Sage Intacct

Article Autumn Hines

Healthcare organizations are buried in data – patient data, claims data, financial data, operational data, and more – and that includes finance leaders, the finance team, and the C-suite. But just how much of all this data is being organized and leveraged for practice success?

Respondents to our recent Healthcare Finance Team Leadership Survey told us that manual, time-consuming reporting and a lack of real-time visibility into key metrics and performance were the biggest internal frustrations their organizations are facing today. Further, our respondents are overwhelmingly looking for automation when it comes to reporting – to enable turnkey, on-demand, self-service reporting so they can free up the finance team to spend more of their time on strategic work.

There’s clearly a need for data, so the question becomes: What do you measure? How? And what do you do with the insight? To answer these questions (and more), I sat down with Linda Pinion, Sage Intacct’s Principal Solutions Consultant (and resident expert on all things KPIs, dashboards and reports) to uncover tips and tricks for healthcare finance leaders looking to take measurement and reporting to the next level for practice success and how financial and accounting reporting for healthcare organizations can help with that.

Linda’s advice? Focus on a few key areas for the most impact:

What to Measure? Everything!

Linda urges healthcare finance leaders to go beyond traditional revenue and expenses when thinking about measurement. Dig into the details! Consider comparing supplies versus equipment, or direct versus indirect expenses. Compare provider performance or location against location, revenue by insurer, or the profitability of certain treatments or services over others. Challenge yourself and your team to look beyond the “standard” financials and explore how things like capital improvements, revenue, and expenses related to patient care and procedures, participating in new payment models, or offering new products and services, will impact the bottom line.

Sage Intacct customer Paige Oldham, CFO of Health Solutions, did just this, and now enjoys more visibility and streamlined efficiencies, telling us, “We can combine different kinds of KPIs all in one report for a much clearer picture of what’s going on with the business. I have [everything] all in one place and can drill down as needed, which helps immensely.”

The lesson learned? You won’t know until you measure.

Communication & Collaboration

What good is measurement if it’s done in a vacuum? Practice success hinges on everyone working towards the same goal and clearly understanding the health of the business today, and where it is trending for the future. Linda recommends that healthcare finance leaders find ways to enable members of your team and broader members of the practice to access tailored dashboards and reports. That way, whether it’s a specific provider, department, entity, location, or other functional area of the business, they know where they stand, what they are accountable for, and how they directly impact and influence practice success.

If you have a means to communicate and collaborate in an automated way within your finance system, that’s even better – your team will spend less time creating reports and more time on strategic work that will help move the practice forward.

Go Beyond the Financials

While strong financial reporting is critical, don’t underestimate the power of combining financial, clinical, and operational data to uncover a deeper level of understanding and a more sophisticated way to measure the success of your practice.

Consider how Virginia Jones, PhD, and COO of Village Family Dental, took reporting to the next level:

“The system identifies which offices or service lines are making money (or not), so we can decide which lines of business to expand or reduce. Expanding on pediatrics and OR cases and reducing certain insurance carriers has increased revenue by as much as $40,000 per month. After we started offering frenectomies and sleep apnea services, it was simple to evaluate each one’s profitability and determine contributing factors.”

Perhaps your providers want to see revenue or expenses by patient, per visit, or procedure. Perhaps executives want to understand profitability by provider, the impact of entering a value-based contract, or the potential revenue from adding a new service like Virginia and her team at Village Family Dental. Combining financial, clinical, and operational data all in one place enables healthcare finance leaders to move away from simply reporting on the events of the past and shift gears to strategically predicting the future of the practice.

Authored by Melissa O’Dowd

Melissa is a leader within the Healthcare practice at Sage Intacct, having spent the last 18 years working within the healthcare industry, helping healthcare technology, consumer health, medical devices and diagnostics, pharmaceutical, and biotechnology companies change the lives of the patients they serve.

Article Autumn Hines

When it comes to something as fundamental to business as accounting, it rarely pays to rock the boat. That may help explain why many accounting teams still rely on the same legacy accounting software that’s been in place for years or decades. If it still works and people feel comfortable using it, why deal with finding, implementing, and learning a replacement?

In the case of Microsoft Dynamics GP and many other long-running accounting solutions, the cost of keeping the existing software in place may be (much) higher than it seems. What’s more, the cost goes up the longer legacy software remains.

