Companies in crisis often wonder if working with us will help them achieve their desired end result. Our management consulting firm is based in Troy, Michigan and offers advisory services to clients across Southeastern Michigan. Here are a few articles that can help explain what we do, how we can help, and if we might be a good fit for you and your company.
Why You Need a Turnaround Pro
Convincing Owner-CEOs to Let Go and Trust a Professional Turnaround Practitioner
When companies begin to underperform, they should seek out advisors they trust to provide critically needed advice and direction. If businesses followed this simple suggestion, practitioner members within the turnaround industry would find few new clients. So why are they so busy? An analysis of clients, combined with an anecdotal review of other cases, suggests the following outcome of turnaround and crisis management consulting projects involving privately owned, closely held companies that have revenues of less than $100 million: In highly distressed cases, the outcome is generally more negative when an existing owner-management team remains in place than when the group is supplemented by turnaround or crisis advisor or even sometimes replaced.
The Turnaround Process
Is Your Business In Crisis?
First things first; if you are a business owner who finds his business in trouble, now is the time to admit there is a problem that will not fix itself and; that you need an outside expert who has the skill-set and the experience to (1) identify the source of your problems; (2) develop an efficient and strategic blueprint to fix the problems, prevent them from recurring in the future and; to (3) put your company on a course to meet your life goals in the shortest time possible.
Why a Receiver?
Receivership is an unbiased third-party appointment by a court to preserve the asset(s) of an individual or organization and ensure the operations are managed with the interest of the creditors in mind. An individual, organization, creditor or court may determine that having an independent receiver manage the affairs of a troubled entity is in their best interest and may seek out approval to appoint a receiver for:
- To take possession and control of real property in a foreclosure action where the real property is in danger of being lost, removed or materially damaged or where the mortgage is in breach and there is no equity in the property.
- To collect rent under an assignment of rents provision while a foreclosure is pending or to collect and disburse rents during the redemption period.
Why Do We Need a 13-Week Cash Flow Projection?
Understanding Financial Information for Bankruptcy Lawyers – 13-Week Cash Flow Projections
What Are TWCF Projections?
One of the most important areas for any business and its management team to deeply understand – as well as manage, forecast and track – is liquidity and the ability to meet obligations as they come due. Lack of liquidity is often the root cause of why a business becomes distressed. Liquid assets are defined as cash and other assets that are easily converted to cash such as stocks, bonds, and other short-term investments. Businesses employ many tools to monitor and manage their liquidity. These include short- and long-term cash flow forecasting, borrowing base calculations and other assessments of funding facilities, and various liquidity ratios and metrics such as days cash on hand, days sales outstanding (“DSO”), days payables outstanding (“DPO”), and days inventory on hand, among others.
For a distressed company in particular, cash is king. One of the most commonly used and helpful tools to forecast and track liquidity is the development of 13-week cash flow (“TWCF”) projections. TWCF projections, are utilized by management teams at both healthy and distressed companies to help manage and anticipate short-term liquidity needs.
Salvaging a Troubled Business
Tips for Tune-ups and Turnarounds: Strategies Target Healthy and Companies in Crisis
Carter Pate and Harlan Platt targeted the management of both good and troubled companies in The Phoenix Effect. This book came about as a result of the relationship the co-authors developed through TMA and the Certified Turnaround Practitioner (CTP) program.
Pate is managing partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLC’s Financial Advisory Services in Dallas. He became acquainted with Platt while earning his CTP designation. Platt, the ACTP faculty dean who created and oversees the administration of the CTP examination, is a finance and insurance professor at Northeastern University’s College of Business Administration.