Connor's sales pitch is helped by the fact that Exchequer mid-range accounting software is rated highly by chartered accountants, as a clutch of awards testify. He said: "We have a very good reputation. One of the key reasons for our growth has been customer references. Our customers appreciate that fact when they get through to support, or talk to a trainer, the only focus our personnel have is Exchequer software. They know it inside out and give a better service and quality of response."

Connor added: "We're quite happy for the bigger boys to stimulate interest in the market. And once it comes down to product, functionality and service we're more than happy to take the 'Pepsi Challenge'. It's not just that we have good products, it's the fact that our dealers, consultants and personnel have delivered exceptional service, and that's very important."

While keeping the books in order is obviously the key function for any accounts software, Connor believes that more managers should be aware of the information capabilities of modern products like Exchequer. He said: "The power of this technology cannot be emphasised enough. Too many SMEs spend hours producing meaningful management reports, a process which should be taking minutes. And most managers want these reports within Microsoft Excel, in order to improve ease of use and simplify data analysis. These are all features which are readily available within Exchequer."

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Business Intelligence offers you real-time critical data throughout your company as it happens, enabling you to manage / intervene / plan / exploit instantly rather then relying on hindsight to spot crucial patterns long after the fact.

Additionally Business Intelligence is not just the concept of crucial management information, but just as importantly, the art of how it is provided to you. Yes you can expect the most obscure analysis, Key Performance Indicators or alerts to be provided as part of your new modern Business & Accounting software but you now need to ask yourself how easy it is for you to get this Intelligence going forward as your needs evolve.

Is your software intelligent enough to do most of the legwork for you? The complexity of true Business Intelligence Information does not necessitate complex solutions. These days you do not need to become a programmer, SQL expert, or learn different technologies to extract your data. As you can expect (and demand), easy to use, fully integrated technologies, with an easy learning curve can effortlessly deliver this data to you with immediate benefits.

Modern Business & Accounting Software offers fully secure integration with the most common software ensuring your own personnel remain in control. Tight integration to a myriad of the latest software and technologies offers you the choice of medium for your key information, from instant alerts on SMS or email, web based reporting, scheduling of Key Performance Indicators, live integration to Excel, Queries, automated reports and much more.

Recruit the best personnel, provide the best offering in your sector, control your costs and extract the best margins. Allow your company to be all it can be by managing and analysing your business trends and exceptions as and when they happen by making the right Business Software choice for your future business success and survival.

Alan Connor is the Commercial Director of Exchequer Software, the award winning Accounting & Business Software.

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Bang for your buck
Within the mid-tier software arena, increased expectations by prospective users and increased functionality has ensured that you will get far more “bang for your buck”. Indeed the mid range sector is now dividing further into two clear distinct sub-sectors; Entry level SME solutions for rudimentary accounts, and a newer more intelligent expert level for SME’s-Corporate sized organisations.

Adding extra complexity, volumes, remote connectivity and increased numbers of users, these true mid range solutions are a once-in-a-generation choices. The pattern of upgrading for Y2K, then again for the Euro and then again for a new version of Windows a few years later is extinct. One choice, the right choice will future proof your organisation for the next decade plus!

Raise the bar
Ever more discerning users have ensured that we as an industry continue to raise the bar in development in our applications. In Exchequers’ own case we have in the last decade released prolific upgrade after upgrade ensuring our loyal clients have continued to reap the benefits of extra features and functionality so that they do not outgrow their Exchequer solution. Additionally our development roadmap for Exchequer now extends past 2010 already.

Technology is common-place. Accountants and owners/Directors realise that they can now expect more from their business systems and are not afraid to challenge our industry to deliver on that expectation. I firmly believe that this will be the key to our industries’ survival and continued growth. For too long historic software dictated the functionality for its clients and limited their expectations. The configurability of modern software allows companies of all sizes the ability to have individually configured solutions tailored for their needs but without the historic burden of bespoke developments, or restrictions in future upgrades, together with prohibitive pricing policies.

We have also thankfully seen a more realistic approach to cost of ownership across the Industry. The days of pretending to sell less services up front and adding in extra days and services at a later stage, mushrooming a clients cost and harming our industry, is long past and greater guarantees are being sought and offered by customer and supplier alike in more transparent sales and implementation policies, all geared to deliver your next software within time and on budget .

