Customer story
Twenty sets of books and four consolidations a month
Veranda had tried other tools and not been satisfied. What changed their mind was their own previous year's financials, produced by the system in front of them.
- They tried other tools first, and were not satisfied
- We were asked to produce their own previous year's financials
- The system produced them, in front of the finance team
- The figures were linked from trial balance level, for the auditors
- That, rather than a demonstration, is what changed their mind
Veranda saved over a week, and its proof of concept (POC) reconciled to audit.
Who they are
Veranda Learning Solutions is a BSE-listed education group. It is on what its own finance team calls an acquisition spree, buying brands into the group for the synergies between them.
The problem
Every acquisition brings another company, another set of books and business combination entries under Ind AS 103. Reporting is run centrally, and it has to be quick and accurate.
“Considering our company structure, we have monthly coming like twenty financials and four consolidations coming out from manual work.” — 1:48
They had also tried other tools, and none had worked for them.
Read the transcript
So, before trying FINAHQ we have tried many other products. I mean it generally it did not work. I mean the expectations we had from the system I mean mostly we were not satisfied from other tools and having those experiences considering FINAHQ that point of time we are very skeptical you know a typical account and mindset.
What we did
We skipped the sample-company demo. We took their own previous year’s data, ran it through the system and put the result in front of people who already knew what it should say. It’s the same test anyone can ask for: have it read your own trial balance first.
Read the transcript
So, when FINAHQ team started providing results with the help of previous financial years data and and the result was produced in front of us and it was amazing. I mean the way the financials of the previous year came out.
The integration with their ERP was handled by our team, and the figures are linked from trial balance level, so there are no copy-pasted numbers.
What changed
The POC numbers matched their auditor’s consolidated financials exactly, and that gave the board the confidence to go ahead.
“The financials which come from the system are linked from the TB level, so that the auditors can have a comfort on the data — that it has come from the TB level, there is no copy-paste numbers.” — 3:19
“The integration with FINAHQ with our ERP has gone very seamless, and everything was taken care of by the FINAHQ team. We have absolutely very less interference.” — 2:33
Two people from the finance team speak in the recording, and it isn’t always clear who is talking, so these quotes are credited to the team.
Questions
Commonly asked
What made this group hard to close?
Acquisitions. Each one brings a new company, a new set of books and business combination entries under Ind AS 103, and the monthly cycle can't slip while the reporting absorbs it.
Had they tried other tools?
Yes, and they weren't satisfied. That's why they went in sceptical, and why the proof had to be their own numbers.
What does this give their auditor?
Figures linked from trial balance level, never copied in, so the auditor can see where a number came from.