Jonathan Potter Ltd sells antique maps, charts, prints and atlases throughout the world.
Jonathan had traded for many years in London before relocating his business to Bath.
Find out more at www.jpmaps.co.uk.
Case Study Overview
The Problems & Frustrations
Upon relocation Jonathan was initially looking for a bookkeeper. Historically the systems in place had been a combination of manual ledgers and Sage desktop accounts. This meant that Jonathan could never easily access his current financial position of trading or have real time information on his debtors and creditors position. This was becoming frustrating as a business owner at a critical time immediately following the relocation. It was imperative to know how the business was doing in its new West Country location.
The Review
Angela Ashworth was introduced to Jonathan soon after his relocation. Angela met with Jonathan and discussed his current in-house procedures and processes, the volume of transactions, how his sales were being recorded. Angela discussed what management information Jonathan required and the frequency of such information. Critically they discussed how much time was required to be spent on the finance function and the cost of this provision. Previously the bookkeeper had worked many hours in the business.
The Solution
The decision was taken to outsource the accounting function and Angela set the business up on Xero accounting software. A direct bank feed was then linked in to Xero. Processes to pull in sales data and process the bills and expenses were put in place. Monthly management accounts were introduced from the outset with comparison to prior year figures. The chart of accounts was tailored to the requirements of the business., giving the directors the management information they were previously missing.
The Result
It was a win-win result for the business. The directors knew exactly what their bank position was, the debtor and creditor position and how the business was trading month by month in real time. The huge saving of time spent on financial record keeping along with the cost saving was very beneficial to the business.
The Purple Lime team have quickly brought us into the 21st century with Xero. I can thoroughly recommend them for their patience and grasp of what is needed.