Alan Connor is the Commercial Director of Exchequer Software, the award winning Accounting & Business Software.

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But the accounts software firms have not been the only ones catering for this new breed of ambitious, clued-in customer. Big software houses such as SAP and Oracle, as well as relative newbie’s to the enterprise resource planning (ERP) area such as Microsoft (through its Great Plains and Navision acquisitions), are targeting them. The result is that the mid-market has become a battleground for accounts software. Not only that, the line between accounts software and ERP – the powerful software used by enterprises to run their back office business systems is starting to blur, says Connor.....

Given the sizeable investment required, it is important that companies make the right choice for their business. Having a predefined checklist of what they need can help, says Connor. “First look at total cost of ownership. Seek guarantees from your provider about what the total cost of ownership should be over three to five years and get it to contract on that basis. Second, don’t be afraid to ask questions. If there are future promises being given on upgrade plans, for example, either get those promises in writing or look at past performance in delivering upgrades on schedule. Finally, if you are buying into an annual lease of software make sure you’re aware that’s the case. Otherwise, if you fail to renew an annual contract your software will expire.” ......

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Why not strive to improve their operations and in turn create greater company efficiencies and, and better staff job satisfaction…

You can only really obtain the best from your team by ensuring they have the optimum systems and procedures to not only make their roles easier, in turn making them more productive, but provide greater ability and control over their roles. This ensures greater productivity and satisfaction which will extend through to better attention to detail, increased care, and more satisfied customers, all benefiting from enhanced systems and considerate personnel.

The old adage of “working smarter not harder” still holds true. In all areas of your business from order processing, stock control, purchasing, management, accounts production, service, deliveries there are a host of technologies readily available to eliminate the need for repetitive data entry and paperwork, reduce the time spent managing accounts and retrieving critical management analysis, not to mention just in time alerts, triggers, and suggested procurement for all levels of distributors.

To survive in a more competitive environment you need to ensure that your most valuable assets, your staff, remain satisfied and challenged personnel ensuring their own continued satisfaction and your continued success, by continuing to reward your key personnel with the best in technology and business automation.

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Enterprise risk management, compliance, governance – it is a complicated and fragmented marketplace for those seeking software solutions.

Compliance, governance, and risk: chances are they are on your agenda but when it comes to which risks are at the front of your mind – well, how long have you got? Maybe you’re hiking Sarbanes Oxley? market risks? Basel II? emissions? risks from terrorism? crime? environmental concerns? creditors? IT? health and safety? MiFID? property and assets? tax? reputation? The list is long and the bad news is there are almost as many potential solutions to help you manage them as there are risks.

Commenting on the Irish market, Exchequer Commercial Director, Alan Connor, observed: “A lot of mid-range to small corporates recognise the need for better controls and are interested in putting in place appropriate safeguards, running healthchecks, and so on, but in our experience it is only the larger corporates, multinationals, and organisations that are implementing IFRS and Sarbox and so on that re looking fully integrated risk management solutions. Typically those organisations are allocating personnel or setting up departments to manage the function. However the lessons learned as a result of the global need for Sarbanes-Oxely are very well understood by many medium sized Irish companies who are increasingly more aware of the need to be more in control of their business processes and financial information.

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Reliable Data had been a reseller of Exchequer’s software for the past five years. The deal will give Exchequer the Cork firm’s customer base and software development expertise. Some but not all staff will transfer to Exchequer as part of the agreement.

As well as having a substantial number of customer sites running software from Exchequer, Reliable Data had carried out bespoke development for some clients in the Munster area. “We’ve always had development from our Irish offices and this will strengthen what we have,” said Alan Connor, commercial director of Exchequer Software.

Connor added that the future growth of the company would be through a combination of organic growth and acquisitions. “We’re in year five of our existing five-year plan and we’ve eclipsed each of our annual targets successively. We’ve had organic growth of 35-45pc each and every year and this acquisition will make that a given for this year.”

He confirmed that Exchequer is currently in talks about buying a second company. “The indications are that this will be completed by the end of the calendar year,” he said. Connor emphasised Exchequer would only look to buy companies where there was a close fit with its existing business. “It will only be acquisitions in and around the core Exchequer model; we won’t be getting into other products and services,” he told siliconrepublic.com.

Exchequer, which employees 25 people at its head office in Dublin, is in the process of selecting premises for its Cork offices. A further recruitment process is already under way to support this latest move.

