Examples of Client Engagements
Abacist Group has served a wide-variety of clients. We have served clients of various sizes: from Start-Ups to Fortune 100. We have served a variety of industries: from Consumer Goods to Healthcare to Professional Services to Restaurants.
Abacist Group offers a wide variety of delivery options for its services: from Project Based Consulting to Fractional CFO Services to Coaching.
Below are examples of recent engagements.
Project-Based Consulting
Performance Benchmarking for a Fortune 100 Consumer Packaged Goods Client
The client's Financial Planning & Analysis group hired Abacist Group to conduct a performance benchmarking analysis. The analysis validated for the Board of Directors that the client had performed strongly across a variety of metics relative to a peer group of more than 20 other blue-chip, publicly traded companies.
Corporate Performance Management Software Implementation for a CPG company
Years ago, our client had implemented expensive on-site CPM software. They were also using error-prone spreadsheets for their planning and forecasting process. They were looking to update their CPM software solution with newer, more flexible, and more affordable solution that could be managed by Finance staff without the involvement of their IT department, and at the same time rid themselves of the headaches of planning with Excel in a large organization. Abacist Group led the effort for the client's Adaptive Planning CPM Software as a Service implementation.
Annual Budget Project-Management for a Mid-Market ($600 million) Healthcare services provider
The client had recently acquired a close competitor, and the integration efforts required the full attention and all the excess capacity of the full-time finance staff leaving their executives with limited time to manage the annual planning process. The client hired Abacist Group to provide them with the extra capacity they needed to deliver a quality annual plan, on time.
Development of Financial Planning and Analysis tools for a Marketing and Creative Agency
Abacist Group worked with a marketing and creative agency to develop a financial planning platform including a Rolling P&L Forecast. This tool enabled them to plan to grow in a profitable manner and more than double in size the following year.
Economic and Financial Assessment of an Investment Opportunity for a Multi-Industry Holding Company
When a multi-industry holding company was planning to invest significant time and resources in an internet-based social networking service, Abacist Group developed for them an economic assesment via a pro forma P&L analysis for each of the service lines they were considering offering.
Strategy Definition and Articulation for a start-up Financial Planning & Wealth Management Firm
A Financial Planning & Wealth Management practice was experiencing rapid growth, and needed help defining the building blocks of their strategy. Abacist Group provided the client with a set of tools, including a Strategy Map, to help them more clearly articulate and plan their strategy to ensure that the entire organization's efforts were aligned toward executing a common set of goals.
Fractional CFO Services
Abacist Group is currently providing Fractional or Virtual CFO and Finance executive services for small to medium sized businesses:
A marketing saavy entrepreneur launched a consumer goods company with a social mission: to donate 50% of its profits to charity. The entrepreneur hired Abacist Group to provide Fortune 100-level financial expertise for his small, but growing company.
Coaching
Strategic Time Management Coaching using Abacist Group's Personal Strategy Execution System
A financial services organization was constantly responding to daily fire-drills arising out of client needs. They were struggling to find time to focus on planning and executing for the long-term strategic goals. Abacist Group provided them with coaching and taught them to leverage our Personal Strategy Execution System to help them to keep their daily activities balanced between short-term needs and long term goals.
Strategic Guidance for Multi-unit Restaurant Operator
A quick-service restaurant operator had grown its chain across two distinct markets. Each market presented unique cultural challenges from both a customer and employee perspective. The client needed to choose whether to focus on one market exclusively and gain deep expertise there, or continue trying to grow both markets simulteneously. Abacist Group provided the client with recommendations regarding the best way to approach growth given the options available including a potential divestiture.