Sydney

The Excel model audit team of Corality is based in Sydney, Australia. Most people appreciate that Sydney is one of the best places to live (in particular at this time of year - December - when Europe is not looking overly attractive and we have +28 degrees Celsius and sunshine) in the world but that is only one of the advantages of locating our financial model audit team here.

The model audit (model review) process of an Excel financial model

A typical model audit, or model review, of a financial model for a PPP/PFI/Project Finance transaction involves an initial spreadsheet review and an analytical review followed by additional iterations to resolve all outstanding spreadsheet issues satisfactorily. Typically in a bid tender process there are 3-5 Excel spreadsheet iterations in the model review process and the last two are often very minor.

Late nights of financial modelling for a bid tender process in PPP/PFI/Project Finance

By the nature of the high pressure environment of bid process in a PPP/PFI/Project Finance transaction the financial modeller in the deal team will be working on the financial model up until the very minute he leaves the office to go home a get a few hours well needed sleep. By that time the Excel project model is sent via email to the model auditors. This is obviously not a great structure from a bigger picture financial model risk perspective, but that is a different story.

The time zone advantage in using an Australian model audit company for European project finance/PPP/PFI projects

Unless you are working with a model audit team with seriously disturbed sleep patterns they are unlikely to be waiting at their desk at 1am waiting to potentially receive a new model…. (They probably would do this on the bid date, but not for the initial iterations). Should you work with an Australian model audit team then this would not be an issue. 1am in London is 11am Sydney time so we could get started straight away and complete the next model review iteration of the Excel financial model by 9am when the deal team modeller gets back to his/her desk to start the new day on the PPP/PFI/Project Finance model..

On Tuesday this week I had the pleasure of having a very pleasant chat with John Stroud from Digit Advisory. Digit Advisory is a partnership of two principals who are both ex Babcock and Brown and they are now (after an enviably long round-the-world trip) touring Sydney to broadcast their message of Digit Advisory - ‘Financial Modelling Expertise’. At a first glance one could be led to believe that Digit Advisory is a pure financial modelling specialist firm with investment banking expertise but I think that in the long term the strong skills of the principals in leading a transaction will turn out to be their biggest selling point.

For transactions that are not quite at the stage where they need to appoint a global investment bank for financial modelling and execution of the transaction Digit Advisory looks like a very sensible offering. I am yet to see one of their models but based on the high-level discussions I would like to think that Digit Advisory and Corality share a passion for simple, transparent and flexible financial models. I would recommend you to have a chat to John to find out more.

Ernst & Young financial modelling: London -> Sydney

John Stroud has interestingly enough a career path that is remarkably similar to my former colleague and business partner Nick Crawley at financial modelling consultancy Navigator Project Finance. Both joined Ernst & Young financial modelling in London and were subsequently sent to Sydney to boost the financial modelling capacity there. After joining from London they both left out of frustration within one year! John went to Babcock and Brown in Sydney and Nick to ANZ investment bank. Babcock and Brown are now a very quickly sinking ship and most people have moved on bigger and better things.

Hunter Street Sydney - Australian headquarter of financial modelling?

Digit Advisory have established their offices at 66 Hunter Street which further strengthens Hunter Street’s crowd of financial modelers. In the same building they have Bamford Partners (I haven’t met them yet but they appear to have a focus on financial modelling) and further down the street are Navigator Project Finance and Corality.

Recruiting financial modelers

Digit Advisory have big plans for growth and they are already looking to recruit two people to join the team. They are looking for people with about five years experience and who could comfortably work with and support top-tier investment banks with financial modelling, analysis and execution.

On a different note it appears that boutique financial modelling companies have survived the global financial crisis far better than then banking world. Corality have in July had three more people join the team and we are looking for one more Graduate to join in a few weeks. Navigator are also looking for two more Analysts and Financial Mechanics have also recently had a new joiner.

With the global financial crisis slowing down we are seeing a significantly increased level of activity in the transaction  space. Most notably the mining / resources sector is now again full of life. PPP / infrastructure is continuously strong and is representing the majority of work at Corality at present.

We need to look after our clients to keep them happy

With the increased activity comes an increased work load for our team members and we are now looking for a business developer to take on the responsibility of looking after our key clients to ensure that they know that we are always available for their projects.

