A privately held manufacturer was not satisfied that it was achieving the best results from its investments in IT. It sought assistance to create a three-year roadmap to guide its direction and help its management team be more confident in making IT investment decisions.

Our Solution

An Aventine Hill Partners’ CIO Advisor supported by one of our IT Consultants was engaged to perform a thorough assessment of where the business was heading, options for how IT could support the business, recommend a three year road map, and recommend an IT organization design to support the roadmap.

This top-to-bottom review utilized a number of services from the Aventine Hill Partners’ IT Strategy playbook.

• Interview tools unique to Aventine Hill Partners were utilized to measure the level of strategic and cultural alignment between business leaders and the IT organization and services. Discussion of the results drove a more clear articulation of the strategic business requirements that should guide IT priorities.
• The software application portfolio was assessed to identify opportunities, risks, costs, and trade-offs that should guide specific IT investments and savings opportunities. A key goal was to identify the urgent and highest value opportunities that should be prioritized earlier in the three-year roadmap.
• The IT organization and services were reviewed and assessed on a capability maturity model scale. More importantly, target maturity levels at one and three years were set for major IT functions.
• The IT budget was analyzed over a five year period to articulate how past decisions had driven current costs; and how cost should be weighted as a factor in making investment decisions for the next three years.

Results

As a result of our CIO Advisory services, the client received a scenario-based three-year roadmap where they had flexibility to slow down or accelerate their investment levels based on events. The management team felt more confident in managing IT’s role within the organization and the type of leaders needed in its IT function. Aventine Hill Partners assisted in selecting leaders for new IT roles in the recommended IT organization design. A year later, the client provided feedback that they continued to feel confident in how IT was operating as part of the company.

Learn more about our IT Strategy / Business Alignment services.

A fast growing manufacturer of oilfield products had outgrown its ERP system. Production planning was manual and had a very short time horizon. Inventory accuracy could not be maintained real-time. Senior leadership at the company were concerned that growth and profitability could not be sustained without new technology.

Our Solution

A CIO Advisor from Aventine Hill Partners was engaged to assess:

• Where the company was headed strategically and tactically
• What major gaps existed with their current ERP
• What options would fit their business model and strategy.

The trade-offs between how much capability was required and how much investment fit their budget were analyzed. Our CIO Advisor facilitated Senior Leadership alignment on a decision to not upgrade the existing ERP but instead seek a new one.

A small, closely-held U.S. company with manufacturing operations in China received a private equity investment to enable growth. To meet the increased accounting and finance requirements, the company needed an experienced CFO but did not want to invest in a full-time C-level employee. The CEO came to Aventine Hill Partners for help.

OUR SOLUTION

Through our CFO Advisory services, we provided an experienced CFO on a part-time consulting basis. The Advisor had extensive experience in US GAAP, IFRS, and Chinese accounting, and is a CPA with an audit and controls background. This unique skillset allowed the Advisor to quickly bring the company up to reporting and control standards consistent with the PE Agreement.

While small, the business was complex. Issues to be properly managed and reported included a non-controlling interest, A/R factoring, foreign exchange exposure, inter-company accounting, consolidation accounting, elimination accounting, international cash management, and tax planning. The CFO Advisor worked with company accountants in the U.S. and China to review existing internal controls for financial accounts and processes. Because of the complexity, a number of procedures and accounting decisions needed modification to make them more accurate and simple. Training was provided to assure the controls were implemented correctly and the financial reporting accuracy would be as required.

The addition of the PE investment also resulted in evolving a more formal Board structure. Using experience in the industry, the CFO Advisor introduced the CEO to Board member candidates who could both advise the business and introduce the company to potential customers. The Advisor improved the financial reporting and analysis packages for the Board to facilitate better alignment among the majority owners and the PE firm.

RESULTS

With help and leadership from Aventine Hill Partners, this company was able to successfully meet the PE Agreement requirements in a timely and quality manner. And, it has the leadership and expertise of a highly experienced CFO on a part-time basis, creating ongoing unique value in a cost effective way. Learn more about our CFO Advisory services.

