ABTF Area of Expertise:
Finance, Controlling, Organization
Current Challenges
- Increased global competition, particularly from China
- Geopolitical tensions and trade conflicts, including those caused by tariffs
- Changing customer behavior
- New complex technologies, particularly in the electric vehicle sector, such as digital control systems, batteries, and sensor technology (=> software-defined vehicles)
- Uncertain supply chains, including dependencies on rare earths and chips
- Rising energy and material costs, bureaucracy, and a shortage of skilled workers
- Pressure on product margins
- Rising financing costs with more restrictive lending by banks
- Inefficient processes and structures, insufficient digitalization as a prerequisite for modern AI applications
- Inadequate reporting and cost accounting systems
The Evolving Role of the CFO: A Volatile World Demands Agile Decision-Making, Resilient Strategy, and Greater Organizational Flexibility (“Breathing Room”)
Our range of services for finance, controlling, and organization
- Temporary assumption of line management roles as CFO, Commercial Director, Head of Controlling, or Head of Finance and Accounting
- Assumption of project management roles (including turnaround implementation, introduction of modern controlling and early warning systems, ERP system implementation, post-merger integration, and carve-outs)
- Preparation of IDW S6 reports and assessment of insolvency risk by network partner CPA Luciano D’Agostino
- Assumption of advisory board and supervisory board mandates
… covers the following topics:
Including the establishment and maintenance of weekly liquidity planning, working capital management of accounts receivable, inventory, and accounts payable, common parts management / design-to-cost approach starting with development and design, integration with lean management approaches / value stream design, and rigorous cost management
- Financial statements in accordance with HGB, IFRS, and US GAAP; asset valuation issues
- Business valuation reports from an auditor’s perspective (provided by network partner CPA Luciano D’Agostino)
- Reorganization of financial accounting with the goal of “fast close” and efficient preparation of consolidated financial statements
- Design and implementation of shared service centers
- Effective accounts receivable management
- Transfer pricing in conjunction with tax law
- Treasury (including currency management, liquidity management, refinancing)
- Optimization of the financing structure (restructuring of liabilities on the balance sheet, using alternative financing instruments where appropriate)
- Establishing a proactive, agile “business partner approach”: Controlling as a strategic and operational “business partner” for functional departments and senior management
- Optimizing organization and processes
- Redesign of the business model and value creation structures
- Achieving a turnaround
- Improvement of planning and forecasting processes
- Implementation of effective, transparent management of investments in subsidiaries
- Improvement of functional controlling in areas such as development, procurement, production, sales, and service
- Implementation of new strategic and operational information and management systems (based on modern BI systems with relevant KPIs)
- Reorganization of management and accountability structures / Change management
- Design and implementation of a comprehensive cost and performance accounting system (including cost center and cost object accounting) integrated with the ERP system, and establishment of profit and service centers
- Strategic data management, based on a consistent, digitized data model, integrated with ERP, BI, and AI systems to enable sound, fact-based business decisions
- Comprehensive cost management to stabilize and improve product margins (=> cost savings and increased cost flexibility through process and structural adjustments across the entire value chain)
Key question: “How do we make money today and in the future?”
- Risk management systems in conjunction with corporate governance issues (including the development and implementation of guidelines, risk assessments of contracts, financing and margin structures, and business cases)
- Ensuring the sustainability of ESG reporting (implementation of the CSRD)
- Financial due diligence, carve-out, post-merger integration
Typical Projects / Case Studies: Finance/Controlling/Organization
Case Study
#Finance/Controlling/Organization
Turnaround at a Machinery and Plant Engineering Company
Case Study
#Finance/Controlling/Organization
Interim CFO in the Closure of a US Subsidiary /
Mechanical Engineering
Case Study
#Finance/Controlling/Organization
Finance Shared Service Center, Restructuring, Financial statements in accordance with IFRS and German GAAP
Your Contact Person
Let us advise you on interim management for finance, controlling, and organizational matters.
Sigurd Gottschalk
Dipl.-Kaufmann
ABTF Senior Partner
Core Competencies: Finance, Controlling, Organization
Our Industry Focus
We specialize in management roles in the automotive, mechanical engineering, and defense industries.
Our range of services covers manufacturers and suppliers from the following industry segments:
- Passenger cars
- Motorcycles
- Commercial and specialty vehicles, including defence
- Aviation technology, including defence
- Rail technology
- Suppliers from the mechanical engineering, metal and plastics processing, mechatronics, and electronics industries, as well as software development