The challenge.
The Trust has been losing money for the previous three years and, in their own words, needed an immediate injection of financial expertise.
The problems stemmed from the cost of living crisis, declining visitor footfall, Brexit, COVID etc and the leadership team were lacking both visibility of, and the ability to interpret, their financial performance.
As The CFO Centre’s Sean Brimacombe became more involved, it transpired that many aspects of the business needed revisiting as part of a strategy overhaul.
The approach.
Sean was the ideal candidate to work with the Wild Planet Trust as he had the right mix of strategic, financial and operational expertise. His background in both retail and catering became critical to the work done to move the Trust forward.
He immediately began working to understand the Trust’s budgets along with the assumptions and projections being made.
As Sean developed a new approach and different processes, the leadership team gained greater insights and were able to start planning ahead more effectively.
As a result of Sean having so many relevant skills, he went on to plan and implement changes in the financial, retail and catering areas of the Trust, liaising with stakeholders and trustees.
After five months, the Trust’s Interim CEO, Stephen Kings describes Sean’s impact on their recovery pathway as considerable.
The CFO Centre’s solutions.
Sean initially worked on the Trust’s budgets and started the process of reconfiguring them, while working closely with the key Heads of Department.
Following the successful outcomes of this process – a point at which the Trust’s Interim CEO describes as a vital component of working towards our financial recovery, Sean became part of WPT’s strategic group along with Stephen and the COO. He also joined the Senior Leadership Team and advised on the financial aspects of these roles.
His previous relevant experience enabled Sean to lead the implementation of changes to the retail and catering areas of the Trust. He also liaised with banks, auditors and land management agents which Stephen describes as ‘lifting a great deal of work and responsibility away from myself and the COO.’
Stephen goes on to describe Sean’s involvement in trustee meetings in addition to the financial leadership he has shown as having made a considerable impact on the Trust’s recovery pathway. He’s become integrated into most functions and is bringing an outstanding range of expertise and experience.
Initially, Sean’s major focus was on cash flow. He pulled together daily, weekly, monthly and annual forecasts to give the Trust a laser clear focus on their cash position.
Alongside the new monthly management report, this has given the leadership team greater granularity of their financial position.
It’s also been important to effectively utilise the finance team, homing in on individual strengths and skills, a theme that’s applied throughout this client relationship which has enabled Sean to fall back on several different strands of his own experience.
Financial leadership doesn’t exist in a vacuum and the whole of an organisation needs to be aligned when it comes to the growth strategy and ongoing decision making.
