Cloud accounting software for technology companies

StitcherAds use AccountsIQ to support ambitious growth plans

StitcherAds is a Facebook and Instagram marketing partner, building technology to help advertisers scale their marketing campaigns and use data-fuelled automation to drive sales online and in-store. With offices in the U.S., Ireland and the UK, StitcherAds maintains three separate legal entities in each of these locations.

When Fiona McKenna joined the business in July 2019 to lead the finance team, she quickly realised that their Quickbooks accounting system had major shortfalls in terms of accurate reporting, with significant challenges around foreign currencies and consolidation.

Fiona explains “The key requirements were: a simple system navigable by non-accountants, capable of rapid deployment, and Cloud-based with multi-user capabilities, consolidation, and ability to scale as the business grows.”

StitcherAds has ambitious growth plans and we need to be able to slot in new entities. I compared three systems and AccountsIQ proved the best solution to meet our needs now and in the future.”

Quick to implement with responsive reports

Fiona managed the implementation of AccountsIQ within the StitcherAds finance team, with support from AccountsIQ who advised how to setup the accounting system from scratch. The whole process took about four weeks. “I found the AccountsIQ team incredibly flexible in terms of helping us with the implementation. We got great value from the service,” said Fiona.

Excellent consolidation functionality

Consolidation was critical for StitcherAds which previously used spreadsheets to manage the accounts across three legal entities. This was cumbersome to maintain and invariably led to inaccuracies in reporting. AccountsIQ made consolidation simple.

The consolidation functionality in AccountsIQ is excellent,” says Fiona. “It’s a very good solution for our stage of development and our budget.”

Find out how AccountsIQ can help you with your accounting, consolidation and reporting needs, call us on +44 (0)203 598 7350 or Contact us.

Quick to learn with better business insights

AccountsIQ has an easy-to use interface, navigation and smart query tools that are intuitive to use, even for non-accountants.

You don’t need to be an accountant to use AccountsIQ. It’s quite intuitive, the reports are very good and very reliable,” says Fiona. “It’s nice and simple to use; I don’t have to do lots of tidy ups. This is quite unusual for a platform of this kind. No manual intervention is required.”

Fiona and her team also benefit from better insights and improved visibility into the organisation assisted by AccountsIQ’s Cloud-based business analysis features and pre-configured reports. “I can log in remotely and only have to look in two places to know exactly where we’re at. In terms of business information, it’s been an absolute godsend,” says Fiona.

Time-saving benefits

The move to AccountsIQ radically streamlined and simplified the accounting process across all of StitcherAds’ entities. This not only enabled more accurate reporting, but also saved a significant amount of time.

We have a much faster month-end close, shaving 15 days off typically. We’re now closing on day 10, when we used to close the books around the 25th. Previously this was unheard of in the business. Now that we have a simpler system to use, we now have more time to dedicate to more strategic work.”

A high standard of product for fast-growing startups and medium-sized businesses

StitcherAds demonstrates AccountsIQ’s suitability for smaller businesses with big growth plans. In particular, AccountsIQ is an affordable accounting solution that can grow with the business.

AccountsIQ is a high standard of product at the right budget for a medium-sized company. As a smaller business it’s tempting to go with a simpler solution such as QuickBooks or Xero, but these platforms don’t scale as well as AccountsIQ. With excellent tools for consolidation and custom reporting, AccountsIQ offers a more robust accounting solution that can quickly adapt to the changing needs of a fast growing business like ours, while still remaining very affordable.”

PortSwigger uses AccountsIQ’s open API to integrate business systems and support their growth potential

PortSwigger is a global leader in cyber security, creating cutting edge software and research to help individuals and organisations “secure the web”. The company launched in 2003 with its flagship security testing tool Burp Suite. Now in early 2021, with 52,000 customers and 13,000 enterprises using its products, PortSwigger has firmly established itself as a thought leader in web security and has ambitious growth plans.

These plans are what led the finance department to reconsider its existing accounting software, QuickBooks, which was already struggling to cope with the business’s growing volume of transactions as well as payroll for its 80 employees. And with plans to significantly expand its staff in the coming years, PortSwigger clearly needed an accounting system that could scale.

AccountsIQ not only offered the cloud accounting features that they needed at an affordable price, it also offered a compatible ethos and agile approach to software development that PortSwigger’s team could happily work with as they pursue their growth strategy.

Integrating in-house systems with AccountsIQ’s API

PortSwigger has its own in-house tool “Swig Portal” for tracking sales data and software licence sales, built by their own team of engineers. A big challenge with QuickBooks was bringing together the data from these two disconnected systems to produce accurate reports. AccountsIQ has an open accounting API strategy which allows PortSwigger to integrate its own CRM with AccountsIQ, linking the two data sources and bringing their business intelligence onto one cohesive platform. Helen MacDonald, Finance Manager at PortSwigger, explains:

Helen Macdonald, Finance Manager, PortSwigger

The integration and the API are what we’ve really been happy with. We have developers in house who roll their eyes when you talk about the other larger accounting software vendors because they are so cumbersome. Our team found it really easy working with AccountsIQ to get it all up and running. That’s what really sold us.”

