Welcome to “Elevate Your CFO Game with AccountsIQ” — a webinar for CFOs, FDs, and finance leaders who know there’s more to their role than closing the books and wrestling with Excel.

Hosted by Nick Longdon, Chief Revenue Officer at AccountsIQ, alongside Helen Lawler, Presales Consultant and former implementation specialist, this session focuses on one core theme:

How modern finance technology can transform you and your team from transactional processors into strategic business partners.

What this webinar covers

1. Who are AccountsIQ?

Nick starts with a short introduction:

• Pure cloud accounting platform (no on-premise legacy)
• In market since 2007, with 20,000+ users in 60 countries
• Designed to:
  • Automate finance processes
  • Reduce manual data entry & off-system work
  • Unlock business intelligence from your existing data

AccountsIQ is ideal for growing organisations and multi-entity groups that have outgrown small business tools but don’t need the full cost and complexity of large ERPs.

2. Signs you’ve outgrown your current finance system

Nick walks through common pain points that many finance leaders will recognise:

a) Excessive manual processes

• Heavy reliance on off-system work (Word/Excel/exports)
• Time-consuming data entry and re-keying
• High risk of errors and inefficiencies

b) “Spreadsheet sprawl”

• Critical reports built and maintained in Excel
• Multiple versions of the truth
• Finance team acting as “spreadsheet factory” instead of advisers

c) Disconnected systems and duplicate effort

• Multiple non-finance systems:
  • HR, payroll
  • Ecommerce platforms
  • Maintenance / job systems
  • Professional services / project tools
• Little or no integration with the finance system
• Data re-entered manually instead of flowing automatically

d) Growing compliance burden

• Not just VAT/Tax filings
• Sector-specific reporting and audit requirements
• Constant ad-hoc requests from different parts of the business

e) Ageing, legacy software

• Older platforms (e.g. historic desktop systems) with technical debt
• Vendors focusing on maintenance rather than innovation
• Little exploitation of cloud benefits (access, security, integrations, scalability)

f) Impact on people & talent

• Younger team members expect:
  • Modern cloud tools
  • Instant access to data
  • Minimal manual grunt work
• Outdated systems hurt:
  • Retention
  • Productivity
  • Morale

If several of these resonate, it’s a strong sign you may need to consider a more modern, mid-market solution.

3. Where AccountsIQ fits in the marketplace

Nick positions AccountsIQ between:

• Entry-level cloud/accounting tools:
  • Xero
  • Sage 50 / Sage Accounting
  • QuickBooks

…and…

• Larger ERP / mid-ERP platforms:
  • Oracle NetSuite
  • Sage Intacct
  • Similar “mini-ERP” solutions

A favourite customer quote sums it up:

“We needed a more powerful and flexible accounting solution, but without the cost and complexity of an ERP system like NetSuite.”

Ideal use cases:

• Fast-growing businesses
• Multi-entity / multi-currency groups
• Accountancy practices that serve such clients and need robust consolidation and reporting.

4. Flipping the finance function pyramid

Nick introduces a simple before/after model:

Old finance function

• Majority of time: transactional processing & data entry
• Some time: compliance & statutory reporting
• Very little time: analysis, forecasting, and business decision support

New finance function (with the right tech)

• Much less time on manual and repetitive work, thanks to:
  • Automation (AP, bank rec, bulk payments, recurring journals)
  • Integrations (CRM, ecommerce, operational systems)
• Same level of compliance effort, but more controlled & efficient
• Much more time for:
  • Performance analysis by product, region, project, or service line
  • Cash-flow and scenario planning
  • Supporting investment and strategic decisions

The idea is simple: use technology to free the CFO and finance team to operate at a higher level.

5. Onboarding & implementation: how hard is it really?

Nick addresses the common fear: “We don’t have time to change systems.”

Key points:

• AccountsIQ has a structured, well-defined onboarding process for customers moving from:
  • Sage 50
  • Xero
  • QuickBooks
  • Other legacy systems
• Typical implementation runway:
  • Often 3–5 weeks, sometimes longer depending on:
    • Data readiness
    • Complexity
    • Internal resourcing
• Onboarding is tailored to your pace:
  • Some clients move very quickly
  • Others phase the project around key dates (year-end, go-live, etc.)
• You get:
  • A clear project structure
  • A sandbox to test configuration
  • Support from a team that has done this many times before

Then Nick hands over to Helen to show what all of this looks like in practice.

6. Live product demo with Helen Lawler

Helen, drawing on her background in implementation, walks through the product from a CFO’s perspective.

a) Group & entity structure

• Logs in via secure URL (with optional 2FA and single sign-on)
• Lands on a group layer:
  • Multiple entities in different currencies (GBP, EUR, USD)
  • All consolidating to a GBP holding / reporting entity
• Supports:
  • Multi-entity, multi-currency consolidation
  • Sub-consolidations where needed

From the group screen, you can:

• Trigger consolidation at the click of a button
• Run group-level reports across all entities

b) Support & training – QHub

Helen shows the embedded QHub:

• Access to:
  • Project management tools during onboarding
  • AIQ Academy (training modules)
  • “How to” videos contextual to the screen you’re on
  • Help articles
  • Support ticketing & live chat
  • Feedback channel
• All within the app – no need to leave the system to find help or contact your customer success manager.

c) GL, analysis structure & BI codes

General Ledger:

• 3-tier chart of accounts:
  • Category
  • Subcategory
  • GL code

In the GL Explorer, Helen shows:

