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Overcome the NFP sector’s unique challenges and streamline the way your accounting team, fundraisers and volunteers work. AccountsIQ allows you to achieve transparency, consistency and SORP compliance with slick, digital processes and low cost of ownership.
Gain full transparency with detailed expenses tracking, linked to funds and easily segregate income streams. Work with our platform experts to create your unique, multi-dimensional coding framework and set up the exact reporting you need.
Swap costly upgrades, expensive hardware and heavy implementation costs for one single affordable monthly subscription. Built in the cloud, AccountsIQ integrates seamlessly with other apps, allowing you to streamline processes, reduce errors and save time.
Transform the way you work with AccountsIQ’s automated processes. Spend more time on strategic work and less on repetitive administrative tasks. Go digital with approvals, expenses, bank feeds, reconciliation, document storage, FX, consolidation and more.
This multi-dimensional reporting is perfect for our setting. It has revolutionised our potential to do our job here in the centre. That is to stand over these charitable funds and know exactly what’s going on with the funds of each charity.
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What advice would an historic City of London Livery Company give to finance teams looking to implement new accounting software? The best: it’s all about planning ahead and design thinking.
When Dan Garrigan, Finance Director with Merchant Taylors’ Company, decided it was time to upgrade from Sage 200, he knew their new finance system had to be in the Cloud.
"Sage 200 was coming to its end-of-life and the reporting was clunky. If we were going to change finance system we definitely wanted it to be Cloud-based, rather than incurring server costs."
Dan undertook a broad search of the accounting software marketplace. He looked at both large ERP systems, such as NetSuite and Sage Intacct, and smaller out-of-the-box software, such as Xero.
"We fell between two stalls. Our finance needs are more complex than the functionality we found in the out-of-the-box systems, like Xero. But it was hard to justify the cost of something like Netsuite."
After joining a couple of AccountsIQ’s webinars and demos, Dan thought: ‘that ticks all the boxes’.
Dan and his team found switching to AccountsIQ painless. Here’s his advice if you’re thinking of embarking on a similar project:
Dan’s team thought ahead about the design of their Chart of Accounts. They then refined this with the AccountsIQ team who shared their experience of what had worked with other customers. As Dan says:
“The design of your Chart of Accounts is the big thing to get right. Everything else then follows. The time spent on this really paid off for us. We’ve got a design we’re happy with and meets all our needs.”
Watch our ‘How healthy is your Chart of Accounts?’ webinar.
The ideas you have at the start of your project might not carry through to implementation. That’s not a problem. As Dan explains:
With AccountsIQ, you get Sandbox test entities. This is great because you can play around with the software before you go-live and see what things look like and how it all works.
Dan strongly recommends training your team, both in the run up to implementation and in the first two months post go-live. As he says:
"AccountsIQ are extremely good at this. We used the AIQ Academy and we had bespoke online training sessions with Daryl. They were all invaluable. We’ve kept the recordings and the team refer back when they need a refresher on features they don’t use regularly."
AccountsIQ’s charity accounting software is trusted by over 100 charity and not-for-profit finance teams. You can read their stories here.
To find out more talk to one of our accounting experts.
AccountsIQ met Hampshire Cultural Trust's complex not-for-profit accounting needs with 23 locations and consolidation of 2 entities.
Hampshire Cultural Trust (HCT) was formed when two Councils decentralised Hampshire’s museums and cultural centres. Previously posting its financial transactions to the Councils’ centralised SAP system, the newly-formed Trust needed to find an affordable solution which could handle its complex accounting needs across 23 locations, consolidate two legal entities and produce sector-compliant and meaningful reports from Head Office. With the help of advisors BDO, the Trust chose Cloud accounting and consolidation software AccountsIQ to handle accounting across the estate which comprises 23 museums and art centres.
HCT’s Director of Finance and Resources, Charlie Inigo-Jones, joined the Trust in 2016. Charlie says, “In 2015 the Trust needed to set up its own accounting system very quickly. Under my predecessor, we simply took AccountsIQ out of the box, imported the general ledger and cost centres from the Council’s system, and started to process its own transactions. That was it! We have since set up monthly accounts reconciliation and reporting processes, and are now beginning to explore the software’s full potential using multi-dimensional coding to meet our reporting needs.”
Working with AccountsIQ’s charity implementation team, Hampshire Cultural Trust’s project consists of two phases: designing and implementing the system infrastructure and reporting across their 23 locations and at Head Office; and completing a number of integration projects with ticketing, EPOS, payroll and other systems which will bring consistency and efficiencies across the group.
As well as 23 locations, the Trust has two separate legal entities, and a number of restricted or programme-based funds which need to be separately accounted for and reported. Each transaction needs to be posted to the correct location, entity, and fund.
AccountsIQ has enormous potential to produce Management Information Reports. In order for us to create those automated reporting packs and make dashboards meaningful, we have been working with AccountsIQ’s very flexible coding structure to ensure it is optimised for our purposes. The ability to define user access and create custom reports will allow us to cascade reporting throughout the Trust in a relevant way. Charlie Inigo-Jones
AccountsIQ is particularly suited to supporting a charity’s need to account for restricted funds. Charlie says, “AccountsIQ solves the accounting for restricted funds problem by using a third dimension of coding. The use of project codes make the information easy to grab. We could actually set up more layers of coding to extract sub-project information if we needed to.”
Many locations across the estate sell entry or event tickets and some incorporate retail outlets and cafes. HCT has installed two systems on a trial basis which will provide automated ticketing and Electronic Point of Sale (EPOS).
