Alvarez & Marsal’s managing director and co-head of Asia, James Dubow, will often join a distressed company as a chief restructuring officer (CRO), a role that is created alongside the corporation’s top brass, where he works closely with the financial chief to drill down the enterprise’s financials and business operations to improve its cash flow and earnings.

If employed, a CRO typically spends the initial weeks at the host company obtaining accounting records, conduct detailed financial and operational analysis and set goals to streamline its financials. The whole process can span from months to a few years.