• Instant views of P&L, balance sheet, trial balance
• Period or year-to-date comparisons vs:
  • Budget
  • Revised budget (reforecast)

Analysis structure (dimensions):

• Up to 6 dimensions (e.g. Region, Employee, Department)
• Unlimited elements under each dimension (e.g. multiple regions, projects, cost centres)
• BI (Business Intelligence) codes:
  • Combine multiple dimensions into a single capture code
  • Tagged to transactions as they’re posted

Result: every transaction can have 6 additional layers of analysis, enabling granular reporting by:

• Region
• Department
• Project
• Employee
• Other custom segments relevant to your business

d) Journals & GL automation

In the GL Journal Manager, Helen highlights:

• Automated journals for:
  • Revenue accruals
  • Cost accruals
  • Prepayments
  • Deferred revenue
• Ability to:
  • Copy frequently used journals
  • Favourite journals
  • Filter by journal type
• All journal grids are fully customisable (add/remove columns, reorder) and exportable to Excel.

e) Purchase ledger & AP automation

Key capabilities:

• Rich supplier records with:
  • Default GL and tax codes
  • Terms
  • Custom fields
• Purchase orders:
  • Created within AccountsIQ
  • Sent through configurable approval workflows
  • Upcoming enhanced workflow engine (multi-step, more complex rules)

AP Inbox:

• Each entity has a unique AP email address
• Supplier invoices can be emailed directly into the system
• OCR reads the invoice and:
  • Suggests coding
  • Allows matching to outstanding purchase orders
• Auto-matching:
  • If PO and invoice match, it can move straight through to invoice posting
• Attachments follow the transaction through the entire system

This significantly reduces manual invoice entry and speeds up approval and posting.

f) Bulk payments & remittances

Helen walks through the bulk payment screen:

• Choose:
  • Bank account
  • Payment method(s)
  • Due date (e.g. “all invoices due up to X date”)
• Options to:
  • Select all
  • Manually tick specific invoices
  • Part-pay individual items
• From one screen you can:
  • Drill into supplier accounts
  • Check terms, bank details, attachments, and notes
• Once the batch is prepared:
  • Send it for approval (bulk payment approver)
  • On approval:
    • Download a bank payment file in the correct format
    • Import to your bank portal
    • Allocate payments in AccountsIQ
    • Automatically send remittance advices to suppliers

g) Bank feeds & automated reconciliation

Using partner Plaid, AccountsIQ:

• Connects to your bank and imports transactions up to 4 times per day
• Works with:
  • Bank accounts
  • Corporate credit cards

Simple traffic light system:

• Green – system recognises and auto-reconciles
• Red – unseen transaction; you create the posting and optionally “memorise and post”
• Over a few weeks, the system “learns” and more items move to green, turning bank rec from a heavy month-end task into a quick, routine process.

h) Sales, integrations & recurring invoices

On the sales ledger, Helen shows:

• Customer records, quotes, orders, and invoices
• Recurring invoices:
  • Set up weekly, monthly, quarterly, etc.
  • System notifies when they’re due; you generate and send

On integrations:

• Open API supporting:
  • CRM systems
  • Payroll
  • Industry/vertical systems
• Practical examples:
  • Ecommerce platforms feeding sales into AIQ
  • Maintenance or job management tools posting invoices and receipts into the finance system

Helen notes she has “yet to see a system we can’t integrate with in some way.”

i) Fixed assets & expenses

• Fixed Asset Register:
  • Asset classes & individual assets
  • Custom fields (maintenance, insurance, warranty)
  • Linked invoices
  • Automated monthly depreciation journals
• Employee expense app:
  • Out-of-pocket expenses captured via mobile
  • Receipt capture, categories, and (recently added) mileage
  • Approval and posting back into AccountsIQ

j) Reporting, BI & dashboards

Standard reporting:

• ~250 standard reports:
  • P&L, balance sheet, TBs
  • Aged debtors/creditors
  • Cashflow and more

Advanced analysis:

• P&L by BI code – allowing:
  • Filtering by region, employee, department, etc.
  • Totals plus breakdown by each code
  • Variance vs budget and percentage variance
• Management report packs:
  • Combine key reports (KPIs, P&L vs budget vs last year, cashflow, AR/AP) into a single pack
• Export formats:
  • Excel, PowerPoint, PDF, CSV, etc.
• Direct connections to Excel & Power BI:
  • Build your own models and dashboards using live data from AccountsIQ

Consolidation reporting:

• Consolidated P&L and other group reports with:
  • Group totals
  • Breakdown by subsidiary
  • Drilldown to entity-level transactions

7. New UI and navigation (sneak preview)

Helen finishes with a preview of the new user interface:

• Modern look with left-hand navigation
• Each module presents:
  • Operational screens
  • Setup
  • Reporting in one place
• Ability to favourite frequently used screens and reports
• Designed to make navigation faster and more intuitive, especially for new joiners

This UI refresh will launch alongside new Qlik-based dashboards.

8. Customer examples and next steps

Nick closes with references to a range of AccountsIQ customers:

• Global accounting practices (PwC, BDO, Deloitte, Grant Thornton) using AIQ for mid-sized clients
• Organisations like:
  • Artichoke Trust – quick implementation (live in 2 days)
  • StitcherAds – high-growth tech company needing a scalable platform

More case studies are available by sector on the AccountsIQ website.

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