The App Advantage: Month-End Automation

Have you been wondering how you can scale your intercompany month-end processes with Xero, instead of having to migrate to an ERP system? We've got the webinar for you.

Part of our series, Xero for Groups: The App Advantage. Whether you’re new to Xero or looking to get more from it, this series will show you how Xero can work for multi-entity businesses as you scale.

In this webinar with our month-end automation partner, Mayday, we will discuss how multi-entity month end automation can help you scale without the burden of excessive manual reconciliation..

Hosted by David Tuck, we’ve lined up a great panel:

• James Scott-Griffin, CTO and Co-Founder of Mayday
• Graham Shapiro, Founder of Myccountant and Xero MVP Award Winner 2023
• Caroline Viles, Finance Director of Gaia

What to expect:

• Exploring the pains multi-entity month-end manifests for larger Xero users.
• Real-world experiences from Caroline Viles, a finance leader who has grappled with these issues across her three-entity group.
• Solutions from Graham Shapiro, a Xero app ecosystem expert.
• Plus actionable insights from the team at Mayday.

Whether you’re new to Xero or looking to get more from it, this session will show you how Xero can make managing your group business’s finances simpler and more efficient. Don't miss out – grab your spot now and learn how Xero can transform your finance management game.

About Mayday

Mayday is “the killer product for any multi-entity group”, and the winner of Xero’s Emerging App of the Year 2023.

With over 120 five-star reviews, Mayday helps you:

• Run your intercompany recharges in 98% less time.
• Reconcile cross-entity bank transactions without switching Xero files.
• Ensure your intercompany balances are always in sync.

About CFO Techstack

This webinar series is being run by CFO Techstack, the weekly newsletter for forward-thinking finance leaders, especially those who leverage Xero and its ecosystem. It's your go-to guide for transforming the finance function into a strategic powerhouse. Sign up at www.cfotechstack.com or on LinkedIn.

Webinar Q&A

Q: @Caroline, you mentioned having customer loans. Have you found a software that integrates with Xero that keeps all the loan details and also allows interest calculations, change in interest rates, etc that can be posted to Xero?

A: So we tried to build this ourselves and then realised how complicated it was! We do have an in-built tech stack that tracks what loans each customer has and integrates with Xero through our data warehouse we are able to do this because they are interest free initially, however, whilst we weren't authorised we worked with a company called Fintern who originated and we brokered to them, so they would also send us a monthly reporting snapshot. As we are now authorised we are working with a company called Lendfusion, we're still in the build though so tbc on how well this works!

Q: Caroline - finance office per entity / country versus shared service centre.. have you looked at this does it work as simplification?

A: We're a total company of about 30 people at the moment, which now includes 1 Finance Manager based in the UK and a Head of Finance for the US, who will likely be hiring an accountant to process the US as we grow. Up until now it's mostly been set up costs in the US and few key local US hires, we got confirmation that we're regulated last week so plan on launching the product in a few states in April / May. I think shared services centres are good for high volume non-core operational work that's repetitive but we're not at that stage quite yet.

Q: How has your app stack changed over the growth?

A: To be honest we've not really hit the point of changing too much yet, we've moved from Spendesk to Pleo and will be moving that to rippling, which is more driven by hiring across multiple countries than something finance specific (though it will involve expenses and spend management tools) and most of the work I've been doing is in automating the data into Xero from our internally built systems. Payment automation was something we looked into but the solutions didn't really fit our business at the time, this is something we'll be picking up again next quarter.

Q: Do the setup subs now go their own way app stack wise – or do you still drive consistency from the TOP?

A: At the moment the answer would be no, we're still too small for that and the subs that we have are for specific purposes; managing regulatory risk, debt funding facilities, only one of the US subs is to mimic selling our product and up until now it's mostly been set up costs in the US and few key local US hires, we got confirmation that we're approved by the regulator last week so plan on launching the product in a few states in April / May. I can see a world where this becomes true once sales volumes are sufficiently large in each country and we have many more people employed locally, or with product diversification by market but I think we're a long way off that.