Financial Reporting

Outstanding consulting for each project need!

The Financial Reporting Team of PAS supports clients in GAAP conversions (IFRS/US-GAAP), in complex accounting issues relating to the preparation and execution of corporate transactions (IPOs, carve outs and other M&A transactions), the first-time preparation of consolidated financial statements as well as all other financial and non-financial reporting requirements.
Our focus is on advising medium-sized companies, start-ups, national and international corporations, as well as private equity investors and their portfolio companies.
Accounting & Reporting
Capital Markets Advisory
ESG Advisory
CFO Strategy & Operation Advisory

Accounting & Reporting Services

IFRS / US GAAP Conversions

International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) are global accounting standards developed by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB).
Applying IFRS can help improve the quality, comparability, and transparency of your financial information. Proper application of IFRS increases your company's credibility and improves access to credit and investment opportunities.
In practice, GAAP conversion (e.g. to IFRS or US GAAP) often occur in the following scenario:
  • IPO scenario
  • International expansion
  • International investors
  • Acquisition by an international group
In many cases, IFRS financial statements are also accepted by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for groups seeking a listing in the United States and headquartered outside the United States. In other cases, a conversion to US GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) is required.

Under both IFRS and US GAAP, the accounting standards for financial instruments, revenue recognition and leases, for example, pose major challenges for the preparers of consolidated financial statements. PAS experts help you navigate the complexity of the standards so you can fully focus on running your business and day-to-day operations.
Your advantages:
  • Full-service consulting from a one-stop shop (accounting, IT and transaction and valuation services) 
  • Experienced and well-coordinated consulting teams with decades of experience 
  • Several hundred successfully completed conversion projects
  • Hands-on approach

Preparation of consolidated financial statements (first-time after transactions or annually recurring)

When preparing consolidated financial statements according to German GAAP (HGB) and IFRS, a large number of requirements have to be considered. PAS supports you both in the initial preparation of consolidated financial statements - for example after acquisitions or carve outs - and in the recurring preparation of financial statements up to the complete outsourcing of the preparation of consolidated financial statements. From a multitude of projects, PAS has the necessary expertise and experience to support you according to your individual needs.
You decide whether you want to outsource individual topics or the full preparation of your consolidated financial statements to us:
  • As a consulting company, we have in-depth expertise, as we prepare hundreds of financial statements, opinions and expert reports every year.
  • We have service centers that can support our subject matter experts in all standardizable and scalable activities in the preparation process.
  • As consultants, we are familiar with the latest digital tools and processes for external reporting on the market.
This means we have all the relevant tools for preparing consolidated financial statements - and can help you smooth processes and achieve efficiency gains on this basis.
Your benefits:
  • Efficiency and reliancy in the preparation process
  • Higher capacity of employee resources
  • Tool-based and standardized data gathering processes
  • Increase in report quality with simultaneous cost reduction 

Start-Up Advisory

In the early phases of start-ups, the focus is often on the product and not yet on the accounting and reporting. Therefore, it is even more important to professionally set up the finance and accounting department on the growth path and to develop an effective financial roadmap. The requirements of internal and external stakeholders increase with the number of financing rounds, or other transactions, such as an IPO or a sale to a corporate or private equity company.

The most important (finance) issues for start-ups are determined by the respective development phase. Our consultants provide comprehensive support at all stages in the professionalization and optimization of the finance fuction, including the following topics:
Early-Stage:
  • Optimization of the business plan
  • Optimization of investor reporting 
  • Support during financing rounds (including factbooks, pitch decks and approaching venture capitalists (VCs))
  • Outsourcing services (financial accounting, payroll accounting, etc.)
  • Interim Management
Growth-Phase:
  • IPO Readiness Services (e.g. group-wide conversion of accounting (e.g. from HGB to IFRS) and optimization of internal control and risk management systems required for IPO readiness)
  • Support during IPOs in Europe and the USA (NASDAQ)
  • Support during the implementation of ERP and CPM systems
  • Support in all transaction-related matters (e.g. due diligence, M&A support, exit) and valuation issues (purchase price allocation, impairment tests, etc.)
  • Expansion of the finance area (for example introduction of CPM solutions, development of consolidation and implementation of corresponding software solutions)
Your benefits:
  • Full-service consulting from a single source (accounting, IT and transaction and valuation services) 
  • Consulting teams with high start-up affinity and decades of experience from hundreds of projects for start-ups
  • Hands-on approach

Preparation of digital accounting guidelines (Digital Accounting Manual)

The larger your company and the more decentralized your accounting structure (e.g., with a large number of subsidiaries), the more difficult it is to ensure uniform accounting throughout the company and the same high quality of financial information within the group.
Given this situation, a customized accounting guideline is an important communication tool within the accounting process and company-wide compliance system.
Particularly in the case of financial reporting in accordance with IFRS, the numerous and complex regulations require ongoing and comprehensive optimization of the accounting manual. In enforcement proceedings by the FREP, the existence of an up-to-date accounting manual that can be applied uniformly throughout the Group can also be of decisive importance.
We do not recommend rigid accounting manuals, but encourage our clients to use content management systems, so-called Wiki software or Wiki engines to provide its employees with agile manuals.
Companies often do not have the resources to keep their accounting guidelines up to date. The basis for efficient reporting and corporate management is the uniform application of accounting and valuation principles as well as internal procedural instructions.

