FAQs

What is AccountsIQ?

AccountsIQ is an award-winning financial management system that simplifies the way finance functions capture, process and report their financial information across multiple locations. It offers intuitive tools to automate consolidation, manage budget, audit, digital VAT returns, and cash flow. It is suitable for small to medium-size businesses in all industries and is designed specifically to suit business environments where multiple entities need access to a common platform.

With a flexible 3-tier General Ledger and 6 dimension BI coding structure, AccountsIQ enables detailed and granular reporting and performance to be benchmarked across a group network. It is flexible and can accommodate 4-4-5 accounting methods.

Where do you fit in the marketplace and which clients use AccountsIQ?

AccountsIQ is suitable for any clients but particularly suitable for service-based companies. E.g. financial services, renewable energy, private equity, investment management companies that need to report in some detail on multiple entities, or SPVs at a group level. Any company that needs a strong flexible General Ledger and wants to analyse and report on their group of companies at a granular level of detail would be an ideal customer for AccountsIQ.

Is AccountsIQ Making Tax Digital compliant and does it support digital group VAT submissions?

AccountsIQ’s cloud-based software is Making Tax Digital compliant and enables a live connection to HMRC, streamlining the way your business submits and accesses tax data, improving accuracy and efficiency. With AccountsIQ you can submit your single entity and Group VAT return digitally to HMRC. Watch our Making Tax Digital guide to submitting VAT returns.

Is your cloud accounting software for sale in the UK?

Yes. We have dedicated Sales and Customer Success teams in the UK (as well as Ireland) who support our clients through the sales and implementation process.

Is there a trial period? And if so, what do I receive during this period?

We run a trial period of 2 weeks, during which you’re given a login to AccountsIQ with test data and have access to a pre-sales consultant to help you explore the system. In order to make the most of your time testing the database, we advise you to plan what you would like to test and who you would like to give access to, so we can map out the 2 weeks to give you the best trialling experience.

As my business grows, can AccountsIQ scale to meet my needs?

Our cloud-accounting software is built with all types of businesses and sectors in mind. If your business unexpectedly expands, our modular software is designed to scale and grow with you, with additional add-on modules available for those businesses with more complex requirements. It is also easy to start new entities on AccountsIQ as your business grows. Our case study with StitcherAds is a great example of AccountsIQ’s suitability for growing companies.

How do I know if AccountsIQ is right for me?

If you’ve outgrown other starter cloud systems such as Quickbooks, Xero, Big Red Cloud and many of the Sage products, or are looking to move from on-premise accounting software on to a scalable cloud product, and are looking for accounting software that is ideal for multi-company accounting, then in all likelihood, AccountsIQ is right for you. Take a look at our core financial features to see if it has the functionality you require.

How do I know AccountsIQ is any good?

AccountsIQ is an award-winning, market leading cloud accounting platform as voted by our users (Winner of Mid-Market & Enterprise Accounting Software of the Year 2019 & 2018 at the Software Excellence Awards and a Finalist in 2020). Our software is accredited by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW). We also have a consistent 4.85/5 star rating average on SoftwareAdvice as rated by software users.

My business is extremely complex; we operate globally and have multiple subsidiaries. Can your software handle that?

Our largest clients consolidate over 250+ entities and work in over 42 countries using 32 currencies. AccountsIQ provides enterprise level functionality and solves clients’ complex reporting, multicurrency and multi-entity consolidation problems. You can see how different organisations use our software by viewing our range of case studies.

What is the key advantage of using AccountsIQ?

Although there are many accounting packages available, very few are specifically designed for multi-company accounting. Very few are aimed at the mid-market and are relatively inexpensive and quick to implement such as AccountsIQ. AccountsIQ is a cloud-based accounting system and so there is no need to buy and maintain software, you simply log on whenever and wherever you like. This means no more worrying about system crashes or backups, and no more time-lag between the client and their accountant. Monthly processes are completed faster, IT support costs are reduced, and there is no need to purchase servers or IT infrastructure specifically for managing your financial back-office.

How does your consolidation software work?

Our multicurrency consolidation software engine is a key feature of AccountsIQ. It makes it easy to consolidate multiple subsidiaries and manage complex ownership, handle foreign currency, centrally control exchange rates, and simplify intercompany recharging. It is an ideal time-saving solution for multi-company and multi-location businesses. 

By linking the range of branch-level ledger codes to a common set of group codes, AccountsIQ allows your subsidiaries to enjoy individual coding structures while you retrieve and drill down the data that you need to give you a clear view through your Group accounts in real time, in one click, in any currency you choose. Read our blog on multi-currency accounting for more info.

Does AccountsIQ consolidate my group companies automatically or do I still need to do this manually in Excel?

