Leading independent insurance broker and financial services provider Glenrand MIB has streamlined its financial processes with the implementation of an Accpac ERP 500 accounting software solution at its Randburg headquarters.
The software, supplied and installed by Lorge, a long-established financial software specialist in Accpac ERP, Accpac CRM and Sage ERP X3 business and technology solutions, went live on 1 July 2009 after a three-month period of implementation, integration and testing.
“We were using a very old in-house GL system prior to Accpac,” said Elsabe Pretorius, Glenrand MIB manager treasury and financial projects. “There were immediate improvements and benefits, particularly in accounts payable and accounts receivable where the new software allows us to drill down more effectively. The accounts receivable implementation also includes rental income and transactions with other entities within the group.”
With accounts payable, the switch to Accpac significantly reduced the amount of time spent on queries, simplified the process and streamlined payment procedures.
Lorge also constructed a new bank reconciliation module which reduced the complex and time-consuming checking of reconciliations on multiple banks to a quick and simple task. Bank statements for some of the accounts are now automatically uploaded overnight and various bank reconciliations have been combined into one which resulted in centralisation of bank reconciliations and in less transfers between bank accounts with cost savings as a result.
“Coming from a legacy system background, it is such a positive change. We can now see all of the information online and we are achieving cost savings by significantly reducing the amounts of paper involved when compared to the original system,” said Pretorius.
The Integration Manager feature has simplified and streamlined the line of business reporting systems for Glenrand MIB, which provides expert insurance broking and risk advisory services to local and international clients including corporate entities, commercial ventures and individuals.
Through the Integration Manager feature in Accpac, Lorge was able to extract the accounts structure residing in the old GL system and transfer all of the relevant information on all of the accounts into Accpac in the format that best suited the accounts department.
The phase one of the Accpac ERP 500 solution was executed on time and under budget. There were very few post-implementation issues, recalled Pretorius. “At the go-live, everyone involved was nervous and, as we later found out, there was no need to be. The required files were imported into Accpac and balanced to the old GL system without a hitch.”
The second phase of the Accpac ERP 500 installation has been completed for inventory and project costing and the workflow implementation is in progress.
Financial manager Maria van Wyk said the workflow solution sets up system-driven purchase orders, authorisations and payments with the entire application, approval and payment process being executed online.
“We will have significantly improved controls as we would not have to check hundreds of authorisation signatures against the master signatures of employees authorised to approve purchases. Ultimately the signature aspect of the process will fall away and authorisations will be password-controlled.
“The timelines for financial reporting have been considerably reduced,” added Van Wyk. “Branches now have direct access to data from which to compile their formal reports into head office. The various lines of business can now load their own invoices and receive an extract file into the banking system so that there is no need to manually capture individual details.”
Van Wyk said the annual financial statements for Glenrand MIB will now be much easier to produce with guaranteed accuracy. A fixed assets module which records all fixed assets at all of the company's operations and automates the depreciation process is also being implemented.
The system will cover all of Glenrand MIB's South African operations. The eight branches in major centres are also using Accpac for their financial reporting into head office. Van Wyk commented that it was easy for the branches to get to grips with Accpac thanks to its user-friendliness and the fact that decentralisation had already commenced.
“We received everything we wanted from the Lorge team, including a customised service agreement that is tailor-made for us, which was done quickly and efficiently without a hitch. There have been no problems,” concluded Pretorius.
Softline Accpac Vice President Sales - Africa, Keith Fenner, said Accpac is a tried and tested product that is continually developed and improved. “It is evolutionary and therefore innovative service-oriented companies like Glenrand MIB have peace of mind in the knowledge that the software will evolve and grow with them in full support of their business processes.”
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