MANAGEMENT PLANNING AND CONTROL SYSTEMS
1. Management Planning
Typically this work is done in close conjunction and coordination with
senior executives of the client. Its focus is to enable the client to plan
and manage its business to attain its projected cash flows, profitability
and return on investment.
The work entails the consultant reviewing the planning process in place, the
reasons for it, its accessibility to the company's managers, its strengths
and its weaknesses. These provide the point of departure for the development
of a new planning process, which desirably meet a number of specific company
requirements;
Examples of these include:
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Coordinating the planning of separate activities into the optimum plan for the total business; |
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Focusing planning on a multiyear horizon; |
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Providing top management with alternatives for their timely decision(s); |
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Coordinating capital expenditure planning and operations planning; |
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Providing a base line measurement of business performance to be used to identify areas needing special management attention on an ongoing basis; |
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Encouraging managers to plan for a reasonable range of future conditions; |
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Enabling top management to set planning targets for subordinates; |
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Focusing managers on (1) cost-effectiveness and (2) profits. |
The outputs of our work, which would be approved by the company executive(s)
with whom we interface, is typically contained in a planning manual which
is designed to be a living document and to guide the various participants
in carrying out their responsibilities.
2. Control Systems
The essence of this work is to assess the company's management controls
either for (a) the total company, (b) one of its businesses, or (c) one of
its major development projects.
In this work, typically we:
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Identify the principal control requirements of the company, e.g., a clear consistent control environment, statement of approval authorities, clear definition of management responsibilities, budgeting and forecasting, cash management, etc.; |
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Analyze the degree to which the company is meeting its control requirements; |
The data to make these
judgments, as developed by us, include a selective review of all control reports,
site visits, interviews, etc. Following this assessment, we develop conclusions
and specific recommendations, to include an implementation program. These
materials are then incorporated into a draft report, reviewed with the client's
management, modified, as desirable, and the report is then finalized.
