-
Business valuations
We offer expert valuation advice in transactions, regulatory and administrative matters, and matters subject to dispute – valuing businesses, shares and intangible assets in a wide range of industries.
-
Capital markets
You need corporate finance specialists experienced in international capital markets on your side if you’re buying or selling financial securities.
-
Complex and international services
Our experience of multi-jurisdictional insolvencies coupled with our international reputation allows us to deliver the best possible outcome for all stakeholders.
-
Corporate insolvency
Our corporate investigation and recovery teams can help you manage insolvency situations and facilitate the best outcome.
-
Debt advisory
An optimal funding structure for your organisation presents unprecedented opportunities, but achieving this can be difficult without a trusted advisor.
-
Expert witness
Our expert witnesses analyse, interpret, summarise and present complex financial and business-related issues which are understandable and properly supported.
-
Financial models
A sound financial model will help you understand the impact of your decisions before you make them. Talk to us about our user-friendly models.
-
Forensic and investigation services
We provide investigative accounting and litigation support services for commercial, matrimonial, criminal, business valuation and insurance disputes.
-
Independent business review
Is your business viable? Will it remain viable in the future? A thorough independent business review can help your organisation answer these fundamental questions.
-
IT forensics
Effective ESI analysis is integral to the success of your business. Our IT forensics experts have the technical expertise to identify, preserve and interrogate electronic data.
-
Mergers and acquisitions
Grant Thornton provides strategic and execution support for mergers, acquisitions, sales and fundraising.
-
Raising finance
Raising finance - funders value partners who can deliver a robust financial model, a sound business strategy and rigorous planning. We can guide you through the challenges that these transactions can pose and help you build a foundation for long term success once the deal is done.
-
Relationship property services
Grant Thornton offers high quality independent advice on the many financial issues associated with relationship property from considering an individual financial issue to all aspects of a complex settlement.
-
Restructuring and turnaround
Grant Thornton’s restructuring and turnaround service capabilities include cash flow, liquidity management and forecasting; crisis and interim management; financial advisory services to companies and parties in transition and distress
-
Transaction advisory
Our depth of market knowledge will steer you through the transaction process. Grant Thornton’s dynamic teams offer range of financial, commercial and operational expertise.
-
Virtual asset advisory
Helping you navigate the world of virtual currencies and decentralised financial systems.
-
Corporate tax
Grant Thornton can identify tax issues, risks and opportunities in your organisation and implement strategies to improve your bottom line.
-
Employment tax
Grant Thornton’s advisers can help you with PAYE (payroll tax), Kiwisaver, fringe benefits tax (FBT), student loans, global mobility services, international tax
-
Global mobility services
Our team can help expatriates and their employers deal with tax and employment matters both in New Zealand and overseas. With the correct planning advice, employee allowances and benefits may be structured to avoid double taxation and achieve tax savings.
-
GST
GST has the potential to become a minefield and can be expensive when it goes wrong. Our technical knowledge can help you minimise the negative impact of GST
-
International tax
International tax rules are undergoing their biggest change in a generation. Tax authorities around the world are increasingly vigilant, especially when it comes to global operations.
-
Research and Development
R&D tax incentives are often underused and misunderstood – is your business maximising opportunities for making claims?
-
Tax compliance
Our advisers help clients manage the critical issue of compliance across accountancy regulations, corporation law and tax. We also offer business and wealth advisory services, which means we can provide a seamless and tax-effective offering to our clients.
-
Tax governance
Mitigate tax risks and implement best practice governance that will stand up to IRD scrutiny and audits.
-
Transfer pricing
Tax authorities are demanding transparency in international arrangements. We businesses comply with regulations and use transfer pricing as a strategic planning tool.
-
Audit methodology
Our five step audit methodology offers a high quality service wherever you are in the world and includes planning, risk assessment, testing internal controls, substantive testing, and concluding and reporting
-
Audit technology
We apply our audit methodology with an integrated set of software tools known as the Voyager suite. Our technology has been developed to produce quality audits that are effective and efficient.
-
Financial reporting advisory
Our financial reporting advisers have the expertise to help you deal with the constantly evolving regulatory environment.
