Insights

Fresh thinking and actionable insights that address critical issues your organization faces.

Learn more

Resources

Services

KPMG's multi-disciplinary approach and deep, practical industry knowledge help clients meet challenges and respond to opportunities.

Services to meet your business goals

Technology Alliances

KPMG has market-leading alliances with many of the world's leading software and services vendors.

View all Alliances

Industries

Helping clients meet their business challenges begins with an in-depth understanding of the industries in which they work. That’s why KPMG LLP established its industry-driven structure. In fact, KPMG LLP was the first of the Big Four firms to organize itself along the same industry lines as clients.

How We Work

We bring together passionate problem-solvers, innovative technologies, and full-service capabilities to create opportunity with every insight.

Learn more

Careers & Culture

What is culture? Culture is how we do things around here. It is the combination of a predominant mindset, actions (both big and small) that we all commit to every day, and the underlying processes, programs and systems supporting how work gets done.

Learn more
Relevant Results
Sorry, there are no results matching your search.
Autocomplete suggestions are available. Use up and down arrows to review and enter to select.
See more results

Winning the race for new talent, technology, and global reach

How a fast-growing start-up employed a bold M&A strategy

Client

Advanced technology start-up

Sector

Industrial manufacturing

Primary goal

Build capabilities and enter new markets to accelerate growth

Key KPMG services

Merger and acquisition (M&A) strategy, human resources (HR) strategy, financial due diligence, accounting advisory services, economic valuation services, and more.

Download PDF

test

When an acquisition doubles your revenue in your largest market, there are some big numbers at play—especially when you’re a $48 billion CPG company. And the bigger the numbers, the bigger the impact of every strategic and tactical decision you make. You can’t afford to have your visibility clouded and your decision-making hampered by having two disparate financial operations functions each with its own systems, software, and people. So, when a global CPG company found itself in this situation, it called on KPMG to drive fast, smooth, cost-efficient integration of financial operations.

Key outcomes

1

Increased engagement 

and global alignment between cross-functional teams

2

Greater visibility

 into consolidated spend driving meaningful insights and more proactive decisions

3

Days shaved off

the monthly close cycle

4

More accurate

revenue and sales forecasting

Technological innovation is moving at warp speed—with rapid advances in everything from commercial space flight to vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft to autonomous vehicles. Our client, a fast-growing advanced technology start-up, was one company striving to win the race for innovation. They faced intense competition and pressure to gain advantage. Success required moving fast and combining a rare mix of world-class engineering, operational excellence, and access to capital.

To catch the competition off-guard, the start-up pursued an ambitious M&A strategy to rapidly build capabilities and reach new markets. Our client trusted KPMG to serve as their deal adviser throughout the journey—for industry experience in advanced technology, wide-ranging M&A experience, and an unwavering focus on realizing strategic value at every step of the deal.

Key outcomes

Making a measurable difference

Multiple global deals

closed concurrently

Billions added

to the valuation

Hundreds of millions saved

by avoiding financial missteps

Significant increase

in the engineering talent base

Leading technology

and support facilities acquired

First units acquired

for global expansion

New back-office operations

built from the ground up

Client transformation journey

Click on each part of the journey to learn more about our client’s transformation.

Client transformation journey

Before

Poor visibility threatened business objectives.

Acquiring a large organic food and beverage business helped a global CPG company expand its operations and nearly double its revenue in the U.S. However, as with most mergers, the integration posed some challenges. Two disparate IT environments with different accounting and reporting models, separate enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, and multiple business intelligence (BI) tools required extensive manual intervention and offline data manipulation, preventing uniform reporting and analysis. Data was trapped in silos. Visibility was insufficient. A new CFO and the finance and accounting teams lacked the insight to support effective forecasting and both strategic and tactical decision-making. In a sector as competitive and fast-changing as food products, this company needed to increase visibility quickly.

After

Unified financial operations support global success.

While this CPG company’s business is spread across two continents (and originates from a number of acquired companies), its financial operations are now centralized and unified. A cloud-based platform extracts and loads data from numerous global sources, then configures and stores it in a central location. Accounting staff across multiple back offices work within a single governance structure and with a single set of streamlined processes, enabling effective reporting and supporting a swift, accurate close. Across the enterprise, visibility is excellent, and insights are at the ready, because analysts can perform real-time calculations and drill down swiftly to the meaning behind the numbers. Unified financial operations helps this $48 billion player predict accurately, plan effectively, and act swiftly—all crucial in a sector where windows of opportunity close as suddenly as they open.

Future

A strong foundation that can keep pace with continued growth.

There will be more acquisition targets in the company’s future. And with a cloud-based platform, governance framework, and standardized processes in place, integrating financial operations will be a swift, sure process. A successful integration inspired the CFO and global finance team to consider other areas for transformation. From evolving multiple layers of the target operating model within Finance, to jump-starting transformation across other functional areas, a powerful ripple effect began and continues across the enterprise. Having the right tools and processes to support a grander vision driven by meaningful insights will continue to empower positive change.

Before

Poor visibility threatened business objectives.

