Interim Accounting Consultant Fully Integrates 7 Acquisitions for PE-backed Company and Primes It for Continued Growth

Professionalized the disparate, non-GAAP accounting practices of a PE-backed company’s first 7 acquisitions, preparing the company to pass its initial audit and integrate future purchases

Client:

A PE firm focused on acquiring manufacturing and industrial companies within the heavy machinery sector

Services:

Interim Executive Services

Industry:

Private-Equity
Manufacturing and Industrial

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Challenge

After initially acquiring and combining three founder-led manufacturing and industrial service companies within a highly fragmented heavy machinery sector, a private equity firm began quickly executing its strategy for industry consolidation. It bought five more of the sector’s family-owned companies over the next nine months.

With further investment opportunities lined up, the firm needed a veteran accounting professional with extensive acquisition accounting and manufacturing expertise to simultaneously complete its initial integrations, absorb three purchases waiting in the pipeline, and prepare the accounting staff to manage future acquisitions efficiently and accurately.

Solution

The PE firm engaged Focus Search Partners’ interim accounting consultant to navigate the inevitable growing pains that arise from quickly acquiring multiple family-owned businesses with non-GAAP accounting practices and lack of policies and procedures.

With extensive experience working for both public and private manufacturers and managing their complex acquisition accounting, he knew exactly how to extract the existing business data from all seven acquired entities and transition it into one cohesive GAAP-compliant accounting structure. At the same time, he used his vast knowledge base to train the accounting staff, significantly elevating their skills and enabling them to maintain and grow that new structure as the PE firm continued acquiring additional companies.

Outcomes

Our consultant took a hands-on approach to gathering and accurately capturing the necessary data of the firm’s initial seven acquisitions to prepare for the company’s first-year audit.

He also enhanced accounting processes and implemented appropriate internal controls to ensure complete and accurate data collection for the three subsequent acquisitions and all future ones. Both the financial data and the accounting team now confidently support the PE firm’s investment objectives through consistent and consolidated GAAP reporting.

“We needed to transition multiple independent founder-led firms into one regional company with the existing accounting staff. Focus Search Partners’ consultant immediately improved our integration process and accounting structure, positioning us to achieve our goal—becoming a consolidated platform.”
Interim Chief Financial Officer Tweet