Working with Avalanche Andretti Formula E

As Avalanche Andretti Formula E successfully kicked off Season 9 in Mexico City on 14 January, it is a great opportunity to reflect on our first year with the team, and to look forward to the challenges this new season presents. We had a number of highlights and are really on board with gearing up our partnership during the year.

As an initial observation, what has struck me during the year is the strength of the team as a unit – everyone is focused on the critical aspect – how can we make the car go faster? In Formula E, given the equality of the cars racing, it’s all about innovation and efficiency and supporting the drivers. When we attended the Season 8 London E-Prix, the team spirit and focus was evident at all levels, from the COO through to the drivers, technicians, mechanics, marketing and support – everyone takes real pride and joy in the collective success.

We feel very much part of the team as well, with a focus upon how we support the Avalanche Andretti Formula E team in adhering to the FIA Financial Regulations and cost cap (the regulation imposed by the FIA) as the team’s official accounting services partner. From a Crowe perspective a lot of the focus has been in preparing our understanding of the FIA Regulations during Season 8 and considering how we will approach this going forwards, as the rules are now formally in place for Season 9.

What does this look like in practice?

In many ways it’s a compliance engagement, but for an emerging and new area of requirements. There’s a need to understand both what the FIA is seeking to achieve in its objectives (which is first and foremost financial sustainability, as well as the sport’s wider environmental sustainability agenda and focus), how this is achieved and thirdly, how this can be demonstrated and evidenced. We are currently looking at the team’s accounting policies and how these should be applied across the Avalanche Andretti team.

A further key factor is learning lessons from Formula One, where a team was fined for non-compliance with the comparable set of regulations. A key lesson here, in our view, is the need for a clear audit trail of all supporting assumptions and how these have been applied, particularly given a number of staff work across the wider group. Data quality will be absolutely critical in ensuring compliance with the FIA regulations and in particular, how this informs decision making in terms of budgeting, planning and activities to be undertaken by the team.

Like many aspects of compliance, it is rarely a purely quantitative assessment so there is a need to apply judgement and really build the audit trail of decision making. For example, are timesheets required or how do we evidence staff cost allocation across the different elements of the wider Andretti group? In addition, when looking at costs, are there costs which should apply over multi-year periods for the timeframe of the asset use, where previously this wouldn’t have been a point to consider?

Our Business Solutions team is also supporting to provide regulatory returns and advice with regards to the UK company reporting approaches. This has commenced from January 2023 and helps cement our wider relationship.

The wider partnership has been a new area for us

We have collaborated through different media, including a podcast series with Avalanche Andretti, Team Principal Roger Griffiths and Crowe Risk Consulting Partner, Justin Elks considering sustainability as an important strategic goal. We have held in person events, one of which was at the Banbury HQ, where we hosted a number of Crowe clients and contacts who were provided with real insights into both the technology, the car and everyone had the chance to test their driving skills on a simulator against times set by Avalanche Andretti driver, Jake Dennis. Jim Wright, Group Commercial Director, was an excellent and engaging host, providing an insight to the team and the sport for our guests.

We also hosted a group of clients and contacts at the London E-Prix, with Jim again setting the scene for our guests and being on hand during the day to answer any technical and sporting questions. We had the pleasure of seeing the Avalanche Andretti team qualify and the peak of which was seeing Jake Dennis and the team take first place. The accessibility of the team was something I rarely see in sport, with the drivers meeting fans between qualifying and the race itself – a lesson I need to take away for the day job was how relaxed Jake was an hour before his ’home’ race before heading off to focus on the key task of the weekend.

Doug Bresnahan, Chief Commercial Officer
“Crowe UK is an invaluable partner to the Avalanche Andretti Formula E team as we manage the FIA’s financial regulations and navigate the compliance process. Having the reach and expertise of an internationally renowned accounting and advisory firm has been a key factor in our overall success under the FIA’s financial standards set within Formula E’s competitive environment. We’re proud of our partnership with Crowe UK and we’re looking forward to what year two will bring.”