UK Education Business
Short-Term (Daily) Cash Flow Model Build
The Challenge
Due to the effect of the cost-of-living crisis on private fees and policy changes on government funding, the client was concerned about potential breaches in their banking covenants. Their long-term planning model did not provide sufficient granularity regarding short-term cash flows, as they had hundreds of fee payers each month and eight funding sources, each with different payment profiles. Their creditors also had varying terms, further complicating working capital management.
The Solution
We initially conducted an in-depth analysis of their source data and identified inconsistencies across naming conventions, pricing, and segmentation that had hindered historical analysis. Our comments were fed back to the internal team, who cleaned the data and implemented our recommendations to avoid similar issues in the future.
Using the cleansed dataset, we were about to build a model with two distinct modules:
- Receipts—Daily receipts by customer segment were forecasted based on historical trends, with overlay functionality for new assumptions and known payments.
- Payments – An in-depth analysis of supplier terms was performed and used to forecast future remittances.
The above modules were then consolidated into outputs that could feed into their monthly forecasting model, improving forecasting accuracy throughout the reporting suite.
The Outcome
The new model allowed the client to identify bottlenecks and avoid the forecast covenant breaches. The treasury team has since adopted it to optimize their working capital, while its integrated variance functionality has allowed for better identification and management of bad debt. Our work on their source data and proposed framework significantly reduced the time spent managing their ERP.
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Testimonials
"George assisted us with financial modelling and analysis during two acquisitions. He came onboard to build a financial model to support two acquisitions and ongoing internal and external reporting. George hit the ground running and got to know our core business and key industry challenges to the extent that he rapidly deployed a flexible decision-making tool with management, shareholders and lenders in mind. During the process, he was able to work seamlessly with myself and the rest of the executive team, delivering robust solutions to the sort of hurdles that come up in transactions.
An excellent communicator, George is able to explain complex financial concepts in a clear and understandable manner. His collaborative spirit and positive attitude made him a pleasure to work with, and his extensive experience was critical to our success.
I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend George for any financial modelling or analytical projects."
CFOIntragen Group"George provided excellent support to WindGrid across a range of modelling topics including M&A valuation, project finance and group reporting. George got up to speed on our projects rapidly even with their variation in technology and regulation. George was very reliable and professional. We would highly recommend George/PPS for any modelling projects."
Head of FinanceWindgrid"George’s recent work for us has been outstanding. The feedback from our internal team has been excellent and he has delivered on time and within budget. The modelling and planning work we needed from him was required by ourselves internally and also our business partners which include an Investment Bank, Institutional investors and various legal and accounting advisers. Everyone has been amazed at his responsiveness and accuracy. I look forward to working with George in future."
Founder/CEOValloop"We engaged with George to build a brand new integrated financial model to help us achieve a successful refinancing last year.
George very quickly understood the different key variables and indicators for our business and completely met the brief. Undoubtedly, the quality and clarity of the model and the detailed financial outputs played a huge part in our success.
George now works with is to produce monthly charts and outputs as part of our formal reporting requirements. George is supremely professional in his work, highly knowledgeable and very accessible and it's been a joy to work with him on our various projects. I have no hesitation in recommending George and his team."
CEOMichild"When PPS began working with us, it was following on from the failed attempts of several other organisations. As soon as George came on board it was clear he understood our complex business structure and immediately assisted us with required modelling of a major transaction, as well as creating a modelling centre of excellence to help guide our team in the future.
Further to that, he redesigned our modelling suite, simplifying models without losing functionality, pruning unnecessary modules in a structured way so that the models were all fully operational throughout the transformation. His incredible and vast technical knowledge is matched with a very measured, pragmatic, can-do and professional approach which made him a value adding and exceptional partner for me and the Team."
Head of Financial Planning and StrategyArqiva"I was given an introduction to George at PPS by a good friend! I was told he was reliable, experienced and cost effective. We asked George to audit our financial business model and make it better! He demonstrated all the qualities mentioned above, provided a very professional service in a timely manner and the output exceeded expectations. I would be very happy to recommend George / PPS for any future financial modelling work and please feel free to contact me if you want to know more. Well done!"
