New Media Audio Visual Reduces Overheads by Using Exchequer from IRIS Enterprise Software to Manage its Finances

New Media Audio Visual is a trade distributor of products for creative markets, focusing on video editing, video effects, 3D and audio applications. Its primary role is in sourcing products from the best manufacturers worldwide and representing them to qualified sales channels in the UK, Middle East and Africa.

Launched in 2004, NMAV made a conscious decision from the outset to ensure it had the correct IT infrastructure to grow and solutions that saved it money rather than costing it money. Initially the company was using Sage Line 50 as its financial management solution, but were very disappointed with the software.

Mark Budgen of NMAV comments, 'As a distributor selling across Europe, Middle East and Africa we needed a product that was multi-currency, easy to use and had excellent stock management. Exchequer ticked all the boxes and was the right price.'

NMAV originally installed a 4-user version of Exchequer but has recently upgraded this to six. The software is used in conjunction with ProspectSoft to supply NMAV with a complete CRM and Accounts system. 'Tied in with Outlook and Microsoft Excel, we now have a system that performs 90% of our day to day accounting requirements. I would say that having Exchequer probably saves us about two full time members of staff, a pretty impressive figure which will increase further as we grow.'

NMAV chose to install a number of additional modules when adopting Exchequer, including Report Writer which provides an easy-to-use, fast and flexible tool for creating analysis reports and Paperless which allows them to send out documents and reports in a secure read-only format by fax or email.

However, one module that is particularly vital to NMAV's business is stock control. In addition to addressing the important issues of stock levels and valuation, Exchequer's Stock Control module adds an extra dimension to management information. The interactive stock drill-down provides a unique view of stock groups, sub-groups and stock items. At each level, sales and margin trends can be viewed for any period and year, optionally split by any currency.

What sets Exchequer apart from many other packages is that it was originally designed as a multi-currency system which is a feature of great importance to NMAV. The General Ledger allows an organisation to view balances of individual currencies, as well as all currencies consolidated into its base currency. General Ledgers can be translated into any other currency simply by selecting the currency required out of 89 available.

Mark concludes, 'I don't think there is an Exchequer module we purchased, that we don't use to its full benefit. Exchequer truly represents our ethos of adopting solutions that can grow with the business and I have found the company extremely helpful and co-operative.'