How to support high value growth and mid-sized clients
Supporting a mid-sized or growth business adequately is a problem some practices have been grappling with for years. These clients are an attractive proposition but can be complex to service, as these organisations tend to have a much greater requirement for analysis and reporting.
As businesses expand and look to grow further, owners and stakeholders need to understand to a greater degree which lines, regions, departments or projects are performing and conversely, which are not. Two cost centres extending the General Ledger will not provide the depth and segmentation of analysis required to provide sufficient business-critical information. When key financial decisions are to be made, multi-dimensional management reporting, available at speed, is critical to give clients confidence in the numbers being reported.
Pic: Example P&L report by dimension from AccountsIQ
Growing Pains
The reporting and insight problem is magnified as these companies scale and develop group structures. Not only is management reporting required at company or subsidiary level, but throughout the group and against budgets. Furthermore, consolidating these reports was once the sole responsibility of specialist tools at vast expense, or the creative Excel enthusiast using time and incurring the inherent risks.
Pic: Example consolidated P&L report split by subsidiary from AccountsIQ
Supporting mid-sized and growth organisations has become increasingly hard, margins are squeezed as the additional tools add expense and complexity leaving many accountants questioning the endeavour. However, with the right tools that automate these processes, it can become a higher value service to provide a client. What’s more, delivering key information at speed cements your role, not only as a trusted advisor, but also as an irreplaceable component to success.
Migrating from legacy platforms
Traditionally, moving these clients to a bigger platform has been a relatively long process due to a lack of solutions with an advanced standard of functionality and long implementation times. The endeavour of sourcing a cost-effective, feature-rich accounting solution, which can be implemented swiftly, can often feel like a thankless task.
Yet it does not need to be.
The new generation of solutions such as AccountsIQ’s Cloud financial management software are now able to automate compliance and complex management reporting, with the added benefit of a short implementation period. Finally, it’s goodbye to the open-ended, high cost ERP implementation-style projects of old.
Supporting mid-sized and growth companies with multi award-winning AccountsIQ
AccountsIQ is an ideal solution to support clients with more advanced accounting and reporting requirements and is typically implemented within 4 weeks. We have won Mid-Tier and Enterprise Accounting Software of the Year as voted by our customers for the last two years running.
Who are these clients?
- Recruitment
- Technology
- Renewable Energy
- Financial services
- Logistics
- Groups
What do these clients look for?
Many of the organisations and accountants who use AccountsIQ:
- Require extended reporting across multiple companies and in different currencies with multiple cost and project codes for analysis.
- Need automated consolidation of group financial reports and automated management reporting
- Need to integrate their accounting software with different applications, in different parts of the business
- Need deep business intelligence or have more complex accounting needs
- Have outgrown other cloud systems and need more sophisticated financial management to help them grow
- Want to become more efficient – saving time, automating processes and reducing paper
What are the benefits for the practice?
- Increased fee income from offering automated consolidation, management packs
- Retain and delight fast-growing clients
- Attract higher-value clients who can’t be supported by other practices
Discover how practices are supporting mid-sized and fast-growing companies with AccountsIQ
View accountancy practice brochure PDF
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