Building Financial Clarity Across a Global Operation: A Capital Equipment Case Study

OVERVIEW

  • Revenue: $124M+
  • General Description: Capital Equipment Manufacturer & Aftermarket Sales
  • Geographic Location: US Headquarters, Global Manufacturing and Aftermarket Sales
  • Industries Served: Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG)

THE SITUATION

Our private equity-backed client built an impressive legacy over 75 years, establishing a global footprint with an installed base of over 6,000 machines. As the business continued to expand and evolve under private equity ownership, the demand for precise, timely, and actionable financial insights became more critical than ever. Operating across diverse markets with unique commercial dynamics, customer behaviors, and regulatory requirements, the company faced both complexity and opportunity.

This environment created the perfect landscape to refine financial models and enhance strategic decision-making, ensuring a stronger, more agile foundation for growth. By actively addressing these challenges with expertise and innovation, the business would be better positioned to deliver meaningful value to investors while driving sustainable success.

THE SOLUTION

The company collaborated with JACO Advisory Group to enhance modeling of its consolidated financial statements, including the income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement, across its global business units. Together, we developed a streamlined and effective financial framework focused on clarity, precision, and actionable insights.

  1. 1.Unified Financial Data Integration

    The first step involved consolidating financial data from the company’s four distinct entities into a single, unified model. This integration enabled efficient population of monthly trial balance data, creating a solid foundation for advanced financial reporting.

  2. 2.Streamlined Financial Statements

    Leveraging the integrated trial balance data, JACO developed detailed monthly statements, both by business unit and on a consolidated level. This improvement enhanced the company’s financial forecasting, scenario planning, and ability to generate actionable insights.

  3. 3.Tailored Sales Forecasting Tools

    To strengthen forecasting capabilities, JACO designed a customized sales forecast template for each of the business’s four global entities. These templates were intuitive enough for global teams to use seamlessly while providing the CFO with granular, actionable data. Two key challenges were addressed:

    1. A complex sales mix consisting of 35% original equipment and 65% aftermarket parts and services.
    2. Unique business dynamics, including seasonality, geographic fluctuations, varied payment terms (e.g., progress billings), and foreign exchange variability.

  4. 4.Enhanced Financial Dashboard and Workflow Efficiency

    The sales forecasts became the foundation for a Consolidated Financial Dashboard, featuring critical forward-looking metrics and an efficient monthly forecasting process. This innovation drastically reduced the CFO’s time spent on forecasting, enabling a greater focus on scenario planning and strategic decision-making. By improving financial projections and alignment across teams, the dashboard fostered organizational buy-in and improved collaboration between sales, marketing, and leadership.

Through this partnership, JACO delivered a robust, scalable financial model that empowers informed decision-making and positions the business for sustained growth. This collaboration highlights the power of combining financial expertise with innovative tools to drive
operational excellence and long-term success.

THE OUTCOME

The financial model has provided this business with powerful insights, enabling more accurate projections of the financial impact of business decisions, such as payment terms, pricing, margins, tariffs, foreign exchange, and make-or-buy strategies.

Additionally, leveraging the financial forecast has driven substantial improvements in the company’s SIOP (Sales, Inventory, and Operations Planning) processes. These enhancements have optimized working capital use and positioned the business for sustained long-term success.

Highlighting the importance of collaboration, the company’s CFO shared, “JACO was an outstanding partner. Together, we built a robust cash flow model on the foundation of a solid financial trial balance. This model provides us with significant confidence and equips our management team and Board of Directors to ensure the business consistently has the cash it needs to thrive.”

Ready to Turn Financial Complexity Into a Competitive Advantage?

If your financial reporting can’t keep pace with your business complexity, JACO Advisory Group can help.
Contact us to learn how we build models that drive better decisions.