When a content marketing agency started out in 2005 there were just four members of staff. In a little over 10 years, the business now includes 45 employees including some who work from home. In 2010, the Finance Director moved to cloud-based accounting software Aqilla which has allowed him to improve processes as the business has grown without the need to increase his departmental headcount.
Having also evaluated both Sage and Pegasus, he said, “Aqilla’s functionality is on a par with – if not better than – that of its competitors. The main reason I chose Aqilla was because I liked the idea of doing business with a company based around the corner and at a similar stage of growth. I didn’t feel we would get the same level of service from a company much bigger than ours.”
Project Accounting
When Aqilla was initially implemented, the company soon began to make good use of the project accounting functionality; attributing expenditure to each client account and allowing for analysis by client or project.
The Finance Director said, “As an agency, our main concern is to be able to report profit and loss by a cost centre. This is extremely easy to configure in Aqilla and I can also carry forward costs for projects which haven’t finished.”
More recently, reports have been created in Aqilla’s business intelligence software Sharperlight which is used to analyse the data from Aqilla and provide useful business insights.
Integration
The company produces a wide range of marketing content which includes professional publications. In some instances, it is also responsible for supporting those publications by generating advertising sales.
They employ a small sales team which uses CRM system Salesforce integrated with Aqilla; some 400 advertising invoices per month are processed seamlessly using the interface. Additionally, Aqilla’s Excel interface is used to exchange data and this facilitates integration with payroll, further streamlining accounting processes
Meeting The Needs Of A Growing Business
The company began by implementing Aqilla in its simplest form with just a handful of system users. Today, the system supports 45 users who have access for filing expenses and two super-users who manage the accounting information, often working remotely or from home.
“We’ve seen the real benefit of choosing Aqilla as our business has grown,” said the Finance Director. “Adding users is simple and the system has the flexibility to meet our growing needs. More importantly, we are now paperless and I am able to process a much higher quantity of accounting information without increasing my department headcount. I can share processes out among employees so that things only get done once. Using Aqilla, a small number of us can carry out an extraordinary volume of work.”
Becoming More Efficient
In the first year after implementing Aqilla, they went paperless for purchase invoices. One year later, the process for capturing expenses went paperless too. All processes are done online and documents are electronic so that nothing gets lost. Subsequent developments which Aqilla has helped introduce include; integration with Salesforce, links with payroll and, most recently, integration with Aqilla’s report writer and business intelligence tool, Sharperlight.
Aqilla’s ManagingDirector said, “This client has really understood how to get the most from Aqilla and it is great to see our software adapting to support the needs of a growing enterprise.”