Case Study: Ghost Trainees and Unverified Placements in a Skill Development NGO
A skill development NGO reported that 1,200 youth had been trained and 840 placed in jobs under a programme funded through a ₹1.4 crore CSR contribution. The reported 70% placement rate prompted an independent review of beneficiary records, training delivery, placement claims and programme expenditure. Northrop Management Private Limited conducted a forensic verification covering beneficiary deduplication, attendance records, direct beneficiary calls, employer confirmations, offer letters, salary claims and the underlying financial trail.
Transaction & Advisory Case Studies
Documented execution records across forensic recovery, due diligence, and enterprise turnarounds.
Case Study: Ghost Trainees and Unverified Placements in a Skill Development NGO
A skill development NGO reported that 1,200 youth had been trained and 840 placed in jobs under a programme funded through a ₹1.4 crore CSR contribution. The reported 70% placement rate prompted an independent review of beneficiary records, training delivery, placement claims and programme expenditure. Northrop Management Private Limited conducted a forensic verification covering beneficiary deduplication, attendance records, direct beneficiary calls, employer confirmations, offer letters, salary claims and the underlying financial trail.
Case Study: Emergency Relief Funds Parked in a Fixed Deposit
A funder provided ₹45 lakh for immediate flood relief, with the NGO reporting assistance to 1,800 families. Eight months later, ₹18 lakh remained in a fixed deposit, despite the utilisation report presenting the funds as already spent. Northrop Management Private Limited conducted forensic due diligence covering bank records, relief distribution, vendor transactions and beneficiary verification. The review found that approximately 950 of the claimed 1,800 families could be supported as reached based on field verification. The review also identified ₹5 lakh of cash spending supported only by self-prepared receipts, while one vendor receipt overstated an underlying purchase by approximately 30%.
Case Study: Inflated Meal Counts and a Connected Vendor in a School Nutrition Programme
A school nutrition NGO reported 3,500 supplementary meals daily across 40 schools under a ₹95 lakh annual programme. Concerns arose over inflated meal volumes, above-market procurement prices and the independence of the principal vendor. Northrop Management Private Limited conducted field visits, supply-chain analysis, vendor verification and reconciliation of production capacity against reported meal volumes. The review found regular service at only around 27 schools, with approximately 2,650 meals supported by field observations. The central kitchen’s capacity and LPG consumption also indicated a sustainable output of approximately 2,300 to 2,800 meals per day, materially below the reported 3,500.
Case Study: Above-Market Rent to a Founder's Family Trust in a Senior Citizens' Home
A CSR-funded senior citizens’ welfare programme reported 60 residents and 12 welfare events annually. An internal review identified concerns over rent, occupancy, related-party transactions and supporting documentation. Northrop Management Private Limited conducted an independent review of the facility, lease arrangement, resident records, market rentals and programme expenditure. The review found only 22 current residents, while the property was owned by a family trust linked to the founder. Monthly rent of ₹3.2 lakh represented approximately 77% of the programme contribution and was materially above comparable market rates. Further testing found that 8 of 12 reported welfare events lacked adequate supporting evidence, accounting for ₹5.6 lakh of the ₹8.4 lakh claimed expenditure. Food procurement was also linked to a catering business operated by the founder’s nephew.
Case Study: Undelivered Purchases, Cash Leakage and Hidden Overheads in a CSR-Funded NGO
Northrop was engaged by a CSR funder to independently verify the utilisation of a Rs 1.2 crore annual contribution to an education and skill development NGO. The review identified Rs 69.4 lakh, or 58% of the contribution, that could not be substantiated as applied to the programme, including undelivered purchases, unsupported cash spending, misclassified staff costs and unsubstantiated consultancy and travel expenses. The review also established that true administration costs were approximately 21% of the contribution, compared with 5.8% reported by the NGO.
Case Study: Restructuring a Manufacturer Through a Demand Slowdown
Northrop was engaged to assess whether an auto-ancillary manufacturer facing a demand slowdown could be saved without shutting down or reducing its workforce. An OEM slowdown had cut revenue by about 21% in six months, while fixed costs remained at Rs 28 crore levels and OEM payment terms stretched from 60 days to 70 to 75 days. The result was an Rs 18 lakh monthly burn. Northrop's 30-day diagnostic identified three levers within the company's existing operations: growing the aftermarket on idle capacity, benchmarking procurement, and consolidating the production window. These three levers delivered Rs 9.3 lakh a month on their own. With OEM payment terms stopping their decline and early OEM volume recovery providing further support, the business moved from an Rs 18 lakh monthly burn to a surplus of about Rs 3 lakh a month within six months, with no layoffs.
Case Study: CSR Compliance and Governance Architecture for a Section 8 Organisation
Northrop Management Private Limited was engaged to strengthen the CSR compliance, financial controls and governance framework of a Section 8 organisation that had received ₹85 lakh in CSR funding from multiple donors, with a focus on donor-level fund tracking, utilisation evidence and programme outcome measurement. The review identified that funds from three donors were pooled into a single bank account, while expenditure was recorded primarily by nature rather than by donor or programme. Although the organisation could demonstrate aggregate expenditure, it lacked an efficient mechanism to trace individual donor funds to specific programme activities and supporting documentation was not consistently organised for utilisation reviews.
Case Study: Working Capital Stress Diagnostic for a Government Contractor
Northrop Management Private Limited was engaged to conduct a working capital stress diagnostic for a government contractor facing an immediate liquidity constraint despite ₹4 crore of verified government receivables against approximately ₹42 lakh of near-term payment obligations and only ₹6 lakh of immediately available cash. The review identified that the receivables were not converting into cash at the required pace. Government claims were at different stages of measurement, verification, approval and payment, with ₹48 lakh of claims delayed due to incomplete supporting documentation and ₹62 lakh of claims held against unresolved measurement queries.
Case Study: Tax Assessment Response and Financial Reconstruction for a Retail Business
Northrop Management Private Limited was engaged to support a retail business in responding to a ₹38 lakh tax assessment addition, with a focus on reconstructing transaction-level evidence, reconciling financial records and substantiating disputed bank credits, expenses and turnover differences. The review identified gaps in the underlying audit trail. ₹14 lakh of bank credits did not initially correspond clearly with recorded sales, ₹16 lakh of claimed expenses lacked sufficient supporting documentation in the original submission, and an ₹8 lakh difference between GST turnover and ITR turnover required detailed reconciliation.