Confidential Client"George joined us as a visiting lecturer for the 2020-21 academic year to teach our final year students financial appraisal modelling. George is a highly experienced educator and industry professional in this area and was able to successfully adapt his teaching to undergraduate students.
He is very supportive, engaging and is able to explain concepts in different ways to help all the students understand. This was in spite of the forced online nature of our delivery due to Covid restrictions. His materials, assessment and examples are well structured and industry-led and the students and colleagues have enjoyed his classes and we very much look forward to working with George again."
Principal Lecturer, Financial Information Analysis and ManagementUniversity of Greenwich"PPS helped us when organising the EFPP Belgrade conference.
They brought a wealth of financial knowhow to the table and were key in helping us maintain liquidity throughout the long build-up to the conference.
They created detailed forecasts, kept track of costs, and built an integrated model to take payment information directly from source, allowing us to focus on the operational activities.
When the preparation for our next conference began, we did not hesitate in reaching out to PPS again."
GASB"We were lucky enough to have George in to work on some business specific modelling projects, and it was very evident he has exceptional modelling skills and the ability to really take Excel to another level.
Even given high levels of complexity that he was able to work with, it was always accompanied by clear and simple articulation of his modelling approach and workings. His attention to detail shone through, and combined with a very evident focus on model planning, structure and audit functionality (all of which I think are all too often overlooked), we achieved a great outcome and I learnt a lot about best practice in just a short time.
George is a great collaborator, friendly, approachable and was a pleasure to work with!"
Business ManagerAberdeen Standard Investments"I was very impressed with George's ability to solve problems. He always had a smile was eager to help.
We worked together on an infrastructure bid, George was my “go-to” excel modelling expert. I highly recommend George for any financial modelling challenges."
Associate ConsultantSNC-Lavalin Atkins"George and I worked together as joint advisors for National Grid on a complicated regulatory finance project while at different consulting firms.
George was seconded as a modeller and developed a revised version of the regulator's financial model in order to test the gaps and limitations. I was part of the team that peer reviewed and stress tested his work.
I found George's modelling and finance skills to be first rate and he was a great collaborator taking on board our observations in the spirit of delivering excellence to the client. In the process, I learnt a lot about best practice modelling. More importantly, the common client was thoroughly impressed with George's efforts too."
Power, Utilities and Infrastructure, Infrastructure Advisory GroupKPMG UK"I had the pleasure of working with George on the West Coast Partnership bid team back in 2018.
George identified what needed to be achieved and then built the various constituent elements of the excel model to allow us to achieve a fantastic end result that exceeded my expectations and that was suitable for submission to the Department For Transport.
The depth of understanding and ability to translate this into a sophisticated functioning excel model is a rare commodity, George is one of the best in his field."
Finance Business PartnerAvanti West Coast"I recently attended PPS’s full financial modelling course to refresh best practices and learn something new.
I’m no stranger to financial modelling and still found the course eye opening. George is an amazing teacher - patient, crystal clear when explaining complex concepts and very engaging.
The best way to learn financial modelling is practice however I wish I had attended this course before my journey into renewables / infra. There are many hacks and tips that make life easier when modelling and George is your guide.
Essential course - if you’re serious about financial modelling, you need this course. Well done PPS!"
Susgen"It's rare for people to have access to a modelling expert like George.
I attended one of his project finance courses after being assigned to a new role at work, in an area I had limited background in. After two days of intensive financial modelling training, I felt fully confident to take on my new responsibilities.
I was particularly impressed with how he distilled complex problems into small steps, using examples from my industry throughout. His patience coupled with his dry sense of humour made a challenging topic enjoyable to tackle. George is and will remain my point of contact for all Excel Financial Modelling questions."
Assistant Internal AuditorLilly Drogerie"The early stages of a career in financial modelling can be a little overwhelming, and I was so lucky to have access to the knowledge and experience of George.
The support and training I received from him were invaluable as it meant I was able to not just reinforce the skills I already had, but also learn new ones that meant I could take my models to the next level, helping me get ahead of the pack."
Assistant Manager, Forensic & Integrity ServicesEY