Financial & Operational Transformation for a Construction and Wholesale Business
Situation
The client is a multi-entity business that had been growing at a rapid pace but lacked the financial infrastructure to keep up. Six months prior to our engagement, leadership had replaced a long-time Controller with a young CPA from public accounting who had no experience working inside a business or managing a set of books. The company’s financial statements lacked departmental revenue and expense detail, leaving leadership with no visibility into which areas of the business were profitable and which needed attention. The President wanted help delegating responsibility, positioning the company to scale, and understanding his options down the road.
Approach
Our first priority was redesigning the chart of accounts to introduce departmental revenue and expense tracking across the business. Within 90 days, leadership had gross margin visibility at the department level for the first time.
From there, we focused on developing the Controller, helping him understand the purpose behind his daily activities and what the numbers meant. We quickly identified that additional capacity was needed and assisted in creating a job description, interviewing, and hiring an AR/AP specialist.
With a stronger team and cleaner financials in place, we turned our attention to operational improvements. We streamlined the AR and collections process, established ACH payment capabilities for recurring billing customers, and worked with leadership to address past-due accounts dating back three-plus years, recovering over $75,000 in the first six months. We partnered with legal counsel to revise contracts across each line of business to better protect the company, worked with an insurance advisor to implement a compliant healthcare plan, and engaged an employment attorney to restructure pay rates for compliance. We also built the company’s first-ever budget for both the retail and wholesale operations, established KPIs at the company and department level with leading indicators and benchmarks, and designed variable compensation plans for key managers to align incentives across the organization.
Results
- Department-level profitability visible to leadership for the first time, delivered within 90 days
- Over $75,000 in aged receivables recovered in the first six months
- First formal budget in company history across both retail and wholesale operations
- Controller developed from no operational experience into a capable finance leader
- Accounting & Finance team expanded and trained
- KPI dashboards established at both the company and department level
- Variable compensation plans implemented, aligning key manager incentives with company performance
- Contracts revised across all lines of business, reducing legal exposure
- Compliant healthcare plan and pay structure implemented
- AR and collections process streamlined with ACH capabilities for recurring customers
The business evolved from a fast-growing company with no financial visibility into a structured, scalable operation with clear profitability metrics, a capable finance team, and the foundation needed to support continued growth and a future exit.