-
Business architecture
Our business architects help businesses with disruptive conditions, business expansion and competitive challenges; the deployment of your strategy is critical to success.
-
Cloud services
Leverage the cloud to keep your data safe, operate more efficiently, reduce costs and create a better experience for your employees and clients.
-
Internal audit
Our internal audits deliver independent assurance over key controls within your riskiest processes, proving what works and what doesn’t and recommending improvements.
-
IT advisory
Our hands on product experience, extensive functional knowledge and industry insights help clients solve complex IT and technology issues
-
IT privacy and security
IT privacy and security should support your business strategy. Our pragmatic approach focuses on reducing cyber security risks specific to your organisation
-
Payroll assurance
Our specialist payroll assurance team can conduct a review of your payroll system configuration and processes, and then help you and your team to implement any necessary recalculations.
-
PCI DSS
Our information security specialists are approved Qualified Security Assessors (QSAs) that have been qualified by the PCI Security Standards Council to independently assess merchants and service providers.
-
Process improvement
As your organisation grows in size and complexity, processes that were once enabling often become cumbersome and inefficient. To maintain growth, your business must remain flexible, agile and profitable
-
Procurement/supply chain
Procurement and supply chain inputs will often dominate your balance sheet and constantly evolve for organisations to remain competitive and meet changing customer requirements
-
Project assurance
Major programmes and projects expose you to significant financial and reputational risk throughout their life cycle. Don’t let these risks become a reality.
-
Risk management
We understand that growing companies need to establish robust internal controls, and use information technology to effectively mitigate risk.
-
Robotic process automation (RPA)
RPA is emerging as the most sophisticated form of automation used to help businesses become more agile and remain competitive in the face of today’s ongoing digital disruption.
How COVID-19 changes M&A due diligence
28 Jun 2020Diligence with 20/20 vision
Nothing in recent history has changed the business landscape as drastically or as quickly as the COVID-19 pandemic, and resulting predicted recession, which presents a real challenge for mergers and acquisitions. Market multiples, past cash flow generation, and other measures based on performance formed the foundation of due diligence. But what good are historical measurements when the future may no longer reflect history?
Like the rest of the world, transactions in New Zealand have slowed down dramatically. Borders are closed, international travel is restricted, and though the immediate health risk appears to have been thwarted, our way of life, and our way of doing business, has changed. Management is consumed with weathering the immediate crisis while trillions of committed capital wait for the dust to settle. But deals will resume. In fact, the pandemic may create a wave of new deals as troubled companies look for exit strategies and investors look for a market correction. In some industries, companies may exit the pandemic healthier, attracting a new round of interested sellers. Given these M&A opportunities, how can buyers and sellers accurately gauge value and risk going forward?
Navigating this new terrain, buyers will be more diligent in their approach, while sellers will need to prepare for increased scrutiny. Historical business information may be less useful and will be carefully dissected as an accurate predictor of future performance. There will also be increased focus on forward-looking information, including, forecasts, budgets, backlogs, and pipelines, along with qualitative factors regarding changes in business practices.
Due diligence for the COVID-19 era
In a post-pandemic world, buyers must understand not only the direct impact of COVID-19 on the target but also management’s response to the crisis and the pandemic’s effects on near- and long-term operations. These steps will provide increased visibility to achieve maximum returns on investment. Below are five areas of supplemental due diligence that buyers and sellers should consider.
Expanded EBITDA benchmarks
Consider a pro forma adjustment to reflect 2020 financials under normal operations. The months directly affected by the pandemic are likely not representative of historical financial performance nor indicative of future results. While COVID-19 will adversely impact most companies, some businesses may experience a temporary or permanent benefit, so consider the specific facts. There is no one size fits all approach. The key focus here is to understand the “new normal” of the company. Following are some methods for quantifying the pro forma impact:
- Compare EBITDA trends for the quarter before COVID-19 (on a seasonally adjusted basis) to impacted months and management’s near-term forecasts.
- If momentum for financial performance appears to be stabilising for a series of months, the annualisation of EBITDA for the most recent quarter(s), adjusted for seasonality, may help determine the impact of COVID-19. Shorter reference periods will likely be less reliable than a quarter or half-year approach.