A manufacturer with more than 1500 employees was running payroll internally on an aging software application that was scheduled to lose support from the vendor. The company was considering upgrading the software but wanted to assess other options. Aventine Hill Partners was engaged to assist the HR, CFO, and IT organizations in evaluating alternatives and selecting the best path forward.

Our Solution

Our CIO Advisor laid out a plan that created three distinct decisions for the client to make to assure that the best outcome could be achieved. First, was to define a longer term Vision for how the company desired its major HR processes to produce value for the company. These were prioritized so that options that did not meet minimum requirements could be quickly eliminated.

Next, a high-level requirements package was created and shared with vendors who had software or services to support the HR/Payroll Vision. The mix of vendors included HR/Payroll outsource companies, the company’s current ERP vendor, best-of-breed on-premise software; and best-of-breed software-as-a-service (SaaS). Collaborative workshops were conducted with the vendors with a goal of determining which model (in-source/out-source, on-premise/SaaS) was the best fit. Selecting the operating model was the second critical decision.

The last decision consisted of evaluating the best vendor to support the long-term Vision based on the desired operating model. The key factors were the specific capabilities of the solution, the vendor’s stability, the ongoing support model, the implementation approach, and of course, cost. Two acceptable options were identified and analyzed. As expected, each option had strengths and weaknesses in terms of meeting specific details of the long term Vision, resulting in slightly different roadmaps and ultimate value. But, with two viable roadmaps articulated, the client was able to negotiate confidently and aggressively for the best pricing on each roadmap.

Results

The client was able to make a fully-informed decision on which HR/Payroll roadmap had the better cost/benefit impact. And, because of the facilitated process used by our CIO Advisor, there was buy-in from all major stakeholders on the choice. Learn more about our Process and Technology Roadmap capabilities.

Changes in company structure can have significant effects on how it generates financial statements. When a large, global manufacturing company restructured from 8 to 20 companies, it turned to Aventine Hill Partners to help make the corresponding changes to its financial reporting.

Our Solution

We provided an accounting professional who was an expert in preparing the complex consolidation of financial reporting data. After defining and implementing changes to create the new consolidation structure, our consultant updated the processes and procedures the company used to generate its financial statements. The company’s existing staff were then trained on preparing the reports on an ongoing basis.

Results

Thanks to assistance from Aventine Hill Partners, this company was able to perform new, complex financial reporting tasks without hiring additional employees. Learn more about our SEC, Financial, and Management Reporting support.

A privately owned manufacturer of custom portable buildings was seeking an ERP system to replace QuickBooks and Excel spreadsheets. The business is operated as a hybrid of construction and manufacturing disciplines and a previous attempt to implement a manufacturing ERP had failed. The new CFO and IT leadership for the company sought assistance from Aventine Hill to select a different ERP that could be successfully implemented.

Our Solution

Because the company had many manual processes and new leaders in some critical functions, it was decided that certain key processes would be flowcharted as part of the software selection process.

• A CIO Advisor was deployed part-time to lead the software selection process and vendor negotiations.
• A Business Process Consultant was deployed to document "Level 1" diagrams for the business units and "Level 2" swim-lane flowcharts for key business functions. The flowcharting work was time-boxed to provide cost certainty for the company.

The CIO Advisor and Business Process Consultant initially did a two-day walk-through of the business, observing the life-cycle from sales through production, installation, servicing, and accounting. This resulted in the first draft of the Level 1 diagrams. The Business Process Consultant then conducted detail interviews to develop the Level 2 flowcharts over a period of a few weeks. Key pain points and requirements for the business were also captured.

Creating and maintaining an effective budget process can be challenging without the right expertise. When a privately held manufacturing company found themselves in need of improvements to their process, they turned to Aventine Hill Partners and our financial planning support for help.

Our Solution

Using extensive knowledge of the budget, our accounting and finance consultant implemented a new budget module that the company had access to and integrated with their existing financial system. The module provided automation that was not available before so the budget process needed adjustment to match the full capabilities of the software. Our consultant identified and recommended improvements that resulted in a more efficient and manageable budget process. Once the software and process were in place, we assisted the company with their first budget using the new system to ensure that it ran smoothly.

