David Appleton joined the business as interim FD to cover the short term absence of the incumbent FD. His main focus was on the debtors ledger which had overdue debt of circa £3m. He instigated a focused approach by business sector and utilised all of the senior team to make contact with each of their key contacts by supplier to raise the profile of the issue and instigate query resolution. This led to recovery of 95% of the debt and write offs of less than £50k, most of which was over 18 months old. He also restructured the existing finance team to establish a focused management accounts function and dedicated AR and AP processes. He developed improved management information for the owner of the business which led to improved margins through growth of higher margin products and cessation of margin draining services.
Owner Managed Logistics Company, £15m turnover
