Case Study: Building an Independent Finance Function After an Acquisition

Following a corporate acquisition and subsequent divestiture, a high-performing biomedical services company needed to transition from a subsidiary into a stand-alone organization. With only seven months of support remaining under a Transitional Services Agreement (TSA), the company needed to establish independent finance and accounting capabilities, build a scalable team and complete a required ERP migration before the exit deadline.

The Challenge

The company needed to build an independent finance function within an aggressive seven-month transition period.

As the organization separated from its former parent company, it needed to replace the finance and accounting capabilities that had previously supported the business. The transition required more than filling an immediate leadership gap. The company needed the people, processes and systems necessary to operate independently.

At the same time, the organization faced a firm deadline under its Transitional Services Agreement. Before that support ended, the company needed to establish a fully functioning finance and accounting team and complete a required ERP migration.

The objective was to create a scalable finance function that could support the newly independent organization while successfully meeting the divestiture timeline.

Our Approach

Smith + Howard combined experienced interim leadership with hands-on team building, process development and systems implementation.

An experienced interim CFO was placed to lead the finance and accounting transition. The engagement began with an assessment of the finance organization to identify what the company would need to operate successfully as a stand-alone entity.

From there, the interim CFO developed and executed a comprehensive transition plan covering the finance team, processes and systems. This included hiring, training and integrating a controller, assistant controller and senior accountant to support the organization through the transition and beyond.

The team also established scalable finance and accounting processes and led the company’s migration from SAP to NetSuite. Through planning, user testing, evaluation and training, the new ERP environment was implemented within the required transition timeline.