Results

Thanks to the expertise of Aventine Hill Partners, this manufacturer was able to put in place a solution allowing them to more efficiently and effectively plan and budget for the future.  Learn more about our Financial Analysis, Planning, and Modeling capabilities.

A privately held manufacturer with multiple operating units and global operations was disposing of approximately half its business to a larger, publicly held corporation. The accounting and finance team was not staffed to support and did not have expertise in executing a large divestiture. The company came to Aventine Hill Partners for help.

Our Solution

We provided a team consisting of a CFO Advisor and two accounting and finance consultants, all of whom were experienced with public company financial reporting and audit requirements that are part of due diligence for this type of strategic transaction. Issues that made the divesture complex were that the company utilized multiple accounting systems and there were prior acquisitions that required purchase accounting adjustments to prepare the financials for divestiture.

Our team became both best practice consultants and a “hands-on” extension of the Controller’s department, focusing on the following:

Companies do not always have the luxury of working on problems one at a time. This was the case for a global medical device manufacturer who was simultaneously faced with inter-related challenges in Accounting, Tax, Audit, and Vendor Management. They turned to Aventine Hill Partners to provide experienced financial accounting and reporting professionals that had the breadth and depth to tackle these problems quickly.

Our Solution

Applying their expertise in Accounting and Tax, our team provided support for and prepared calculations related to foreign tax credits, earnings and profits, partner tax bases, and month-end tax provision entries. Providing assistance to the Internal Audit Department, exposure analyses and audit testing was completed while minimizing the need for involvement from the company’s Accounting and Tax employees who were busy keeping the business operating.

To address issues with how U.S. customers were tracked for sales tax purposes, our team created a master list of over 15,000 customers, validated that each was still active based on statute requirements for each state, and verified the state sales tax exemption. A history of sales tax exemptions by customer was documented and procedures recommended for ongoing reviews.

Results

With support from Aventine Hill Partners and our available consultants, this global manufacturing company was able to quickly and effectively solve these issues, maintain regulatory compliance, and have procedures in place to avoid potentially costly errors going forward.

Learn more about our:

• Accounting and Finance capabilities
• Internal Audit Advisory & Support
• Regulatory Compliance support

In smaller accounting departments, certain tasks are sometimes not completed because resources are focused on ensuring that critical functions such as payroll, invoicing, bill payments, and collections are properly attended to. When a privately held manufacturing company found themselves behind on account reconciliations and financial reporting needed to generate audited financial statements, they turned to Aventine Hill Partners to help.

Our Solution

We provided the company with a versatile accounting and finance consultant who could take care of all of their needs quickly and accurately. First, our consultant identified that the most critical item to solve was several years of missing balance sheet account reconciliations. After going through financial data going back several years, our consultant reconciled all of the company’s balance sheet accounts up to the current period.

Our consultant then worked directly with the company’s external audit firm to address other smaller, but material issues that were preventing the generation of accurate financial statements. After all issues were cleared up, the financial statement package was assembled which the external auditor reviewed and certified.

Results

Aventine Hill Partners helped clean up multiple accounting issues, generate accurate financial statements, and provide required information to the external auditor. An outcome that could have required assistance from multiple firms was completed quickly and cost effectively by one consultant. Learn more about our Accounting and Finance capabilities.

Having a trusted partner to turn to when specific expertise is needed helps take the pressure off of existing employees when unique challenges arise. When a privately held pharmaceutical company needed to perform some tax analysis outside its normal capability, they turned to Aventine Hill Partners for help.

Our Solution

We provided an experienced tax reporting professional who assisted this company in two key areas. First, our consultant successfully assisted with rolling forward tax bases for four partnerships for two years. These tax bases were complicated by legal entity structures, currency conversions, and acquisitions with contingent payment terms. Next, our consultant updated complicated calculations that tied the tax bases to quarterly tax assessments and partnership distribution calculations.

Results

Using our available talent and expertise, Aventine Hill Partners was able to help this client successfully tackle these challenges in a timely manner without putting strain on existing resources. Learn more about our Accounting and Finance capabilities.