CASE ANALYSIS
Financial Analyst
You are the Financial Analyst for Colombia for a company that among different products, commercializes pharmaceuticals products.
The focus of your position is to support the Pharmaceutical Business Unit which has one Commercial Director in each Division that has
three reports: The Commercial Manager, Marketing and the Medical Manager. You will need to work very closely with each Director for
this unit and her/his team.
A broad network of finance contacts within Colombia and around the globe will provide support with financial shared services. Financial
shared services will manage local and international accounting matters, accounts payables/receivables, taxes, payroll, etc. Although
these areas will not fall under your direct responsibility, you should be comfortable discussing issues with your peers since they will
directly impact the business. You report directly to the Finance director of the country.
1. As the Financial Analyst you have a few areas within your first day requiring your attention. Please prioritize your activities for the
day.
a) The Share services area has sent you an e-mail from Corporate Internal Audit notifying you that Colombia will be audited
in six months. As pre-work for the audit they would like a presentation on the business, as well as a list of all the local
procedures within the next few weeks.
b) The Pharmaceutical Business Unit for Colombia has requested a meeting with you today to discuss the pricing strategy of
key products. There are rumors of competitor entering the market and the team is considering price cuts and/or alternative
distribution strategies to discourage competition and maintain market share. The Plan of this business unit includes 20%
growth vs last year and 3% improve in profitability.
c) The Pharma’s Commercial Director has requested a meeting with you to discuss the need to grant an important discount
(30%) to one distributor which represents 15% of the Unit sales in order to achieve the quarterly sales target. The policy
does not allow this kind of discounts but they have an excellent relationship with the Company and it’s projected to be
number one distributor in sales for next year.
d) You received an e-mail from the Commercial Director for Colombia asking you to make in today´s closing day for third
quarter an accrual of one Million dollars in possible upcoming expenses (30% of total Year Plan expenses) since a
corporate expenses Cut is expected to take place in the next month.
e) Month Sale’s will be close in the afternoon however the Invoicing system which is managed by the shared service alerts
that is facing a software problem that is slowing the process considerably and could affect total sales for the month.
2. Solve the issues.
a. The production Plant produces 3 products, but the level of installed capacity is close to 100% and we to take the
decision to produce only 2 items to maximize the profit, according with the following information, what are you
recommendation?
Prod A Prod B Prod C TOTAL
Units 220,0 230,0 150,0 600
Price 2,0 1,5 2,8
Sales 440,0 345,0 420,0 1.205,0
Cost
Fixed 100 15 160 275,0
Variable 70 120 60 250,0
Total Cost 170,0 135,0 220,0 525,0
Cost per units 0,77 0,59 1,47
Gross margin 270,0 210,0 200,0 680,0
% Margin 61,4% 60,9% 47,6% 56,4%
YOUR PLAN OF ACTION: You should develop and suggest a plan of action, addressing the topics you consider most strategically
important and indicating what you would do about the others. You should make recommendations for how you would handle each, and
additional questions you may ask to help refine your conclusions.
Preparation Time: 30 minutes
Presentation Time: 10 minutes
1. Proposed Order
1. E
2. B
3. D
4. C
5. A
2. FOCUS ON PRODUCT A AND B, BECAUSE THEY GENERATE THE GREATEST PROFIT.
