Challenge

• The company ‘s Finance department was unable to meet requirements of user departments, and was perceived to be too slow, despite a team of 50 employees at the HO and about 100 employees in their branches
• The Board felt that this department’s functioning would be a hindrance for the company’s growth plans

Work done and Impact

• Analyzed the department structure, workflows and processes – in line with the set growth objectives
• Recommended realignment of workflows, and decentralization of the Finance department.
• Helped to redefine the Authority Matrix and introduced review systems to ensure that the decentralized structure works effectively.
• Identified and recommended areas of automation which enabled savings in manpower costs yet improved efficiency and controls

Challenge

• Our client was evaluating an attractive business proposition to invest in a specialized product trading and technical services provider in the UAE. The client had industry knowledge and had a favorable view of the target company but wanted to determine the right transaction price for the acquisition.

Work done and Impact

• • Our team of internal auditors and analysts conducted a detailed due diligence of the target company. This include in-depths analysis of their numbers as well as review of internal systems and controls

Action / Impact:

Were able to identify some key issues such as excessive dependencies of some customers and a steady marginal decline in revenue from their more profitable products.

There were also some accounting practices relating to provisions were incorrectly followed, as also some intercompany loans which were irregular.

The report helped our client to assess the projected business better to make a more informed valuation decision. They were also able to address compliance issues by making process changes after they completed the acquisition

Challenge

• The company’s owners were unable to get the desired results from the CEO who was long associated with the company externally but was in the CEO role only for a short period
• There were a few senior employees who were not performing, but the owners could not really determine the causes
• Employees at lower levels were lacking motivation

Work done and Impact

• We conducted detailed meetings with the Management and key employees across different levels to understand their expectations and concerns.
• We analyzed various internal processes and the authority delegation followed, and important business metrics.
• Based on the above, we were able to recommend an effective new structure that eliminated the need for a few employees who were actually a hindrance to the system
• The company obtained savings in costs, the owners found it easier to implement their plans and the employees down the line were more motivated and able to work more productively

Challenge

• No practice of periodic evaluation of suppliers’ performance.

Work done and Impact

• Ensured the implementation of an objective supplier evaluation process

Action / Impact:

Were able to understand that there was a need to replace some suppliers and balance purchases across others; about 6 new suppliers were identified resulting in improved costs, lead times and QC compliance

Challenge

• Poor stock controls and inadequate review of goods on the production floor

Work done and Impact

• In-depth analysis of stock was done across different stages of production – Raw Material  / Work In Progress / Finished Goods

Action / Impact:

Reduction in the value of items in the WIP warehouse by approx. 33% over a 6-month period without loss in production output

Challenge

• Lack of visibility on financials and unexpected drops in results due to old stocks and sticky receivables

Work done and Impact

• Root cause analysis was done. Primary reasons were lack of strong internal reviews and weak provisioning processes followed for stock and receivables. The existing provisioning processes for both debtors and stock were not aligned to reality. The age of the receivable was not adequately scrutinized and provision for stocks were not aligned to realizable discounted prices.

Action / Impact:

More realistic provisioning criteria were applied and a one-time hit in numbers was consciously taken. Related KPIs were also made and integrated with performance reviews. Subsequently, this resulted in greater internal sensitization among operating teams and also lesser surprises.

Challenge

• A company that was into large scale catering was finding it difficult to assess their employee adequacy
• The senior management believed that there was excess manpower – yet, managers and employees on the ground perceived a manpower shortage
• There were also consistently high overtime payouts

Work done and Impact

• Using primary and secondary sources, we obtained relevant industry data on Employee to Customer ratios across similar companies
• We analyzed the overtime costs and staff requests at department level, and found that major issues were in the Kitchen
• Our consultants carried out a Time and Motion study, covering all shifts of the kitchen for a period of 4 days and analyzed areas of high staff requirement
• We found that there were no major instances of slackness among employees
• However, on further analysis, we were able to pin-point certain specific items in the menus offered that were very high on cooking / preparation time
• We checked the criticality of these menu items to customer requirements with the concerned operating teams. With their feedback, we concluded that by changing some specific menu items, we could reduce the cooking time and hence staff workload and overtime significantly

Challenge

A client company who was into project sales across the region had approached us with the following concerns:

• They were unsure if they were overstaffed (i.e., was HR cost as % to sales was too high?)
• They were not clear how to downsize if business drops
• Were they paying the right salaries?

Work done and Impact

• We assessed manpower utilization, and determined optimal manpower based on current projects, planned handovers and the order pipeline
• We advised them to restructure their departments and realigned project cost calculations to get better cost estimates
• We built business case scenarios for different situations to estimate the optimal headcount in each situation, thus enabling the company to take the correctly plan manpower
• We benchmarked salaries across relevant competitors to correctly know in which positions where corrections were needed

Challenge

A manufacturing sector client with whom we were associated was facing regular issues of material non-availability despite the Purchase Head being a seasoned employee who had excellent knowledge of products and suppliers

All departments were clear that it was the Purchase team which was at fault for the issue, but there was no apparent solution

Work done and Impact

• On closer analysis of the internal processes, we found that the root cause was that there were too many tasks that the purchase head was doing by himself due to “confidentiality” issues although these were not of any strategic significance.
• The rest of the team was usually engaged in very trivial tasks of little value addition.
• The consultants proposed a new workflow and delegation of authority structure in the department, with proper controls. This ensured better work flows and accountability at all levels, and improved material availability resulting in greater order fulfillment rate, reduced emergency purchases etc.
• The company’s dependence on the Purchase Head was also reduced, thus benefiting business continuity

Challenge

• A locally owned family enterprise that was successfully running for over 30 years in the UAE had appointed a new CEO
• The company’s owners were unable to get the desired results from the CEO despite his excellent past track record and old acquaintance with the owners
• There were a few senior employees who were not performing, but the owners could not really determine the causes
• Employees at lower levels were lacking motivation

Work done and Impact

• We conducted detailed meetings with the Management and key employees across different levels to understand their expectations and concerns.
• We analyzed various internal processes and the authority delegation followed, and important business metrics.
• Based on the above, we were able to recommend an effective new structure that eliminated the need for a few employees who were actually a hindrance to the system
• The company obtained savings in costs, the owners found it easier to implement their plans and the employees down the line were more motivated and able to work more productively

Challenge

A family owned business in the UAE was aiming to implement a Performance Management System as part of an initiative to transform themselves. However, the management was unable to implement it despite having very well defined internal systems and processes in place

A Balanced Score Card initiative was launched with great expectation but did not take off

Employees were lacking motivation due to a perceived bias in their appraisal ratings

Work done and Impact

• The client in question was an existing internal audit client for us, and as a result we had an in-depth knowledge of their structure, systems and processes
• This enabled us to create tangible linkages between various BSC parameters and their actual deliverables (this link was missing earlier)
• Our in-depth involvement and understanding of their business and processes enabled us to define BSC parameters that were accepted by the team
• From a situation where performance pay was mostly done based on subjective criteria, it became about far more objective and related to actual performance delivery