What is Turnaround

When businesses go bust, the economic fallout can be catastrophic. Individuals – and sometimes large parts of the community – lose their jobs. Vital services cease over night. Enterprise value – a vital underpinning of a dynamic economy – is lost.

The IFT defines turnaround as the sustainable return to viability of an underperforming organisation. The skills of IFT members provide immediate viability and confidence to businesses and stakeholders, and are critical in curtailing the economic fallout caused as a result of an unnecessary insolvency. IFT members preserve jobs and livelihoods, uphold local industries, protect economic value and strengthen public service organisations. In 2019, it was estimated that IFT members and corporate partners saved more than 200,000 jobs and protected £2 billion in enterprise value. 

The early stages of turnaround are about creating a watershed often associated with a financial restructuring that gives the company time to plan for the future.

Three features define a turnaround business:

1. Stressed not fatal

These firms lie on the spectrum from underperformance through to distress.

2. Decline and fall

Failure to reverse business decline will lead to failure.

3. A viable future

If it can overcome its immediate troubles, the business has a good chance of succeeding in the medium to long term.

IFT members have situational skills which can be applied to the rehabilitation, rescue and recovery of an organisation facing decline as described above. IFT members preserve jobs and livelihoods, uphold local industries, protect economic value and strengthen public service organisations.

Here are the stages of a turnaround that you can expect when working with an accredited turnaround expert: