Success stories:
Leicester City Football Club

Why Leicester City F.C. needed a new finance system

The club identified the need to invest in financial management software to produce significant time savings in administrative roles and a higher level of automation within the club's organisation.

There were many 'sub-systems' where staff members monitored their operations independently. This made combining all the information extremely time-consuming. Another critical issue was the need to deliver reports to directors and section managers efficiently and accurately.

Seeing Access Financials in action

Although Leicester City was happy with the Access Group's presentation and software suggestions, talking with another club that already uses the software was very reassuring.

Kevin Davies, Leicester City F.C.'s financial controller, felt that "As the Access solution was already in place at other top-flight football and rugby clubs, they could demonstrate that they understood how our type of business operates and what demands we face. Better still, we could visit one of these clubs, see the system in operation, and discuss it with our counterparts. This reassured us that we were choosing the right solution for LCFC."

Access delivered a solution that included Access Financials for finance and Access Financials Operations. Leicester City F.C. now has critical management information readily available whenever needed.

The club enjoys the ability to impose controls, and it has vastly improved its visibility regarding spending.

What's more, a document management system in place provides excellent benefits for a business like Leicester City, involving everything from bars to ticket sales and souvenir shops.

The implementation

Access delivered the system on time – without anyone pointedly looking at their watch.

Kevin commented, "The functionality of Financials Operations as a web-based solution allowed us to roll out a great deal to non-finance personnel in a controlled, efficient way from a licensing point of view."

There were no disruptions in the business, and everything went smoothly. Kevin Davies said, "Access has an established and well-regarded solution with a pedigree in top-flight football and rugby clubs in the U.K., which particularly appealed to us."

He continued, "As a U.K. software author, we were able to speak directly to directors and other key people in their business, individuals who impact the direction of software development. We have selected a long-term business with which we can partner."

Other significant results produced by the new solution for Leicester City Football Club include the ability to:

• Quickly gain electronic approval of purchase requests/invoices
• Analyse by parameters such as fixture or event profitability
• Analyse purchasing spend by product types and suppliers
• View transactions – excellent drill-down functionality

Kevin Davies commented, "The integration of Access Financials and Access Financials Operations software allows us to configure many different workflows of varying complexity. This allows us to configure the system to work how we need it to, enabling us to achieve our key objectives from the implementation."

Leicester City F.C. now have Access Financials that delivers everything they need to stay ahead of the game.