PRACTICE SHOWCASE

Finance & Accounting Advisory:
Engagements & Capabilities

Representative engagements demonstrating Nirji's methodology across Fractional CFO, India Corridor Advisory, Financial Due Diligence, and Finance Transformation. Led by Chartered Accountants (ICAI, India) operating across the Singapore–India corridor.

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ORIENTATION

How to Read This Page

Nirji Ventures' Finance & Accounting Advisory practice is built around four service lines. The engagements below are representative scenarios drawn from the type of work our practice delivers — not identified clients. Each scenario illustrates the methodology, scope, deliverables, and typical outcomes for that engagement type.

This format reflects how the most useful conversation with a prospective client begins: "Here is what an engagement like yours looks like, here is how we approach it, here is what you should expect to receive, and here is the range of outcomes typical for this type of work."

For founders, family offices, and operators evaluating whether Nirji is the right partner: read the scenario closest to your situation, then schedule a call to scope the actual engagement.

4

Service Lines

20+

Combined Years of CA Experience¹

2

Anchor Geographies (Singapore + India)

30+

Countries of Operating Experience¹

¹ Aggregate professional experience of senior partners.

REPRESENTATIVE ENGAGEMENTS

Four Scenarios — One Per Service Line

Each card below is a representative engagement: an illustrative scenario showing how an engagement of this type is scoped, structured, and delivered.

Representative Engagement Fractional CFO

Series B SaaS Company Preparing for Strategic Acquirer Conversations

Client Archetype

A Singapore-headquartered B2B SaaS company, Series B-stage, ~SGD 12–18M annual recurring revenue, with operations across India and Southeast Asia. Founder-led; finance function comprised of a Financial Controller and an outsourced bookkeeping team.

The Situation

The company had received unsolicited interest from two strategic acquirers and one growth equity investor. The founder recognised that the existing finance function — built reactively across two funding rounds — could not support the level of scrutiny these conversations would generate. Specifically:

  • ●Monthly close took 18–22 days; investor reporting was always stale.
  • ●Revenue recognition policies inherited from early-stage practice did not align with how a sophisticated acquirer would recognise ARR.
  • ●Cross-border intercompany flows between the Singapore parent and the Indian subsidiary lacked transfer pricing documentation.
  • ●The company had no rolling 13-week cash forecast, making working capital negotiations during diligence impossible to anchor.

The Approach

A 12-month engagement structured in three phases:

Phase 1 (Months 1–3): Foundation

  • ●Close calendar tightened from 18–22 days to 7–10 days.
  • ●Revenue recognition policy reviewed and aligned to standards a sophisticated investor would apply (ASC 606 / IFRS 15 principles).
  • ●13-week rolling cash forecast implemented with weekly variance review.
  • ●Board pack rebuilt around decision-grade KPIs.

Phase 2 (Months 4–8): Substantive Lift

  • ●Intercompany agreements between Singapore parent and Indian subsidiary documented; transfer pricing policy drafted with benchmarking memo.
  • ●Annual operating plan and quarterly reforecasting cadence established.
  • ●Customer cohort analysis built (retention, expansion, gross margin by segment) — became core diligence asset.
  • ●Vendor diligence preparation: data room structured, key documents identified, gaps closed.

Phase 3 (Months 9–12): Acquirer Engagement

  • ●Senior Partner sat in board meetings and acquirer diligence sessions as part of management team.
  • ●Coordinated with appointed legal counsel, Singapore tax agents, and Indian Chartered Accountants for jurisdiction-specific filings.
  • ●Term sheet education and negotiation preparation for the founder.
  • ●Clean handover documentation prepared for full-time CFO recruitment post-engagement.

The Outcome

Engagements of this type typically deliver:

  • ●Audit-ready financial reporting within 90 days of engagement start.
  • ●Investor-grade data room and financial narrative within 6 months.
  • ●Cross-border tax and TP exposure surfaced and remediated before external diligence.
  • ●Founder confidence and capacity preserved through the process — the founder runs their company; the CFO runs the diligence.
Representative Engagement India Corridor Advisory

Singapore Family Office Structuring a USD 15M Investment Into an Indian Growth-Stage Company

Client Archetype

A Singapore-based single-family office with USD 200M+ in discretionary capital, evaluating a USD 15M Series C investment into a Bangalore-headquartered consumer-internet company. Family office had completed three prior India investments through generalist advisors and wanted a more integrated structuring partner for this transaction.