With accounting software, the status quo gets extremely expensive. Here’s how:

Installing Annual Updates

Updating legacy software starts by learning what the updates include and how they affect the existing toolkit. Then someone in-house has to install the updates, which takes time, or a third party does it, which takes money. Falling behind on the updates puts the entire system, and the entire accounting process, in jeopardy.

Running Tech On-Prem

From purchasing servers and infrastructure hardware to paying for office space and electricity, running legacy technology on-premises comes with high costs. It also takes significant amounts of time, skill, and specialized staff to keep that technology running optimally and securely—because lapses in either come with high costs of their own.

Dealing with Dated Features

Microsoft Dynamics GP no longer receives major functionality additions, just as other developers have effectively abandoned their older software to focus on something new. Getting increasingly outdated software to work with modern tools often requires expensive support from consultants and developers. Even worse, yesterday’s technology misses out on the best of what today’s and tomorrow’s technology can do—advancements like artificial intelligence that are changing accounting as we know it.

Downtime and Disruption

Software, like anything else, gets more prone to breaking down with age. Downtime happens more frequently. It also happens for longer since older, often highly customized systems take longer to fix and have fewer outlets for support. Plus, there’s no service level agreement (SLA) offering a cost reduction for downtime—the victim bears the whole burden.

Switching Software is a Golden Opportunity

We often frame software replacements as expensive and difficult, but the description applies better to the software already in place. Sure, it may be functional and familiar, except that it comes with high and hidden costs, perhaps none greater than the lost opportunity to use superior technology to upgrade all facets of accounting and finance.

If leaving behind legacy accounting software seems like a difficult or daunting proposition, rely on Dean Dorton. With expertise in accounting, technology, and Microsoft Dynamics GP specifically (among others), we know how to make all aspects of the software transition run smoothly.

Get your switcher journey started – contact us.

Article Dean Dorton

Success in the equine industry boils down to a simple formula. You need healthy animals; you need qualified people to train and care for them; and you need robust equine accounting software to keep the whole operation funded and organized. 

Any equine business is set for success with all three in place—but success becomes elusive or impossible with any missing piece. 

Many people who enter this industry have a deep equine background, so they know how to pick horses and trainers. For that same reason, however, they have less experience selecting accounting software. That might cause some to pick less-than-ideal solutions without realizing the mistake. 

Later, when business issues arise, the accounting software is the likely culprit. It causes more chaos and consequences than most realize, making it a potential problem to be worried about…and a possible solution to be excited about.  

Indicators You Have the Wrong Equine Accounting Software

  • Overwhelming Chart of Accounts: The scale becomes unmanageable yet keeps growing.
  • Lengthy Month-End Close: It takes hours of manual data manipulation every single month. 
  • Painful Multi-Entity Management: There’s no easy way to get everything in one place.
  • Insufficient Reporting Capabilities: Reporting takes too much time and reveals too little. 
  • Outdated Financial Metrics: Data is days or weeks old because updates are take too much time and effort.

Put Success in the Saddle with Sage Intacct

Whether it’s Microsoft Dynamics GP or QuickBooks, some of the biggest accounting solutions on the market are also the wrong choice for equine businesses. They make accounting more difficult than lean and agile operators want it to be. Despite the complexity, they don’t have the necessary features. 

Sage Intacct reverses that equation, making sophisticated accounting simple and streamlined for equine businesses of any breed. 

This cloud-native financial management platform brings all financial data and every accounting tool together on one platform that’s accessible anywhere—farm, office, racetrack—with Internet access.  Coordination, visibility, and efficiency all multiply with a cloud accounting such as Sage Intacct.

Business intelligence amplifies as well thanks to Sage Intacct’s dimensional chart of accounts, which makes data easier to input and extract from the general ledger. Accountants save massive amounts of time on routine accounting tasks that they can redirect towards reporting using Sage Intacct’s powerful and intuitive tools. So much data management gets replaced with financial analysis, forecasting, and planning instead. 

With the ability to collect, consolidate, and consider all financial activities in one place, Sage Intacct gives equine businesses what few have but all need: real-time insights into financial and operational performance. Dashboards track and update key metrics automatically to give business leaders at all levels the numbers they need to make informed decisions more likely to have the intended outcome. 

