When International medical charity Merlin sought to improve efficiency by upgrading their financial systems they found PS Financials provided the ideal solution, because of their extensive understanding of the particular accounting needs of charities.
Merlin is the only specialist UK charity which responds worldwide with vital health care and medical relief for people caught up in natural disasters, conflict, disease and health system collapse.
Formed in 1993 by three friends and initially run from a single room in London, the organisation now has 16 overseas offices and its headquarters in the UK. Merlin has organised relief efforts covering all aspects of medical aid, from disaster situations to longer-term development work in unstable states. Doctors, nurses and other professionals, many from the UK, have helped to care for the sick, prevent disease and rebuild local health services in more than 30 countries, including Afghanistan, Liberia, Sri Lanka, Sudan and Ethiopia.
Merlin's existing accounting procedures were time-consuming
Prior to deciding to implement new accounting software, Merlin's systems were costing them heavily in terms of staff time. Carolyn Miller, Merlin's Chief Executive, recalls: "We were doing some of our finance reporting using spreadsheets and Quickbooks software in our Head Office. Everyone who came in and looked at our existing system said it was very rigorous. We had good financial information but it took a lot of effort to create - the staff involved in generating that financial detail could have been focusing more on analysing the data rather than inputting it."
Choosing an accounting system which could not only handle many currencies, but also provide a consolidated overview in one single currency, was a definite priority for an organisation operating from so many geographical locations around the globe.
"We are working in up to 20 countries with a number of project sites in each and we report to different donors in each country", says Carolyn. "We work with different currencies but we also need an overview back in head office. We need to budget across all of those countries and do financial planning across all of the projects we are delivering."
PS Financials handles multi-currency transactions with ease, and provides a single source of reporting across currencies, projects and business units.
PS Financials chosen for its total understanding of charities' requirements
Merlin were keen to work with an accounting software provider which understood the particular needs of charitable organisations, and found PS Financials already had plenty of experience of working in this sector.
Carolyn Miller comments: "We wanted a provider that understood our business. As a charity we have to show we are using public money to improve the lives of people, and the people who work for us are less commercially-focused. Our end purpose is different to that of a commercial business; our staff are very committed to saving lives. While we work in a business-like way, we have a different culture and focus so we need to make the business angle of our work as easy as possible for our staff. Anyone from the outside that comes to work with us has to factor this into account - we were attracted to PS Financials because of their existing experience in the charitable sector which meant they understood all these factors."
Implementing PS Financials offers non-finance staff a greater involvement in financial planning
Implementation of PS Financials is far more than simply installing a new accounting system for Merlin, however - it is being viewed as part of a cultural change which Carolyn hopes will see non-finance staff taking a wider involvement in, and responsibility for, financial issues.
"Putting PS Financials in place is about integrating financial planning into everyone's work", states Carolyn. "One thing that attracted me to PS Financials is that it was much more easily used by non-financial people."
As PS Financials looks and operates as a Windows system, it is already familiar to the non-financial user, making it straightforward to use and understand. Its unified ledger means that users can access the same, real-time information wherever they are.
The benefits of making financial information more widely available across the organisation will also impact favourably on financial staff, as PS Financials software is designed to help reduce the number of queries that need to be handled by the accounts/finance department.
"The new processes we are implementing using PS Financials will be less onerous on our financial staff in terms of time saved inputting data and providing other staff with answers to their questions," Carolyn adds.
Merlin plan their future and see PS Financials as key to better management and growth
Implementing PS Financials has already generated interest throughout the organisation at Merlin's recent annual conference, where introductory sessions were run for key senior staff working in the field.
Moving forward, Merlin will have users of PS Financials within their Head Office and in their overseas offices, with over 100 users accessing the system for reporting purposes: "We expect Country Directors to be looking much more regularly at reports, and to be able to ask questions and get instant answers about our financial transactions and activity", notes Carolyn, continuing: "This is an opportunity for us to revise criteria against which we report, to step back and look at what we need to know and how best to get it. From my own perspective, it will mean being able to see how the programme spending sits alongside our health targets - and getting access to answers easily."
Carolyn summarises her hopes for the charity as they move forward with PS Financials: "At the end of the day, we should be able to have much more reliable figures on the costs of delivering aid. With PS Financials implemented, we will be accountable much more easily to our beneficiaries and supporters. We will be able to demonstrate how effectively we are using our money to both those we are helping and our donors, and this is going to benefit people on the ground." | 
