Apera Asset Management Gets “Turbo-Charged” Accounting from AccountsIQ
Solving the accounting needs of a multi-entity, international business, Rob Shaw, CFO of Apera Asset Management chose to move from Xero to AccountsIQ when consolidation became too cumbersome and international jurisdiction requirements became too complex. Rob 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.”
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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 – the firm has a considerably low volume of accounting entries – the accounting processes 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.”
Making consolidation simple
“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 software 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 2 a.m.”
Expense processing is automated with Expensify
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 it 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 AccountsIQ’s 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.
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Read how merchant bank Salamanca Group‘s Finance Director, Lee Camp consolidates 80 entities in just a few minutes with AccountsIQ. View our customer testimonials.
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