Sage Intacct doesn’t guarantee success—but it puts all the pieces in place (besides the horses and trainers).

Put another important piece in place by partnering with Dean Dorton: a Sage Intacct implementation provider with deep expertise in accounting and decades-long experience serving the equine industry In Kentucky and around the world. 

Make the transition to Sage Intacct as smooth and successful as possible. Contact us.

Article Dean Dorton

For managed service providers (MSPs), the devil is in the details. This is a fact that Stacey Neideffer knows all too well. Before joining Dean Dorton as a Sage Intacct consultant, Stacey served as the CFO of an MSP. There, she found that despite her accounting acumen and finance expertise, she spent much of her time doing data entry. Was it time for an accounting software replacement?

Their accounting software at the time was QuickBooks. To get data into the system, they had to batch information together and wait for large files to transfer. Batching was slow and cumbersome. It meant the information in the accounting system was often outdated and irrelevant. Most of all, it kept Stacey from more important responsibilities. She realized that the company had outgrown its accounting system and saw first-hand how much trouble that created. When she made the case for upgrading to superior software, the rest of the leadership agreed. The upgrade, Sage Intacct, exceeded expectations, and the MSP thrived as a result. 

This is Stacey’s story—but at a recent conference of MSPs featuring Stacey as a panel discussion leader, she learned her experience is a familiar one. Many providers are struggling with their accounting, wondering if their software is the problem, and thinking about what an upgrade would mean. 

To anyone in the same boat, the panel was an enlightening one indeed. Here are some of the key takeaways to emerge.

Batching is bad for business

A common refrain during the panel was the disruption that batching caused. Everyone who used QuickBooks dealt with it. And everyone agreed it was a constant drain on their time. More than that, it was a dangerous limitation to their financial visibility and control. If the panel had a consensus conclusion it was this: batching indicates the accounting function has outgrown the software supporting it. 

QuickBooks loses its luster

Another commonality between the panel and the participants was the struggle to make QuickBooks work for service providers. That was especially true once they grew into multi-entity organizations. Cheap, easy, and adequate, QuickBooks looks great for providers eager to start serving clients, but those benefits quickly become obstacles. The MSPs at the conference who had already left QuickBooks made something quite clear: if you haven’t outgrown it already, it’s coming sooner than you expect.

Software selection isn’t easy

Another sentiment was echoed throughout the panel. Even when the need to upgrade accounting software looks obvious, concerns over picking the wrong replacement or disrupting the accounting process keep many MSPs from taking action. Stacey and others stressed the importance of integrations between the accounting software and other business tools. This helps eliminate batching, and also creates shared data sources and overlapping toolkits to make each piece of software stronger.

What comes after QuickBooks?

With expertise spanning technology, accounting, and the MSP ecosystem, Stacey has a rare skill set that makes her a unique asset to service providers that have outgrown their accounting software. That came through in the panel—and it comes through to clients who recognize Stacey as someone who’s been in their exact same situation before.  

Make the right replacement by relying on the right partner. Contact Dean Dorton.

Article Dean Dorton

Say Goodbye to Quickbooks: Tips for Upgrading Your Nonprofit Accounting Solution

Accounting has never been more important for today’s nonprofits. Donors and funders expect complete financial transparency, and they hold nonprofit accountants to high standards for consistency and quality. At the same time, the Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted the financial situation at many nonprofits, creating new costs while putting funding forecasts in jeopardy. All this makes effective money management a huge priority for nonprofits. Their future depends on it.

So their future also depends on the accounting software in place. If that solution is QuickBooks, it’s worth taking a hard look at whether this tool – which is popular and accessible but also basic and limiting – can handle accounting on the level nonprofits need. Here are some common signs it’s time to switch to something better:

Spreadsheet Fatigue
If people are spending endless hours inside spreadsheets, it’s a clear indicator the accounting system isn’t meeting their needs. Spreadsheets may be an effective workaround, but they are not a sustainable solution.

Endless Errors
QuickBooks requires extensive manual entries. Not only are these a boring distraction for accountants, they cause keystroke errors to compromise the accounting data and throw the accuracy of anything into question.

