Cloud accounting software for financial services companies

Apera Asset Management Gets “Turbo-Charged” Accounting from AccountsIQ

Solving the accounting needs of a multi-entity, international business, Rob Shaw, CFO of Apera Asset Management chose to move from Xero to AccountsIQ when consolidation became too cumbersome and international jurisdiction requirements became too complex.  Rob explains, “I was looking for a Xero equivalent but more turbo-charged in its ability to do consolidation, meet the requirements of multiple jurisdictions, and handle foreign exchange.  AccountsIQ seems to tick more boxes than other systems designed for businesses like ours.”

Meeting multi-jurisdictional needs

The fast-growing financial services firm has seven legal entities located across Europe including businesses in London, Paris, Munich and Luxembourg.  Although the accounting processes are simple – the firm has a considerably low volume of accounting entries – the accounting processes have a greater level of complexity due to the structure of the business and its international locations.  Transactions accounted for in Munich must comply with German regulations, likewise for France, the UK and Luxembourg. Rob adds,

Xero worked really well for us for two years when we needed simple, single entity accounting, but it made international accounting difficult.  We didn’t have a need for an Oracle-like system but we had to address the multi-jurisdictional needs.”

Making consolidation simple

“Even though we are a small business, consolidating accounts across quite a few businesses was difficult and time-consuming and I could only see the problem getting worse,” says Rob.

Previously, Apera’s group consolidation was done in spreadsheets: data was exported from various systems and in different currencies, then brought together in Excel. Rob explains, “AccountsIQ’s consolidation software means there is no fiddling around in spreadsheets trying to get things to tie.  Working in Excel was not sustainable; before AccountsIQ, we had instances where we were struggling to get these reports right, sometimes until 2 a.m.”

Expense processing is automated with Expensify

AccountsIQ has been integrated with automated expense capture software Expensify which reduces paper, saves time, improves accuracy and ensures the VAT allocations are correct.  Also integrating with American Express, Expensify allows expenses to be digitally reallocated, and it automates VAT calculations.

Rob explains, “Everyone can photograph, upload and record their own expenses which feeds directly into the accounting system, everything is electronic and it is zero paper.  It is much easier for me to review from anywhere and, although I still want to manually review line-by-line, the admin-heavy part of the process is automated, making it easier for everyone.” Rob concludes,

Although it costs a bit more than Xero, it makes sense in the amount of time it saves us and I have a much more powerful system than Xero.  AccountsIQ meets all our expectations so far and there is still much more in the system for us to use.”

Apera also uses AccountsIQ’s Workflow Approval which automates and speeds up the approval process, also removing the need for paper filing as all documents are stored electronically in the system.  The firm also plans to explore the dashboard reporting and customisable reports further as the system continues to evolve and add further value to the team.

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Fevore Group Simplifies Consolidation with AccountsIQ

Fevore needed to replace the group’s accounting software when the motor dealership part of the business was sold, leaving a smaller group of diverse businesses which range from insurance to leasing.  Having previously relied on accounting software which was specifically designed for the motor trade, Group Director Felicity Field allowed her search for replacement software to be led this time by the consolidation needs of the new group.  Having ruled out Sage X3, she chose Cloud accounting and consolidation software for groups, AccountsIQ.

Felicity explains; “If we had chosen the Sage package, we would have needed to adjust our processes to fit the software.  It would have governed how we approve invoices, for example, whereas AccountsIQ can be adjusted to suit our processes, and it also works with alternative less complex accounting packages which are in place in our smaller subsidiary companies.”

Prior to using AccountsIQ, consolidation was done using spreadsheets.  Felicity describes the manual process as, “time-consuming”.  She adds, “If a mistake occurs somewhere in the consolidation spreadsheets, you need to scrutinise the entire process and often redo your workings.”  With AccountsIQ, consolidation is simplified and draws consistent information from across the group.  She continues, “It saves me a huge amount of reporting time and I am confident the information is accurate.”

Performance Benchmarking

Despite the diversity in the group, AccountsIQ allows the leadership team to benchmark performance across the various businesses and measure performance against a similar set of KPIs.  Felicity adds, “One of our KPIs measures whether or not the business has been able to meet budgets.”  This is tracked at Group level using AccountsIQ.

Automated Invoice Approval

In addition to group consolidation, AccountsIQ is installed in one of Fevore’s entities which processes thousands of purchase and recharge transactions a month.  Felicity remarks,

AccountsIQ automates these transactions and reduces all of the manual inputs. Since implementing AccountsIQ, the day-to-day tasks for the team are much more interesting and less repetitive.  We spend much more time problem-solving and carrying out pre-emptive checks.”

