Audit & Review

Accounting and financial audit is at the heart of the firm. Our contractual control and review engagements address the concerns of executives, partners and shareholders: having reliable information before presenting it to third parties, and improving an accounting organisation whose weaknesses they want to understand.

We work with strict professional independence. Our practices comply with the profession’s standards and frameworks.

Who is it for?

Executives and partners who want reliable accounts
Shareholders and investors
Finance departments and audit committees
Buyers of companies in difficulty

Independence

No ties to international networks: an objective opinion.

Sector approach

Tools and methods suited to the challenges of each sector.

Beyond control

Concrete recommendations to improve your accounting organisation.

Accounting and financial audit

Contractual services defined according to your needs, tailored and with high added value.

Beyond reviewing the annual accounts, the financial statements and their overall consistency, we help our clients develop their accounting and financial systems: efficiency and compliance procedures, control over regulatory changes, and decisions based on relevant economic and financial information.

Our teams rely on tools and methods suited to each sector and its challenges. Our membership of the organisation of chartered accountants approved by the Ministry of Economy and Finance and of professional audit associations allows us to anticipate changes in accounting doctrine and regulations.

What we do

Contractual audit of annual accounts and financial statements
Audit of consolidated accounts
Analytical review of annual accounts
Assessment of the accounting organisation and recommendations
Bookkeeping and closing of accounts under specific standards
Payroll accounting
Preparation of the annual financial statements and the annual accounting file

Internal audit

A dynamic methodology serving performance, for companies of all sizes and at suitable cost.

Internal audit plays a central role in governance. With ever more demanding regulation, management and the audit committee must be able to rely on an effective internal audit function that meets professional standards, and be supported in leading change.

We assist finance and internal audit departments in defining and assessing risks related to accounting and financial information, regulation, governance and strategy. We assess your internal control framework and make recommendations in light of best practice.

Our focus areas

Compliance audit
Efficiency audit
Management audit
Strategy audit

How we strengthen your internal audit function

Assistance with internal audit engagements
Outsourcing of the internal audit function
Independent review of internal control by cycle: sales-customers, purchases-suppliers, treasury, inventory
Continuous auditing and monitoring
Risk map
Drafting and implementing procedures in line with frameworks, including Sarbanes-Oxley
Self-assessment testing arrangements
Reporting framework for key management and risk-monitoring indicators

Restructuring audit

Anticipate to support a turnaround, after temporary or structural difficulties.

We work alongside executives, partners and shareholders. After an immersion phase that identifies the source of the difficulties, we build turnaround plans based on costed scenarios, then help management implement the measures throughout the transformation.

Our experience helps restore the confidence of economic partners through negotiations with stakeholders (banks, investors, employees, suppliers, customers), in both preventive and collective proceedings (safeguard, receivership).

Our contribution

Define measures to improve working capital and cash, and restructure debt
Prepare or review budgets and cash forecasts to anticipate covenant breaches and liquidity crises
Carry out an independent financial and operational diagnosis and propose restructuring scenarios
Identify the preventive measures available to the company
Draw up a restructuring and action plan with recommendations

Taking over companies in difficulty

An acquisition audit is an essential step in taking over a company.

We represent and assist bidders seeking to acquire all or part of companies in difficulty or in collective proceedings. Upstream, we advise on renegotiating and restructuring bank or bond debt. We also assist investors and industrial groups wishing to support a company in difficulty through an equity stake or structured lending.

Once proceedings have opened, we support the preparation of the takeover plan, negotiations with creditors and court-appointed officers, risk assessment, assistance before the court and implementation. We help you determine the best price and the most suitable structure, bearing in mind that courts aim first to preserve jobs and business activity.

Analysing the target

Summary of the data room
Analysis of the financial statements and the build-up of EBITDA
Impacts of taking over the workforce
Analysis of current commercial agreements and expected year-end outcome
Understanding cash flow and analysing working capital

Building the takeover offer

Presentation of the bidder
Strategic plan designed to convince the court
Forecast income statements and cash, financing plan
Employment level and prospects
Assets and liabilities taken over, guarantees of performance of the offer
Modelling based on takeover scenarios
Formalising the takeover file

After the sale

Pro rata accounts between seller and buyer
Cut-off work on the assets and liabilities taken over
Analysis of customer, supplier, tax and social security accounts
Review and final report

In plain terms: Working capital requirement (BFR)Working capital requirement is the money tied up in the operating cycle: inventory and trade receivables, less trade payables. Reducing it frees up cash.

What you receive

Concrete deliverables, written to be used

Audit report and management letter
Executive summary
Prioritised action plan with owners and deadlines
Risk map (internal audit)

In practice

A typical engagement

All typical engagements

Audit & Review

Turning around an industrial SME

The situation

A family-owned SME sees its cash under strain: falling margins, rising inventory, worried banks.

Our intervention

Independent financial and operational diagnosis within a few weeks
13-week cash plan and working capital measures
Restructuring plan presented to the banks

The intended result

A credible plan to renegotiate the debt and regain room for manoeuvre.

See the practice area Audit & Review

Our approach

How an engagement unfolds

Meeting
We meet you to understand your expectations and present our solutions.
Engagement letter
Scope, timetable, allocation of tasks and fees suited to your budget.
Delivery
Documented methods, written control and monitoring procedures, a single point of contact.
Report and follow-up
Minutes, reports and support with implementation.

Frequently asked questions

What our clients ask us

What is the difference between a statutory and a contractual audit?

A statutory audit is required by law for certain companies. A contractual audit is requested voluntarily, for example before a fundraising or a sale, or at a partner’s request.

How long does an audit take?

It depends on the size of the company and the scope. The timetable is set in the engagement letter, after the scoping meeting.

Can you outsource our internal audit?

Yes, fully or to reinforce your team, under an annual programme agreed with your management and audit committee.

Insights