Page 5 - BWC Higher Ed Flipbook

WHAT WE DO (CONT’D)
Integrated Financial Planning: BWC will help institutions put a process in place to make financial decisions that further the mission of the institution. Institutions often have room to improve the integration of capital and operating budgets with academic/strategic planning. If they do this integrated planning well, they can feel more confident that they are allocating often-limited resources to their highest and best uses. BWC will work with institutions to develop a framework that can be used to help them prioritize capital needs and build a business case for each investment. We will also identify more effective strategic/operating/capital planning processes that could be implemented for better integration.
Ratio Analysis: Identifying core financial ratios that institutions can use on an ongoing basis for planning and ongoing sound financial management. BWC will work with institutions to identify their key ratios based on their goals and mission. Ratios should then be calculated and reported annually or when significant financial transactions occur such as new debt issuance, accounting changes, etc. We would provide more comprehensive ratio analysis for institutions that are considering issuing debt and/or pursuing a rating or rating change.
Debt Policy/Planning: Helping institutions write and implement a debt policy. For the most part all institutions have investment policies and investment committees on their Board of Directors. Far fewer have debt policies and debt committees or subcommittees even when debt is a significant portion of an institution’s balance sheet. Depending on how much debt an institution has or plans to issue, they may want to consider establishing a debt policy and/or debt subcommittee.
Financial Advisory on Specific Debt Issuances: BWC will advise institutions on the entire debt issuance/ loan process from the planning stages to transaction execution including:
Capital Planning and Deferred Maintenance: BWC will help institutions quantify their capital and deferred maintenance needs and come up with 1) strategies for funding them and 2) processes to plan for them.
Financial Staff Support: As an extension of staff, BWC will review investment and finance committee reports for Trustee meetings and assist in preparation of presentations and communications with Trustees.
3/26/2020 Private and Confidential 5