Consultancy Services
Case Studies
Germany - Engineering company
The company was part of a major worldwide engineering group and all central services, including treasury, were provided by the group's head office in Frankfurt. The company, which was a large international business in its own right, was recently sold in a management buy-out supported by third party investment. Upon completion of the transaction, the company found itself with an established business, a portfolio of foreign exchange and hedge transactions transferred from the old holding company, a new debt portfolio and a small embryonic treasury department with little experience and possessing interim systems comprising of a few treasury spreadsheets.
The Requirement: The company urgently needed systems in place to assist in the identification and management treasury risk and to cope with IAS39 hedge accounting needs. They also needed a twelve-month rolling liquidity forecasting embracing all of the business units in Europe, North and South America and Asia Pacific.
Solution: This was a green-field treasury site in an established business therefore requiring a system solution to be found and implemented so as to be up and running quickly. The project was fast-tracked to ensure that only established treasury system providers with a track record in Germany of successful implementations within an aggressive timescale were considered. The selection project was carefully managed throughout to ensure the deadlines were met without forfeiting any of the security of a best-practice process. A system provider was selected that would meet the required deadlines and that would be able to partner the company throughout a period of planned growth and considerable change. Group liquidity forecasting was achieved through a web-based solution that enabled direct input by the business units, immediately showing a consolidated position at the centre.