The Situation

The family office had encountered three recurring issues on prior India investments that had collectively cost them an estimated USD 1.5–2M in unnecessary tax leakage and compliance friction:

  • ●Holding structure designed for Mauritius-based investments was reused without re-analysis under the Singapore–India DTAA, triggering unnecessary capital gains exposure on a partial exit.
  • ●FEMA pricing guideline compliance had been delegated to the target's CA, who applied a methodology that was later challenged.
  • ●Repatriation strategy on dividends was not pre-planned; withholding tax was applied at default rates rather than the treaty rate, eroding 5–7% of intended distributions.

The Approach

An 8-week structuring engagement with the following workstreams:

Workstream 1: Holding Structure Design

  • ●Singapore HoldCo design under the Singapore–India DTAA, with beneficial ownership and substance analysis.
  • ●LOB (Limitation of Benefits) clause analysis to confirm treaty benefit eligibility.
  • ●GAAR defensibility memo addressing potential tax authority challenges.
  • ●Comparison memo: direct Singapore investment vs. Singapore HoldCo vs. alternate jurisdictions.

Workstream 2: Pre-Investment Regulatory Diligence

  • ●FDI route classification (automatic vs. approval) confirmation.
  • ●Sectoral cap and conditionality review under FDI Policy.
  • ●FEMA Pricing Guidelines application and valuation methodology review.
  • ●DPIIT recognition status verification for the target.
  • ●Coordination with appointed Indian legal counsel for filing-level specifics.

Workstream 3: Transaction Structuring and Documentation

  • ●Share class structuring (CCPS vs. equity) analysis.
  • ●Anti-dilution, liquidation preference, and information rights benchmarking.
  • ●Drag/tag and exit waterfall modelling.

Workstream 4: Exit and Repatriation Planning

  • ●Exit scenario modelling: IPO, strategic sale, secondary.
  • ●Capital gains tax efficiency analysis under Section 47(viab) and treaty interaction.
  • ●Dividend repatriation strategy with withholding tax optimisation.
  • ●Buyback vs. dividend efficiency comparison.

The Outcome

Engagements of this type typically deliver:

  • ●Holding structure that is treaty-defensible and GAAR-resistant.
  • ●Pre-investment surfacing of regulatory issues before money moves.
  • ●Exit pathway clarity that informs investment hold-period decisions.
  • ●Clean documentation trail that supports later regulatory or diligence review.
  • ●Estimated tax-efficiency improvement of 200–400 basis points on exit value vs. unstructured alternatives.

Post-Close Engagement

Many corridor engagements transition to ongoing retainer:

  • ●Quarterly compliance reviews (FEMA filings, FLA returns).
  • ●Regulatory change monitoring (RBI circulars, IT Act amendments).
  • ●Transaction-by-transaction advisory for follow-on investments.
  • ●Coordination with Indian filing agents on FC-GPR, FC-TRS, and related submissions.
Representative Engagement Financial Due Diligence

Buy-Side Diligence on a Mumbai-Headquartered Healthcare SaaS Acquisition by a Southeast Asian Strategic

Client Archetype

A Bangkok-headquartered healthcare technology strategic acquirer, publicly listed in Thailand, evaluating a USD 28M acquisition of a Mumbai-based clinical workflow SaaS company with operations across India, UAE, and Singapore.

The Situation

The acquirer's deal team had already engaged a regional Big 4 firm on commercial diligence and a Singapore-based law firm on legal diligence. They engaged Nirji specifically for financial diligence because prior cross-border transactions had revealed that generalist diligence teams often miss India-specific financial reporting nuances:

  • ●Indian revenue recognition practices that materially differ from Ind AS 115 / IFRS 15.
  • ●Related-party transaction frameworks under Sections 188 and Schedule V of the Indian Companies Act.
  • ●Indirect tax (GST) exposures specific to SaaS and cross-border digital services.
  • ●Employee benefit liabilities (gratuity, leave encashment) that Singapore-headquartered acquirers routinely under-account for in target valuations.
  • ●Transfer pricing positions on cross-border IP and service flows that may not survive APA scrutiny.

The Approach

A 5-week diligence engagement structured as follows:

Week 1: Scoping and Data Room Review

  • ●Deal team kickoff; diligence scope agreed and signed off.
  • ●Initial data room review; gap list issued to target.
  • ●Management interview schedule confirmed.
  • ●Red flag triage from preliminary review.

