Advisory

Reduce complexity.
Gain foresight and perspective.

If you are looking for consultants who roll up their sleeves and tackle.

Do you need hands-on support for CFO-related tasks? We support you energetically and competently in operational issues such as accounting & reporting advice, working capital management or controlling optimization.

Do you need “hands-on” support with CFO-related challenges? AURICON will provide dedicated and professional assistance in tasks ranging from establishing integrated financial planning procedures and implementation of standardized reporting to advice on finance and accounting issues.

The economic and regulatory environment in which companies are having to operate is becoming increasingly complex. We help our clients with practical “hands-on” support in CFO-related tasks to help them overcome new challenges and optimize their business potential.

Finance departments are increasingly evolving into internal business partners that actively support corporate management. As a result, their role has a major bearing on decision-making and in increasing the value of the business.

As well as identifying and defining key performance drivers, the standardization of processes and system landscapes, internal and external reporting, the control function and risk management are all of major importance.

Reporting is used to process and disseminate information relating to a company or its business environment. Open reporting is therefore geared to the needs of recipients for information (management, banks, investors, etc.).

Finance departments are increasingly evolving into internal business partners that actively support corporate management. As a result, their role has a major bearing on decision-making and in increasing the value of the business.

As well as identifying and defining key performance drivers, the standardization of processes and system landscapes, internal and external reporting, the control function and risk management are all of major importance.

Reporting is used to process and disseminate information relating to a company or its business environment. Open reporting is therefore geared to the needs of recipients for information (management, banks, investors, etc.).

An integrated and effective reporting system offers:

Crucial decision-making support: Tools to extract accurate information from complex data sets at the appropriate time
High-level transparency: Company processes and latest developments described in a target-oriented and coherent way
Standardized data preparation: Clear, consistent, and target-oriented data compilation using clearly structured processes and tools. When standardizing and automating processes, we focus on ensuring our clients are flexible in their approach without having to draw on external services. We develop processes and tools “hand-in-hand” with our clients so that our tailored solutions can help them in establishing effective working practices
Timely real target comparisons: The anticipated state is compared with the real-time situation in order to be able to respond to developments at an early stage

We provide practical and operational support to help companies meet increased demands on the financial purse, particularly from investors, and to exploit corporate management potential.

Our CFO-advisory and reporting services offer:

A long-term partnership in which we act as a sparring partner and share our know-how with our clients
A broad spectrum of financial advisory services from a one-stop provider
Necessary flexible, transparent and proven integrated information models (including consolidation tools and integrated business planning
An automated creation of needs-based recipient-oriented report
Improvements in finance/controlling

Many companies are looking to introduce fully integrated business planning systems, particularly during the budgeting process. AURICON has wide-ranging expertise, having successfully completed many planning projects in various industries for different sized companies.

In practice, different business departments do not always pull together and often have their own planning ideas and expectations regarding the short, medium or long-term development of their operational business. In most cases, therefore, overall business planning lacks a common set of figures that bring together a company’s sub-plans within a clearly defined business planning process. This can lead to information being lost which could result in misjudgements at corporate management level with a real risk of poor strategic decisions being taken by senior executives.

Sensible linking of technical and corporate sub-plans forms the basis of sound integrated business planning and is vital for targeted profitability and, in particular, liquidity management and control.

Typical elements in the integrated business planning process are:

Analysis of the net assets, financial and profitability status to identify key value drivers
Preparation of P&L, balance sheet and indirect liquidity planning
Topline-/sales planning
Analysis of cost structures (fixed vs. variable costs)
Coordination of the development of sub-plans from different company departments
Financial planning
Investment and depreciation planning

Liquidity plans provide companies with valuable information on whether existing financial resources are sufficient or extra capital funds required.

By introducing integrated corporate planning, a liquidity plan can be automatically derived from a consolidated income statement and balance sheet. For the budgeting process, it is advisable to undertake integrated business planning on a monthly basis in order to identify liquidity requirements or shortfalls during the year and thus be able to respond to anticipated events at an early stage.

Monthly indirect liquidity planning is ideally supplemented by a weekly-based liquidity forecast, which enables precise control and monitoring of short-term cash flows. In practice and in case law, a rolling 13-week liquidity forecast has become the norm which is not only vital in terms of management liability during a crisis but also in ensuring effective cash flow management in routine business operations.

Our Excel-based liquidity tool is customized to your needs and IT interfaces, which allows automated integration of data from various systems to be performed with minimal manual effort. For example, payment practices for creditors can be optimized and liquidity shortages anticipated through proactive liquidity management.

If a company already has a business model, a plausibility check by an independent third party in the form of a business plan review is recommended to enhance its credibility and acceptance.

