A foreign biotechnology company pursued an IPO in the U.S. with an accelerated timeline.
The Challenge
- Company had never been audited and the historical books and records were not maintained in US GAAP
- Four distinct sets of books each maintained in disparate accounting systems
- High-volume of intercompany transactions, intercompany accounts did not balance
- The Company did not have a functioning consolidation model
- Significant volume of unique and complicated transactions that required careful evaluation under US GAAP
- Extremely complicated capital structure
- Lack of resources in the finance group
The Solution
- WilliamsMarston immediately inserted itself into the process coordinating the Big 4 multinational audit teams
- Completed over twenty complex technical accounting memos each reviewed by the Big 4 national office including functional currency, preferred stock, convertible debt, stock-based compensation, joint ventures, collaboration agreements, variable interest entities, etc.
- Converted historical records to US GAAP and built an audit ready excel-based consolidation model to properly address foreign currency remeasurement, translation and intercompany transactions.
- Implemented new accounting system to eliminate disparate systems
- Wrote MD&A and F- pages sections of S-1
- Responded to and resolved accounting related SEC comments
The Result
Clean audit opinion was issued on all historical periods included in the S- 1 and all SEC comments were resolved successfully.