Weeks 2–3: Substantive Fieldwork

  • ●Quality of earnings analysis with trailing 12-month normalisation.
  • ●Revenue recognition deep-dive: contract-by-contract review on top 20 customers (~70% of revenue).
  • ●Working capital normalisation and target setting.
  • ●Net debt schedule with debt-like items (deferred revenue treatment, customer deposits, gratuity, leave encashment).
  • ●Customer cohort and retention analysis.
  • ●Indirect tax (GST) exposure review across India and UAE operations.
  • ●Direct tax position review including transfer pricing.
  • ●Employee benefit liability quantification under AS 15 / Ind AS 19.
  • ●Related-party transaction comprehensive review.
  • ●Foreign operations review (UAE entity, Singapore entity).

Week 4: Draft Reporting

  • ●Draft diligence report issued to deal team.
  • ●Red flag memo with severity ranking.
  • ●Working capital and net debt position with adjustments.
  • ●Adjusted EBITDA bridge.

Week 5: Final Report and Negotiation Support

  • ●Final diligence report.
  • ●Purchase price adjustment recommendation memo.
  • ●Representations and warranties scoping memo.
  • ●Escrow and earn-out structuring input.

The Outcome

Buy-side diligence of this type typically surfaces:

  • ●Working capital normalisation adjustments of 5–15% of reported levels.
  • ●Quality-of-earnings adjustments reducing reported EBITDA by 10–25%.
  • ●Tax exposures (income tax, transfer pricing, GST) representing 3–8% of enterprise value.
  • ●Employee benefit liability adjustments of 1–3% of enterprise value.
  • ●Net debt-like items that may shift purchase price by 5–10%.
  • ●In aggregate, financial diligence of this depth typically supports a purchase price negotiation movement of 8–20% from initial indicative price — multiples of the diligence fee itself.
Representative Engagement Finance Transformation

Finance Function Uplift for a Series A Marketplace Preparing for Series B

Client Archetype

A Singapore-headquartered B2B marketplace, Series A-funded, ~SGD 6–9M GMV-anchored revenue, with operations across Singapore, Indonesia, and the Philippines. Finance function staffed with one Financial Controller and a part-time bookkeeper. CFO hire planned for 12 months out, ahead of Series B.

The Situation

The company was operating effectively at Series A scale but the founder and the controller both recognised the finance function would not support Series B due diligence or operations at next-stage scale. The specific gaps:

  • ●Multi-entity consolidation done manually in Excel monthly; consolidation took 6 working days.
  • ●Multi-currency accounting handled with manual journal entries; FX treatment inconsistent across periods.
  • ●Management reporting was a 35-tab Excel pack; KPIs differed between board pack, investor updates, and internal dashboards.
  • ●Approval workflows for vendor payments lived in email; no audit trail.
  • ●ERP (Xero) was set up for a single-entity early-stage company; did not support the current operating reality.
  • ●No documented month-end close calendar; close was reactive.

The Approach

A 10-week engagement covering all four domains of the Nirji Finance Transformation framework:

Weeks 1–2: Diagnostic

  • ●Maturity assessment across Reporting, Controls, Systems, and Team domains.
  • ●Findings report with prioritised gap analysis.
  • ●Roadmap workshop with founder and controller.

Weeks 3–5: Reporting & Decision Support Uplift

  • ●KPI hierarchy designed; single source of truth across board, investor, and internal reporting.
  • ●Board pack template built (operating, financial, strategic sections).
  • ●Management reporting cadence established (weekly, monthly, quarterly).

Weeks 4–7 (parallel): Controls & Governance

  • ●Month-end close calendar designed; close target reduced from reactive to 8 working days.
  • ●Approval matrices documented (vendor payments, customer contracts, employee expenses).
  • ●Segregation of duties review and remediation.
  • ●Documented accounting policies (revenue recognition, FX, related parties, capitalisation).

Weeks 5–9 (parallel): Systems & Automation

  • ●ERP review and recommendation: migration plan from Xero to NetSuite drafted.
  • ●Implementation partner selection support.
  • ●Interim automation: Power Query consolidation tool built to reduce monthly close cycle in advance of NetSuite migration.
  • ●Integration architecture for billing, CRM, and ERP designed.

Weeks 7–10 (parallel): Team & Capability

  • ●Finance team design: target structure for next 18 months.
  • ●Job description and hiring scorecard for senior finance hire (Head of Finance / Controller upgrade).
  • ●Capability uplift plan for existing controller.
  • ●CFO hiring brief for 12-month horizon.

Week 10: Handover

  • ●Documented transformation roadmap with owner and timeline.
  • ●Implementation governance structure.
  • ●90-day, 180-day, 365-day milestones.
  • ●Optional Fractional CFO continuation engagement scoped.