This can be useful for a variety of reasons, e.g. for:

Developing a company business structure
(Re-)financing
Transactions
Developing strategic decisions
Investment decisions

Our business plan reviews are tailored to a client’s particular circumstances, depending on the size and complexity of the company and the required scope of the analysis and assessment. They serve as a decision-making tool for the stakeholders involved.

Typical contents of business plan reviews are:

An analysis of the company’s net assets, financial and profitability status
A formal plausibility check: This involves checking the planning methodology, as well as the technical accuracy and completeness of the integrated corporate planning resource (net assets, financial and profitability status)
A qualitative plausibility check and appraisal in which planning assumptions are reviewed and evaluated
A review of returns on investment and debt service capability
Sensitivity analyses and simulation studies

The role of controlling departments is changing to that of internal business partners that actively support corporate management. As a result, controlling is expected to make a greater contribution to the decision-making process and in increasing the value of the business.

Controlling optimization includes a definition of key profit drivers and the standardization of processes and system landscapes while maintaining internal and external reporting as well as the controlling function and risk management capability.

We help companies to meet increased demands on controlling, particularly from investors, and to optimize their corporate management resource.

Typical areas of advisory services that we offer our clients are:

Optimization and design of the planning process
Rolling forecasts
Introduction of tools for target/actual comparisons
Liquidity planning and controlling
Process optimization
Audit of costs and performance
Personnel management
Reporting

Corporate financial reporting requirements have increased regularly over recent years. On the one hand, companies are constantly faced with new challenges due to regulatory changes. On the other, stakeholders demand more improvements in the design of financial reporting with special emphasis on providing reliable, clear, and decision-relevant information. We offer many years of expertise and practical solutions to a wide range of issues and challenges related to national and (international) accounting and (capital market-oriented) financial reporting. Whether you are a medium-sized, family-owned or capital market-oriented company, our services are designed to meet the special requirements of your company and relevant stakeholders. Our solution-oriented approach leads to practical and reliable results that will help you straight away.

Accounting standards are constantly being developed by regulators which make it difficult for companies to keep track of ongoing changes and apply them correctly in accounting practices. Revised or newly introduced accounting standards often involve complex factors that require detailed analysis or assessment. We not only advise you on the implementation of new or modified auditing standards but also offer practical support by making an early and detailed appraisal of their implications and then develop a suitable implementation strategy for you.

Constantly evolving audit standards and special regulations, combined with sometimes highly complex contracts and facts can often lead to uncertainties in terms of proper audit presentation. Where there is uncertainty, we will highlight individual accounting options, and, if required, prepare expert opinions on auditing issues. We provide prompt, unambiguous and legally sound solutions and recommendations.

The need for introducing new accounting standards such as IFRS or US-GAAP usually arises either as a result of access to the capital market or company transactions, although a number of other factors may be involved. We will support you through the entire conversion process, from the initial assessment via the conceptual design to the actual conversion itself. If you wish, we can take over the management of the project for you.

Accounting regulations are not one-dimensional and often offer explicit and implicit options as well as some discretion when it comes to balance sheet reporting, validation and disclosure. The targeted use of this audit flexibility within a legally permissible framework is a way of presenting the audit data in the interests of the company. At the same time, it offers the opportunity to take measures to structure financial data for inclusion in the audit prior to the due reporting date in order to achieve the company's balance sheet targets. Our advisory approach is holistic, from identifying untapped audit policy potential to its realization.

Regular financial reporting of capital market-oriented companies in Germany is not only monitored by the annual auditor but also by the German Financial Reporting Enforcement Panel (Deutsche Prüfstelle für Rechnungslegung e.V.; FREP) and the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin). Finding an error usually results in an adverse impact on the capital market for the companies concerned. We advise you on preventative measures that can be taken in the pre-audit phase and during enforcement proceedings in order to avoid the discovery of possible errors.

Corporate transactions pose major auditing challenges. For example, initial consolidation always requires a purchase price allocation. Likewise, different accounting standards and practices or foreign currencies may have to be aligned during the course of the consolidation. Similarly, impairment tests must be carried out on an ad hoc basis as part of any subsequent consolidation. We advise you not only on the auditing aspects of a transaction that has already been completed, but also in advance of the structuring of the transaction focusing on its accounting objectives.

The design format of financial reporting has been subject to increasing criticism over recent years, mainly regarding the limited provision of relevant information in annual reports. At the same time, the steadily increasing size of annual reports is criticized under the heading of "disclosure overload". We identify optimization potential in your annual report and so enable you to develop effective and audience-oriented financial reporting.

Advisory

Advisory

Advisory

Do you need hands-on support for CFO-related tasks? We support you energetically and competently in operational issues such as accounting & reporting advice, working capital management or controlling optimization.

Do you need “hands-on” support with CFO-related challenges? AURICON will provide dedicated and professional assistance in tasks ranging from establishing integrated financial planning procedures and implementation of standardized reporting to advice on finance and accounting issues.

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