Integrated OCR technology for significant time and resource savings

In addition to their own in-house CRM, the finance team is also benefiting from AccountsIQ’s ability to integrate with AutoEntry — an intelligent, automated add-on OCR solution which removes the need for manual data entry of invoices.

We’re the sort of company that looks to streamline and make internal processes more efficient. Previously, we were manually inputting invoices and uploading PDFs – which was slow and prone to inaccuracies,” said Helen.

AutoEntry was really easy to set up. AutoEntry captures and analyses all our invoices and it automatically posts this data to AccountsIQ. It took us about two days to get up and running and now we’re saving about half a day per month alone just on invoice processing. It makes auditing easier because we simply give the auditors a login and they can find everything they need.”

Better reporting tools with scope for expansion

With income from a combination of individuals and enterprises, received via various payment methods and in a range of currencies (including Bitcoin), integration with the CRM is vital for streamlining income, and the three levels of BI codes PortSwigger is using in AccountsIQ allows the team to draw analysis in a combination of ways.

QuickBooks didn’t allow us to segment our reports across the business. So the BI codes within AccountsIQ are great. We now have three BI codes so we can report on each of the different levels,” said Helen.

She adds:

We’re growing quickly and wanted to make sure we had all the functionality in place so that once we’re larger, we could easily change our accounting system to adapt. There are plenty of features in AccountsIQ that we’re not using, but we know they’re there because the implementation team have explained how they will work for us in the future. We didn’t expect this level of engagement from a supplier.”

Proactive support from AccountsIQ

AccountsIQ prides itself in the level of support and attention that the accounting software implementation team provides to new users. Here PortSwigger’s team, meticulous and detail-oriented, found a supplier that took on board their specific challenges and came back with solutions to their nuanced accounting needs.

The implementation process was faultless, we migrated from QuickBooks and had regular meetings and encouragement to keep us on track. The API was the feature that sold AccountsIQ to us and it has been great. The support is superb so any issues we have ever had have been resolved quickly.” – Helen MacDonald

“We haven’t bought software that will never change”

AccountsIQ and PortSwigger have a few crucial things in common. Both are software companies aiming to differentiate through next level agility, pushing the boundaries, a great company culture, and an attitude of going beyond just the software to really solve their customers’ problems. These mutually-shared values have enabled PortSwigger’s finance operation to get up and running quickly with confidence that this solution will carry them into the future.

A challenge with taking on a new supplier, especially in software, is: are they going to be around in five years’ time? It feels like a gamble. But with AccountsIQ we have a well-established accounting package with a track record of excellence. What we appreciate with AccountsIQ is that, like us, they’re developing the software constantly. We’re really happy with the improvements we’ve seen so far – they’ve improved our business processes as a result. We haven’t bought software that will never change and we really appreciate that. We feel like we’re with the right partner.” – Helen MacDonald

AccountsIQ Helps Kefron Stay Ahead with Cloud Integration Strategy

Established in Dublin in 1989, entrepreneurial storage business Kefron made an evolutionary move in 2013 when the business expanded into the UK.  Kefron has also been successfully extending its digital proposition since then, using technology to help businesses find more efficient ways of storing and managing documents by offering digital solutions such as M-Files Document Management and Kefron AP, accounts payable invoice automation software. With a good understanding of the digital landscape, Kefron decided it was crucial to move its own business processes to the cloud, but was tied to its old accounting system, Exchequer, which had been heavily customised during implementation ten years before.  It wasn’t until Kefron reviewed AccountsIQ that their leadership team found an affordable, cloud accounting and consolidation system which could replace Exchequer, and provide a more integrated solution with improved reporting across the group.

Kefron’s Financial Controller Sinéad Brennan explains,

Exchequer consumed a lot of resources and came with a heavy maintenance overhead.  We had to wait for new features to become available; in the ten years we used the system, it never really changed.  With AccountsIQ, we have an up-to-date, intelligent financial management system which integrates with our billing system and our own Kefron AP automated invoicing solution.  It also makes consolidation really straightforward.”

Maintaining business operations during change

Kefron had invested heavily in Exchequer during implementation with a considerable amount of bespoke work.  Although this proved a good solution for the needs of the early business, it proved restrictive in the longer term: newer, cloud-based platforms replace the need for heavy implementation projects because the technology allows processes to be tailored with minimum effort, automated, and easily integrated with other data sources.  If Kefron was to make the most of new technology, it would need to move its financial management hub to the cloud.