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What have the advances in accountancy and payroll software been in the past few years – they are no longer just simple bookkeeping programs?
Rather then continue to be simple books of record, for after-the-fact booking, modern Accounting systems are highly evolved business systems who's tentacles extend throughout all departments and areas of operations, from purchasing, inventory control, manufacturing, sales, ordering, despatch and invoicing through to contracts, CRM and much much more.

The kingpin of any successful or growing company, the right business system not only will automate repetitive tasks, reduce human error and waste, but improve visibility, and traceability which is now more then ever necessary in expanding companies.

The use of the latest technology has propelled Accounting software into windows based fully integrated business systems, seamless integrating to retail systems and other software applications creating here-to-fore previously unimaginable levels of automation and instant management information

What kind of reports, analysis and forecasts can we get now from this sort of software? And why is it important for retailers to have this?  
Not only has the need for better management information increased through eras of increased competition and reducing margins in many industries, but accordingly the ability of off-the-shelf software has provided an explosion of key business management information in simple to use formats and on-demand.

Even in retail the needs of one retailer to another differs extensively. What may suit one, may not suit another. Thankfully modern software offers the retailer an easy to use range of options to either design their own reports within the business software or Excel or to have the software automate the production of each and every report to push the data out to the retailer  as and when needed.

Do you need to know sales by Supplier, by product range, against forecast, by quantity or margin, by salesperson, by value? Or fastest/slowest moving items or cycle count the top 50 moving items every Tuesday at 3pm??? I know companies that have literally spend days extracting this information to export routines, squeezed back into spreadsheets, bandied back and forth to then produce a set of figures which just sits on someone's desk after all that.

What if you could have your business software do all this for you, automatically with NO human intervention, to email, fax, Internet....? Think how much better your time could be spent using/interrogating that information rather then just extracting?

Are there turnkey systems specifically for retail? If so, what makes them unique from other systems such as a publishing house’s payroll and accounts system?  
Certainly, indeed across different sectors within Retail you will see specific applications for clothing, food meat, furniture etc..

The commonality of EPOS systems provides for simplified sale generation, the aim being to process a sale in the fastest comfort possible to reduce bottlenecks, and make it easy for the customer to buy from you. It is what happens after the act of sale takes place that really excites the imagination. How does this now integrate back into your Purchase Ordering, and sales system/management accounts? Fully integrated solutions offer the Retailer the strength of dedicated EPOS software together with disparate dedicated business management and accounting software so that these choices can be made independent of each other ensuring you get the best fit for the job required.  

How do these systems enable a retailer to manage their business in a smarter and more competitive way?  
If you have fully automated systems you can operate a smaller warehouse, keeping closer control on stocks and usage patterns, reducing wastage or overstocking or being left with redundant products that decimate your margins on the previous lines sold. Reduced sock levels also reduce your insurance. Just-in-time ordering systems allow you to forecast accurate inventory needs and take advantage of buying volumes and delivery cost efficiencies.

What if you can identify a trend as it happens rather than after all your existing stock is sold out? Can you see these trends when you are away from the shop floor? What if your Accounting software provided this information to you as it happens?

By automating the ordering and sales processes, and retaining greater levels of information you can reduce bottlenecks at key busy times, reduce queues at tills, offer a better level of customer service with less staff and accordingly increase margins or retain existing margins and offer a better cost proposition to the consumer as a result.  

What about outsourcing? Should retailers outsource their payroll and accountancy duties? Is this an option?
This is becoming more of an accepted practice as retailing at all levels becomes even busier. By outsourcing such services you may take advantage of guaranteed availability and costs    rather than be burdened by additional staffing commitments, recruitment processes and the possibility of staff being sidetracked to other areas in the business. I would suggest that outsourcing has proven its benefit through the mid stage of retail growth in our experience in the last decade in Ireland.

As a start-up organisation such tasks are performed by owner/management as you would expect. At the middle stage of expansion this time is better spent managing and controlling the business and cost-effective outsourcing is a very positive solution to this essential requirement. However the pendulum swings again as the company continues to grow and rather then just the processing of wages or booking services the retailer begins to need much greater internal management control and departmental processing/accountability, which leads to the creation of internal departments using their own software and managing their own tasks.

