Success stories:
Bentleys SA streamline operation

Helping ambitious organisations reach their goals through greater business services and advisory, Bentleys SA is one of the latest practices that’s leveraging data to drive new outcomes. We spoke to James Allen, a Partner of Bentleys SA/NT who leads the technology initiatives of the firm, about how the practice collects and uses data, the perpetual rewards of smart data management and the future of the accounting sector.

Centralising disparate accounting packages

Clients come to Bentleys SA because of the deep expertise and the first-hand experience across many sectors that makes the advisors approach to every client, on a level where they can truly connect to their clients. Their advisors work with SMEs, family businesses, listed entities, professionals, individuals and government. With specialist knowledge, skills and experience across a wide range of industries many advisors are sought after for their thought-leadership within the SA ecosystem.

While a more diverse knowledge base and team of skilled advisors is always good for business, it has been attracting a broad client base and brought about new operational challenges for the Bentleys SA team.

“As the client accounting landscape became more complex, there were many more options for our clients to use different accounting packages and this trend will continue in the future,” says Thomas Helliwell, Accountant at Bentleys SA.

Reckon, Sage, QBO, Xero, MYOB, Phoenix and many other industry packages are all being used in the Bentleys SA office depending on their clients’ individual preferences. Bentleys SA will always support a client’s need to choose their accounting software as they all have unique business requirements. However, the internal training required to understand the packages and the constant software updates can slow down the day-to-day processes.

“It is not uncommon to be dealing with a few different versions of some of these solutions,” Thomas says. “It meant that the data for the financial reporting, tax and analysis of our clients’ businesses were disparate, and getting everything into a standard format and process accurately and securely was a challenge. The team had to rekey data across systems, which is fraught with opportunities for error and also very inefficient.”

That’s when Bentleys SA identified that there must be a better way. The team reached out to APS who suggested they take a look at SyncDirect. Upon careful review and testing the Bentleys SA team felt it was a great solution, helping to solve many of these challenges while helping to transform the practice’s process.

Appointing a SyncDirect champion

SyncDirect immediately provided a direct connection into the client ledger for greater overall accuracy. Bentleys SA no longer had to rekey the client data from the ledger to the financial reporting tools, and there was no need for a standard chart of accounts. Whether it lived in the cloud, on a desktop or in an Excel spreadsheet, using SyncDirect meant there was only one process to follow, which has reduced training hours and encouraged better knowledge retention across the entire team.

“SyncDirect is highly efficient, accurate and can be used on a number of platforms, with speed and accuracy being the main drivers,” Thomas says. “Once you set it up, the year-on-year benefits are seamless – just update a few accounts for each new period and you are ready to go.”

While Bentleys SA initially implemented SyncDirect back in 2015, they recently committed to leveraging its full powers by appointing Thomas as their SyncDirect Champion, where he supports the team with regular knowledge and training events.

Faster job completion and greater accuracy

Perhaps the biggest benefit for Bentleys SA is that SyncDirect supports a one-process approach – regardless of which products and tools their clients use. As a pro-choice practice, this means the team can continue providing high-quality support while reducing the amount of time they used to spend on learning new industry packages and switching between them throughout the day.

“Our clients all have different business requirements, so they need to be able to choose the accounting package that best suits their needs and industry,” Thomas says. “SyncDirect caters to all client cloud accounting solutions with one seamless process, securely normalising the data in the cloud and then seamlessly surfacing it in the financial reporting package XPA (Xcede Professional Accounting). This allows the team to focus on timely, accurate compliance while adding value to and interpreting the reports for our clients, providing invaluable actionable insights.”

Speed, accuracy and time savings – everything Bentleys SA needs to continue providing quality service to their diverse client base.

“SyncDirect allows us more time for the high-value work that our clients seek, which is more commensurate with our team’s skill level. Our team do the work they enjoy and maximise their skills, and our clients benefit from quality work that is delivered on time.”

If you would like to know more about how SyncDirect and other solutions for accountants can streamline your practice’s daily operations, speak to the experts at APS today.