PAS supports you in the preparation and further development of an accounting guideline adapted to your specific needs according to German GAAP, IFRS or US GAAP.
Your advantages:
  • Assurance of uniform accounting and valuation principles throughout the company
  • Reliable reporting
  • High process efficiency and cost savings
  • Positive external impact on capital markets, banks and the interested public
  • Relief of existing resources frees up capacities for analysis and decision preparation

ESEF – Services

Issuers of securities in the EU will have to prepare annual financial reports in XHTML format from January 1, 2020.
This means that the company's financial statements and other information will have to be "tagged" according to the EU taxonomy to enable stakeholders to automatically analyze the relevant annual and consolidated financial statements and thus ensure better comparability.
Following the tagging of the "primary financial statements", i.e. balance sheet, income statement, statement of comprehensive income, cash flow statement and statement of changes in equity, and of so-called "entity-specific disclosures", the tagging of the notes to the consolidated financial statements is also planned from 2022.
Your advantages:
  • Technical understanding and specialist accounting expertise from a single source
  • Relief for your own resources
  • Comprehensive cooperation for successful project implementation
  • Reduction of complexity and effort through software-supported ESEF reporting
  • Independence
In addition, you have the option of outsourcing the entire ESEF process to PAS.

Closing Excellence

The quality of published financial statements and the time it takes to prepare them are increasingly becoming competitive criteria due to direct comparability with national and international competitors.
To meet the increased requirements, both listed companies and medium-sized enterprises need reliable and management-relevant reporting at benchmarkable costs.
This requires appropriately optimized closing processes (quality close, fast close or closing excellence) and integrated IT systems for the timely and high-quality provision of financial statements.
The particular challenge here is to ensure that these preparation processes are cost-efficient and that the resulting financial statements fully meet the relevant individual compliance requirements.
Our solution
  • Comprehensive analysis of existing processes and systems to identify existing problem areas
  • Identification of bottleneck factors and development of optimization measures
  • Preparation or revision of closing calendars, fast close/quality close manuals, accounting guidelines and reporting packages
  • Development of professional training measures for employees and support for interdepartmental know-how transfer
  • Identification of improvement potential in IT systems through increased standardization and automation
  • If required, use of field-tested IT tools for planning and controlling financial statements and for efficient preparation of financial reports
Our project approach is variable and adapts to your individual processes in the context of preparing financial statements.
Your advantages:
The implementation of an optimization project enables a targeted reduction of closing times, increases efficiency in the financial area and creates the following competitive advantages, among others:

  • Shortening of the time required to prepare the financial statements and thus an increase in flexibility for corporate decision-making processes.
  • Improved management options due to shorter response times, simplification of processes and evaluation methods
  • Cost savings
  • Improvement of data quality
  • Relief of existing resources frees up capacities for analysis and decision preparation
  • Positive external impact on capital markets, banks and the interested public
  • Reliable reporting during the year

Capital Markets Advisory

Companies in growth or transformation processes often face high capital requirements. Possible financing options are regular IPOs or a merger with a listed special purpose acquisition company ("SPAC"). The going public process is complex and often transforms the companies processes to meet the requirements.
It requires significant effort and the cooperation of many different areas of your company.
Important prerequisites for a successful IPO are, above all, a sustainable business model, the right transaction structure and an efficient reporting system. To achieve this, the processes, systems and functions must meet regulatory requirements. You also need an attractive equity story that you can back up with relevant financial information and market data, as well as strong management capabilities.

Specialists for the entire transaction

Our highly specialized and industry-experienced team supports you in all phases of the IPO process and helps with the related structural, operational and regulatory issues. We guide you through the entire IPO and transformation process, and our clients particularly value our objective and in-depth advice.
Our services for your IPO:
  • IPO Readiness Assessment: Whether your IPO shall occur in the near future or is only intended, the preparatory work can be very complex. A review will identify opportunities to accelerate the process, thereby reducing pressure on management when the IPO takes place. 
  • Historical financial information: Prepare a full set of consolidated financial statements in accordance with IFRS (or US GAAP, if applicable), which must then be audited by an auditor. Generally, consolidated financial statements are required for at least the last 3 years. Interim financial statements may also be required for a more recent period.
  • Selection of the stock exchange and evaluation of transaction alternatives (including SPAC transactions): 
  • Establishing stock exchange readiness (accounting and reporting, IFRS conversion, internal control system, risk management compliance). In this context, SOX, US GAAP and SEC reporting requirements must also be taken into account for IPOs in the United States.
  • Preparation and review of pro forma financial information: Pro-forma financial information must be included in securities prospectuses if significant transactions have taken place in the issuer's past or are firmly planned in the future.
  • Selection and determination of KPIs to support the (sustainable) equity story and presentation in the listing prospectus
  • Project management and coordination

