Background

Financial Services Management Development Ltd (FSMD) is a financial and training consultancy established in 1986 and funded by third party subscription under the (then) Business Expansion Scheme.

FSMD specialises in credit, treasury, corporate finance and modelling for clients in banking, industrial and quasi-commercial entities.The company has offices in London and Manchester and has eight full-time employees.

Over the past three years FSMD has established a position in consultancy and training in the social housing sector through projects executed for The Housing Corporation, the National Housing Federation and others as summarised below.

FSMD set up Model Answers recently to focus resources on the increasing volume of modelling consultancy coming our way, largely from the social housing sector.


Core Competencies for Social Housing
The skills which we have developed over the years while working with leading banks and corporates map very neatly onto the requirements for enhanced expertise in the sector, particularly as it develops and matures

Previous Work in the Social Housing Sector

Modelling

HC
Consultancy project about financial evaluation of HAs, published by THC entitled "Measuring Up: Housing Association Profiling Project" (2002). This project involved the analysis of 40 housing associations financial accounts and has become a core part of financial analysis at The Housing Corporation

HC/NHF
Consolidation, analysis and write-up of the data for the production of "2001 Global Accounts", embodying the new financial measures described in "Measuring Up: Housing Association Profiling Project" (2002). Also the “2002 and 2003 Global Accounts”.

NHF
Project to evaluate balance sheet capacity of HAs in relation to their business plans (ongoing). This project involved the analysis of 150 FV5 returns to determine both regional and overall sector capacity. This was published as "Do you have the capacity?" in September 2003. This let to the contract to develop the Capacity User Model ie "CAPACITY."

Commercial
FSMDs’ staff have been involved in many financial modelling assignments in the commercial world. Key executives assigned to this project have built financial models in real world environments of mergers and acquisitions, capital raisings and project appraisal.

Modelling & Support

Arena HA
Training of staff at Arena to build a business planning model. Close monitoring of the process of building the model as well as extensive audit report produced for Arena on the model.

HC
- Consultancy project to help write the internal THC manual "Financial Analysis Framework" (2002), based on "Measuring Up"
- Global Accounts Access Model
- Rent Restructuring Sensitivity

LSHP/LCC
The Liverpool Strategic Housing Partnership, in conjunction with Liverpool City Council, engaged FSMD to construct a financial model to deal with the compensation of RSLs for the impact of decommissioning housing stock as part of the Liverpool regeneration plan.

Training

NHF
- Series of two day Business Planning Financial Modelling Courses. At the end of each course each applicant walked away being able to build their own basic business planning financial model as well as a demonstration model of some of the more powerful financial modelling applications that Model Answers can implement.

- Series of Treasury and Finance modular courses in London, Birmingham and Leeds for HA finance staff, (2000)

HC
- Series of Treasury and Finance modular courses for regulatory staff
- Series of Financial Modelling courses for regulatory staff, (2001)

Staff

The following FSMD staff have worked on the CAPACITY project:

Gordon Ibbotson - Project Director
Richard Peck - Director and Lead Consultant
Barney Ibbotson - Web and Graphics Designer
Lorraine Holland - Project Administrator
Caroline Dunn - Administrator