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Small businesses are what help drive the economy. With 5.9 million SME’s in the UK it’s no wonder they are an important part of leading the economy. SMEs account for three fifths of the employment and around half of turnover in the UK private sector.
This case study details the challenges faced by Pathway Lending when preparing their month-end accounts. Pathway Lending historically prepare month-end reports and report quarterly to the board of directors. Unfortunately, their prior accounting software, Microsoft Dynamics SL (Solomon), did not allow them to access financial insights, or present reports the way they wanted. The software also did not include dashboards. Pathway Lending does a lot of project accounting, and it was “cumbersome” to capture and present the information needed to bill across 10 to 12 different educational grants.
Read the case study and find out more about the challenges and solutions offered by Sage Intacct.
The Company:
Pathway Lending is a private, 501(c)3 economic development agency certified by the US Treasury to provide lending solutions and educational services to small businesses. This organisation is dedicated to developing and strengthening economic opportunity in underserved communities throughout Tennessee and Alabama in the US.https://www.pathwaylending.org
The Challenge:
Describing her team’s difficulties with Microsoft Dynamics SL, Harris recalled, “It wasn’t robust at all. It was very antiquated. I had to manipulate the reports that came from it in an Excel spreadsheet in order to make them presentable to the board. You shouldn’t have to do that. You should be able to customise reports for internal employees and external stakeholders.”
The Solution:
Pathway Lending worked with a trusted Sage business partner, to find a solution that offered a better fit. Pathway Lending wanted a financial management solution with flexible, user-friendly reporting and a chart of accounts that could be divided into dimensions to reflect the organisation’s business segments. The CEO requested dashboards that would enable him to see real-time financial information as well as statistical metrics about the organisation’s mission, such as how many loans were originated, the total amount of loans, the number of clients served, and the number of hours of educational services delivered.
Pathway Lending evaluated Sage Intacct, Oracle NetSuite, and Acumatica before choosing Sage Intacct. Barbara Harris, CFO of Pathway Lending said, NetSuite did not offer the user-friendliness she hoped for nor dimensions in the chart of accounts that she needed.
Results with Sage Intacct:
- Month end close cycle reduced 60%
- Provided better insights to executives through real-time dashboards instead of backward-looking reports
- Increased efficiency of billing across grants and shortened billing analysis from two days to two hours
- Lowered the total cost of the accounting department by freeing the CFO from performing accounting-related tasks
- Grew assets 100% with 0% increase in accounting staff
