In the immortal words of Ferris Bueller, life moves pretty fast. So, too, does the mergers and acquistions (M&A) process – especially once it is publicly announced. That is when everyone is watching your every move, waiting to see how it will pan out before they make investment decisions – before they decide to work with you or buy from you.

Yes, M&A may be essential for your growth, but it is even more essential to make sure everything happens as smoothly as possible, as quickly as possible, with no mistakes.

"It's often the same little things that can trip you up in this process," says Ben Fielding, Managing Director, United Kingdom and Ireland, at TMF Group.. "It's getting the scope of services and pricing mechanisms right in a TSA [transitional service agreement]. It's plans for major service continuity issues. It's making sure your team has on-site, local expertise in statutory accounting, not just transactional accounting. And with M&As moving so fast, any one of the small details can be deprioritised or even lost in translation while companies and lawyers focus on the deal's minutiae.

"That's why we always recommend that multinationals working on a carve-out or M&A deal seek external compliance help from a single partner with in-depth knowledge of all markets involved in the deal. It could save money, resource – and, importantly, reputation."

M&A back-office burden

A professional services partner such as TMF Group can take that back-office burden away from the necessary parties, letting them focus on the much bigger issues, such as exactly how to transfer staff and assets from one party to another.

Working with an external provider can also help the buyer ramp up much more quickly than would be possible alone. Mr Fielding references one deal he worked on where the buyer was inheriting a division without any back-office functions. They were going to go to market to find local language capabilities and regulatory expertise in 20 countries – that is 20 requests for proposals (RFPs) to deal with, all while a fast-moving M&A deal is happening in the background and normal business operations are continuing.

"They didn't have the time to sit around and hope they found the skill sets," says Mr Fielding. "I told them we already had the capabilities, the expertise, the ready-made solution and, importantly, the resource to help them get to work right away. We now work with this company in all 20 countries as a trusted adviser and partner for growth.

"The number of stakeholders and partners that company had engaged at the beginning created an incredible amount of hand-offs and interdependencies that were not always seamless. And they tell people, in hindsight, they would have preferred a bundled solution with TMF Group to save time, money and hassle from the outset."

A partner with truly in-house global coverage can get you operating in your new markets seamlessly, quickly and with minimal fuss. And that may turn out to be the best decision for your new company in the long run – because life moves pretty fast, and you cannot leave a single piece of compliance to chance.

M&A and carve-out support

Working with a partner that provides administrative support services can help relieve some of the pressures faced by your deal and integration teams. Once the deal closes, you'll need to move quickly.

It's time to give a seat at the table to the only company that can conquer cross-border compliance complexity from our base of 125 offices covering more than 85 jurisdictions. About 9,100 experts are dedicated to unlocking access to some of the world's most attractive markets – no matter how complex – swiftly, safely and efficiently.

You don't need to handle these challenges on your own. Talk to TMF Group today for help with your M&A or carve-out.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.