Financial Services: Providing financial control and management information as our client grows rapidly

David Dawson of FD Solutions has completed his first year working with the founders of Freight Investor Services Ltd (“FIS”), a Cannon Street-based financial derivatives company, brokering dry cargo Forward Freight Agreement deals. These deals allow ship owners and ship users to hedge against changes in the cost of shipping either short term or several years in advance.

Shipping owners and users are FIS’s main customers, but increasingly trading companies with no specific shipping exposure are coming into the market with a view to taking advantage of market volatility.

Headed by John Banaszkiewicz and Andy Lucey, FIS have been trading since 2002 and have already established a significant share of its chosen niche in the market.

Auditors BDO Stoy Hayward approached Simon Walters when it became clear that the accounts needed to be taken in-house, having previously been serviced remotely by another firm of accountants. The previous arrangements did not provide the company with either the financial control or the quality of management information needed by this expanding company.

The solution we proposed to FIS was that with bookkeeping assistance from Amanda Sharma, who we introduced to FIS, we provide full on-site accounting with payments fully under the control of the directors. We now oversee the accounts record-keeping, payroll, management accounting and annual reporting, leaving John and Andy free to concentrate on developing FIS to its maximum potential.

David produces timely management accounts, in a format that gives the required information to John and Andy and enables them to better plan the company’s future. David also prepares budgets for FIS that model the underlying business as well as the financial details, and updates this as required to reflect actual performance.

David liaises regularly with BDO on quarterly submissions to the FSA and other regulatory issues, and has built up an understanding of the regulatory requirements of the financial services sector.

We continue to work closely with FIS, with David typically spending a day or so per month, and Amanda Sharma keeping the books updated with visits every fortnight. There are numerous ad hoc requests for advice, which David is delighted to handle as and when needed.

John and Andy are high-profile professionals in the sector, with Andy being a past chairman of the Forward Freight Agreement Brokers’ Association, and he commented on FD Solutions:

“FIS turned into a far bigger business much quicker than we anticipated and from an accounting and management perspective we were not ready or equipped for the rate of growth that we experienced. The services that David and Amanda provide allowed us to get our systems back under control and going forward we now regard them as a critical and fully integrated part of our business.”