Recent Services Provided to my Customers
Here are some recent highlights from the services I have provided to my customers. Expand each section to read a brief summary...
A specialist recruitment company engaged with me to provide an integrated business model to support their strategic goals. This was an exciting recent freelance assignment.
As always, I built the business model so that it performed the required functionality in the cleanest and simplest way, despite several areas of complexity.
The inputs, assumptions, and calculations were clearly identified and documented.
The outputs included 3 financial statements (profit & loss, balance sheet, and cash flow statement) driven by the assumptions in the model as well as various summaries which gave additional insights into the projections.
The model enabled the company to evaluate different growth strategies and to get the buy-in of senior management towards achieving the strategy.
Richard has completed a financial model for us recently which was excellent!
He always made himself available, listened to our needs, and completed our project timely and accurately.
I recommend Richard and his services.
A global logistics company approached me to analyze a complex set of customer data in order to provide insights and summaries to support a business development initiative.
Using my analytical skills and logistics industry experience, I quickly generated meaningful summaries of the data to meet the business requirements and also offered additional insights to enhance the awareness and understanding of the management team.
We sent Richard raw data – and explained what we need to see – the Analytics came overnight and… we could see and understand much more than what we have expected… Richard understands our business so well that you don’t loose time with lengthy iterations – Richard just gets it.
An innovative logistics start-up required a business model in order to articulate its growth plans and support its seed funding round.
Model
After the initial meeting with the founder, I began building a bespoke business model to show how the revenue streams will develop and how the cost base will grow to support the business.
I built the business model so that it performed the required functionality in the cleanest and simplest way.
The inputs, assumptions, and calculations were clearly identified and documented.
Coaching
Throughout the process, I worked closely with the founder and coached him in the financial concepts included in the model so that he had a full grasp and could communicate confidently to investors.
The outputs included 3 financial statements (profit & loss, balance sheet, and cash flow statement) driven by the assumptions in the model. I created various other summaries which helped to explain the business projections to the key stakeholders.
The business successfully closed the seed funding round, giving them sufficient cash runway to begin executing their growth strategy.
Richard is amazing. He is very competent and provides full support
I can only recommend Richard
Richard is a very focused, result and customer-oriented consultant with a deep understanding of financial planning and modeling.
A family-run business in the tourism sector contacted me to provide financial expertise. They had expansion plans and wanted to determine the financial impact of these plans and the funding required to execute them. So they asked me to develop a cash-flow forecast for the next 12 months.
My structured approach meant that I reviewed all aspects of the business. Once I understood the business, I could make sure that I built the key drivers into the forecast. The flexible model I created allowed for easy updates regarding the business assumptions on occupancy rates, day rates, investment in new assets, disposal of existing assets, headcount requirement and other costs.
The assignment scope expanded so that I also developed a monthly reporting pack to compare the actual cash flow to the forecast. I also complimented the cash-based reporting and analysis with a P&L view of the business performance.
Richard has helped us with some great financial modelling, This has been critical for our team to act fast with strategic decisions. He’s extremely professional and knowledgeable, and his financial forecasts are structured brilliantly.
An electric truck start up was looking for additional funding and required a business model to support their funding activities. They wanted to have full control and ownership of the model and so engaged with me rather than use the services of a global consulting firm.
After the initial meeting with the CEO and Finance Director, I set about building a bespoke business model to support their investment funding goals.
I built the business model so that it performed the required functionality in the cleanest and simplest way.
The inputs, assumptions and calcuations were clearly identified and documented.
Throughout the process I challenged the business on the assumptions provided and on the logic and validity thereof.
The outputs included a set of 3 financial statements (profit & loss, balance sheet, and cash flow statement) driven by the assumptions in the model. I created various other summaries which helped to explain the business projections to the key stakeholders.
Investment
Due to my professionalism and the integrity and flexibility of the business model, the management team were extremely satisfied with the final product. The global investment bank who were advising on the funding were very impressed with the model. Most importantly, this enhanced my customer’s credibility with the bank and helped to smooth the path to receiving the investment needed.
