Charlie Colthorpe

Consultant

I was attracted to EFC by the opportunity to learn about business and finance through diverse and challenging projects that would build my analytical skills. Since joining, I have found in-house training, studying for a professional qualification (I am currently studying towards the ICAEW Chartered Accountant (ACA) Qualification) and on-the-job learning have helped in building my skills and knowledge. Further, supportive and patient colleagues are interested in my development and take the time to explain new concepts. As a result, I have felt able to contribute positively from day one. I have also found that over time, I have grown in confidence to make better judgements and put forward more convincing arguments.

Even as a new joiner, the work is broad and involves research, quantitative modelling, report writing and more. What I have enjoyed most is the chance to work on varied projects in different industries, initially in the Economic Regulation team, and more recently focusing on economic and financial issues in legal disputes. For example, some of my projects have involved assessing the financial impact of a copyright infringement in the e-commerce industry; defective components in the automotive industry; a shareholder disagreement in the aviation industry; and the breaking of a contract in the pharmaceutical services sector. Working on high-profile, high-stakes disputes is engaging. Knowing that our work will be scrutinised and challenged by opposing experts means we have to be rigorous and precise in our approach.

Outside of work, I have enjoyed the regular social events on offer as well as volunteering opportunities. The firm regularly partners with charities and offers the chance to donate time, money or expertise to support various causes. For example, FTI’s award-winning ‘Experts in Schools’ program gives us a chance to use our skills to improve financial literacy and provide careers advice to children at local schools, which I find really rewarding.

Project: Assessing losses caused by fraud of a vineyard and wine production company.

Background

The owners of a vineyard and wine production company were forced to sell their business because they were victims of fraud. FTI was engaged to assess the loss of value that this forced sale caused the owners, compared to if they had been able to keep the business. To do this we had to consider how the company would have performed if the fraud had never occurred. We projected the financial performance of the company and then used different business valuation techniques such as discounted cash flow (DCF) analysis and a consideration of similar companies in the industry to assess the value of the company that was sold.

The challenge of this project lay in dealing with uncertainty over how the company would perform in the future, particularly when the performance of the company after it was sold was very poor compared to the very optimistic business plan prepared by the original owners. We had to consider whether in their hands the business might have avoided this subsequent poor performance. It was interesting that the company was smaller than as our typical clients, which meant that we were working with much more limited information. We had to compare the company we were valuing to the value of larger, public companies and think about what adjustments might be necessary for our valuation.

My role

My role involved researching the company and building an understanding of what was going on in the industry. I assisted with building our financial models in Excel, in particular researching and supporting some of the key assumptions that would underpin our projections. To do this, I used public sources, industry reports and data from financial databases like Capital IQ. I then used these inputs to forecast the profits and cashflows of the company into the future.

The project challenged me to think critically about the business we were valuing and develop convincing and defensible assumptions for the different drivers of business value. I particularly enjoyed learning about how wine businesses work and thinking about how that would affect our financial modelling and valuation. It was rewarding applying knowledge from the ACA qualification to understand the company accounts and the dynamics of the wider market to assess, for example, how demand for wine would change over time.

Follow your favourite employers
Save jobs to your shortlist
Receive personalised alerts
Access our live webinars
Register now
On the move? Download The App
Gradcracker Logo
Gradcracker Limited, October House, Long Street, Easingwold, York, YO61 3HX
01347 823822 | info@gradcracker.com | Company registration number: 6370348
© 2007 - 2024 Gradcracker Limited
Gradcracker and Cookies
We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website.
If you continue we'll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies from Gradcracker.
Continue
Learn more