Slow Results
Having to workaround the limitations of the accounting system makes it hard to meet deadlines. Decision makers either have to wait for updated financial insights or move ahead without enough information.

Poor Visibility
The accounting team struggles to get a comprehensive view of the financial situation and spends significant time trying to piece that perspective together. Like the previous point, poor financial visibility can only compromise decision making.

Absent Integration
When QuickBooks does not integrate with other software at the nonprofit, it forces people to move data between systems manually. Dual entries waste time and lead to incomplete, inconsistent data inside important systems – not to mention the errors.

Audit Uncertainty
An under-powered accounting system makes it hard to feel confident headed into the audit process. The software will either take extra work to extract and organize the data. Or it will supply incomplete or unreliable data that calls the entire audit into question.

Performance Blindness
While QuickBooks may be able to handle basic accounting tasks, it’s very restricted in terms of analyzing data and reporting on performance. This can result in an incomplete – or wildly inaccurate – understanding of nonprofit performance.

Future Fit
The right time to switch software is before it’s absolutely necessary. Based on the future forecast for the nonprofit, can QuickBooks handle the scale, speed, and complexity of the accounting requirements? If not, it’s a disaster waiting to happen.

The hardest part about upgrading a nonprofit accounting solution is recognizing the need for change. After that, the upgrade happens quite easily with the help of a partner like Dean Dorton. Let our team help you select, implement, and optimize a system that takes nonprofit accounting to new heights. Contact us before you outgrow QuickBooks any further.

Article Dean Dorton

The sports and entertainment industry has the same basic accounting responsibilities and priorities as any other industry: keep the books straight, pay the right amount in taxes, stay on-time and up-to-date. But in so many ways, sports and entertainment accounting is unique – from the seasonal nature of demand to the fluctuations in revenue and tax liabilities. 

These factors make it challenging to find suitable accounting software. There are plenty of options with adequate features and sufficient capabilities, but while they “get the job done,” they do little to make life easier for accountants or help companies manage money more strategically. 

Why? Many reasons, but a lack of flexibility is the core issue. Sports and entertainment companies, by nature of the industry they operate in, need accounting software that can adapt, scale, and extend anywhere with ease, and most options aren’t flexible enough to keep up. That’s when cloud accounting options come into play. Cloud accounting is a perfect fit for the sports and entertainment industry, and for many companies, it’s key to remaining competitive and relevant.

Why the Cloud is a Superstar in Sports and Entertainment Accounting

The benefits of cloud accounting are extensive and impressive – from lowering costs to accelerating implementation to streamlining IT management. For companies in the business of hosting events and selling tickets, cloud accounting excels in three important ways:

  1. Conduct Accounting From Anywhere – Sports and entertainment accounting is never static. It bounces between locations, goes on the road, or happens from multiple sites at once. Cloud accounting, with its anytime/anywhere accessibility, gives users access to all their financial data and the complete accounting toolkit from anywhere with internet access. Time and place are never an obstacle to accounting. 
  2. Integrate With Key Systems – Cloud accounting solutions with open APIs can integrate with other businesses systems, including industry-specific solutions, to share data and combine capabilities. Integrated systems are more efficient, accurate, insightful than disconnected systems, and with cloud accounting, building those bridges is easy.
  3. Consolidate Data and Capabilities – Anywhere money is flowing in, out, or through an organization, cloud accounting is there to capture and consolidate the data, forming a single-source-of-truth that decision makers can draw on to inform any decision (financial or otherwise) they make. The cloud also puts financial tools – some for advanced users, others for non-accountants – into the hands of whoever could benefit.

Sage Intacct – Cloud Accounting Built for Sports and Entertainment

Some software does not offer cloud accounting. Likewise, most cloud accounting software does not have features tailored to sports and entertainment. Sage Intacct is the rare solution that was built for the cloud and optimized for sports and entertainment. It’s the exceptional option in a sea of adequate choices. 

Frustrated with your current software? Ready to upgrade? Contact Dean Dorton to implement Sage Intacct and serve as your partner in cloud accounting. 

How the Carolina Hurricanes Made the Move

Operating a sports team and an event venue comes with its own set of accounting challenges. Learn how Dean Dorton helped the Carolina Hurricanes make the move to the cloud and provided a winning solution with Sage Intacct.

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