Charlie says, “Introducing ticketing and EPOS systems will help us implement codes at the point of sale, so the system captures what it is we have sold, what for, and the other information we require in order to provide meaningful retail management reporting. Integration with AccountsIQ will fully automate the process of posting sales from both retail sales systems, and help us to transform our financial and stock control processes. It will be a massive win when data from each venue can be reconciled to the tills, the bank and amounts received from card payments – all on a daily basis and with clearly defined reporting.”
AccountsIQ is Enclude’s preferred accounting platform for its charity clients. IT charity consultancy Enclude was formed with the aim of helping other charities adopt technology to improve their financial management processes.
IT charity consultancy Enclude was formed with the aim of helping other charities adopt technology to improve their data management, communications, CRM and financial management processes. Sylvester Murphy is Enclude’s CEO and also implementer of cloud-based financial management system AccountsIQ, Enclude’s preferred accounting platform for its charity clients.
Describing his reasons for selecting AccountsIQ, Sylvester says, “We undertook research a number of years ago in conjunction with a group of charities including the Irish Charities Tax Reform Group. The purpose of that exercise was to assess the impact of emerging legislation and SORP requirements and try to identify a suitable charity accounting software package for the sector. AccountsIQ, a web-based accounts system, emerged as a great candidate from this research. We approached them and they were delighted to assist in structuring an offering for the sector.”
Over 1,000 charities are registered with Dublin-based Enclude all of whom are seeking to improve their digital capabilities and enhance their IT systems and business solutions.
The requirements for financial management systems can vary across charity sectors and over time. In choosing a financial system, Boards and management teams are seeking solutions that are accessible, affordable and scalable. Increasingly, organisations are seeking systems that will also offer the potential for integration with other systems such as a CRM and Payroll systems.
Smaller charities can realise the benefits of improved management and controls by moving from spreadsheets to fully fledged accounting databases. For charities with incomes in excess of €500,000 with higher transaction volumes, automated processes such as bank reconciliations will save a significant amount of time. Charities in the €1-5M bracket might need to map payroll data and other expenses across different programmes and cost centres, requiring more complex coding structures. Larger charities in the €5M or greater bracket will also benefit from workflow automation and the capability to handle multi-entity organisations with groupwide data consolidation and reporting.
Sylvester adds, “We find AccountsIQ unique in that it can meet the needs of both small and very large charities. We have been able to become proficient in implementing one financial software system which, although it is often adapted differently, fundamentally suits the needs of the widest range of charities.
The Charities Act of 2009 represented a significant milestone for the charity sector in Ireland. It reformed the law relating to charities in order to ensure greater accountability and a Regulator was introduced. It triggered an ongoing narrative across the sector around transparency, governance and the need for improved systems to better manage reporting and compliance. One way in which charities could enhance public trust and confidence was through improved reports: financial reporting had to become more sophisticated, requiring charities to review their accounting models so that they could report across a variety of operating categories. Sylvester adds,
One challenge our Irish charities had in complying with the 2009 legislation was in moving away from very ‘flat’ accounting structures and introducing multi-layered reporting on income and expenditure by SORP heading and cost centre such as programmes, projects and branch location. AccountsIQ’s flexible coding structure and GL structure allows charities to classify their programme expenses with little extra effort.
In addition to the sector’s specific reporting requirements, AccountsIQ holds many standard, template reports within the system itself. It is also possible for information to be manipulated in Excel should charities need to create particular reports for specific stakeholders.
In addition to complying with the 2009 Irish Charities Act, many of Enclude’s clients also have entities based in different jurisdictions which need to comply locally as well as centrally. These accounts need to be consolidated in a consistent manner (and currency) for group reporting, all of which is handled within AccountsIQ’s integrated consolidation module. Sylvester adds, “Prior to using AccountsIQ for consolidation, the work done in spreadsheets by our multi-entity charities was hugely complex and time-consuming.”
Non-profit organisations are often structured and resourced with staff and volunteers which may be part-time and working remotely. Commenting on the suitability of cloud apps in these scenarios, Sylvester says,
Cloud-based business apps like AccountsIQ give charities robust tools coupled with tremendous flexibility in how services are delivered and managed. You can access the software anytime and from any device. Also, the system allows you to define user profiles which means that you have very strict controls over who can access the system and to what degree. Providing remote access to people like external accountants or auditors can also help charities negotiate lower fees.
Over the years, Enclude has developed a tried and tested implementation model supported by the customer success team at AccountsIQ. A phased implementation approach usually works well, allowing the charity to make steady progress at a manageable pace and to spread the costs over time.
The initial phase includes defining the data structure and chart of accounts so that data from previous systems or spreadsheets can be imported and correlated. “This ensures that fundamental reporting requirements will be met. With AIQ in place we then tend to look at potential for further enhancements such as integration with the organisation’s CRM solution.”
Where charities have implemented a cloud based CRM solution to manage their client service programmes, donor management and fundraising activities, he says it is possible to achieve further levels of efficiencies and control by integrating data feeds between the CRM system and AccountsIQ. “We have worked with a number of Charites, who have automated the processing of their donations from their web site into their CRM and onwards into their AccountsIQ financial management system.“
Enclude’s clients which use AccountsIQ are supported in the first instance by Enclude. More complex issues requiring level 2 support are escalated to Enclude’s customer success manager at AccountsIQ.
On the quality of support, he receives from the AccountsIQ’s team, Sylvester says,
The services team and support at AccountsIQ is very good and that is particularly important in the charity sector as we seek to transition the digital divide and build trust and competence in cloud solutions. The entire support process is managed within the system itself and there is a range of “How To” guides and online Help tools.”
AccountsIQ’s CEO Tony Connolly says, “It is great to see the Cloud making such a positive impact in the Charity sector. It is a pleasure to work with the team at Enclude which finds ways to make digital transformation achievable for other charities by providing experience, skills and resource.”
