be developed over time as the process moves ahead developing a company culture of aligning day to activities with long term objectives. With Riverpark’s help this assignment turned into more than just facilitation; it introduced both near and long term planning into a company’s culture.
Case Study: Reduction of bloated Inventory and New Financing
Within the first 30 days of joining a $40 million consumer products Company as interim CFO, the Riverpark consultant found that the company had purchase commitments, unrecorded and unknown to management, amounting to $30 million for inventory items to be received throughout the next 180 days. This was a three years excess of inventory over required levels, an amount the Company did not have the financial resources to fund.
The interim CFO:
- Developed financial and inventory reporting methodologies and conducted a financial review to determine optimal inventory.
- Resolved $15 million dollars of inventory problem by actions including renegotiating obligations and reworking orders to faster turnover products.
- Obtained a $25 million dollar revolving asset-backed money center bank loan to resolve the financial crisis, created controls to prevent future recurrences and returned the Company to revenue and profitable growth.
