Success story three

Real Finance & Real IT: A cure for IT and finance headaches

Our client is a small charity and their funding provider suggested they talk to us about IT and finance support they could afford that gave value for money.

Dealing with IT and finance was proving to be a major headache for the small, part-time management and support team. They also wanted to be able to call on professionals to help with issues of varying degrees of complexity.

So, they wanted to know they could talk to someone about bookkeeping and financial forecasting. They wanted both IT support and strategic advice.

The service structure we agreed on combined both on-site weekly visits and remote support. With IT, we:

• Visit weekly for PC support
• Identify training needs
• Set up profiles for new system users.

For finance, we:

• Took over their bookkeeping and updating accounts to trial balance stage off-site or using their existing software
• Produce quarterly management accounts for the Board
• Handle cash flow forecasting.

We also advised on the best way to replace their server and we now provide emergency server support.  And we assist when it comes to compiling and forecasting for Boards and bids.

Today, nearly two years into working with Real, the charity says ‘the regular support gives us a real feeling of security. We also feel comfortable being able to dip into a pool of experience covering relatively day-to-day bookkeeping question to higher level advice’.