Finance consulting is a core consulting discipline that largely concerns the treatment of assets and liabilities over time under conditions of certainty and uncertainty.
Finance consulting projects range from dealing with strategic topics, through tactical matters to operational issues and opportunities, in order to assure the good financial health of an organisation.
Finance consulting projects
Common finance consulting projects at the strategic level include:
- Capital investment analysis – to assess potential profitability of a long-term investment, using techniques including discounted cash flow analysis, risk-return analysis, risk-neutral valuation and utility theory
- Capital structure and financial markets – to determine how to finance an organisation’s overall operations and growth through the financial markets
- Company valuation – to determine the current worth of a company, or an asset
- M&A – to provide financial management support for merger & acquisition activities including post-merger integration
- Treasury management – to define, develop, evaluate and implement policies and procedures for treasury management
- Working capital and liquidity management – to define, develop, evaluate and implement policies and procedures for working capital and liquidity management.
At the tactical level, typical areas of focus are:
- Collections & debt recovery – to develop, evaluate and implement policies and procedures for collections and debt recovery
- Cost reduction – to define, develop, evaluate and implement policies and procedures for cost reduction
- Financial accounting and budgetary control – to develop, evaluate and implement policies and procedures for financial accounting and budgetary control
- Financial appraisal and needs analysis – to develop, evaluate and implement policies and procedures for financial appraisal and needs analysis
- Management accounting and reporting – to develop, evaluate and implement policies and procedures for management accounting and reporting
- Pricing models – to develop, evaluate and implement pricing models.
Finance consulting projects also deal with operational issues and opportunities, such as:
- Internal audit – to examine, monitor, evaluate and analyse activities related to an organisation's operation, including organisation structure, employee behaviour and information systems.
What to look for in a finance consultant
Finance consulting is one discipline where the majority of the consultants have a formal certification founded upon years of academic study and monitored practice, plus ongoing formally measured professional development. And once you have found a consultant with the appropriate technical skills, look for commercial acumen and business insight as well.
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