Building Bridges During Times of Turnovers

Background

With a population of around 15,000, WHG's client has a solid economy with down-to-earth expectations from its local government. Conveniently situated in Macomb County, the industrial facilities are expanding, the workforce is rebounding and the city is replete with diners and savory steak houses. That said, the city government financials have not yet recovered from the economic downturn, and with slow recovery comes fast turnover.

Pain Point

Attrition. Though change is a natural thing for communities, it is always painful—and constant change even more so. Especially when it comes to personnel.

With a complex financial system in place and a large array of functional responsibility, the finance director of the city is a key position. Unfortunately, the key individual has been in constant flux.

And in the spring of 2017, the city found itself short its finance director. Fortunately for them, they had already brought in the right outside resources…

The WoodHill Group Solution

Within a week, The WoodHill Group was able to ramp-up from being an external consultant relied upon for process improvement, to have personnel on-boarded and ready to perform duties of the Finance Director.

As a bridge, WHG loaded the budget into the financial software, produced a 5-year forecast, pushed summer taxes out the door, supported the FYE 2017 audit, and held the city financials together—in addition to producing process improvements across the board, providing on-site training to current personnel, and readying a thorough handoff to the incoming Finance Director with recommendations and open items.

Resulting Benefits

The result was a community saved from the discord of not having a functioning financial department, a improved situation for the incoming finance director, and zero loss in tribal knowledge along the way. Included in the wins WHG was able to deliver are the following:

• Bank Reconciliations – up-to-date!

• Bank Fees – dramatically reduced!

• Month-End – streamlined down from 7 to 2 days!

• Grants Administration – implemented best pract

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