- Benchmark EBITDA trends of the company relative to industry peers.
- Benchmark performance against growth rates from prior years and future year projections.
- With uncertainty clouding the immediate future, understanding operating leverage and breakeven points become more important to model how a change in revenue or costs impacts EBITDA and a time horizon to achieve stability.
Top-line impact
In addition to looking at profitability metrics (e.g., EBITDA margin), it is important to understand the short- and long-term COVID-19 revenue impact.
- Analyse sales trends before, during, and after the pandemic by customer, product, end-market, and channel. This will provide a structure for assessing which key market trends will most impact the top-line performance. Further, it will help identify risks in sectors expected to have extended recovery periods.
- Consider the company’s position in the value chain and potential for lagged pandemic impacts. While businesses with global supply chains were affected early on, certain verticals and sectors may experience lagged effects not yet reflected in historical financials.
- Focus on forecasts in addition to historical results and carefully review budgets, backlogs, and pipelines. Consider historical win rates, budget vs. actual performance, and post COVID cancellation rates.
- Some companies may alter standard practices with increased acceptance of returns and discounting in response to changes in aggregate demand. Other companies may find limited supply provides opportunities to increase pricing.
Vendors and supply chains
Understand the timing and resulting changes in the company’s supply chain recovery. Consider the company’s suppliers and key sourced materials (particularly for sole-sourced materials). Determine if there will be permanent changes resulting from the adaptation process.
Does the company have reliable sources for the timely delivery of the quality materials, and will those relationships survive the pandemic?
- What will be the ongoing impact on vendors and product pricing?
- Does the company have vendor agreements with purchase commitments? With supply chain disruption and changing purchase volumes, consider whether purchase commitments can be met, and penalties for not meeting these obligations.
- Is the company considering diversifying supply risk to multiple vendors or alternative countries? If so, what are the impacts on margin, order fulfilment and quality?
Employees and contractors
Payroll is commonly a company’s most significant expense. Many businesses have been forced to make difficult personnel-related decisions, including reducing working hours and making cuts to the workforce. Understand any financial or operational ramifications of the company’s personnel decisions.
- Pay attention to headcount fluctuations during the crisis. Will the company be able to rehire the workers needed to resume operations as the crisis recedes—especially skilled and experienced team members?
- Did the target receive the Government’s wage subsidy? If so, do current employee expenses need to be normalised?
- Understand whether the target temporarily deferred compensation to employees or reduced employee salaries. Further, has the company delayed pay out of severance, deferred salaries, payroll taxes or bonuses? Consider whether funds should be left behind at close for settling these deferred obligations.
Working capital and additional debt-like items
Given the upheaval of COVID-19, historical accounting methodologies may not reflect all risks on the balance sheet. Additionally, historical working capital may not accurately reflect working capital needs going forward. With the disruption affecting all levels of business, a fresh look at accounting methodology is warranted.
- Consider the trends and potential deterioration of the target’s accounts receivable portfolio. Has the company updated its allowance for bad debts to reflect the risk of these assets and to offset inflated AR levels?
- Has a drop in demand resulted in extended aging of inventories? Consider the need for additional inventory reserves for spoilage, slow-moving, excess and obsolete inventory. This consideration will avoid inflated inventory balances from skewing net working capital.
- How is the company accounting for any wage subsidy or government support? Is the company accruing for deferred payroll taxes?
- Analyse accounts payable trends of your target and whether extended payables should be considered indebtedness in closing agreements.
- Look for rent concessions granted and consider treatment as debt in closing agreements.
COVID-19 is also adding significant complexity to how sale and purchase agreements are negotiated and drafted – look out for our other article on five areas to consider when negotiating a deal right now.
Published in conjunction with Grant Thornton US.
For more information, contact:
Richard Hughes
Partner, Financial Advisory Services
Grant Thornton New Zealand
T +64 9 308 2570
E richard.hughes@nz.gt.com
Max Mitchell
Purchase Agreement Advisory Leader
Grant Thornton US
T +1 312 602 8387
E max.mitchell@us.gt.com