Tell us about your software offering.
Exchequer Software have been distributing its multi award winning software for over a decade in Ireland and count as its users some of Ireland biggest and busiest companies in all sectors as its clients. One of the main strengths is its customisation ability and instant management information together with an easy to use windows logical approach. In fact one of our most gratifying results was seeing the uptake of Exchequer amongst the Musgrave's Spar and Centra group of retailers in Ireland in conjunction with an amazing centralised system and IT service provided by Musgrave's themselves.

Alan Connor Commercial Director of Exchequer Software comments "I was astounded at how advanced the Musgrave's Group was in the service it offered to its franchises in Ireland The services and assistance provided was second to none and we were delighted that they chose Exchequer to assist in their roll-out to outlets throughout Ireland. It always pleases me to know when I pop into a Musgrave affiliated outlet across Ireland that behind the purchase of my latest coffee and elevenses there is an Exchequer system helping to run their business and my elevenses may even been manufactured and delivered by even more Exchequer users!"

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Investing too much reliance on individual departments without the ability to validate your own data and becoming too removed from the reality of the organisation without sufficient checks and controls in all departments and systems, are unfortunately all too common consequences of faster expanding enterprises.

Irish directors should ask themselves, can you stand over the information you are being provided with? Can you prove to your own satisfaction that you are in receipt of true and accurate figures? Are there arrangements or processes that have evolved throughout your growth that you may not be familiar with or that may be against company policy?

In the past few years under Irish law, directors’ obligations are far more onerous and your personal liability has substantially increased. A director’s role is not just a perk or status symbol but now has unavoidable obligations that if not performed can end in court proceedings or worse.

Being able to access your key management information and analyse all aspects of your business at ease, can only serve to protect your investment in your company, ensure that you are in control of your obligations and guarantee that you are more empowered and equipped to deal with the day-to-day issues within your business based on an abundance of key management information and performance indicators.

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Alan Connor, Commercial Director at Exchequer Software, asserts that the company has been the fastest growing mid range software house in Ireland. Focusing entirely on one product in the mid range sector and employing 21 people, the company now has more than 850 companies using its software solutions in Ireland (and over 15,000 globally).

Market Proliferation
Having established Exchequer Ireland in 1998 with the original founders of Exchequer Group, Connor’s role now involves overseeing the Irish direction of Exchequer, assessing emerging opportunities and the markets the company can compete in as well as directing marketing, branding and leading commercial growth within Ireland.

Some of Exchequer’s statistics are quite impressive with Connor stating how 95% of their business has migrated from the competition with the company retaining 97% of all of their users over the past decade. “We’re rarely the first software that someone buys but we tend to be the next one. You outgrow your first. You move up to something that’s more future proofed.”

Initially, Connor and his team targeted customers through word of mouth, by showcasing the software in depth and by offering greater assurance. ”We now have a very impressive Irish pedigree, reputation and expanding user base.”

Vertical Markets
The company set about targeting vertical markets, such as distribution and corporates.” We had far more tailored features than many of our competitors. This gave us the greatest head start.”

Exchequer’s software also has a very strong presence in the charity sector due the type of budget control, instant information and traceability that charities need. Governmental departments and banks are other core users. Adds Connor, “one of the contributing factors to our success is our ability to deliver projects on time and within budget. It’s something that we can back up and our partners back up.”

With thirteen partners on the island of Ireland, another distinguishing feature of Exchequer, according to Connor, is that all Irish development, support and training of partners is conducted from its offices. “We have always been here as a self contained software house, doing everything from start to finish, from advertising to assisting and supporting our partners on site.”

Exchequer has also claimed many lucrative awards, such as the Accountancy Age award for best mid-range accounting software for three consecutive years and the financial software provider of the year in the inaugural Real Finance/CBI FDs' Excellence Awards in 2005 and also in 2006.

Logical Steps
Indicating how the company will continue to advance its core product, Connor does not anticipate a need to diversify into other software areas. “ The product is evolving constantly every year and customers are not outgrowing it. We see that as being key to our growth.”

According to Connor, one of the reasons why Exchequer has excelled is because all of the organisation’s stakeholders, including upper management, are themselves product people with ensuing higher levels of commitment. “We’re coming from the industry, having used the software and implemented it from top to toe and firmly believe in the benefits that we can offer.”

