Monday, August 24, 2009

Optimum Expense Recovery and Consulting ("Optimum") (www.OptimumERC.com), a national overhead expense reduction firm, and Avant Advisory Group (www.AvantAdvisory.com), a premier management consulting firm, have partnered to provide one-stop expense reduction solutions to their clients across the country. Optimum has helped clients in all fifty states implement cost savings solutions and increase profits totaling more than $10 million. Avant Advisory Group provides specialty services relating to: turnarounds, restructurings, crisis, insolvency and bankruptcy management; merger and acquisition advisory; and forensics and dispute resolution. The firm also offers strategic, operational, and financial expertise to its clients with its CFO and C-Suite services. The complementary, combined capabilities of the two firms position them to provide even greater value and superior service to their clients than they could individually.

"We are very excited about this strategic alliance with Avant Advisory. It brings great benefit to our clients as well as our firms," said Chris Patterson, Optimum's Chief Operating Officer. "We're excited about our new relationship with Avant. Our complementary solutions will assist us in identifying and implementing profit improvement opportunities for our clients."

Avant Advisory Group provides strategic, operational and financial expertise to clients through its operational turnaround, restructuring and CFO, controllership and C-Suite services from its Los Angeles, Newport Beach, San Francisco, and Santa Barbara offices in California. "We strive to reduce costs and expenses, increase profitability, and improve cash flows for each of our clients, particularly in this difficult recessionary business environment," said Jim Davidson, managing director of Avant Advisory Group. "There is no firm more capable of helping us to accomplish this than Optimum. They are experts in analyzing and knowing how to reduce non-core expenses and increase profits. Their "only getting paid on results" approach to providing services is "win-win" for our clients. Their team is extremely knowledgeable and responsive. We are proud to be in partnership with Optimum and are looking forward to working together."

About Optimum Expense Recovery and Consulting

Optimum Expense Recovery and Consulting is a 100% contingency-based cost reduction and recovery firm with locations in Dallas, Baltimore, Atlanta, and Los Angeles. Optimum has successfully helped public and privately held companies of all sizes across the nation for almost a decade to reduce overhead costs, sometimes over thirty percent (30%), to increase profitability, typically, without changing a single service provider.

Optimum specializes in decreasing 15 operational expense categories in areas such as gas, water, electric, local/long distance and wireless telecommunications, waste removal, freight and credit card processing. Additionally, it is often able to return cash to clients from their service providers.

Optimum's process is designed to require minimal time and resources from clients while allowing them to maintain 100% control of the decision making process. There are no upfront fees or retainers required to benefit from Optimum's years of industry specific expertise. Optimum historically finds savings on over 95% of all audits. There are absolutely no fees unless savings are realized. With over a 95% success rate and Optimum's no risk guarantee, Optimum has saved clients over $10,000,000 over the years.

To learn more about Optimum, please refer to www.OptimumERC.com or call Chris F. Patterson (888) 492 9868.

About Avant Advisory Group

Avant Advisory Group is a professional services consulting firm with offices in Los Angeles, Newport Beach, San Francisco, and Santa Barbara, California. The firm is comprised of highly skilled strategic, operating, and financial executives. Avant's consultants have decades of combined business, executive, and consulting experience and thousands of successful case studies. Its professionals come from some of the most prestigious consulting firms and companies.

Avant Advisory Group specializes in:



• Turnarounds, restructurings, insolvency, and bankruptcy of companies in crisis

• C-Suite executive and transition management: CFO, CRO, COO, CEO, and board of directors

• Mergers, acquisitions, and capital transactions

• Forensics, fraud investigations, and dispute resolution

Clients include public, middle-market, and emerging-growth companies across the country. Their management teams, investors, capital providers, and other professionals, including attorneys, trustees, creditor committees, secured lenders, and other parties in interest, all benefit from the firm's services. Whether serving in interim management or advisory roles, Avant Advisory draws on its deep operational financial and operational experience to provide comprehensive services across the investment lifecycle. Front-end due diligence and acquisition support, portfolio company evaluation, turnaround management, and exit advisory are only a few of these services.

Avant Advisory Group's mission is to leverage trust and confidence in its services, create value, and enhance each client's success. The firm accomplishes this by helping clients improve profits, EBITDA, cash flows, and asset management. There is also no stronger advocate for each client than Avant whether it is by its forensics and dispute support services, turnaround, restructuring, and crisis management expertise, merger and acquisition advisory services, or its profitability and operational improvement capabilities.

To learn more about Avant Advisory Group, please refer to www.AvantAdvisory.com or call James F. Davidson, CTP, CPA/CFF, CM&AA at (714) 924 7888.

Media Contacts:

Chris F. Patterson

Chief Operating Officer

Optimum Expense Recovery and Consulting

Dallas, TX

888) 492 9868

Patterson@OptimumERC.com

Martin S. McDermut, CPA, CM&AA, CFS

Managing Director

Avant Advisory Group

Los Angeles, CA

213) 943 1308

MMcDermut@AvantAdvisory.com