Small Firm. Big Experience. Valued Relationships.
Forensic accounting utilizes a broad range of skills including accounting, auditing and investigative to analyze the financial records of an individual or business. Forensic accounting provides an analysis suitable to search for fraud and inconsistencies in an organization’s financial reporting. It is often used to answer specific questions of owners and C Suite members by bring order to chaos and internal controls to processes that require greater oversight. We look beyond the numbers and concentrate on the root cause of the issues we are investigating and deal with the reality of each situation. There are instances where fraud exists but cannot be proved. It is also important to note that an audit or review, while thorough are not designed to discover fraudulent activities. They might, but that is not their purpose and an individual committing a fraud can engineer their activities around being discovered by an auditor. A forensic account digs deeper and is experienced to look beyond the activities involved in an audit or review.
Transactions occur between parties. Often the value of these transactions need to be calculated using business valuation techniques. The process of valuing a business is more art than science. However, the business valuation process tells a story and by applying these processes a fair and reasonable value can be determined. Business valuations are used for a wide variety of reasons. Whether for gifting, acquisitions, or as an internal management tool, the process of valuing a business always results in the discovery of information that leads to a more informative leadership team. We provide numerous business valuation services and strive to provide our clients with a tool that when used will aid them in enhancing the value of their organization.
Due diligence is a process where a qualified person examines a target Company to determine if the targets representation in it prospectus and offer deck is fair and reasonable. The process’ goal is to ensure our client, the buyer, has all the relevant facts necessary to make an informed decision about the target. The process is centered on discovery and verification of information provided by the target, specifically any risks the company may be facing currently or in the future. The process requires a deep dive into numerous aspects of the target company from its culture, assumptions related to the development of value, governance, customer lists and working capital to mention a few.
Working capital is the difference between a company's current assets and its current liabilities. Current assets are primarily cash, accounts receivable and inventory. Current liabilities are primarily accounts payable. Working capital is the cash the organization requires to run its business. It is usually made up of cash obtained through collections, equity from owners and credit sources. As cash is collected or borrowed it is used to pay the costs related to running the business like employment expenses, interest, and supplies.
The degree of waste within the system affects the amount of cash available to pay its operating expenses. Timing is important and when the timing between paying its bills and collecting its cash is large yields a large spread, debt or equity additions are required to pay bills and keep the organization functioning.
The McQuillan Group will examine the organization’s uses of cash and identify where waste exists. We will then aid the company’s leadership in minimizing this waste through process improvement initiatives. We examine operating and administrative processes, credit and collection processes, inventory management effectiveness, and accounts payable policies. We provide our client with a detailed assessment of their organization. Through this assessment, we find and then engineer solutions to minimize or eliminate the uses of cash and waste that exist. By minimizing this waste, more money is available for strategic uses and the company becomes more sustainable. This is a comprehensive process that takes time. In order to create sustainable changes working capital engagements will run approximately a year and often requires numerous changes in how the company operates. Changes are proposed and implemented on s step by step incremental basis, working with the Company’s leadership and staff. As with any change, buy in at all levels is important and that is why our engagements include a focused analysis, documentation and report out process. Our processes educates and trains as it evolves.
Executive coaching and mentoring is a process where a McQuillan Group professional works directly with an organization’s leaders or managers to aid them to gain greater self-awareness, to clarify their individual goals and to achieve their development objectives. We strive to aid our clients in achieving their maximum potential. We assume a sounding board role and provide alternative perspectives to broaden our client’s perspectives. We are not physiologist and we limit our engagement to our client’s professional development, not their mental health. We often assume the role of a personal project manager overseeing and aiding our client in managing the projects they are responsible for. Our coaching engagements are structured to meet our client’s goals but have a strong component on the organization in which they work. Our mentoring engagements are more informal and usually more focused on the client’s career growth and personal development and not their involvement in the organization’s effectiveness to the degree of a coaching engagement.
