We advised a charity client that had two offices; one based in Athens and the other in London. The two offices were both using Sage Line 50 to keep their accounting records, however the London office kept theirs in sterling whereas the Athens office used Euros as their operational currency.
A number of nominal codes were used for transfers between the offices to cover transfer of monies between them and costs/income incurred in one and paid for/received in the other. This meant that these codes had to be reconciled, the Athens figures converted into sterling and a consolidation done in order for the charity’s accounts to be prepared. This required a significant amount of time from the two book-keepers, particularly if exchange rates fluctuated significantly and exchange differences further complicated matters.
We advised that the charity use a service called Online 50 that allows users to log onto Sage Line 50 over an internet connection.
- We met with the client’s treasurer and the two book-keepers to demonstrate it to them and to outline how it could be implemented.
- Following this we created a new chart of accounts combining the two previous data sets.
- We also showed how they could use departmental analysis in order to review the position of their individual offices.
- Finally we created procedures to cover the times when the office initialising a transaction and where the cash movement occurred, were different. This was to prevent either double-counting and/or missing transactions.
The system is now fully implemented and is in its second year of operation. This has allowed a clear view of the charity’s financial position to be established quickly and efficiently at any time. This also allows the charity’s treasurer to review the accounting records online, which is particularly useful when often away from the offices for extended periods. We can also review the records and easily assist with any queries regarding treatment of certain transactions and also to ensure the procedures for entering transactions are being adhered to.
If you are interested in using an online accounting system or would like us to review the system you are currently using, please contact us.