AccountsIQ’s integrated Fixed Assets module allows Felicity’s team to further replace spreadsheet-based tracking processes.

Another benefit Fevore enjoys is AccountsIQ’s ability to integrate with other business applications, streamlining processes.  The group uses iCompleat’s automated invoice approval system which fully integrates with AccountsIQ.  Felicity adds, “You can even see the original document in AccountsIQ which removes the need to flip from one system to another.  We save so much time in re-keying information and retrieving documents.”

Smooth Implementation

Regarding the implementation process, Felicity notes, “The process was extremely smooth and the support was personal and tailored to our needs.  The guidance before we implemented the software was clear, allowing us to prepare accordingly, and the implementation consultants were not prescriptive, they listened to our needs and worked with us in a very supportive way.”

To conclude, she says, “When you implement a new system, there is often a moment when you stand back and say, ‘What have I done?’, but that hasn’t happened with AccountsIQ.

Describing future plans for AccountsIQ in Fevore Group, Felicity says,

I look forward to what AccountsIQ will deliver next; there is always something interesting and useful on the product roadmap.  In the short time that we have been using the software, we have already seen improvements in journal entries as well as the release of additional features such as integrated Fixed Assets.”

AES International uses AccountsIQ to help manage growth

AES International is a UK-registered financial advisory company with a branch in Dubai which pioneered the use of emerging evidence-based technologies to provide better advice to clients. AES has seen rapid growth over the last decade and in 2012, they were the 4th fastest growing financial services firm in the UK.

Having built success on their ground-breaking use of technology, AES was aware that such an approach would also benefit their internal processes. When Wayne Copeland joined AES as Head of Finance in 2017, he knew immediately that there were big efficiencies to be made in the company’s accounting practices. At the time, the company had been using Quickbooks, a starter accounting package that couldn’t handle AES’s rapid growth and multi-national accounting requirements. It was clear that the company had outgrown this system and required an alternative solution that could handle their reporting and consolidation requirements more easily.

AES selected AccountsIQ as it could easily consolidate their multiple entities, multiple bank accounts and myriad of currency transactions, and because it is easy to produce bespoke management reporting packs.

Nothing else like AccountsIQ for consolidation

Wayne Copeland, Head of Finance, AES International

Consolidation was crucial for AES International, which has multiple entities and currencies to manage. Quickbooks only allowed consolidation in sterling, requiring the cumbersome use of spreadsheets and manual effort to consolidate the accounts. AccountsIQ does this automatically. Wayne’s team can easily run a consolidation of six companies and convert the data to any currency they need.

I don’t know of any other system that can do consolidation the way AccountsIQ can. It takes a lot of complexity out of everything and that saves us a lot of time. It used to take two weeks to do our accounts; with AccountsIQ and other improvements, we now get our accounts out in five working days,” says Wayne.

Quantifiable Management Information (MI) for more efficient decision-making

While AccountsIQ’s consolidation features take away the legwork, its bespoke reporting tools make it easier for AES’s management team to interpret and action the results. AES has built on AccountsIQ’s standard reports by using API connectors to create custom reports to suit their specific needs.

With AccountsIQ we get good, accurate data coming out of a well trusted system. We are confident we have chosen the right system for our current and future growth needs.”

A digital approach that saves time and money

The move to AccountsIQ marks a change to a totally digital approach to accounting that ultimately saves AES both time and money.

When I joined AES, I took the opportunity to make accounting cloud-based. Quickbooks was server-based – we once lost a week’s worth of work when the system went down. I knew that the new system had to be cloud-based, backed up, everything stored online.”

With AccountsIQ, AES now has a cloud-based solution that makes data loss a non-issue.

In addition to its consolidation capabilities, AccountsIQ has other features that offer substantial time savings for AES. For example, the Fixed Asset Register’s auto-depreciation feature helps automate processes that would otherwise be done manually. “The fixed asset register is a great addition,” says Wayne.

“For SMEs, it’s a perfect bit of software.”

Cloud-based, with financial consolidation software a key feature, AccountsIQ provides exceptional value for AES, saving valuable time for this growing business. “For SME’s, AccountsIQ is a perfect bit of software,” says Wayne.

AccountsIQ is ideal for our complex accounting requirements. We were delighted to find a solution that is intuitive to use and enables us to report on our group structure easily, all at an affordable price.”