Facilitating an easy engagement process

Working with Corality on a model audit engagement should be easy from a client’s perspective. Being responsive to requests and facilitating a no-nonse engagement process is at the core of what we do to respond to our client’s frustrations with the accounting firms’ model audit teams. The responsibility of the new person would be to ensure that client’s know that we are available and to assist in engagement matters and to generally keep clients happy.

Recruitment process?

We are not looking at running a big formal recruitment process at this stage as we prefer to have a more tailored approach and I would be interested in discussing this opportunity with anyone who believes it could be an interesting role. As always, we can make the role fit around the person - not the other way around.

Personal attributes of a business developer for financial model audit services

• experience from a transaction environment and understands the process of financing of projects $100m - 1 billion
• interested in building an international network (Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Australia)
• proven experience in business development

The role will be Sydney based for the first 12 months and can then be discussed. Options in the future include London, Frankfurt and Singapore. Should you also happen to love financial modelling and model audits then that is of course a big bonus, but if not then we can probably sort that out.

Interested? Give me a call on +61 2 9222 9222
(No recruiters please).

Money? We will tailor a package based around the risk appetite of the candidate. The right person will be willing to set high targets and get highly rewarded if they are reached.

We have now had an accepted offer for the role of Associate - Financial Model Audit and are now looking to further expand the team by taking on two financial modelling analysts.

The financial modelling analyst role description will tell you the whole story but I thought I would expand on it slightly here.

We are trying to find two people with the following attributes

• Willing to put in 110% to become the most respected financial model audit team in the world
• Numerically and technically exceptional and combining this with a consultative and professional approach
• Love the challenge of global projects in infrastructure, utilities, power, mining, oil and gas, renewable energy
• Enjoys the challenge of understanding every singe detail of some very complex transactions and financial models
• Interested in working globally - we have clients all over the world - Germany, Saudi, Singapore, Vietnam, Norway, United Kingdom…

We are offering AUD 60k + super + bonus for this role and can see that a successful new joiner should be able to increase that significantly relatively quickly. A quarterly bonus structure makes sure that hard work is remunerated without having to wait a full year on it…

If you think you are our person, please let me know, and if not - tell your friends!

Since the launch of the brand Corality in Dec 2008 (post the spin-off from Navigator Project Finance) we have seen a big upswing on financial model audit mandates and we are now recruiting to get us ready for busy years ahead.

The last few months have been quite busy for the team mainly in the infrastructure/water/utilities space and there has been limited time to focus on recruiting. We are now overdue on filling the role as Senior Associate and will be conducting interviews over the coming weeks.

If you are interested in a new challenge in the field of financial model audit then please give me a call on +61 2 9222 9222 for a confidential discussion.

Key attributes for a Senior Associate in Financial model audit

In short, we are looking for someone who has significant experience in auditing financial models in a range of industry sectors and who would be comfortable in further developing our already leading processes and to train and coach junior team members. Based on this it is quite likely that you have a background in one of the accounting firms or in one of the more specialised model audit/actuarial firms.

Financial model audit outside the big accounting firms

Working in a specialised, non-accounting, firm has many advantages

• Have a direct and immediate impact on the business
• Flexible working hours and arrangements
• Less admin and reporting
• A more direct approach to implementing improvements
• Closer interaction with clients
• Instant recognition for good work and a quarterly bonus scheme
• A global client base

How do you know if this is right for you?

This is pretty simple question to answer for the right person. The infrastructure sector is, and will, be quite active for the coming years. If you can answer ‘yes’ to the following questions then I would very much like to have a chat with you.

Have you….

• Performed financial model audit on +10 infrastructure projects of USD/AUD/GBP +100m
• Trained and coached junior team members in the art of financial model audits

The job is based in Sydney, however if you are located somewhere else but would be interested in working in a fantastic city, live by the beach and enjoy the most comfortable climate on the planet then we could probably work something out to get you over here.

Salary expectations for this role

Getting the right salary is important for motivation. We have a pretty good understanding of how much the competition is paying and I am confident that we can give the right person a very good incentive to move away for your current role. This is all made even more attractive by a quarterly bonus scheme which makes the sometimes very intense work more enjoyable.

If you are worried about the salary, we could have a chat about your expectations early on in the interview to make sure that we are on the same page before getting more formal in the interview process.