Grass Roots Level
Starting out as a trainee accountant, Connor subsequently worked in accounts and IT management in the UK and then worked for Exchequer’s parent company back in 1989 as both a user and a tester of Exchequer software. In 1998, Connor returned to create Exchequer Ireland together with UK and Irish shareholders. At the outset, he was involved in all aspects of the daily running of the business. “Over the years I’ve used the software, implemented it, trained it and I’ve helped develop the software.”

A Clear Approach
Commenting on the biggest mistakes SMEs make when starting out and choosing software packages, Connor feels this lies in not identifying the total cost of ownership for their decision. “If funds are tight in a start-up, they could choose to buy a smaller product which may turn out more expensive in a three to five year period.

Connor concludes with the following advice for start-ups. “Look into all aspects of the business and the industry you are entering. Speak to your trading partners and competitors. It takes time but it means you’ve got a far more rounded knowledge base and your decisions are not being made in a tight cocoon."

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Previously Datalex had been using technology that was about eight years old to produce its accounts. It had made acquisitions in that time and now has multiple Subsidiaries, some of which were running their own accountancy systems. "We were using four separate systems to produce our accounts, which led to duplication of work," explains Paul O'Reilly, chief financial officer of Datalex (pictured above with Alan Connor of Exchequer). "Everything had to be checked right the way along to ensure the accuracy of the data so it led to quite a slow process. What would happen, for example, is Australia would use a different accounting package; they would send their accounts to us, we would upload that to a second system and then consolidate it in a third system so you had three points of checking."

This was not an optimum solution. Last year the company embarked on a detailed tendering process involving its old provider and two other companies, one of which was Exchequer Software. Exchequer came out on top through a combination of offering the best functionality for Datalex's requirements and being competitive on price. The system Datalex ended up installing was Version Exchequer Global v5.7.

The main advantage of the new software is that it easily allows O'Reilly and other senior finance staff and management to have a consolidated view of the whole group, subsidiaries included, whenever they want. This allows for more accurate, up-to-the-minute reporting and facilitates greater business control.

"The new system provides better integration of group data. We use Exchequer to consolidate all our subsidiaries. One of the disadvantages of the old system was if we spotted a mistake we'd have to go back to the original system in Australia and correct the mistake there," says O'Reilly. Now any changes can be processed immediately in a subsidiary company and the change will automatically flow through to the consolidated account using the Exchequer system.

O'Reilly identifies the main areas implementation of the new package has improved upon. "It allows greater drill-down for us; we have increased and more flexible reporting; the con­solidation is performed in Exchequer; we've greater control over subsidiaries at head office because everything is on the one server — before we had to wait until the end of the month before a subsidiary sent in their accounts; now if a subsidiary books an entry I can go in and check it and see the most up-to-date data. I don't have to wait until the end of the month."

The process of implementing the new software was relatively straightforward. "For this project I hired a consultant; he worked along with Exchequer," explains O'Reilly. "Datalex provided the chart of accounts, the specific group accounting require­ments and Exchequer would have handheld us through what the system would do for us. We had a clearly defined project plan of what was meant to happen, when it was meant to happen and who was clearly responsible for each part of the plan, be it Exchequer or ourselves.

"We had offsite training for all staff prior to going live and then we oversaw the 'going live' process where all data was transferred across. That was relatively straight­forward considering we had to transfer a number of years of historical transactional data. The integrity of this data would all have had to be validated by the accounts team and verified by the consultant. We went live on 1 December 2005."

He says any queries or problems they had were quickly resolved by Exchequer, although there hasn't been a huge amount of support issues.

Alan Connor, commercial director of Exchequer, comments: "The foresight we identified with Datalex as one of Ireland's most successful international software houses appealed to us from the start and we were delighted to work in partnership with Datalex throughout their project."

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2) Is your stock holding excessive? By using correct stock control, with minimum / maximum stock levels and automatic reordering levels you can easily control your purchasing, reduce overstocking and avoid currency fluctuations, increased insurance costs, and expired products. Why not generate instant back-to-back Supplier orders to avoid the need for further excessive stocking.

3) If you distribute products, it can be hard to track your returns. Do you know what is returned or available stock, or know who has returned what product and for what reason? By controlling your returns you can track warranty periods, cost of sales, returns reasons, and automate repairs, returns to suppliers, replacements, or apply restocking charges. By controlling the seepage from uncontrolled returns you can maintain your margins, and automatically generate returns back to your suppliers.

