Ram Inn

Hayley was fed up of being tied to one computer.

Like a lot of businesses, when it came to decide on what accounting software to use, Hayley went for the instantly recognisable SAGE 50. However, it’s complexity was creating errors and the fact that it tied her to a single computer in the back office was becoming increasingly frustrating. When payroll and staff rotas also started creating issues, Hayley knew that changes needed to be made.

Hayley is the owner at The Ram Inn, a very busy and popular country pub. The long working hours, constantly changing staff rotas and general hustle and bustle means that flexibility is key to their success.

A slow and static bookkeeping system was not giving her that flexibility.

With a single computer and a bulky server in the back office, the bookkeeping had a demanding presence over her business. All information needed to be manually keyed in, from the bank statements and the many purchase invoices through to the daily takings. It was a mundane and time-consuming task and errors were piling up.

Hayley didn’t know what to trust. None of the figures that SAGE produced matched the paper statements or how she felt the business was performing. This left Hayley confused; not knowing where she or the business really was.

When Fresh Financials were brought in to help, we took a step by step approach.

Our initial bookkeeping Health Check confirmed Hayley’s gut feeling that the bookkeeping was poor. We knew that a simple tidy up on SAGE was only going to solve part of Hayley’s frustrations. We needed to create an integrated, cloud based system that would match the demands of The Ram Inn.

The first stage was to move the bookkeeping over to Xero and link it to Xero’s Payroll module. This meant that the server could go but also that Hayley was no longer chained to the computer in the back office. Utilising the wonderful simplicity of Receipt Bank meant that members of staff could upload purchase invoices and receipts as soon as they come in – creating a faster and data entry free process.

Once everyone was comfortable using the new system, we introduced Deputy, another Xero app that enabled Hayley to integrate and remotely manage the staff rotas and timesheets.

The new, fast. cloud based bookkeeping system has changed how Hayley runs her business. She has grown in confidence as she now knows exactly where her accounts and business are and can trust the reports that are generated. Having the ability to view her information, generate reports and create staff rotas wherever she wants has put Hayley firmly back in control.