The interim manager was mandated as interim CFO by the legally independent subsidiary of a globally active US mechanical engineering group after the predecessor left the company with a shortened notice period of two weeks. The US group had acquired the subsidiary the previous year together with other companies. Shortly afterwards, the Group announced that the subsidiary would be closed and production would be partially discontinued and partially relocated to other Group sites in Europe and the USA.
About 60% of production is accounted for by standard products, the remaining 40% by order-related product types. The uninterrupted supply of products to serve the Group's key customers was to be guaranteed.
New reporting and consolidation tool introduced in the short term
The interim manager was tasked with introducing a new reporting and consolidation tool for Group reporting despite the impending closure. He was also tasked with identifying and structuring all finance tasks in connection with the company closure and relocation of production. The tasks also included the usual CFO routines of a US subsidiary. These included monthly and annual financial statements in accordance with US GAAP and HGB, group reporting and analysis as well as forecasting and budgeting.
When introducing the new reporting and consolidation tool, the interim CFO first determined which basic functionalities were absolutely necessary. He then organized and managed the transfer of expertise and tasks to trained finance staff at the sister companies. In this way, all the necessary figures, data and facts for group reporting, capital market communication and tax issues could be delivered in the required quality.
Motivating the finance team that had already been dismissed through targeted support
Managing and motivating the finance team that had already been dismissed was one of the challenges of this mandate. The interim manager succeeded in this in particular because he helped the employees to develop a more comprehensive, market-compliant profile for subsequent activities through individual training, task expansions and reallocations. This increased employee motivation and the plant closure was professionally supported by the finance team right up to the last day. All team members subsequently found a subsequent job that met their expectations.
Business case and budget drawn up for the plant closure
The interim CFO identified the special tasks resulting from the company closure or relocation of production in close coordination and cooperation with the client's management, corporate functions, tax advisors and auditors. For example, he was in charge of preparing the business case and budget for the plant closure. From this, he derived monthly forecasts and liquidity plans for the operating business and the closure activities as well as a separate realignment accounting. He also calculated and dealt with the effects of the transfer of assets and inventories to other Group companies on the HGB financial statements, the US GAAP financial statements and the tax accounts. This also applied to the disposal or scrapping of assets and inventories no longer required by the Group. Subsidies received, the conditions of which could no longer be fully met due to the closure, had to be refunded. Finally, he also determined the financial resources of the rescue company for the employees and made these available.
Mandate successfully completed and follow-up order received
The order was particularly complex as the closure was delayed by several months due to problems at the absorbing Group sites. On the day of the plant closure, the interim manager was the last employee on the site. In close coordination with the auditors, he was able to hand over orderly accounts in accordance with HGB and US GAAP. The US group was so satisfied with the results of the mandate that the interim manager was given a follow-up assignment in another of the group's production plants.
