The Organization is a private, Catholic high school with a student body of approximately 1,000, that operates on total annual revenue of more than $10 million.

The Organization was in default on its loan agreement with the Bank and operating with negative cash flow from operations for three consecutive years.

The Organization retained Fort Dearborn to develop an operating plan and identify and implement profit improvement initiatives by:

–Reviewing operations;

–Assisting management with preparing and refining two years of operating budgets/forecasts; and

–Preparing an operating plan with specific steps to improve the operating performance of the Organization.

FDP reviewed operations, including:

–Organizational leadership and financial reporting responsibilities and processes;

–Key revenue factors, including tuition increases and tuition aid management;

–Shifting management’s cost budgeting/forecasting focus to be centered around enrollment and revenue forecasts, with periodic reviews during the year;

–The operating expense structure, including the cost structure of the organization and its various departments to identify possible additional revenue streams to help offset ancillary costs, such as athletics and programming.

FDP was later engaged to assist with refinancing the Organization’s credit facility with the lead bank.

Within 18 months of FDP’s engagement, the Organization:

–Developed a forecast and plan to return to positive cash flow from operations;

–Enacted roughly $500,000 in annual net profit improvements, between revenue increases and expense decreases, including payroll reductions; and

–Refinanced a portion of its credit facility with a new lender, thereby reducing some exposure from the lead bank.