Turnarounds

Forced closure and liquidation are not necessarily the only options for businesses facing financial or operational challenges and difficulties.

Frequently, if professional advice is sought as soon as the problem is identified, a business can be salvaged and returned to profitability.

At Grant Thornton we have experience in resuscitating drowning businesses.

Goals and Objectives

The goals and objectives of our turnaround programme are to identify whether the business can be salvaged. This is achieved by:

• working with management
• identifying the current financial position
• reviewing recent trading and cash flow results and identifying reasons for under-performance
• identifying any non-performing assets or business operations
• assessing the relative strengths and weaknesses of the management team and identifying any additional resources required to enable them to manage the business through their current financial difficulties
• reaching a conclusion regarding the achievability of trading and cash flow projections
• preparing a list of recommendations and conclusions
• assisting management in implementing our agreed recommendations and monitoring the success of the turnaround programme.

How does it work?

A team of Grant Thornton's qualified professionals will:

• visit the company's premises
• examine the financial and management records
• clarify the current financial position and review historic trading and cash flow performance
• discuss the reasons for under-performance
• review any trading and cash flow budgets
• form a view on the assumptions underlying these projections
• develop a series of conclusions and recommendations regarding the way forward
• discuss our recommendations with management and agree a programme of measures to improve the trading and financial position of the company.

What is the output?

A report or presentation will be prepared summarising our findings and providing our recommendations and conclusions. Where reports have been commissioned by lenders, certain sections of the report, particularly those regarding security, may not be shared with the management of the company.

What does it cost?

The costs of the assignment are normally agreed prior to commencement and can be structured on the basis of a fixed fee or alternatively on a rate per hour basis.

Two of the main factors influencing our fees are the quality, reliability and availability of accounting information and financial data and the resources we need to devote to the assignment.

Do I need a review?

Your business, or that of a client, could benefit from Grant Thornton's turnaround team if:

• the company has suffered consistent trading losses, but is presently operating within existing banking arrangements
• management consider that recent trading losses are not representative of the true potential of the business or that one or two non-performing divisions are adversely     affecting the results of other more profitable operations
• the company is experiencing difficulty in identifying the areas of under-performance and is consistently failing to meet forecast trading and cash flow performance