Acquiring a large organic food and beverage business helped a global CPG company expand its operations and nearly double its revenue in the U.S. However, as with most mergers, the integration posed some challenges. Two disparate IT environments with different accounting and reporting models, separate enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, and multiple business intelligence (BI) tools required extensive manual intervention and offline data manipulation, preventing uniform reporting and analysis. Data was trapped in silos. Visibility was insufficient. A new CFO and the finance and accounting teams lacked the insight to support effective forecasting and both strategic and tactical decision-making. In a sector as competitive and fast-changing as food products, this company needed to increase visibility quickly.

After

Unified financial operations support global success.

While this CPG company’s business is spread across two continents (and originates from a number of acquired companies), its financial operations are now centralized and unified. A cloud-based platform extracts and loads data from numerous global sources, then configures and stores it in a central location. Accounting staff across multiple back offices work within a single governance structure and with a single set of streamlined processes, enabling effective reporting and supporting a swift, accurate close. Across the enterprise, visibility is excellent, and insights are at the ready, because analysts can perform real-time calculations and drill down swiftly to the meaning behind the numbers. Unified financial operations helps this $48 billion player predict accurately, plan effectively, and act swiftly—all crucial in a sector where windows of opportunity close as suddenly as they open.

Future

A strong foundation that can keep pace with continued growth.

There will be more acquisition targets in the company’s future. And with a cloud-based platform, governance framework, and standardized processes in place, integrating financial operations will be a swift, sure process. A successful integration inspired the CFO and global finance team to consider other areas for transformation. From evolving multiple layers of the target operating model within Finance, to jump-starting transformation across other functional areas, a powerful ripple effect began and continues across the enterprise. Having the right tools and processes to support a grander vision driven by meaningful insights will continue to empower positive change.

Client transformation journey

  • Before

    Poor visibility threatened business objectives.

    Acquiring a large organic food and beverage business helped a global CPG company expand its operations and nearly double its revenue in the U.S. However, as with most mergers, the integration posed some challenges. Two disparate IT environments with different accounting and reporting models, separate enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, and multiple business intelligence (BI) tools required extensive manual intervention and offline data manipulation, preventing uniform reporting and analysis. Data was trapped in silos. Visibility was insufficient. A new CFO and the finance and accounting teams lacked the insight to support effective forecasting and both strategic and tactical decision-making. In a sector as competitive and fast-changing as food products, this company needed to increase visibility quickly.The preconfigured assets and technology accelerators delivered by KPMG Powered Enterprise let ambitious leadership teams take advantage of embedded leading practices to speed up the decision-making process while instilling confidence.

  • After

    Unified financial operations support global success.

    While this CPG company’s business is spread across two continents (and originates from a number of acquired companies), its financial operations are now centralized and unified. A cloud-based platform extracts and loads data from numerous global sources, then configures and stores it in a central location. Accounting staff across multiple back offices work within a single governance structure and with a single set of streamlined processes, enabling effective reporting and supporting a swift, accurate close. Across the enterprise, visibility is excellent, and insights are at the ready, because analysts can perform real-time calculations and drill down swiftly to the meaning behind the numbers. Unified financial operations helps this $48 billion player predict accurately, plan effectively, and act swiftly—all crucial in a sector where windows of opportunity close as suddenly as they open.

  • Future

    A strong foundation that can keep pace with continued growth.

    There will be more acquisition targets in the company’s future. And with a cloud-based platform, governance framework, and standardized processes in place, integrating financial operations will be a swift, sure process. A successful integration inspired the CFO and global finance team to consider other areas for transformation. From evolving multiple layers of the target operating model within Finance, to jump-starting transformation across other functional areas, a powerful ripple effect began and continues across the enterprise. Having the right tools and processes to support a grander vision driven by meaningful insights will continue to empower positive change.

Complex deals often bring both the greatest reward and the highest risk. Success requires a different level of insight, speed, and operational experience to meet adversity and surprises along the way. But, as our advanced technology client shows, complex deals done right can unlock unparalleled opportunities. It helps to work with experienced advisers who have done it many times before.

Kevin Prevost

Managing Director, KPMG Deal Advisory & Strategy

1.  Due diligence: Managing risk phase

During due diligence on one deal, KPMG discovered an unexplained investment line item in the financial statements. This was unknown to our client and not initially disclosed by the seller. After a thorough review to understand the implications, the team concluded the investment prevented certain future business actions and impacted deal value. With this insight, the start-up negotiated a substantial reduction in the deal price—avoiding a financial misstep potentially worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

That’s just one way KPMG advised on financial, commercial, and operational due diligence. Additional assessment areas included:

  • Integration strategy
  • Quality of earning
  • HR
  • Information technology (IT)
  • Tax
  • Finance processes
  • Product technology

2. Integration for human resources: Retaining top engineering talent phase

Onboarding top talent was a key objective for our client, but deals always risk employee attrition. Rivals waste no time trying to recruit from acquisition targets, especially in the highly competitive advanced technology job market.

The KPMG HR Center of Excellence helped our client secure employee retention and enable recruitment. For instance, with extensive Silicon Valley experience, KPMG helped align the compensation approach and structure of the combined company to leading practices in advanced technology sectors.