The Outcome

Finance transformation engagements of this type typically deliver:

  • ●Month-end close cycle reduction of 30–60%.
  • ●Decision-grade management reporting within 60–90 days.
  • ●Controls and governance framework that supports investor diligence.
  • ●Documented systems roadmap with implementation governance.
  • ●Finance team design and hiring trajectory aligned to growth plan.
  • ●Controllership uplift sufficient to support a CFO hire in 6–12 months.
HOW WE THINK

How We Think About Finance & Accounting Advisory

Beyond the engagement scenarios above, prospective clients frequently ask how we think about the work. The frameworks below are ones we apply across engagements — not proprietary IP, but the shared body of practice that defines how we operate.

Our Operating Principles

Principle 1

Decision-Grade, Not Comprehensive

Finance advisory often defaults to comprehensive reporting that no one reads. We design every artifact — board pack, diligence report, structuring memo — to support a specific decision. If a slide does not change a decision, it should not exist.

Principle 2

Cross-Border by Default

Most of our engagements involve at least two jurisdictions. We design every structure, model, and analysis assuming cross-border relevance from day one — not as an afterthought added when complexity emerges.

Principle 3

Practitioner-Led, Senior Through

The Senior Partner who scopes the engagement is the same one who delivers it. There is no "engagement model" where partners scope work and associates deliver it. This is structural to how the practice is built.

Principle 4

Outcome Orientation

We do not bill hours. Every engagement is scoped against defined outcomes — close cycle reduction, structuring memo delivery, diligence report, board pack uplift — with the engagement fee tied to those deliverables.

Our Cross-Border Knowledge Stack

Our practitioners draw on working knowledge across multiple regulatory and reporting frameworks. We do not claim to be licensed in jurisdictions where we are not — but we work fluently across them and coordinate with appropriately licensed local counsel where statutory action is required.

Singapore

  • ●Financial Reporting Standards (FRS / SFRS)
  • ●Singapore Companies Act
  • ●Income Tax Act (Singapore)
  • ●Singapore corporate tax framework (advisory; not a registered Singapore tax agent)

India

  • ●Indian Accounting Standards (Ind AS) and Indian GAAP
  • ●Companies Act 2013
  • ●Income Tax Act 1961
  • ●Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA)
  • ●Reserve Bank of India (RBI) circulars and master directions
  • ●DPIIT Foreign Direct Investment policy
  • ●Goods and Services Tax framework

Cross-Border

  • ●Singapore–India Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA)
  • ●OECD Model Tax Convention principles
  • ●Transfer pricing benchmarking (OECD + Indian APA precedent)
  • ●General Anti-Avoidance Rules (GAAR) defensibility frameworks
  • ●Beneficial ownership and substance requirements
  • ●Limitation of Benefits (LOB) clause analysis

How We Engage

We deliver engagements in four formats:

01 · 2–4 weeks

Diagnostic Engagements

Defined-scope diagnostic with a written findings report and recommendations. Common starting point.

02 · 4–12 weeks

Project Engagements

Defined-deliverable projects — structuring memo, diligence report, transformation roadmap. Most common engagement type.

03 · 6–24 months

Retainer Engagements

Fractional CFO, ongoing corridor advisory, or post-close finance leadership. Monthly fee.

04 · Annual

On-Call Advisory

For family offices and corporate operators who need senior finance counsel intermittently. Hour bank or fixed annual retainer.

SECTOR EXPERIENCE

Sectors Where We Have Direct Operating or Advisory Experience

Our practitioners' direct experience is concentrated in the following sectors. For sectors outside this list, we engage selectively and only where the underlying financial problem is one we have credible methodology for.

Software and SaaS

B2B and B2C, subscription businesses, marketplace and platform models.

Healthcare and Health-Tech

Clinical SaaS, healthtech platforms, medical services, men's health.

Consumer and Consumer-Tech

Fashion, retail, consumer brands, tech-enabled consumer services.

Financial Services

Fintech platforms, lending, payments.

Manufacturing and Industrial

Cross-border manufacturing operations, supply chain.

Workforce and Tech-Enabled Services

Staffing, training, certification platforms.

ACTIVE PRACTICE

Recent Nirji Engagements

Our Finance & Accounting Advisory practice is actively delivering engagements across the four service lines. Anonymised summaries of recent and ongoing work will be published here as engagements complete and clients consent to disclosure.

In the meantime, the engagement scenarios above illustrate the type, scope, and methodology of work our practice delivers.

To discuss whether your situation fits our practice, schedule a scoping call.

Schedule a Scoping Call

Frequently Asked Questions

Are these engagement scenarios real client mandates?

