Case Study

Service Line: Accounting

Overview

PBO Advisory Group was retained to provide accounting and human resources support to a local business after the departure of its business manager.  The scope of work also included the search and recruitment of a replacement for the open position.

 

Challenge

The accounting and financial reporting was out of date and the business was facing an upcoming audit. The departure of the business manager left a void in the historical information that was readily available. The general manager needed solutions that would generate faster turnaround of financial statements.

Additionally, there were HR issues that needed to be addressed while the recruiting process was underway for the new business manager.


Solution

PBO Advisory quickly went to work evaluating the situation, performing various tasks, and offering viable strategies for the future, including

  • Thoroughly reviewing the current status of the financial statements and job descriptions
  • Recommending immediate staffing to address the needs of the pending audit
  • Providing an interim controller as well as a staff accountant, to get accounting and financial reporting up to date, as well as to prepare for the audit
  • Ensuring the auditors had all the required information and working with the auditors throughout the process
  • Identifying critical areas where new processes needed to be designed and implemented
  • Providing an outsourced HR manager to work with the managing director to better understand the theatre’s current HR needs and begin the recruiting process
  • Performing a complete HR analysis including the creation of a prioritized punch list of processes and trainings needed
  • Screening of candidates for the business manager position, including intensive phone screening, accounting tests, and panel interviews

Result

With the implementation of PBO Advisory’s recommendations, the processes for revenue reporting and bank reconciliations became more accurate and less time was spent reconciling and creating additional journal entries.  The publication of a systematic month end closing report resulted in a faster turnaround of the financial statements.

Working closely with the auditors, the audit was completed on the due date and the final report was presented to the board.  In addition, we provided updated financial stability information that resulted in the removal of a prior year going concern note. 

After an extensive search, PBO Advisory found the company a new business manager, who worked with our accounting and HR teams throughout her onboarding process and beyond. We also planned our own exit strategy, to be implemented when the new business manager was completely up to speed.

Our client was quite pleased with our services, stating, “…they not only kept us running and found a great replacement business manager, but also demonstrated a great deal of skill as they drove our annual audit to completion…(they) brought in a team to cover all these areas. I highly recommend (PBO Advisory) on their outsourced accounting as well as HR and recruiting services.”