ESG Advisory

Sustainable investing is becoming an increasingly important issue. That is why companies need a convincing ESG concept. Our ESG Advisory uses in-depth data gathering and analysis to help companies meet investors' expectations and turn them into a holistic, customized ESG strategy.
PAS ESG Advisory shows you how to strengthen trust, mitigate risk and create new value to build a sustainable future. PAS ESG Advisory's solutions are both holistic and practical. Our experts work with you side-by-side through every step of your ESG transformation. With our industry-leading experience, data-driven technology, and powerful partnerships, you can turn insights into opportunities for your business, your people, and our planet.

The ESG team of transformation, valuation, and reporting specialists can help you do this in the following ways:
  • Meeting all reporting requirements
  • Helping you develop your ESG strategy
  • Embed ESG in your business processes
  • Communicating your ESG story

Our project approach:

The first step is to analyze whether your companies’ activities are in scope of the EU taxonomy directive. This involves a comprehensive analysis to identify EU taxonomy compliant revenues, capital, and operating expenditures.
Based on the findings of the criteria analysis, the data model is developed. For this purpose, the data relevant for the identified economic activities must first be defined and gathered. The relevant data may be provided from existing systems and databases or may have to be newly collected.
Based on the findings of the analysis of the current situation, the preparation of the target concept takes place. Future processes, systems, interfaces and the scope of reporting must be defined.
During implementation, the focus is on implementing the developed concepts and making the necessary adjustments to IT systems and processes to enable data generation of the required EU taxonomy key figures.
Both existing software solutions and the implementation of a selected new software solution can be considered for the technical implementation.
Your advantages:
The implementation of the requirements from the EU taxonomy with the PAS leads to the following advantages for you:

  • Extensive experience of the consultants from a large number of implementation projects 
  • Integrated solution approaches due to the holistic expertise of our experts (Accounting, Sustainability, IT) 
  • Cost-efficient implementation process
  • Relief for internal resources 
  • Positive external impact on capital markets, banks and the interested public

CFO Strategy & Operation Advisory

Increasing complexity, market changes, geopolitical events, regulatory requirements and the many opportunities offered by digitalization require new strategies for the financial organization. The role of the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) is becoming increasingly important for the sustainable success of the company.

The CFO's previous focus was on providing proper, transparent and reliable financial management and reporting. This role is increasingly being expanded, partly due to the significant increase in regulatory requirements relating to sustainability (also known as Environmental Social Governance - ESG).

The CFO is increasingly becoming a strategic partner to the company management and a point of contact for stakeholders; he is actively responsible for increasing value and developing financial performance.

In future, the finance organization will see itself as a unit comprising (financial) economic management and the strategic orientation of the company. This makes it all the less surprising that more and more CEOs are being recruited from the CFO position.

Our goal is an effective and efficient finance organization that is optimally positioned around the individual CFO agenda. As part of our CFO Strategy & Operation Advisory, a multidisciplinary team of experts works to provide CFOs and their financial organizations with profitable support and sustainable alignment for the future.

We support you in mastering the new challenges in a value-oriented and efficient manner and in finding results-oriented solutions and approaches together with you. The focus is on the following topics:
  • Capital Markets (z.B. IPO planning, preparation and implementation)
  • ESG Integration
  • Finance Function & Process Excellence
  • CFO Strategy
Our data-based analyses enable companies to quickly assess opportunities and drive sustainable decisions within the company. In doing so, we generate 360-degree added value that benefits customers, employees, investors, society and the environment.
Your advantages:
  • Extensive experience from a large number of reference projects as well as in the establishment and strategic development of financial organizations
  • IPO readiness assessment and evaluation of transaction alternatives (including SPAC transactions)
  • Comprehensive establishment of stock market readiness (including accounting and reporting, IFRS conversion, internal control system, risk management, sustainability reporting/ESG)
  • Optimization of your stakeholder reporting (e.g. to investors)
  • Support in the development of your ESG strategy
  • Solution approaches through integrated expertise (accounting, controlling, sustainability (ESG), finance IT, transaction)
  • Cost-efficient implementation process
  • Extremely solution- and implementation-oriented approach
  • Relief of internal resources through project management and coordination

Contact

Markus Groß
Partner
Fabian Grigo
Partner
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