Accounting Confidante, LLC

Companies considering mergers, acquisitions, or divestitures face a myriad of operational, legal, financial, compliance and risk management issues and challenges.  Our Confidantes are experienced in mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures due diligence (from both the buyer’s and seller’s perspectives), and can help you:

1. Assess the credibility of both historical and projected earnings, cash flows, etc.;
2. Conduct a SWOT analysis by identifying and quantifying Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats relating to specific deals;
3. Identify possible and probable integration and transition issues;
4. Identify incremental costs;
5. Identify potential operating improvements and cost savings.

We are particularly adept at evaluating the impact of a merger or acquisition on the insurance risk transfer and risk management program which, for some reason, is often addressed as an after thought.  Failure to proactively address risk evaluation can expose the acquiring company to many unforeseen exposures and costs.  Deficiencies uncovered in the due diligence process could cause you to reject a deal outright, or could significantly affect the deal price.

Every merger, acquisition, or divestiture transaction is both labor and cost-intensive.  There is always the danger of unknown or contingent liabilities that can scuttle a deal.  There are insurance-based solutions on the market that can cap or remove such liabilities when indemnification or escrows are insufficient.  In addition to mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures, joint ventures pose very unique risk issues that are oftentimes mishandled.

In the world of mergers and acquisitions, what you don’t know can truly hurt you.  Let us help you “seal a smarter deal” going in with your eyes wide open!

Going public?  Entrepreneurs tend to get accountants involved late in the game and wonder why their IPO or reverse merger transaction gets held up.  There is a host of intricate and sophisticated regulatory compliance requirements that stretch outside the abilities of law practitioners and the attention span of many entrepreneurs.  From bank recs to SEC reporting to SOX compliance, our Confidantes have pulled the rabbit out of the hat to make things happen and get the deal done.

Size does matter.  Start-ups and small businesses that do not have the financial resources to sustain the cost of a technical accounting and finance department, yet require that expertise to achieve their growth plans can utilize the services of a hands-on interim CFO.  A Confidante can be the deal maker.  A Confidante can provide the appearance of being bigger when it counts, by producing proforma financial forecasts, analyzing terms sheets, participating in road-shows, and liaising with the key financial institutions financing your future.

Does your IT staff speak in Acronymns you can't understand?  Has your ERP implementation team set up a permanent office?  It is true, they are laughing behind your back and all the way to the bank for that matter.  Secure a systems implementation leader from Accounting Confidante, LLC and void the blank check phenomenon with your IT vendor.  A Confidante can serve as your interpreter so you understand the acronyms and what it is you really need to pay for.  A Confidante can:

1. Identify workflow bottlenecks where technology can provide cost effective solutions
2. Design effective reporting output for critical information needs and decision making
3. Plan and lead implementation of enterprise  systems from needs analysis or feasibility study to a successful cutover with celebration
4. Train cross functional groups in complete transaction cycle processing

Work smart, not hard.  Be the senior level executive who launched the mandate of streamlining business processes, exploiting technology to solve business challenges, impacting the bottom line, coaching staff and peers to expand personal potential and make significant contributions, achieving cross-functional synergy.  We bring the guts. . .  You get the glory. . .

Corporations both large and small, remain vulnerable to white collar crimes, despite significant spending on major initiatives including the application of Enterprise Risk Management (“ERM”) or implementation of internal controls to comply with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (“SOX”).  Years later, policies and procedures have been forgotten and filed away, are inconsistently enforced, or circumvented either willfully or unknowingly.  In some cases, policies and procedures did not keep pace with organizational changes or information technology advances.

We combine sound financial accounting and auditing practices with investigative know-how.  Our approach is hands-on, yet inconspicuous.  Through examination of cross-functional business processes, we perform actionable operations analysis that yield human resource efficiencies and cut costs.  From customer prospecting to cash collection, from purchasing to cash payment, we can pinpoint control weaknesses and help ferret out those who are susceptible to exploit them.  We deliver a comprehensive report and leave a framework satisfactory to many constituents including accountable managers, external auditors, and corporate boards.

This service pays for itself and much more.  Have a Certified Management Accountant dispatched to your company in the spirit of “keeping honest people, honest.”

Need to get your arms around an issue?  A Confidante can bring visibility and understanding to the issues and present qualitative and quantitative decision points to restore integrity and control, gain traction, or build momentum.