Need:
A privately held manufacturing company had grown rapidly without adequate accounting systems and controls. When Cyndy Lowery, an owner and director of Warren Whitney, was engaged to work with the company, the president was not receiving timely financial statements, information was not being entered accurately into a newly created job cost database, and the bank had issued strong warnings that its relationship with the company was at risk. The bank ultimately demanded a change in banking relationships.
Service:
During the course of her engagement, Cyndy:
- Worked with the company’s bookkeeper to generate accurate and timely financial information. Instead of having financial statements six weeks after the end of the quarter, Cyndy conducted a trial near the last day of the month and generated complete financial statements by the fifth of the following month.
- Created a cash flow model and worked with the management team to make operating decisions based on their impact on the financial position of the company. Her efforts included creating the approach to paying vendors that, ultimately, brought all payables back to a current status.
- Restructured banking arrangements. In this case, the bank insisted that the company move all banking relationships, and the bank was paid in full.
- Continued to monitor the financial position of the company and improve reporting systems while she trained the bookkeeper to take on more responsibility for the accounting systems.
Once the company stabilized, Cyndy moved to an advisory role until the president was confident in his internal accounting staff.
Result:
The company successfully changed and stabilized its banking arrangements. In the second year, it posted the most profitable year in its history, thanks to the efforts of the entire management team and the financial direction given by Cyndy. The company continues to operate very profitably. The management team monitors the performance and budget status of each job regularly to ensure that each job stays on time and on budget.