Richard has excellent excel modelling skills and supported our fundraise process with a long term business model. The investment bank we worked with called it “one of the best they’d seen” ; I’d recommend Richard to those looking for FP&A modelling support in their business.
The regional financial shared service centre of a global freight forwarding company identified the need to provide logistics industry training to their staff. They asked me to provide a training concept.
I proposed an induction training course. My goal was to help the finance shared service centre staff to understand the industry and business model. As a result, the training helped them to see their work in the context of the business operations.
I prepared a presentation deck outlining several key factors:
- what the logistics industry is
- who are the main players
- what are the main product lines
- factors impacting the profitability of the business
- what drives the financial transactions
The presentation formed the basis for on-site interactive training sessions. I delivered the training to 30 employees in 4 sessions spread across 2 days.
I was delighted that the training courses were well received by the attendees, who displayed keen enthusiasm to learn about the business and the industry. For instance, the attendees engaged fully, and made each session lively and interactive.
A Swiss equity investment company required a review of the financial model and valuation projections related to a potential investment.
Firstly, I critically reviewed the financial model provided by the start up firm. This enabled me to highlight various issues relating to the following:
- Customer Base
- Revenue Assumptions
- Cost Assumptions
- Cashflow
- Balance Sheet and
- Funding requirements
By challenging the assumptions and the model, I was able to provide an assessment of the business valuation given by the company. Secondly, I also undertook some re-modelling in order to provide an alternative range of valuations.
As a result of the above analysis, the CEO invited me to participate in the due dilligence review of the target company’s financial statements and management reporting.
The investment company’s CEO found my thorough analysis and insights to be very helpful and he was appreciative of my support.
A global freight forwarding company required an experienced FP&A expert to support with analysis and reporting during a period of transition in the European Headoffice.
Working remotely, I provided analysis of the Net Revenues. I alerted the CFO to any job accounting issues or material impacts from prior periods.
I also produced the consolidated European management report each month. By drawing on the area commentaries I provided a concise and insightful regional summary. In addition, I completed the corporate review deck with a commentary on the European results which formed the basis for the corporate monthly review meeting with the region.
Over an 18 month period, I provided a reliable and high-quality support service. As a result, the regional CFO and newly appointed regional FP&A Director very much appreciated my work.
Another of my recent freelance assignments was for the regional financial shared service centre of a global freight forwarding company. They recently recruited a Job Accounting Analyst (JAA) who required training. The regional CFO recommended me to provide training for him.
Firstly, I analysed the job description in order to prepare a bespoke training course. My goal was to provide the fundamental knowledge and understanding the JAA would require in order to suceed in his new role.
However, I also identified that the training topics would be beneficial to other regional head office employees. Therefore I reached out to the regional CFO to coordinate suitable attendees.
As soon as the scope and attendees had been agreed, I prepared a presentation deck outlining the following key points:
- the principles of job accounting
- how reporting data can be sourced and interpreted
- ways of performing deeper analysis
- other relevant topics
I used the presentation deck as the basis for an on-site, interactive 3-day workshop which I delivered to 3 employees.
The attendees appreciated the workshop. They engaged fully, thereby making it lively and interactive. Because of the positive feedback, I was invited to propose a project management plan for developing and implementing effective job accounting governance.
Another recent freelance assignment came from the regional financial shared service centre of a global freight forwarding company. They invited me to propose a project management plan for developing and implementing effective job accounting governance.
Firstly, I outlined the scope of the project. Secondly, I identified the steps required in order for the project to sucessfully meet it’s objectives. At an early stage, I sought a conference call with some of the project’s key stakeholders in order to ensure good alignment.
I broke the project down into 6 definable steps and I even specified the activities required within each step. In the plan, I assigned each activity to a responsible person. Most importantly each activity also had a realistic deadline for completion.
I ensured that the final project plan outlined a logical and sensible approach. Also it gave a high-level overview as well as important details for each step. I combined my finance experience and operational knowledge so that the plan would have credibility and acceptance within the organisation.
I presented the plan to 2 key stakeholders during a conference call. The plan was well received. Subsequently I was asked to propose areas where I could support and add value to the project.
