Carers Trust has saved ‘huge amounts of time and money’ with iplicit

The challenge

The Carers Trust badly needed a system that produced proper management accounts for scrutiny by trustees.

“Back when the team was using Exchequer, the information produced for trustees provided just a very high-level view,” says Sam Singleton, Head of Finance.

“The team could show the budget and the actuals but they couldn’t produce a full accounts pack. So the trustees would ask for more information and the finance team would have to go into the system, retrieve that information and send it back.”

A team of four handles finances for the Carers Trust’s central organisation. Daily tasks include handling income and grants, purchase invoices and expenses, while Sam’s role includes the budget and monthly accounts that go to the trust’s finance and general purposes sub-committee.

The solution

“The biggest issue for the previous finance team was the difficulty of producing management accounts,” says Sam, who joined after the change of systems was complete.

“By moving to another system, they hoped they’d be able to do all that reporting much more easily.

“The team looked at other systems, including Sage, and carried out a tender process to see what software would work best.

“They liked iplicit because it was founded by several of the same people that had been involved with Exchequer and it did all the things that substantial charities need. And in my experience, people tend to favour a system when they like the staff, which they clearly did with iplicit,” says Sam.

As Sam was preparing to join the Carers Trust from another charity, he watched videos about iplicit and was impressed.

“Many accounts packages are tailored towards commercial businesses and the charity accounting is bolted on,” he says. “In previous jobs, I’ve struggled to find a system that was created with charities in mind.

“In previous roles, I adopted Sage because it was well-known in the industry but we had to do a lot of work in Excel because everyone needed their own tailored reporting – and there was no system that imported and exported the data reliably.

“I previously used Sage 50 for accounts and Concur as an expense management system. We were using systems that were costing around £30,000-£35,000 between them but the two systems didn’t talk to each other.

“When I watched videos explaining iplicit, I thought: I wish I’d had this in my previous roles," he says.

“If you’re a charity with requirements such as restricted funds and you need that managed, iplicit is a system that can do it. It does all the accounting you’d want.”

Sam Singleton
Head of Finance at Carers Trust

‘Expenses were the first big win’

When Sam arrived at the Carers Trust and looked at iplicit in more detail, he saw an opportunity to use more of its features.

“In the past, people would fill out their expenses on paper and send them to finance – and then the finance team would key them into the system,” he says.

"Since using iplicit, our finance officer is now able to spend her time doing much more valuable work, rather than just typing in numbers."

Sam Singleton
Head of Finance

“Getting people outside the department to submit their own claims straight into iplicit was the easiest win ever. I have a finance officer who is now able to spend her time doing much more valuable things than just sitting typing in numbers. That was my first big win.”

He realised there were many more processes that could be simplified with iplicit.

“Previously, when we had to organise a grant payment, someone in finance had to check we had the money, then a senior director had to sign it off. After that, it came back to finance for payment,” says Sam.

“I thought authorisations should happen in the finance system rather than via email because emails can be hacked. The new process has been a huge time saver. There’s a great advantage to having expenses and approval workflows in the same system as the finances. It saves a huge amount of time and money.

“We’ve also given people more delegated power to approve spending. iplicit gave us the confidence to trust the system for authorisations and manipulate the workflow to do things exactly the way we wanted them done.”

Sam has been overhauling the reporting to make it more efficient. “I spent half an hour with an iplicit consultant and now we have one report that everyone in the organisation uses,” he says.

iplicit allows non-finance users to see important information for themselves rather than waiting for finance to provide it. “When people request information from finance, it’s natural for finance to ask them to hang on until after the month-end close, because they feel that’s when it will be absolutely right,” says Sam.

“But the teams want quick information and iplicit can provide that.”

"iplicit has been a huge time saver. There’s a great advantage to having expenses and approval workflows in the same system as the finances. It saves a huge amount of time and money."

Sam Singleton
Head of Finance

iplicit's customer experience

Sam’s wide experience of different software has made him all the more impressed by iplicit.

“I’ve used Sage 50, Xero, Paxton Charities Accounting Software and I’ve taken a good look at QuickBooks,” he says.

“But none of those systems had the thing I really like about iplicit, which is the monthly customer webinars. You can join those webinars, ask questions and talk about new things coming up in the system. Either I will go, or my finance manager will, or we’ll watch the recording of it and we’ll have a good conversation about what we’ve heard and how we can use it.

“I can’t remember going to a Sage webinar where they were telling me about new things.”

If more hands-on guidance is needed, he can book time with a consultant. “They can talk you through everything and give you the confidence to take things on for yourself. We get recordings of those sessions too and can watch them again,” he says.

“iplicit has given the team the confidence to eliminate old processes – we’re saving time and enabling people to deal with all the extra activity from our rapid growth."

Sam Singleton
Head of Finance

‘Start with a clean sheet of paper’

Sam’s advice to other organisations is to treat a change in software as a chance to review all processes.

“I think you need to come to the implementation with a clean sheet of paper. What kind of reporting do your teams want? You’ll want to make sure your reports can be easily compared with the budgets you’re asking people to work from,” he says.

“If you’re not willing to change your processes, you’re going to be wasting a lot of money and time.”

How iplicit has boosted productivity

Productivity has risen as the Carers Trust team has made use of more iplicit features.

“Our organisation has gone from about 60 staff to 90 in a couple of years because we've seen a real explosion of activity, a new CEO and a real impetus in fundraising. However, the finance team has not grown,” says Sam.

“I think the obvious benefit from using iplicit fully – and giving the team the confidence to eliminate some old processes – is that we’re saving time and enabling people to deal with all that extra activity. So my expectation is that with the improvement in productivity, the finance team won't need to expand.”

• Ready to see how cloud accounting software can transform the work of your finance team? Find out more about how iplicit helps nonprofits.