Case Study: Menzies LLP cuts down admin work by 5 days per month

The challenge

David Gibbons, Financial Director at Menzies, uses a practice management system to monitor the progress of its projects on a day-to-day basis. This system stores time sheets and staff expense data but other project costs are recorded on the purchase ledger, which Menzies employees were accessing through an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system.

As the two systems could not be integrated, the firm was required to re-input data from the ERP into the practice management system and vice versa. This was extremely laborious and was proving to be a distraction for the finance team.

It also introduced the potential for human error as data was being moved from system to system. “The sales ledger cash alone was taking three days per month to complete. The potential to introduce errors also slowed the time it was taking to invoice clients and ultimately to receive payment,” said David Gibbons.

The existing ERP also offered only limited functionality which restricted the amount of detail Menzies’ financial team could realistically include in reports for budget holders. David said: “The ERP system was satisfactory for day-to-day basic accounting but cumbersome when it came to modifying business processes. Furthermore, training new staff to use it was difficult as it was not particularly intuitive.”

The solution

Menzies deployed Access Dimensions financial management system which offers much greater accounting functionality than that available through an ERP system. With advanced search capabilities, the financial team can now provide more insightful reports for budget holders.

Dimensions ability to integrate with other systems also allows for the automatic duplication of information between the firm’s practice management and financial management systems. This removes the need for re-inputting, which reduces administration time and enables a smoother billing process. This automation also eradicates the potential for human error and the potential costs involved when rectifying these issues.

The results

The integration of the financial management and practice management system has enabled significant time savings. Menzies’ financial team has cut its administration work by five days a month, which can now be spent on priority tasks.

“There was an awful lot of human interaction required previously. It was difficult to upload the data and you could have one person keying into one system, another into a second and a third reconciling the differences. All together there were five days of administration removed and that is down to the integration more than anything else,” David said.

With Access Financials' added financial management functionality, Menzies is now producing detailed reports, offering greater analysis for budget holders, within two to three days of closing the monthly accounts. The intuitive nature of the software has also helped reduce the time required to train new staff.

“The search engine on Access Financials has made it much easier to find the right information and this is allowing us to do a lot more with the limited number of staff with have.”

He added: “The old system did not have the Windows look and feel of Access Financials and this caused an issue as new younger members of staff were not used to that but we don’t have this problem anymore.”

The integration of Access Financials with the practice management system is also now providing Menzies’ management team with up-to-date project visibility, which was not possible under the old method of operating.

“With the purchase ledger items coming through Access Financials into the practice management system you can now see the man hours against the bills coming in. You can run proper project management looking at profit and loss, and key financial indicators, all out of the practice management system.

“This is all done overnight so we know exactly where we stand with a client and project within 24 hours,” commented David Gibbons.