Having chosen PS Financials to replace its previous accounting software, YMCA Birmingham will benefit from up-to-the-minute access to financial information across all of its 9 sites - with the financial details of its many different activities handled with ease.
Founded 160 years ago, Christian Charity YMCA England builds on a long history of providing young people from all backgrounds support to improve their lives.
Birmingham YMCA is one the largest of the 148 YMCA associations based around the country, all with a mission to work with young people within their communities. Among the services they provide are supported accommodation, vocational and basic skills training, childcare, and sports and fitness facilities. The Birmingham YMCA currently provides activities at nine locations that circle the Birmingham metropolitan area.
Different managers, at different sites, all needed access to budget information, which prompted the search for new accounting software
Birmingham YMCA were prompted to search for new accounting software to replace their existing system, Sage Line 50, as it wasn't providing the organisation with ease of access and the up-to-the-minute information they needed.
Paul Hibbert, Finance Manager, explains the previous accounting situation YMCA Birmingham had with Sage Line 50:
"There was an issue with general control against budgets — with Sage, any analysis was always retrospective, and it wouldn't allow us to make purchasing decisions in real-time. As a charity, we need instant access to our financial situation to ensure our funds are being put to best use (and we haven't overspent)."
Birmingham YMCA therefore looked for a system which would offer their managers better access to finance information, with real-time budgetary detail. As the organisation is based at nine locations across Birmingham, it made sense for managers at each site to have access to the financial information related to their centre, but with the old Sage system this simply wasn't possible:
"We had devolved responsibility for budgets to our managers, but using Sage they couldn't access the infomation they needed. In terms of day-to-day functionality and access to details on expenditure, managers did not have the real-time information required for decision making," Paul added.
PS Financials was chosen as it will provide all the accounting facilities and access the charity needed
Two systems were short-listed, and both suppliers were invited to give presentations to the senior management, before the final decision was made to go with PS Financials.
The decision was a unanimous one, as managers preferred the appearance of PS Financials, and were impressed by the amount of detail available to users. Paul adds:
"With the PS Financials system, we could not only view the financial details in a single line, but also drill down to individual invoices. We were impressed with the depth of information that PS Financials gave, and the system's familiar Windows look and feel. PS Financials also offered a more cost-effective option for us, and being a charity, value for money is always a consideration."
Because of the diverse activities that the Birmingham YMCA manages, the accounting system it uses needs to be able to handle all manner of financial and non-financial information. Integration to rent systems is one requirement for the YMCA for example, but the charity also needs to be able to produce reports and budgets as required for legislation and funders. PS Financials is a very flexible system, and is also well proven in the charity sector, both factors which influenced Birmingham YMCA's decision to use the software.
Using PS Financials means Birmingham YMCA staff will have all the budget information they need - in real-time
Installation of PS Financials is being done so that end of year accounts will be produced on the new system, and new budgets are being set up for the following financial year.
A PS Financials consultant is working directly with Birmingham YMCA during installation to ensure that the system is tailored to the organisation's exact requirements. Even though PS Financials is widely used in charities, it is also very flexible as each organisation has its own financial set up and integration demands.
Paul notes:
"Installation isn't a quick process, as the software doesn't just come out of a box. You have to set up a lot of the details yourself, but this is a positive aspect in the long run as you set up the system to work for you. You have to create the forms and data input screens you need as an organisation, but then you can automate many of the procedures you need done — so it's worth the effort."
The impact of using PS Financials will be immense — with remote access to financial information for all managers
Rather than operating a parallel run of the two systems, Birmingham YMCA will switch from Sage Line 50 as soon as finance staff are comfortable using PS Financials. This central finance function handles the finances across all nine sites of Birmingham YMCA, but in addition, access will be given to senior managers to use on an enquiry basis. Managers at other sites will use MS Terminal Services to access the software and their budgets and accounts in real-time — which are being managed by the central finance staff. Using PS Financials, they will then be able to see instantly where they are financially.
Paul comments on how different Birmingham YMCA staff will use PS Financials:
"We are splitting our users into different groups according to their access requirements — there are 2 main users in finance, 5 senior managers, who will use the system for enquiries and for authorising invoices, and another 5 or 6 users, who will use the system to place purchase orders for products such as office supplies, equipment in nurseries, and for residents in our supported accommodation."
This demonstrates how different levels of access and tailored information can be set up for different users in PS Financials, according to the requirements of an organisation. The system is very flexible indeed.
Once users are fully up-to-speed with the PS Financials, there are plans to implement purchase ordering through the system and document management to sit alongside it — saving even more time through automation.
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