This is a case study. Solve this case study carefully. Please type the answer. Don't write on paper. I need this within an hour. Subject: Business Communication

Difficult Conversations and Dealing with Challenging Situations at Work: The Case of the Ineffectual FD

Sandra Beech, an analyst with the investment bank of Pierce Nez, was working with Timothy Bauer, the Financial Director (FD, equivalent to a controller) of KibbleSpume, an online pet products operation. The five-year-old KibbleSpume was trying to raise money to finance its expansion across Europe.

This was the first time that Sandra had led the financial part of a project. In addition to managing the auditing process, she was in charge of creating a financial model that would support the three-year plan. The timing was great for her career, as analysts at Pierce Nez were on a two-year up-or-out schedule and this was her second year. She liked Pierce Nez and wanted to stay. Yet she knew that her lead partner on this project, Hart Crane, had no tolerance for less-than-perfect results.

Unfortunately, that's the input that Timothy, the FD, was providing. He was a 50-year-old chartered accountant who had been the controller at Vovenhuset, the brick-and-mortar pet store chain run by the parents of KibbleSpume's founder. He had a deep knowledge of the pet business and truly was an adequate FD. After the transaction, Timothy would need to provide guidance to the founder and the investors on the company's progress in reaching the strategic goals incorporated in the model. He needed to understand the model and the embedded strategic assumptions in a visceral way. In essence, Sandra thought, he would have to act like a CFO.

This happy picture was the goal, but Sandra feared that reality was far from it. While Timothy knew the business well he did not know how to build the types of assumption-driven financial models that were needed. The information he supplied was incorrect, misclassified, incomplete, or misleading, and late. Sandra identified the mistakes and would then ask Timothy to correct them. Yet she worried that she might be missing some, as she was certainly no expert in online pet products. What mistakes were embedded in the model?

This Tuesday night, she stared out at the gloom and wondered what to do. Yet another incomprehensible spreadsheet had arrived with misallocated data and a cheerful note from Timothy saying, "Here's the data you needed, can't wait to see the model!" Should she talk to Hart? Perhaps the firm's network included a pet products expert who could help her target her questions. Perhaps they should find a temporary CFO with experience in similar businesses to guide Timothy? But what would Hart think of her? How could she bring up her concerns without risking the promotion that she so hoped to get?

Maybe she should leave Hart out of it and work on Timothy. Would confronting him about these issues improve things, or just add tension to their uncertain relationship? What if she set regular meetings and laid out the model and her data needs more precisely? But that would take yet more time--and she had little to spare. If she worked nights and weekends, she could reduce his involvement only to situations when his operational knowledge was essential, and take the entire task on by herself. Her boyfriend was already testy about her "work husband" but what else could she do? The deadline was tight on this project. Every day she delayed reduced her options.