My managers constantly encourage me to think critically about new conceptual problems, rather than continually reapplying past analysis. Each problem we tackle is different and requires us to develop new frameworks, make judgements on what evidence is needed, and structure convincing arguments. As I’ve gained more experience, I have been able to take more responsibility for the direction of the project and how we are going to approach the problem. For example, on a recent project with a European transport regulator, I decided on the structure and wrote the majority of the final report.
I’ve been working in EFC at FTI Consulting for several years, and what I’ve most appreciated is the ability to work across a wide range of topics and industries.
My experience has ranged from valuing music rights for songs played in live music venues in East Asia to evaluating the impact of electricity interconnector investment options in Australia. When I first joined EFC, I started by working predominately on disputes, while more recently I have done more economic regulatory projects. I have found that generally EFC tries to accommodate what type of work you would like to do.
In those years, as well as working across different industries, I’ve built up a number of skills: on some projects I’ve built complex financial models, while on others I’ve focused on writing reports and responding to arguments in legal disputes. In some projects I’ve had to present to large groups of stakeholders or explain complex issues directly to the client. The expectation at FTI Consulting is that you’ll progress every year, and I feel that I’m pushed to take on more responsibility all the time.
My managers constantly encourage me to think critically about new conceptual problems, rather than continually reapplying past analysis. Each problem we tackle is different and requires us to develop new frameworks, make judgements on what evidence is needed, and structure convincing arguments. As I’ve gained more experience, I have been able to take more responsibility for the direction of the project and how we are going to approach the problem. For example, on a recent project with a European transport regulator, I decided on the structure and wrote the majority of the final report.
Background to the project
In 2010, the European Commission set out ambitious targets for universal coverage of high-speed broadband. In response to this, a large European country devised a rural broadband rollout plan to support the deployment of fibre broadband infrastructure to homes not covered by commercial deployments, with the objective of finding a private sector operator to design, build and operate the network. The country in question ran a competitive tender to find a partner to deliver this network.
EFC advised one of the bidding parties, offering support in a range of areas, including forecasting commercial revenues for the project, advising on the design of the contractual framework, supporting the bidder in negotiations with the state and providing the commercial due diligence report used to engage private investors in the project.
We also worked closely with colleagues in FTI Consulting’s Corporate Finance practice, who used their industry expertise to help develop key assumptions used in the bidder’s financial model.
My role
I was responsible for developing the analysis that forecast the revenues the bidder would be expected to earn over the period of the contract. This model used demand projections, forecasts of expected population growth, and predicted regulatory prices to estimate the revenues from multiple broadband products the bidder planned to offer consumers over several decades. I constructed the model and, as the project progressed, I added multiple scenarios and dashboards to present the results to the client.
I was relied on by the rest of the team to explain the mechanics and results of the model I had built to key members of the client team. I also travelled to Europe with the team on a number of occasions to present our findings (including the forecasts I had produced) to the bidder and to the government of the European country involved.