No. The four scenarios on this page are representative archetypes — methodology-illustrative composites built to show how an engagement of each type is scoped, structured, and delivered. They are not identified clients, and engagement parameters (fees, durations, team size) are shown as ranges typical of comparable mandates rather than specific verified figures.

Who leads Finance & Accounting Advisory engagements at Nirji?

Engagements are led by Chartered Accountants (ICAI, India) with cross-border operating experience across Singapore, India, and the broader Asia corridor. Senior Partners sit on the engagement directly — there is no model where a partner sells the work and a junior team delivers it. Analyst and associate support is layered in based on engagement scope.

Does Nirji perform statutory audit or act as a Singapore tax agent?

No. Nirji does not perform statutory audit, Singapore audit, Public Accountant work, or licensed Singapore tax agent services. Where statutory audit, Singapore tax agent filings, or India statutory filings are required, we coordinate with appointed Public Accountants, Singapore tax agents, and Indian Chartered Accountants — but those services are delivered by the appointed regulated firms, not by Nirji.

Does Nirji raise capital or introduce investors?

No. Nirji does not perform investor introductions, capital raising, placement, or fundraising advisory. Our Fundraising Readiness work prepares companies to raise — investor-grade financial models, narrative, and data room preparation — but the actual raise is run by the company and its appointed bankers or placement agents.

What is a typical engagement size for Finance & Accounting Advisory?

Engagement sizes vary by service line. Fractional CFO retainers typically run SGD 8K–25K per month depending on cadence and team layering. India Corridor structuring projects typically run USD 25K–60K with optional post-close retainers. Financial Due Diligence buy-side mandates typically run USD 35K–75K depending on target size, geography mix, and timeline. Finance Transformation programmes are usually scoped as multi-month engagements with phased fees. Final scope is set after a no-cost scoping call.

Which corridors and geographies do you cover?

Our anchor geographies are Singapore and India, where our practitioners hold credentials and have direct operating experience. We regularly work with Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines), the Middle East (UAE, Saudi Arabia), and selectively with Europe and the Americas where the underlying engagement is connected to the Singapore–India corridor or to Asia-bound capital flows.

How do you handle confidentiality on client work?

All client engagements are governed by NDAs signed before any data exchange. We do not publish identified client work without explicit, written consent — and even with consent, we typically anonymise commercial parameters. The scenarios on this page are intentionally composites so we can describe methodology in detail without referencing any specific mandate.

How do I scope an engagement with Nirji?

Start with a 30-minute no-cost scoping call. We use that call to understand the situation, the decisions you need to make, and the constraints (timing, budget, internal team capacity). If we are the right fit, we follow up within a few business days with a written engagement proposal — scope, deliverables, team composition, fee, and timeline. If we are not the right fit, we will say so and, where useful, refer you to a partner firm whose practice fits the work better.

Ready to Scope an Engagement?

The most useful conversation begins with your situation, not a generic pitch. Schedule a 30-minute scoping call to discuss the engagement type closest to your situation, likely scope and parameters, and whether Nirji is the right partner — or whether to refer you elsewhere.

Schedule a Scoping Call

Related Pages

Service

Fractional CFO

Senior finance leadership on retainer for growth-stage companies — without the full-time hire.

Read more Service

India Corridor Advisory

Cross-border structuring, FEMA, RBI, transfer pricing, and DTAA strategy for the SG–India corridor.

Read more Service

Financial Due Diligence

Non-audit buy-side and sell-side diligence — QoE, working capital, net debt, and India-aware risks.

Read more Service

Finance Transformation

Finance function uplift — reporting, controls, ERP, and team across four maturity domains.

Read more Solution

Financial Consulting (Pillar)

All four finance & accounting service lines under one practitioner-led pillar.

Read more About

About Nirji Ventures

Senior partners, advisor bench, and the credentials behind the practice.

Read more

Page Note. The engagements above are representative scenarios that illustrate the type, scope, and methodology of work delivered by Nirji Ventures' Finance & Accounting Advisory practice. Specific scenarios are illustrative and do not refer to identified clients. Engagement parameters reflect typical ranges for the type of work described.

Regulatory & Scope Note. Nirji Ventures Pte. Ltd. is a Singapore-incorporated strategic advisory and business consulting firm. We are not licensed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and do not conduct regulated activities under the Securities and Futures Act 2001 or the Financial Advisers Act 2001. Indian financial, tax, and regulatory work is delivered drawing on Chartered Accountant credentials from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI). We do not perform statutory audits in Singapore.