BDO Belgium adopts Microsoft Fabric to analyze key business drivers in M&A

Incorporating data analytics in M&A

BDO Belgium is a leading accounting and advisory firm with a global presence and serves clients in a large variety of industries. Its Deal Advisory department serves clients ranging from private equity firms to large corporates as well as small- and mid-sized family-run businesses. These customers rely on BDO to identify possible risks and valuation impact before a deal is completed. As underlined by Alexander Veithen, Managing Partner of the Deal Advisory Department at BDO, “our customers expect that we rely on all relevant transaction data of the target company, especially in the high stakes of an M&A environment.”

The M&A teams at BDO need insight into the financial and operational data to get a holistic view of the company and its drivers—and they need it fast. “As part of the due diligence process, we have a limited timeframe to get a deep understanding of a company’s financials and their performance,” explained Maxime Nütten, Manager Deal Advisory at BDO. “Timing and flexibility are crucial to the M&A process, which is why we are always evaluating new technologies that can enhance our capabilities in these areas.”

The M&A team found that its spreadsheet-driven approach to accounting and operational data limited the team’s ability to make deep data connections, such as how a product launches or customer win could drive a company’s valuation. The company needed a better way to analyze data and view all the information available, which would lead to deeper analysis and better insights. At the same time, the team wanted to ensure that any new approach didn’t overwhelm its business users with complex new technology that could slow adoption. Microsoft Fabric provided a perfect solution for the team to quickly integrate and deeply analyze information without requiring the M&A experts at BDO to learn a new, complex process.

Integrated data platform accessible to finance professionals

By developing a data platform on Microsoft Fabric, named Data Eyes, BDO has made advanced data analytics available to its finance professionals with direct access to cloud performance in a no-code environment with an intuitive user experience. The Fabric interface is familiar to those accustomed to data analysis while also offering expanded capabilities for visualizing the data using Microsoft Power BI. “It was clearly visible in Fabric how all of the data and advanced capabilities Microsoft offers could greatly benefit our professionals in the field,” says Nütten.

Furthermore, Fabric can ingest and integrate large data sets using OneLake without requiring intense memory and processor on an on-site computer. Cloud-based architecture opens the possibility to access a company’s financial and operational data with direct drill-through capabilities to transactional data without overloading an on-premises solution with data, memory, and processing. BDO can now onboard clients to a no-code, integrated solution that spans line-of-business data through to reporting.

Transforming data into insights

BDO clients also benefit from the M&A team’s adoption of Fabric, as Fabric supports the M&A team’s real-time analysis needs. “Fabric has changed the way we interact with clients because we can now dive as deep as we need into the data. It doesn’t take a lot of time, or overly complex data movement tools to access the data we need. With Microsoft Fabric, we can quickly and easily drill down to root causes,” says Van Aerschot.

While recognizing the benefits of saved time, the BDO team sees the biggest business benefits in the quality of analysis it can now perform. The improved visibility of client data and better access to modeling allows for greater insight, higher quality analytics, and, crucially, better advice to its clients. “The feedback we receive from our clients is very positive and makes our work more interesting as we can enlarge the scope of our analysis. It is a win-win for both BDO and our clients,” says Nütten. 

Looking ahead

The team at BDO is working with Fabric not only as a new program for their own operations, but also for other BDO departments such as audit, assurance, and accountancy. BDO is also looking to roll Fabric out to its operations in other countries to bring the company’s data analytics to new levels. “We were convinced from Microsoft Fabric early on but know that it is still a new product,” commented Veithen. “That means new features are constantly coming out and we can integrate new capabilities along the way. One of those features is integrating Copilot in Microsoft Fabric, to automate the description of analysis as well as use outlier analysis to identify potential non-recurring transactions having a deal impact.” The Digital Practice team within BDO, who developed Data Eyes, is also using Fabric to design, implement, and migrate innovative solutions that help the company better serve its clients.

The BDO M&A team works in a complex field with numerous variables and potential business impacts to unpack for every transaction, and that means that data insight is crucial under all circumstances. Working with Microsoft Fabric has given the team additional stability and insights, offering the team a holistic picture of the landscape and encouraging more impressive and dynamic work.

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