4) By knowing the margin or mark-up of your orders, customer histories or buying patterns as you agree contracts, or take even a single order, this puts you in control of the prices you charge. Instant customer and product profitability ensures that any fluctuations in costs are identified and new price agreements with Customers are relevant to the business they generate with you.

5) Having excessive stock, slow order books, or empty diaries may lead you to consider special offers. Automating date-based promotional prices and quantity breaks encourages customers to order more in the time frame that suits your needs providing much needed cash flow. Additionally using “Opportunity Selling” enables your sales reps to be alerted to associated products or services related to an existing product being bought. Buying a torch, how about some batteries?, buying a case of wine, how about a bottle of champagne?

6) Why shouldn’t you expect your Sales Dept to be able to easily enter an order with as few keystrokes as possible? With software that offers quick-find options and intuitive screens, your data entry time is drastically reduced. Store your order, send an instant email confirmation to the customer, automate picking lists in the warehouse, back to back orders to your supplier, and all at the touch of a button. How much more effective could your sales force be if their valuable time was freed up?

7) The days of Management trawling through reams of reports are over. Instant alerts will enable your business software to automatically warn you when your own key events/criteria occur! Automate your management reports, obtain up-to-the-minute reports for all departments on email, Excel, Intranet, Outlook or as you need it when you need it, and all without wasting your key personnel’s valuable time.

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Forget the software
That might sound unusual, but in reality even a multi- award winning software such as Exchequer is of little benefit to you unless you have the right partner to project manage your implementation.

What you should ascertain is the proven ability of your partner to deliver, implement and train your system to your specific needs. You should seek guarantees on their history of delivering your solution on-time and within budget.

The best way to do this is to contact reference sites of a similar size and complexity and ensure that they can give you this reassurance from their own experiences.

Now consider the software
How proven is the software you are being offered? Has it just been released? Does it have an existing proven market share of satisfied similar customers that will ensure you are not the guinea pig? How has this pedigree been proven? It is worth ensuring that the software has a history of delivering new enhancements regularly, a pattern of constant evolution and enhancement bodes well for future releases and promises of longevity

You should review each of your departments with a critical eye. Remember you are not looking to fault your personnel, but rather the procedures that you have to adhere to and the knock on effects of same. How laborious is it to place an order, or check stock availability? How cumbersome is the picking, and delivery stages of your operation? How much more productive could you be if your software offered greater automation? Can you more accurately control your stocks, reduce freight costs & insurance, improve delivery speeds, cut overtime, increase margins through automation and visibility? By identifying your own weaknesses you set the benchmarks for any new software.

Total Cost of Ownership.
The total cost of ownership should be measured over a minimum of five years.

For example, apart from the initial outlay, what is the annual contract cost in year one and thereafter? Are there guarantees on inflation linked maximum increases or is it anybody’s guess what your charge in three years will be?

When you receive your upgrades through the year, how many will you receive and will you have a mandatory site visit (chargeable) for each one? Or can you apply the regular upgrades yourself? Think about it – if you get three or four upgrades per year and are charged 1 day on site each time, over a five year period that can cost from £10,000 extra !.

Is the software yours:
You should ensure the software will not “time-out” after a year and force you to renew an annual “rent” licence to keep using your own software. Exchequer firmly believe that annual contracts should be voluntary. If you are happy with the number and quality of upgrades, enhancements and support service you receive, we are confident that you will renew your annual contracts with us. We believe in providing value for money and that is why we have a voluntary client retention rate of over 97% of all users over the last decade.

It is up to you to ensure that we are put through our paces- don’t be afraid to ask detailed product, procedural, industry and general questions of all complexities. After all this is our job and ultimately it is up to us to give you the assurance to chose a long-term software partner.

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Save time and money
Why shouldn’t you be able to save time and costs by having your customers send their orders directly into your accounts software with NO re-keying? Why not e-mail them an invoice that can be directly imported into their own software?

Historically, many industries have had their own DOS, CSV, or EDI formats that tended to be proprietary and sometimes expensive to adopt. This limited their general acceptance and appeal.

In the last few years, a new universal e-business standard (eBis XML) has been developed and it has been adopted by business software companies. The net result is that with a myriad of supplier specific formats a thing of the past, a new era of reduced costs and increased productivity is available.