Outlining her initial concerns about switching from Exchequer to AccountsIQ, Sinéad admits; “We thought switching from Exchequer would be problematic as we relied on a number of key processes which had been tailored for our business.  For example, our direct debits were handled in a complicated way which required extensive use of Excel.  We realised we had come to develop our processes around the limitations of the Exchequer system rather than using the system to improve processes.”

AccountsIQ’s UK Managing Director Darren Cran explained, “To ensure business continuity, we implemented the core elements of AccountsIQ first while dual-running Kefron’s bespoke elements on the old system.  That also gave us a secure platform on which to build further integrations with other applications.  By breaking the project down, we were able to complete it in practical stages without interruption to the day-to-day operations, eventually replacing all legacy systems.”

Removing the headache of consolidated reports

Today Kefron boasts a portfolio of six storage facilities and two scanning bureaux as well as its own Electronic Content Management (ECM) solution and an estate of serviced offices.  With lines of business and locations included, Kefron needs to consolidate no less than 15 entities for audit purposes.

Describing the transformation in how she produces complex group reports, Sinéad adds, “Before AccountsIQ, we had to spend a lot of time at year end exporting data and performing a lengthy, manual consolidation process which had systematic errors.  We now have a system which allows us to retrieve and review consolidated reports, in real time across the business lines, in just a couple of hours.”

AccountsIQ comes with an optional consolidation module for businesses with multiple entities.  Rather than simply amalgamating accounts and leaving much of the tricky work to be done in spreadsheets, AccountsIQ can create and automate more complex protocols; a whole range of branch level ledger codes can be linked to a common set of group codes, which allows entities to have individual coding structures and their own level of reporting, while still providing a group level view across the entire group, in real time.

The system also solves an age-old problem for Kefron in handling inter-company charges.  Sinéad adds, “Recharging in AccountsIQ has become a very simple process and saves me lots of time; once I post a debit, a credit automatically appears in the corresponding company.  The system automatically handles currency exchange when it is needed.”

Extending workflow business-wide with smarter integration

Exchequer had been integrated with some of Kefron’s other business applications the old-fashioned way; a piece of middleware was hosted on a server to allow the accounting system to share data with payroll and the direct debit system.  Built in the cloud, AccountsIQ’s system architecture means that the integration of these elements is now easier to maintain and doesn’t rely on additional development projects each time the software is upgraded.

Sinéad explains, “People are our biggest cost so it made sense to integrate our finance system with payroll.  AccountsIQ was able to replicate the process previously created in Exchequer without any hiccups.  Our operational billing system incorporates the real data-heavy side of the business.  The volume of transactions means integrating billing with AccountsIQ now saves us at least half a day at month end.”

Additionally, the integration offers Kefron the opportunity to improve its service to customers by creating customised billing reports for those whose industry regulators require reports in a particular format.  AccountsIQ is able to generate the required information and issue it as standard with customer billing statements.

Paperless invoice processing

With the ability to capture and verify key information from paper or digital invoices, Kefron has been able to develop its own paperless workflow solution for invoice processing.  Developed using the latest OCR technology, Kefron’s scanning and automated data entry system reduces paper, administration time and errors for its customers across the UK and Ireland.  The system is also used internally.  Accessing AccountsIQ’s Open API (a portal which facilitates easy integration between two or more Cloud-based systems), Kefron has been able to integrate this with AccountsIQ’s ledger system to create a seamless and automated, two-way process between the systems.  The integrated workflow process for Accounts Payable begins with Kefron’s automated document input, registering invoices in AccountsIQ then sending out automated and paper-free approval for budget holders business-wide.

Sinéad adds, “Our accounts payable process is now completely digital and all documents are stored and managed in the system in digital formats.  With our old system, we had problems displaying digital invoices on screen and, in the end, we had to print them.  With AccountsIQ, we can view and use documents in a variety of formats.”

From business reporting to business intelligence

Financial Controller Sinéad Brennan has plans to take AccountsIQ to the next performance level across the business.  Citing her new consolidation reporting pack as an example of how reports have become insights, Sinead continues, “Phase II with AccountsIQ will involve deploying the information it provides me to the operational heads across the business.  Just being able to summon a report from my tablet in a meeting using real-time insights is a real benefit. There are so many other parts of the business which could use these insights to help form management decisions at various levels.  With a group of managers involved, we could design reports which draw out some really great intelligence.”

Summing up her experience implementing AccountsIQ, Sinéad concludes, “The big difference for me is in the flexibility of AccountsIQ and the ease at which you can access information.  I can produce data on my screen at a management meeting which helps to answer questions and solve problems.  Integrating best of breed solutions in the Cloud was the right way for us to go; our old system couldn’t change quickly enough and wasn’t sustainable long-term.  Our new, integrated model gives us a level of efficiency we have not previously been able to achieve.”