Follow the Cash
It is a human trait to complicate the relatively simple advice to “Follow the cash”, which has been a useful guide in solving many business problems.
When I was working as a young(ish) mid-level Accountant, I was co-opted to a team to evaluate a friendly acquisition target. We had access to a huge amount of data, as the target was keen to sell. Our management had ‘deal fever’ and wanted the purchase to happen. The Balance Sheet was complex and difficult to unravel. The more I examined the financials, the less I understood about the company.
As I briefed my more experienced boss mid-project, he gave me some advice that has proved invaluable on numerous occasions throughout my career. “Follow the Cash!” Sure enough, the mysteries of the target’s numbers started to reveal themselves. The impact of the clever accounting and Balance Sheet beautification fell away. The deal got done, but at a lower price and with a lot more understanding of what we had bought.
An historical example highlights the importance of the cash trail. In 2009, now defunct retailer, Clive Peeters, discovered a $19 million employee fraud. This fraud had been carried out by a payroll officer who transferred cash from the company’s bank accounts to her own accounts and used the money to buy properties over a period of 20 months.
So, how on earth did a relatively junior employee inside the Finance department get away with siphoning $1 million a month without it being noticed? This money was removed from a company which had total borrowings in June 2009 of $47 million, so, it wasn’t as if the missing $20 million was immaterial to their cash position. They didn’t follow the cash and the company went broke.
Over recent months, Victorians have followed the tortuous process of the inquiry into hotel quarantine failures. The inquiry has repeatedly hit roadblocks on the question of who approved the use of private security firms. So why didn’t they simply follow the cash? Which departmental budget was charged? Who authorised the contract? Who paid the bills? Surely the government has a formal structure of delegated authority levels to approve expenditure? Once clarified, perhaps we can move on to more important issues, like how to avoid similar problems when the next outbreak of disease occurs.
Management is often a search for facts. When we have those facts, solutions usually become clear. A useful technique is often to “Follow the cash”. Therein, often lies the answer.
Author: Bernie Bicknell, Partner nem Australasia
This article is based on research and opinion available in the public domain.