Case Study Finance and Accounting

Farn Williams began by specialising in Finance & Accounting in 1993, broadening into Sales, General Management and Operations within the industry verticals of our customers in the late 1990s and 2000 onwards. So we have placed a large number of Finance Managers and CFOs across Europe (including Eastern Europe), Russia & CIS, Asia, Africa, Middle East and even the occasionally the UK and retain a large and wide network. Here are two we picked, not based on frequency of geography, just because they sprang to mind at the time of writing!
 

Finance Director Russia, FMCG Group, Remote Location

Finding a bi-lingual qualified Accountant with significant commercial experience for a remote location in Southern Russia wasn’t easy. There was (and still is) a lot of alternative job offers in Moscow and St Petersburg, so this had to be a thorough and well thought out search. In the end we had a good list, based not just on the attraction of the parent group but also using regional environment advantages to attract candidates who had not given thought to these (some people find the prospect of fresh air and mountaineering close by a big plus – fortunately, they also tend to be adventurous and resilient personality types, so they could also cope with the pressures of the job!). The candidate we recommended succeeded where others had failed, eliminating much of the corruption and inefficiency that was allowed to fester under previous stewardship.

Finance Director, Germany, global manufacturing group, Stuttgart based, International Travel

 
Atypical for us but taken on as a personal request in October 2008, this involved a thorough exercise to map out some 40 UK Property Groups and identify the Finance Directors and their respective number 2 in Finance (Deputy FD / Division Financial Controllers) and then presenting them with an opportunity to……jump ship to an unknown environment (albeit a large and well respected group) in the middle of the worst property crisis since, well you get the picture. The client was very surprised and very happy with the quality and accuracy of the shortlist. Having three close call finalists, with two he was equally happy to hire, he went with our suggestion (a candidate bringing big 4 training property expertise and corporate finance experience motivated to take our call by the prospect of their first full Group FD role) and we are happy to report that second quarter in, things are working out just fine. LtV and covenants are no longer an issue, and the group is able to look forward from a strong financial position to taking advantage of the current market.  

Finance Director, UK, Large Property Group