This iconic Australian fashion house was undergoing a period of growth when Olvera Advisors was engaged to provide bookkeeping and CFO advisory services. We provided expert insights into operations to help navigate COVID-19 and accelerate growth strategies.
Background
Founded in 2007, this Australian fashion business is a household name domestically and has a global footprint with its products sold through premium retailers such as Bergdorf Goodman, Harrods UK, Farfetch, Galerie Lafayette, Saks 5th Avenue and David Jones.
Despite its significant local and overseas presence, the business does not have a dedicated inhouse CFO function and engaged us in 2021 for bookkeeping and to advise management on COVID-19 disruption, and strategy to help deliver targeted results and generate value.
How we helped
The business was dissatisfied with their current bookkeeping solution and came to us seeking to improve data integrity around production and reporting of their financial data.
We stepped in and worked with employees from the bottom up to understand internal systems and relevant data touchpoints, then implemented changes to ensure outputs being delivered to directors and management reflected up-to-date and accurate financial records.
The process involved working closely with senior management to fully understand the business and discover what needed to be changed in terms of reporting, and then make recommendations to enable the business to feel supported and secure in challenging times.
As part of this, we assisted the business to gain greater insight into the financial performance of their network of stores in the context of COVID-19, and to make pivotal business decisions around future overseas expansion in Europe and US, and local stores.
This meant, in part, assisting with critical decisions on all aspects of the business amid the disrupted COVID-19 environment. It also involved advising on the impact of overseas market on cashflow, and the financial implications going forward.
We also worked closely with the business to plan and implement strategic steps to achieve its desired growth by reviewing and making recommendations around options on production, pricing and costs so that strategic plans were aligned with cash flow and capital provisions
Results
We continue to oversee all the bookkeeping of the business as well as the provision of monthly reports, and also oversee their cashflow on a weekly basis. Additionally, we continue to liaise monthly with management on financial results and provide benchmarks and/or anomalies in trading to management and directors to guide future decision making with timely and accurate financial information.