Moreover, KPMG helped plan and execute HR integration for a smooth Day 1—building trust and credibility with employees. These efforts included:

  • Modeling and identifying key talent for retention and transaction success
  • Recommendations on design of compensation packages and benefits
  • Management and execution of the offer letter process
  • Strategic communications to keep employees informed throughout the deals

With our support, our client realized strong employee retention that exceeded industry benchmark.

3. Integration for operations: Building new back-office functions phase

While our client acquired new units in targeted geographies, they lacked robust administrative functions to support the core business. Back-office operations had to be built nearly from scratch.

KPMG helped to establish fit-for-purpose administrative operations—to ensure business continuity on Day 1 and optimize for the long term, with solutions carefully phased to mitigate risk and cost. For example, KPMG designed a solution that enabled the company to begin receiving onboarded employees from the acquisition while new permanent processes and infrastructure were being established.

Moreover, during one sign-to-close phase, KPMG identified that the seller’s system separation approach was unworkable. KPMG recommended what seemed to be the only viable alternative: global deployment of a new Enterprise Resource Planning system for both the target and legacy business. With our client’s approval, KPMG delivered on-time and on-budget, designing and implementing the system in about three months—greatly exceeding client expectations.

KPMG helped stand up operations for HR, IT, accounting and finance, and more, delivering the base capability to operate the global company and support continued growth.

4. Valuation: Recognizing the underlying value in the business phase

With rapid M&A growth, our client needed to update its valuation, as a non-publicly traded entity undergoing material events. But when the KPMG Economic Valuation Services team first valued the company, the results were disappointing. It is not uncommon for an emerging technology start-up to have difficulty communicating its true value.

The KPMG team provided recommendations for a stronger valuation. These included tactical changes to optimize the balance sheet, which had a major impact on how the value was recognized. Moreover, the KPMG Strategy team worked with management to better articulate the business plan—supported by a rigorous, data-driven model.

With recommendations implemented, the start-up’s valuation improved by billions of dollars. This would help build confidence with counterparties, such as investors and potential employees, for easier access to capital and more success competing for talent.

Turning insights into opportunity

Winning the race for innovation with continuous value creation Working with KPMG, our client completed multiple deals, entered new markets, enhanced operations, and dramatically boosted the value of their business. Given these successes, they continue to work with KPMG for support with M&A strategy and designing and operationalizing future operating

New rules of business transformation

Lead with strategy. Enable with technology. Drive with data.

Read more

Meet our team

Do you have ambitious M&A goals?

We can work closely with you to identify the right opportunities, be ready to meet challenges head on, and drive value at every turn. Let’s start a conversation.

Image of Jono Anderson
Jono Anderson
Principal, Strategy, KPMG US
Read bio
Image of Charles Cochran
Charles Cochran
Principal, Advisory, KPMG LLP
Read bio
Image of Kevin Prevost
Kevin Prevost
Managing Director, Strategy, KPMG US
Read bio
Image of Jono Anderson
Jono Anderson
Principal, Strategy, KPMG US
Read bio
Image of Charles Cochran
Charles Cochran
Principal, Advisory, KPMG LLP
Read bio
Image of Kevin Prevost
Kevin Prevost
Managing Director, Strategy, KPMG US
Read bio

Explore other services tailored to your business

Service
Acquisitions
Read more
Service
Transformation delivery
Read more

Transformation Strategy in Consumer goods

Learn how KPMG helped

KPMG. Make the Difference.


Some or all of the services described herein may not be permissible for KPMG audit clients and their affiliates or related entities.

The information contained herein is of a general nature and is not intended to address the circumstances of any particular individual or entity. Although we endeavor to provide accurate and timely information, there can be no guarantee that such information is accurate as of the date it is received or that it will continue to be accurate in the future. No one should act upon such information without appropriate professional advice after a thorough examination of the particular situation. KPMG LLP does not provide legal services.

The information contained herein is not intended to be “written advice concerning one or more Federal tax matters” subject to the requirements of section 10.37(a)(2) of Treasury Department Circular 230.

© 2024 KPMG LLP, a Delaware limited liability partnership and a member firm of the KPMG global organization of independent member firms affiliated with KPMG International Limited, a private English company limited by guarantee. All rights reserved.

For more detail about the structure of the KPMG global organization please visit https://home.kpmg/governance.

Thank you!

Thank you for contacting KPMG. We will respond to you as soon as possible.

Contact KPMG

Use this form to submit general inquiries to KPMG. We will respond to you as soon as possible.

By submitting, you agree that KPMG LLP may process any personal information you provide pursuant to KPMG LLP's Privacy Statement.

An error occurred. Please contact customer support.

Job seekers

Visit our careers section or search our jobs database.

Search now!

Submit RFP

Use the RFP submission form to detail the services KPMG can help assist you with.

Submit

Office locations

View locations

International hotline

You can confidentially report concerns to the KPMG International hotline

Learn more

Press contacts

Do you need to speak with our Press Office? Here's how to get in touch.

Contact

Headline