Professor/Practitioner Case Development Program - 2000 Case Studies American Institute of Certified Public Accountants
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University of Mississippi eGrove American Institute of Certified Public Accountants Guides, Handbooks and Manuals (AICPA) Historical Collection 2000 Professor/practitioner case development program - 2000 case studies American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. Academic and Career Development Team Follow this and additional works at: https://egrove.olemiss.edu/aicpa_guides Part of the Accounting Commons, and the Taxation Commons Recommended Citation American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. Academic and Career Development Team, "Professor/practitioner case development program - 2000 case studies" (2000). Guides, Handbooks and Manuals. 342. https://egrove.olemiss.edu/aicpa_guides/342 This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) Historical Collection at eGrove. It has been accepted for inclusion in Guides, Handbooks and Manuals by an authorized administrator of eGrove. For more information, please contact [email protected]. AICPA Case Development Program Case No. 2000-01: Lakeshore Bank ◆ 1 LAKESHORE BANK: e-BUSINESS STRATEGY AND BUSINESS PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT ASSURANCE SERVICES Mark L. Frigo, Professor DePaul University, Chicago, Illinois George W. Krull, Jr., Partner Grant Thornton LLP, Chicago, Illinois Paul G. Pustorino, Partner Grant Thornton LLP, Boston, Massachusetts Case Overview The setting for the case is Lakeshore Bank, a $300 million (total assets) community bank located in Chicago, Illinois. On June 18, 2000, a CPA client service team met with executive management of Lakeshore Bank (the Bank) to discuss: (1) the strategy of the Bank including Internet banking strategies and (2) performance measures used at the Bank. The team consisted of an assurance partner and a management consultant. The assurance partner had recently attended an in-house workshop on strategic performance measurement that included strategic assessment tools and the balanced scorecard framework. The workshop focused on the role of the assurance partner, as a business advisor, in the area of business performance measurement and assisting clients in developing business strategies, including e-business strategies. The objective of the engagement was to introduce the executive committee of the Bank to strategic assessment tools and to assist the client in developing and refining its strategy. Another goal of the engagement was to present the Balanced Scorecard framework (Kaplan and Norton, 1996) to assess the existing performance measures at the Bank and to develop recommendations for improvement of the Bank’s performance measurement system. The Balanced Scorecard is an approach to performance measurement that includes non-financial and financial performance measures linked to the organization’s mission and strategy. It generally includes strategic objectives and performance measures in the following areas: • Financial • Customer • Internal processes • Innovation and growth Copyright 2001 by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). Cases developed and distributed under the AICPA Case Development Program are intended for use in higher education for instructional purposes only, and are not for application in practice. Permission is granted to photocopy any case(s) for classroom teaching purposes only. All other rights are reserved. The AICPA neither approves nor endorses this case or any solution provided herein or subsequently developed. The authors would like to acknowledge the diligent work of George P. Anagnost, graduate research assistant at DePaul University, who assisted us in preparing this case. AICPA Case Development Program Case No. 2000-01: Lakeshore Bank ◆ 2 BACKGROUND Lakeshore Bank has exhibited superior performance in profitability and efficiency compared to its peer group, as shown by the benchmarking data in Appendix A. Profitability and efficiency have always been a hallmark of the Bank. However, the successes achieved by the Bank in efficiency and profitability may be in conflict with long-range performance and growth. Like a rubber band stretched to its limits, if an organization’s resources, measured in both human and capital are stretched too taut, the organization will not have the ability to move and grow in new directions. There are situations when short-term profitability must be sacrificed to ensure there is sufficient infrastructure to support new strategic initiatives. This is a concern the management of the Bank wanted to address. The Chairman of the Board of Lakeshore Bank has emphasized the importance of superior profitability and efficiency and has mentioned that Lakeshore Bank, with $300 million of assets, earns profits equal to that earned by banks that are three times larger. The Chairman believes that growth is an important goal for the Bank, but it must be “profitable growth”. After the initial meeting with the client, the client service team summarized the following observations: • The Bank did not have a formal strategic plan or mission statement. • The Bank had a growth target to attain $500 million in assets in two years, but did not have any specific growth strategies. • The Bank has set a target to implement Internet banking by December 31, 2000. • The infrastructure required to support Internet banking was not in place as of June, 2000. • The Bank had been performing well in terms of profitability and efficiency. • Management of the Bank focused primarily on lagging financial performance measures. • The Bank did not have in-house training programs or support for outside training. • The senior members of the Bank’s management team work well together on operational matters. • The management team was not always in agreement about strategic issues, i.e., outside training, growth strategies, etc. • The management is internally focused. • The Bank was very lean in resources. • Management was always trying to accomplish too many strategic goals at once; this was extremely difficult to do with existing resources. PROCESS USED BY THE CPA CLIENT SERVICE TEAM At the beginning of the engagement, the client service team established the following goals to assist the client in: • Developing and refining its strategy, including its Internet banking strategy. • Developing an implementation plan for the Internet banking strategy. • Using the Balanced Scorecard framework as a strategic management tool. To accomplish the first two goals, the team planned the following engagement tasks: • Assess the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT analysis). • Develop a mission statement. • Develop key strategic themes from the SWOT analysis. • Develop an Internet banking strategy and action plan. To accomplish the third goal, the team did the following tasks: • Present the basic tenets of the Balanced Scorecard to management. • Assess the existing performance measures using the Balanced Scorecard framework. The engagement involved a series of six planning sessions with the executive committee of the Bank. AICPA Case Development Program Case No. 2000-01: Lakeshore Bank ◆ 3 SWOT ANALYSIS The client service team led the executive committee through an analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT analysis). The following is a summary of the SWOT analysis and discussion with the executive committee during the first two planning sessions: Strengths • Primary: • Strong capital position; highly profitable • Quality/experienced management team • Low turnover – senior management and management team commitment • Strong customer relationships/loyalty by providing high touch/hands-on personalized service • Chairman’s business contacts and knowledge • Secondary: • Low cost core deposits (commercial deposits) • Strong loan portfolio – quality size and mix • Branch locations • Culture (profit oriented, entrepreneurial) • Management team (executive committee) works well together (democratic); strong committee structure • Business intelligence and business experience Weaknesses • Primary: • No strategic or technology plans • Lack of formal marketing program • Knowledge of competition needs improvement • Lack of brand image • Management team stretched to capacity • Customer relationship/management systems • No infrastructure to support sales organization • Need to develop a sales culture • Lack of outside perspective/internal focus • Secondary: • Customer profile – lack of demographics • Do not measure customer profitability • Customer relationships beyond top customers • Weak internal communications • Subchapter S status (may limit mergers or acquisitions) • Outcome focused • Need to foster innovation • Low involvement in trade association/industry organizations • Reluctance to “make investments” because of impact on short-term bottom line • Employee career path; more education and training needed • Compensation system AICPA Case Development Program Case No. 2000-01: Lakeshore Bank ◆ 4 Opportunities • Primary: • Internet banking/use of technology • Acquisition/merger • Financial Modernization Banking Act – new allowable activities for banks (insurance, brokerage, CDCs, travel agencies) • Increase share of customers • Expansion to new markets • Growing markets • Secondary: • Size allows personal service • Retail banking • Expand commercial lending – small business lending Threats • Primary: • Competition from all directions • Internet banks • Ownership succession • Technology revolution • Tight market for labor services • Possible economic downturn • Secondary: • Ability to grow • Decreased cost to change banking relationships