Interim Management in Cash Management Optimization – Case Study

Managing a financial crisis, optimising cash flow, managing a complex financial operation… The intervention of an interim manager who is an expert in finance can be beneficial in many cases.

Discover all the advantages of interim management for cash management assignments through our customer case study.

 

What is cash management?

Cash management , refers to the set of methods, tools, practices and techniques deployed by a company to manage its liquidity. This is an essential step to ensure sufficient availability of funds, optimize the use of surplus cash and cover daily needs.

Poorly managed, cash management can impact the good financial health of the organization. Well managed and optimized, it can help maximize profitability and to ensure the sustainability of the activity. It also provides complete visibility of cash flow at all times and guides strategic decision-making.

Cash management includes several aspects, including:

• Tracking cash flows (inflows and outflows);
• Optimization of collections and payments;
• Management of cash surpluses;
• Negotiating bank fees and optimising credits;
• Financial risk management;
• Short-, medium- and long-term cash flow forecasting;
• …

Internally, cash management missions are generally entrusted to treasurers, financial directors or financial managers.

Cash management: what are the advantages of interim management?

To optimize the management of your cash management, it can be very beneficial to seek the intervention of an interim manager who is an expert in finance or an interim CFO (Administrative and Financial Director).

This offers multiple advantages, including:

• Cutting-edge immediate expertise : the interim CFO can intervene at short notice, as a reinforcement or as a replacement for internal resources. Thanks to his sector know-how, he quickly identifies problems and areas for improvement and deploys solutions tailored to the needs of the organization;

• Optimization of cash management : thanks to their benchmark and long experience, the interim manager will also implement proven tools, methods and practices. His intervention and his fresh eye also allow him to optimize all cash management processes, but also to strengthen the skills of the teams;

• Immediate operational excellence: the interim manager is a high-flying leader, capable of intervening in emergencies, and who demonstrates operational excellence immediately, as soon as he or she joins the company. This saves the organization precious time.

• Management of strategic projects: the interim manager is also able to intervene in the management of large-scale projects with high strategic stakes, for example: tax compliance; optimization of currency management in the context of international development; harmonization of cash management procedures in the context of a merger-acquisition ; the management of a complete financial operation; the modernization of cash management processes as part of the digitalization of the finance function…

 

Case study in interim management: focus on a cash management mission

Our interim management company WAYDEN was called upon to support a family-owned SME near Nantes, specialising in the production and distribution of organic food products, for a cash management mission.

With an annual turnover of €40 million and a workforce of 150 employees at two production sites, the company was growing rapidly. However, this sudden expansion raised many challenges and problems internally : structural problems, delays in debt collection, inefficient flow management, compliance errors, increased production costs, etc.

This tight cash flow threatened to compromise the sustainability of the activity and greatly complicated supplies and payroll management.

Faced with this emergency situation, the managing director decided to use an interim manager specialising in cash management in order to stabilise the situation by calling on our interim management company WAYDEN.

To meet this need, we quickly identified, within our large pool of professionals, an interim CFO with 20 years of experience in corporate finance and the agri-food industry and targeted expertise in optimizing financial flows for structures in crisis situations.

The mission, which lasted 4 months, met several major objectives:

• Restore financial balances by analysing flows, reducing payment terms and recovering receivables;
• Optimize financial tools through the implementation of modern software adapted to the needs of the structure;
• Train internal accounting and finance teams to avoid future risks.

Reporting to the Chief Executive Officer, the interim CFO worked closely with the Finance Committee to make fast, impactful and informed decisions. The results quickly emerged:

• Payment terms have been halved;
• €1.2 million in cash was released;
• The company has regained financial visibility over 6 months;
• The finance team has been trained in receivables and debt management tools.

Thanks to interim management, the SME has managed to avoid a supply disruption and has been able to restore the confidence of its financial partners.

 

Are you looking for an interim manager specialising in finance to support you in cash management? Contact us.