Client Engagements & Case Studies

A specialty lender preparing for their first full-scope GAAS audit had never been through the process. Internal records were maintained for operational purposes, not audit readiness. Key accounting positions were undocumented. The PBC package didn't exist. Management understood the audit was coming but had no clear picture of how far the books were from where they needed to be — and the engagement was 90 days out.

LAC performed a pre-audit diagnostic across the full balance sheet — identifying gaps between current records and what the audit team would require. From there, a structured preparation timeline was built: PBC package assembly, technical accounting memo drafting for complex positions, reconciliation of prior-period items, and working through auditor questions before fieldwork began. The audit firm was engaged directly on pre-fieldwork questions to compress the fieldwork timeline.

The first full-scope GAAS audit closed on schedule. Auditor questions during fieldwork were minimal because most had been resolved in advance. The client now has a repeatable audit preparation process — documented PBC checklists, policy memos on file, and a clear calendar for future engagements. The infrastructure is in place for the next audit to run faster than the first.

A multi-entity manufacturing company was closing the books three weeks after month-end. The consolidation process lived in a single person's working memory — a patchwork of spreadsheets that required manual re-linking every cycle. Errors introduced during consolidation were discovered late or not at all. Management couldn't make timely decisions because financials weren't available until well into the following month.

LAC mapped the entire close cycle from source data to consolidated output, identifying every manual handoff and single point of failure. The consolidation infrastructure was rebuilt using Power Query — automated data pulls from each entity, standardized chart of accounts mapping, and an output structure that refreshed with a single click. Inter-company eliminations were automated. The close calendar was restructured to sequence tasks correctly and distribute work across the cycle rather than stacking it at month-end.

Month-end close went from three weeks to eight business days. The consolidation workbook runs in minutes rather than days. The process is documented, tested, and no longer dependent on any single person's institutional knowledge. Management now has financials available in the first week following month-end — early enough to inform decisions that month rather than the next one.

A technology company with complex multi-element contract arrangements was preparing financial statements ahead of a capital raise. Revenue recognition under ASC 606 had not been formally addressed — the company had been recognizing revenue on a cash basis and understood that this treatment would not survive investor diligence. They needed financial statements that reflected correct GAAP treatment, with the technical memo to support it.

LAC worked through the company's contract portfolio, applying the ASC 606 five-step model to each revenue stream. Distinct performance obligations were identified, standalone selling prices were determined for each, and transaction price allocation was documented. Prior-period comparative financial statements were restated. A technical accounting memo was prepared covering the full analysis — suitable for investor review and audit support. Financial statements were prepared in full GAAP format with appropriate footnote disclosures.

The company entered their capital raise with financial statements that reflected correct GAAP treatment and a memo on file that explained exactly how they got there. Investor diligence on accounting went smoothly. The technical memo also became a standing reference document for how the company treats new contract structures going forward — eliminating the need to re-analyze from scratch each time.

A professional services firm preparing for an investor review had board reporting that had grown organically — six separate data sources, a manually assembled package, and a close process that consumed the first two weeks of every month. The CFO was personally rebuilding the board deck from scratch each cycle. The existing package didn't have a consistent structure, and numbers were difficult to reconcile back to the underlying financials. Investors were going to look at this closely.

LAC audited the full close process and board reporting workflow — documenting every step, every data source, and every manual handoff. The close calendar was rebuilt with clear task ownership and sequencing. Backup schedules were automated using a combination of Excel and Power Query, pulling from source systems rather than requiring manual compilation. The board package was redesigned with a consistent structure: executive summary, financial results versus plan, key metrics, and variance analysis — all driven from a single source of truth.

Close time dropped from two weeks to six business days. The board package now refreshes automatically and takes hours rather than days to prepare. The investor review went well — the reporting was clean, consistently formatted, and numbers traced back to financials without friction. The client now uses the same package structure on a recurring basis with minimal ongoing effort from the CFO.

A company with 12 operating subsidiaries was consolidating year-end financials through a process that required manually copying data from each subsidiary's workbook into a master file — every cycle, by hand. The process took two full weeks, was prone to keying errors, and required a complete redo each time any subsidiary revised their numbers. There was no way to quickly re-run the consolidation as corrections came in, and the audit team was waiting on a clean package.

LAC built a Python-based consolidation pipeline using pandas that automatically ingested each subsidiary workbook, applied chart of accounts normalization across entities with different account structures, performed inter-company elimination entries, and produced a consolidated trial balance and financial statement output. The pipeline was designed to run in minutes and could be re-executed any time subsidiary figures were updated — eliminating the manual re-work cycle. Documentation was written so the process could be maintained by internal staff going forward.

Year-end consolidation went from two weeks of manual work to a process that runs in under 30 minutes. As subsidiaries revised their figures during audit, the consolidation was refreshed same-day rather than requiring a full rebuild. The audit team received a clean, reconciled package on a compressed timeline. The pipeline is now in use for quarterly reporting as well — the initial build paid for itself in the first quarter.