A calculated risk

Getting the numbers to add up in a post-merger or acquisition scenario can be challenging. Outsourcing can help get the maths right, explains Karen Williams

"Two into one makes half," my six-year-old proclaims over his bowl of cornflakes. Nevertheless, if it is two companies into one we are talking about, half is rarely the right answer. Mergers and acquisitions foresee results that will make combined companies add up to far more than the sum of their constituent parts. Ending up with something half as good would be judged a failure. This is why sophisticated and experienced adults struggle with the calculation that a child finds perfectly