Guide to Public Company Transformation - Frequently Asked Questions, Fourth Edition

Initial public offerings (IPOs) often generate a great deal of excitement and can give new luster to company brands. It is easy to forget that IPOs can only thrive in the right business climate - and for organisations that have undertaken the business transformation necessary to reach this stage.

As this Guide to Public Company Transformation makes clear, preparing to become a public company is time-consuming and complex. Much of that complexity is due to the numerous legal and technical requirements that must be addressed prior to an IPO. But a substantial - and often overlooked aspect of public company readiness (PCR) involves transforming organisational functions and processes in many ways. Moreover, post-IPO companies will need to continue transforming these functions because there is a different set of requirements and expectations for public companies.

Many companies find that achieving a genuine state of readiness requires a new level of thinking, work and investment that goes far beyond what is often described as “infrastructure considerations.” For example, companies need to assess and often make substantial upgrades to their financial reporting processes or information technology (IT) environments, as well as their governance, risk and compliance (GRC) capabilities. This can amount to a significant level of business transformation that is more time-consuming and costly than the legal and technical readiness requirements, yet it is rarely noted in the IPO scorekeeping reported in the media.

The objective of this Guide to Public Company Transformation help organisations focus on what they should have in place from a governance, technology and business transformation perspective to prepare successfully for an IPO.