Andy Walton & Co
Oxford Chartered Accountant March Cottage, Great Milton, Oxfordshire OX44 7NS
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Case Studies

(i) Revamping Accounting Records, Developing Management Reports and Business Plan for Oxford Publisher
Accounting records were in a poor state, cashflow was tight, and business was making unexplained losses

Achievements :

• Secured £500k equity and loan investment from new business plan to fund business growth
• Cleaned up the accounts for last 2 years and represented the data to highlight business strengths and weaknesses
• Prepared 3 year business plan, focusing on higher margin publishing aimed at customers who pay in 30 days, not 90
• Reviewed stock for all slow moving items and recommended immediate sale at cost - generating quick cash windfall
• Set up revenue pipeline forecast so that all sales efforts are better coordinated and link in to publishing schedules
• Reviewed print volumes, printing suppliers and credit terms to be much more careful with cash and halved print costs
• Developed accurate monthly reporting and a 12 month cashflow projection
• Installed Quickbooks 2006 Accountant

(ii) Preparing Accounts for Oxford based Holiday Company for Sale of Business
Due diligence work performed in advance of sale of business to large PLC. Accounts were prepared only annually, Bookkeeper and year end accountants had no Quickbooks expertise.

Achievements :

• Performed due diligence work to prepare business for sale to large PLC
• Created management accounts with accurate monthly cut-off
• Discovered £3,000 of VAT that had not been claimed - more than covered my fees !
• Improved cashflow by helping secure better credit from largest suppliers
• Reducing bookkeeping costs by requesting a monthly invoice from largest supplier who had generated 60 invoices pcm
• Corrected several accounting errors that had caused profits to be incorrectly recorded - some had not been picked up by year end accountants
• Set up payroll in Quickbooks 2006

(iii) Creating Management Accounts and Budgets for Oxfordshire Marketing Consultancy
Accounts were prepared only annually, with no mid year review. Budgets / Profit forecasts were not prepared either.

Achievements :

• Designed bespoke management reports to track business performance on a monthly basis
• Prepared annual budget and set up monthly profit and cashflow forecasts
• Set up revenue forecasting tool which now clearly identifies any shortfall before its too late
• Reviewed customer pricing and provided recomendations which improved gross margins
• Streamlined weekly consolidation of telemarketers spreadsheets saving one day of director's time per week

(iv) Revamping Management Accounts for a European Telecoms Manufacturer
Existing reporting was very numeric and was not capable of measuring a new 12 region structure

Achievements :

• Automated "Dashboard Style" daily bookings flash updates created with visual graphical measurements to facilitate regional benchmarking and metrics to track key performance indicators
• Comprehensive monthly management pack developed to measure performance against agreed targets
• Monthly expenditure variance reports for dept managers which clearly identify overspend and advice on available remedial action
• Improved accuracy of profit forecast provided to parent company

(v) Designing Sales Commission Model for a Distributor
The existing process was broken and sales staff were receiving their commission several months after it had been earned

Achievements :

• Developed sophisticated macro driven commission model in Microsoft Access which generated commission statements on demand
• Sales data was imported from accounting system directly into model by automatic upload
• Intranet set up, and daily bookings logs posted, to enable Sales staff to audit accuracy of data
• Daily sales ladder published, so individual achievement was trackable and highly visible, motivating higher performance

(vi) Restructuring the Emea organisation of a US telecoms company
Assisting with the integration of two acquired companies into parent company structure

Achievements :

• Providing stable management of the companies finances through a period of substantial change.
• Providing senior financial management expertise on an extremely flexible basis, as required, thereby containing costs without any reduction in service levels.
• Project managing the orderly integration and transfer of business with minimal disruption.
• Creating "Dashboard" style flash reports for the new business which produce daily updates of key performance indicators

(vii) Process Re-engineering for Service Division of US Hitech
Process for selling maintenance on high end computer systems was weak and many sales opportunities were being lost

Achievements :

• Increased capture rates on sales of maintenance on computer sales from 65% to 85% with creation of exception report using Microsoft Access, which lead to increased annual revenues of $2M.
• Automated the generation of maintenace renewals spreadsheets - now issued on day 1 rather than 6 weeks into the quarter (50% extra selling time)
• Automated the amortisation of contracts, replacing the previously very manual defered revenue calculations
• Developed a revenue forecast model which has dramatically improved accuracy
• Revenue targets could now be set for individuals rather than for the division as a whole
• Daily progress trackable via intranet, with individual performance visible creating a strong motivational effect

Management accounts, interim, part time finance director, part time financial controller, accountancy for Oxford
Financial Planning, financial control, financial analysis, profit maximistaion, profit forecast, financial reporting, business objects