AccountsIQ allows you to automatically consolidate your group at the touch of a button and even groups with 240 entities or more can be consolidated in just a few minutes. A great example is our case study with Salamanca Group who now spend 5 minutes a month consolidating 80 companies and producing management reports. Read our blog on automating financial consolidation for more info.

Can all our entities be consolidated on AccountsIQ even if some use different accounting software?

If a subsidiary uses different accounting software, they can be incorporated into the consolidation. Most of our customers have all their entities predominantly on AccountsIQ but occasionally there are some entities using different software. We can import trial balance data into companies that will then be included in a consolidation.

Our management team often require in-depth analysis in real-time. Can your software do this?

AccountsIQ comes with a suite of dashboards and reports to give users better insight into company performance, based on real time data.

What reporting capabilities are available with AccountsIQ?

AccountsIQ includes over 300 pre-built reports designed by experienced accountants to provide high quality comparative and analytical business performance reporting as standard. You can also present your analysis with impressive budgeting, graphing, and statistical reporting of both financial and non-financial Key Performance Indicators. There is also a Business Intelligence tool for more complex data analysis.

Can I build my own reports?

Dashboard reports can be created in just a few clicks. A ‘drag and drop’ feature allows you to choose which segments of the data you need to visualise and how you would like to present it. A clean and organised user interface provides a clear view of actuals versus a range of comparisons such as budget or previous periods. For finance staff who really want to utilise the power of Excel, our Excel Add-In is an integration which allows you to create your report by manipulating real-time financial data. Alternatively you can use our Odata connection to Power BI to produce graphical visualisations using your own data held in AccountsIQ.

Do I have to implement AccountsIQ or do you implement it?

Our accounting software implementation team are a highly experienced professional services team, including qualified experts in accounting, technology implementation and support, who will deliver a detailed implementation plan with your Finance Team. We implement AccountsIQ for most of our customers, however we also work with lots of accountancy practices who implement it themselves and use our platform for their clients within their outsourcing teams, as well as other software business partners who are fully accredited to implement AccountsIQ software, such as ION.

We like the look of the software but think we might need help getting our finance processes in shape. Is that something you can help with?

AccountsIQ has relationships with trusted implementation partners who are accredited to implement our cloud-accounting software, and they also provide a range of additional services such as finance advisory services, outsourced accounting, assistance with integration with other business applications, custom-building management reporting, and even acting as a CFO for your business.

How quickly can we get up and running on AccountsIQ?

We can get clients up and running relatively quickly and have migration paths for companies moving off certain products such as Sage Financials, where we can get clients up and running with the Core Financials in 3 weeks or less. We also have examples of companies who have been set up in a couple of days such as Artichoke Trust. For larger companies, it can take 12 weeks depending on complexity and the client’s readiness and ability to move quickly.

We are currently using an on-premise system. How easy is it to switch and implement a cloud solution?

We have a highly experienced professional services team, including qualified experts in accounting, technology implementation and support, who will deliver a very detailed implementation plan with your Finance Team. They have a great deal of experience helping companies transition from older desktop technology and other starter cloud accounting software.

Once live with AccountsIQ, we provide comprehensive training, ongoing expertise, and technical support to ensure your users are confident using the software, and importantly, are able to take full advantage of all the benefits offered by AccountsIQ.

When is the best time to change accounting software?

You can start using AccountsIQ at any time, however it is easiest at the end of a VAT period. It is not essential to wait until year end.

Where is my data held and how secure is it?

We have top tier hosting sites in UK, Europe, USA and Australia. For UK customers, data does not leave the UK.

Each entity has a unique database (i.e. their records would be held in a separate unique database and not comingled with records from other companies in one large database).  The application as well as the hosting site have been independently ‘penetration tested’ by PwC UK to ensure there are no “holes” in the application that would allow malicious attacks or unauthorised access. Data is protected behind three layers of firewalls and all data going in/out of the system is encrypted.

What support will I get?

During the onboarding phase, you will be given comprehensive training, support and handholding to ensure your users are confident using the software, and importantly, are able to take full advantage of all the benefits offered by AccountsIQ

When onboarding is complete, you will be handed over to our support team who are on hand to provide ongoing expertise and technical support on all aspects of the system. Our Customer Success team members are highly knowledgeable experts on AccountsIQ software.

How do I contact the support team?

The best way to contact support is by emailing support@accountsIQ.com or by raising a ticket through the support icon in the top left corner of the system. Alternatively you can call us on on +44 (0)203 598 7351 (UK) or 01 707 4400 (Ireland)

Is there any online help or training provided?

Training is an essential part of our onboarding process and can be conducted in several forms depending on your preferences and requirements. We also have a comprehensive suite of online training videos in our AIQ Academy and help articles for you to explore.