Cloud accounting software for technology companies

Continuum Commerce Adopts AccountsIQ's Cloud Accounting Software for Real Time Management Information

Continuum Commerce CEO, Eamonn O’Shea, states,

I would have no hesitation in recommending AccountsIQ to anyone that conducts business in multiple locations. It can significantly simplify your management reporting process, while at the same time significantly improving its output. The Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) pricing means we have a full accounting and business analysis system for a fraction of what I would have expected to pay to implement an on-premise solution.

The Challenge

Continuum Commerce was founded in 2000 (formerly known as GCX – Global Currency Exchange) as an independent online payments solution provider.  Based in Ireland, Continuum also has operations in mainland Europe, the UK and the Asia-pacific region and has a management team that spends much of its time abroad. Remote board meetings and management updates were previously handled by sending spreadsheets created by re-keying information from their previous accounting package to participants by fax or e-mail. This information was therefore often out of date before the meeting had begun and decisions were being made based on inaccurate information.

Gerard O’Brien, the CFO of Continuum Commerce says,

We evaluated many alternatives and found AccountsIQ offered the most compelling solution. While it provided all the functionality we needed and is available over the web at any time, its reporting capability and especially its Digital Dashboard has proven to be the ‘killer app’ for GCX. There is a wealth of standard reports, and I was able to customise a couple of key reports that I use on a daily basis. The senior team can log on at any time to review our performance metrics. It has really streamlined our business planning and measurement.

The Solution

Continuum Commerce adopted AccountsIQ for all its financial requirements consisting of:

• AccountsIQ online accounting platform
• Full multi-currency processing throughout
• Integration with Continuum’s billing engine
• Customised management information dashboards with specific KPIs

Results

Gerard O’Brien told us that benefits to Continuum include that AccountsIQ represents incredible value for money with no upfront capital cost. They find that reporting is a key strength – with them rarely needing to export to Excel or re-key anything. The digital dashboard capability significantly improves the management information available to them and a key benefit is that AccountsIQ has extensive functionality which can scale with them as they grow their business. With AccountsIQ’s open API, it was easy to integrate Continuum’s billing engine directly to AccountsIQ which has streamlined their processes and brought considerable efficiency advantages.

AccountsIQ provides a feature-rich Cloud accounting solution for Australian SaaS business, Educrowd

Based in Victoria, Australia, Educrowd launched in 2015 as an online learning and skills management platform for multinational companies. Educrowd is a rapidly scaling SaaS business and as their clients are based in 50 countries around the world, strong multicurrency capability was a key requirement for the business. The finance team will soon need consolidated reports as they look to acquire another business. For Educrowd’s small finance team, the accounting system also needs to be easy to use, saving time on everyday processes. Morag McKeand, Educrowd’s Financial Controller, tried several other accounting platforms including Sage and Xero before deciding that AccountsIQ was the best option for Educrowd’s needs.

The time-saving details that make life easier for small teams

For a small finance team with clients in many international markets, AccountsIQ not only provides detailed analysis in multiple currencies, it is also rich with features that make life easier when it comes to daily tasks. Compared to other accounting platforms for small businesses, Morag prefers AccountsIQ for its usability:

AccountsIQ is full of really user-friendly details. Being able to have more than one screen open at the time gives you really good visibility and makes referencing or comparing things much easier. The Transaction Browser will find anything; you might need to find a customer code, for example, and you don’t have to move away from the screen you are working on to find it. When I’ve tried to do this with Sage, it was just really clunky. AccountsIQ is much more intuitive. I just go to the main dashboard and everything is there.”

Educrowd’s client base includes self-serve clients who are billed monthly. The Educrowd team also works with other suppliers who bill on a monthly basis. AccountsIQ allows Educrowd to automate recurring billing on both the customer and the supplier side. “This is very handy,” says Morag, “And multicurrency, a key factor for us, is straightforward with AccountsIQ.”

“The Email Log is a feature I like a lot” she continues. “It’s very handy when a customer is unsure of whether or not they have been sent an invoice or reminders. You can find it really quickly in AccountsIQ’s log and resend it. It helps provide a better customer service as well as keeping payments and cash flow on track.”

Australia-based support and implementation

AccountsIQ collaborates with Sydney-based Saoi Business Consulting to provide a local implementation and support service for businesses ‘down under’ looking to move up a step from Xero or Sage. Darren Donohoe, an original Co-Founder of AccountsIQ and now Head of Operations at Saoi Business Consulting worked directly with Morag to set up AccountsIQ for Educrowd. His team continues to be her first point of contact for support.

Darren says, “AccountsIQ is the only financial management software available in Australia or New Zealand which offers accounting, consolidation and business intelligence, all on one platform and at an affordable price. It fills a real gap for evolving businesses like Educrowd which needs scalability without a large upfront investment.”

Morag sums up her overall experience with AccountsIQ:

I have used numerous accounting packages over the years such as Xero, MYOB, Sage, Reckon, and I’ve found AccountsIQ to be the most intuitive relative to the vast amount of functionality available. Its in-depth reporting functionality is a standout for me and when management often requires variations to the standard monthly P&L, the ability to tailor the reporting parameters saves me valuable time and a lot of frustration.”

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