Preparing a 2018 Budget and 3-Year Strategic Plan
The Situation
A fast-growing fintech company with business spread across the Americas, Middle East, and Asia needed support in leading the annual budgeting and 3-year strategic plan update process. The Company, at a pivotal point in its growth history, turned to Accordion given our industry insights and process expertise. With a new CFO in place, our team was asked to help define the strategy for a new business unit, including understanding the value creation drivers to develop an 2018 operating plan and a 3-year strategic plan.
Services
Stakeholder Reporting & Strategic KPI Enhancement
Actionable Business Analytics
Budgeting & Forecasting Process Improvement
The Execution
- Quickly owned the financial model and created enhancements to ensure a robust budget for 2018 and a strong foundation for a 3-year strategic plan with flexibility for different cases/scenarios
- Worked closely with business unit leads across the company to develop detailed plans for growth, investments needed, and how it would be supported by operational initiatives as well as review each major SG&A category
- Updated the 3-year strategic plan and defined growth strategy, including identifying new avenues of growth
- Reviewed and revised corporate cost allocation methodology to create more visibility into the business unit profitability
- Created a Board presentation for the 2018 Budget and additional supporting information for sponsors around the 3-year strategic plan
The Results
Accordion acted as a true partner to the Company in delivering a robust and effective Budget and Board Package under a tight deadline. Our insights and analysis provided additional visibility at the business unit level that allowed the Sponsor to better understand risks and opportunities inherent in the 2018 budget and the investments required to deliver on the 3-year Strategic Plan. Lastly, our structured approach to the budgeting process helped reduce the timeline, ensured alignment across multiple business units and helped crystalize the corporate goals for 2018 and a strategy for the newest business unit.