Increased efficiency
Having a web presence and the latest financial software will allow you to upload customer specific prices, historical sales, credit histories and facilitate web ordering which in turn can be sent directly to your Sales Order Daybook.

By making your e-business systems more open to suppliers and customers, you too can take advantage of this universal innovation and improve your business efficiencies and competitiveness.

Should you have customers or suppliers without suitable accounting software, Microsoft Office will also interpret the new XML standard. Microsoft is committed to include this capability in forthcoming versions of Microsoft Office as part of the Microsoft Biztalk standard. Just as you may be familiar with the simple Fax template in Word, you will soon be able to take advantage of a new Microsoft Office template for Order and Invoices which will create an electronic (XML) version that can now be sent electronically. What’s more, if you are sent such an XML file you can open it in Internet Explorer and see a visual “stylesheet” design of that xml file which you can then review and print.

The days of expensive, multiple versions of proprietary EDI or software-specific formats are a thing of the past. You can deliver enhanced customer service, reduce costs, improve the accuracy of your systems, and increase margins through simple yet future-proofed innovations.

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2) Instantaneous and secure linking to Microsoft Excel
In addition to the standard reports built into the system, Exchequer uses OLE (Object Linking and Embedding) technology to create up-to-the-minute reports, which have the flexibility to be used for budgeting, forecasting, Customer/Product & Department profitability, cash flow analysis, consolidations and financial modeling.
There is no exporting, no playing with CSV extracts, no importing, no macros and no waiting! All you do is open up your spreadsheet, enter your Exchequer password and the real-time data will instantly appear. Simple concepts yet delivering serious unique and unrivalled benefits!

3) Time Saving Features, Instant Drill - Down
Drill-down is a system-wide feature available in Exchequer, and an essential tool for busy accounts offices where instant data accessibility is necessary. The ability to drill-down to the originating transactions and all related documents instantly is an incredibly powerful resource for performing daily queries and analysis. Simply 'double click' from any record and 'drill-down' into the original transaction entries – see your margin, product history, customer matching and all related transactional information at a glance.

4) Month End Nightmares – a thing of the past…
Month end close-downs and burning the midnight oil in preparing your management accounts should be a thing of the past. Open period solutions should offer the ability to design your own trading period ranges and to maintain multiple periods for data entry so, for example, your Sales can be trading ahead in February, Purchases finishing January, and Accounts auditing changes in last April….
With software designed for the user, forced month ends and Monthly/Quarterly destruction or purging of your valuable data are quite literally a thing of the past.
If you spend one day longer than you should this month-end, consider talking to Exchequer before you waster another day!

5) Electronic transaction processing.
In a world where accountants and system-operators are reduced to data entry, use of automation frees up your valuable staff and Management to work “ON the business” rather then “IN the business”. Imagine if your Sales or Accounts Departments, rather then spending two or three days per week on pure data entry of orders/invoices or preparation of accounts, could instead use that time to develop their departments or strategise with the new instantly available information?

Take the ability to automatically email or fax your invoices, orders, statements, remittances to all your trading partners. For a company with 200 customers invoiced once a week and getting statements once a month, a minimum saving of €7,000 per year is easily expected. All that from just one change? And just two clicks of a mouse!

6) Management by Exception/ Event Triggers.
Accountants are a hard working breed and invariably under pressure. How many times have we seen accountants trawling through page upon page of reports looking for problems or specific information, key stock levels or sales below cost, wrong analysis codes etc..

Why shouldn’t your software be able to push this information to you. Using event triggers, Management can manage by exception. Why shouldn’t you be able to ask your system to tell you the instant a credit limit is exceeded or a stock level goes below minimum stock, or a delivery date is missed?. What if it could tell you when an order is cancelled, or a discount is given to a customer as it happens rather, then at the end of the day or week? Or without having to print out every transaction to examine every detail?

7) Now its your turn!
Improve your customer service and profitability, save time, effort, and money by using Exchequer to your advantage. Take five minutes and sit back with a cup of tea and contemplate on the procedures within your various departments and systems. Hundreds of Irelands leading Entrepreneurs and businesses in all industries and sectors have chosen Exchequer in the last decade – let us offer you the power of our software and our highly accredited and dedicated consultants across Ireland to revolutionise your business performance and growth today !

Visit www.exchequer.ie Email info@exchequer.ie or contact us on 01 450 6820 for a full Information pack and interactive multimedia CD.