I have a job interview for a business sector that I have not any experience in: Facilities Management Services.
Can sombody please give me an idea on what makes up the Revenue and cost of sales in such a business. Turnover I assume must include release of income from long term contracts based on work done to date or income being drip fed in as work for a client is completed? Cost of Sales will have costs such as consumables, Direct costs of fullfilling the contract? Balance Sheet will have Long term contracts ,Work in Progress maybe? I appreciate this is an easy question to ask but not so easy to answer, but any guidance will be appreciated.
Are there any areas of concern that one should look out for specific to this type of industry?
Thank you in advance.
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Suggest you do your research on the company you have the interview with. Best place to start!
In addition to cinnamint's excellent suggestion above look at similar company's accounts at Co House (ideally those of large companies submitting full accounts).
Full accounts will give you some ideas of what is typical in your industry. You'll also see commentary from various directors that may be useful.
FM covers a multitude of activities - it could be little more than providing cleaners. Or it could be management of the entire estate - repairs and maintenance, security, reception, HVAC. And that in turn may vary according to whether the client has just the one site or whether it's a multi-site business.
I wouldn't expect candidates to have a detailed understanding of how my P&L is constructed. I would, however be looking for an awareness of the drivers of profit and the key accounting issues such as ensuring that all cost incurred gets allocated to clients and recovered.