Case Study – Team-building
Setting up the finance department in a Hungarian factory unit owned by US group.
A US owned medical technology company entrusted the MB Advisory Office with the task of rebuilding a whole financial department dealing mainly with accountancy and taxation.
The company needed to find and hire the right professionals within a very short time-frame. MBAO was supporting the local HR team in this objective from an accounting professional point of view.
Perhaps the biggest challenge was finding professional staff in the Hungarian countryside with good English skills. Within three months, the local HR department and MBAO successfully hired all the accountants and a chief accountant. The new staff proved to be the right one and stayed in place after their probation period ended.
Another challenge was related to knowledge-transfer. As the previous staff left, their knowledge was lost and there was no one to train new team members. As usual, it would have been crucial this time too that the company had their processes, rules and job descriptions in written form as well, because lack of continuity on a long term could cause serious damage to business areas. Fortunately, the MBAO team could replace and build up these processes efficiently.
Furthermore, based on the parent company schedule, several administrative software was introduced, such as version update for SAP, Concur for managing T&E expenses, and Buysmart, which is a supplier management and bookkeeping tool. From a financial and accounting perspective, the MB Advisory Office team was responsible for these tools to work and comply properly.
The MBAO interim management was helping the company for six months, delivering results that were greatly appreciated by the company’s financial director. After three years, the financial department is still in place and working well, just like all the introduced new software.
