Opening-Balance-Sheet Control Director — Logistics Carve-In

The mandate

The buyer has completed a multi-entity logistics acquisition whose completion accounts, local ledgers and operational cut-off use different definitions. Shipments span closing, customer rebates and fuel surcharges settle later, claims emerge after delivery, leased assets sit in local schedules and seller allocations remain in working capital. The first consolidation cannot simply accept a signed closing statement as accounting evidence.

The engagement deliverable is an Opening Balance Sheet Reconciliation Pack and Controlled Issue Ledger. It will bridge completion accounts to legal ledgers and consolidation; address cash, receivables, contract balances, payables, claims, provisions, leases, tax, fixed assets, intercompany, acquisition adjustments and retained seller items; and distinguish measurement, purchase-agreement and operational ownership.

Milestone one at week three provides source reconciliation, cut-off populations and issue materiality. Week six concludes milestone two with account positions, evidence gaps and seller-query support. At week nine, milestone three delivers proposed consolidation and control treatments. The accepted opening pack, unresolved-item governance, first-close checklist and client-run scenario complete milestone four at week thirteen.

Acceptance requires Group Finance to reproduce every material opening line from completion statement through local book and consolidation adjustment; twenty sampled cross-close shipments and claims must follow consistent cut-off; and an unseen rebate true-up must route correctly. The Controller signs after the acquired team executes the first-close reconciliation without consultant-only schedules.

The client will provide the purchase agreement, completion accounts, local trial balances, consolidation mappings, shipment and delivery events, billing, cash, rebate, surcharge, claim, lease, asset, tax and intercompany records, plus seller and auditor access. Client accountants own booked treatments. The engagement excludes audit opinion, valuation, legal or tax advice, seller negotiation and production system integration.

Why this is external work

Group Controllership did not own the acquired operational records, and the local team did not design the buyer’s completion mechanics or consolidation. Both are absorbed by first-close demands. Independent work can reconcile the transaction and accounting views quickly without auditing the balances, interpreting the agreement or running the acquired finance function.

What you will own

• Bridge completion accounts, local legal ledgers, acquisition adjustments and group consolidation for every material opening account.
• Reconstruct cross-close shipment, delivery, billing, cost, accrual, rebate, surcharge and claim cut-off using operational evidence.
• Distinguish booked liability, measurement-period item, purchase-agreement claim, post-close event and ordinary operating correction.
• Reconcile leased and owned assets, condition obligations, maintenance accruals and seller-provided fixed-asset schedules.
• Establish issue materiality, evidence owner, proposed treatment, approval, seller query and first-close resolution date.
• Design opening-balance and subsequent-movement controls that prevent unresolved acquisition items from recurring indefinitely.
• Transfer the pack through first close and an unseen rebate or claim scenario run by acquired and group teams.

Candidate qualifications

• Led opening-balance or completion-account reconciliations for multi-entity acquisitions in logistics, transport or asset-intensive services.
• Reconstructed revenue and cost cut-off across shipment, delivery, invoice, accrual, rebate, fuel surcharge and later claim events.
• Distinguished acquisition accounting, purchase-agreement mechanics and ordinary operating corrections without issuing legal conclusions.
• Reconciled leases, fixed assets, provisions, tax, intercompany and working capital from inconsistent seller and local sources.
• Managed high-stakes first-close challenge with group accountants, acquired teams, auditors and transaction counsel.
• Delivered transparent opening packs that permanent finance owners maintained after external transaction specialists withdrew.

Non-negotiables

• The named director must lead Tokyo reconciliation and remain available through the first consolidated close rehearsal.
• No current relationship may involve the seller, its advisers, a competing buyer or a disputed closing-account provider.
• Client accountants and auditors retain accounting, materiality and assurance judgements; counsel interprets the agreement.
• Audit, valuation, legal or tax opinion, seller negotiation and production implementation are expressly excluded.

1. 49 words maximum. Describe an opening balance that changed after operational cut-off was reconciled to completion accounts.
2. 49 words maximum. How did you distinguish a post-close operating correction from a purchase-agreement claim?
3. 49 words maximum. Which client records are indispensable before testing shipment and claims cut-off?