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Apera Asset Management Gets Turbo-Charged Accounting with AccountsIQ

3rd Jan 2020
Brought to you by
AccountsIQ logo

Award-winning cloud accounting software for multi-company businesses.

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This multi-entity, international business, Apera Asset Management chose to move from Xero to AccountsIQ when consolidation became too cumbersome and international jurisdiction requirements became too complex.  Now they have:

  • Simplified, real-time consolidation for the group
  • Compliance in multiple jurisdictions
  • Integrated, automated expense management

Rob Shaw, CFO of Apera Asset Management 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, they 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.”

Simplifying consolidation

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 module 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 2am.”

When I was researching accounting software alternatives, AccountsIQ had a lot of clients in our sector, mostly with similar needs: simple accounting, complex reporting, consolidation and international requirements.  I could see AccountsIQ working well for us too.”

Automated expense processing 

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 AccountsIQ 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 one of AccountsIQ’s additional modules, 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.

About AccountsIQ

AccountsIQ's award-winning financial management platform simplifies the way finance functions capture, process and report their financial information across multiple locations. 

  • Automatically consolidate multiple subsidiaries and sub-groups
  • Access detailed business intelligence to inform future financial decisions
  • Benchmark performance and analyse trends across the group 
  • Analyse budgets, actuals, variance by group, location
  • Save significant time with smarter digital processing.

Moving off older technology

Our highly experienced Implementation Team helps finance teams transform away from older technology or migrate up from starter cloud systems.

Over 4,000 companies use our platform including: Hibernia REIT, Apera Asset Management, Linesight, Arix Bioscience, Hampshire Cultural Trust, The Royal Ballet School and accountancy practices like French Duncan, Grant Thornton and PwC. View Customer Testimonials.

Get in Touch

Contact us for a chat about how we can help your business on +44 (0) 203 598 7350 or email [email protected] or simply Request a Quote.

Webinars

We are also running a Webinar series in which we demo AccountsIQ software and also a webinar on Consolidation, Multicurrency, Intercompany recharging. Sign up now to reserve your place - both webinars are in January. View Webinars.