Consultancy – Miles and Associates

Chris Miles has been using CashManager from Accomplish since 2001, so he is in the perfect position to assess how the solution has evolved.

Mr Miles is a director and manager of Miles and Associates, which has several offshoots under its umbrella. The three core businesses are centred on consultancy, a family trust and a property-holding company that focuses on residential tenancies.

Taking a proactive role

When the company was still in its infancy 14 years ago, Mr Miles employed an accountant to take care of the business's finances and keep everything in check. However, deciding to take a more proactive role with the accounts, he asked his advisor about small business software solutions that could help. CashManager from Accomplish was the recommended answer.

"The integration with accounting was the thing that really helped us. We don't mind paying some money for accounting, but we wanted a level of understanding and integration," Mr Miles explained.

As the head of a company that has several interests, Mr Miles found the real value lies in the multi-licence agreement Accomplish offers.

"What I like most about CashManager is the annual licence fee that allows us to use the software across multiple companies," he said.

The functionality of using an Accomplish solution for more than one business means that a number of accounts and financial figures can be collated and organised in an individual package.

"I'm not an accountant, but the software makes bookkeeping an administrative task. The multi-company licence means I can bring other business interests on board, drop them off at a later point and I don't have to worry about it costing any extra money," Mr Miles stated.

Better value than alternatives

Because Miles and Associates is a business that is high-value and not necessarily high-volume, the cost effectiveness of CashManager is another big positive. Even when his accountant recommended an alternative, Mr Miles maintained his position as he was happy with the value that the current solution was offering.

"The accountant wanted us to switch to Xero. I went along to a presentation and demonstration and thought it looked good, but didn't see the value in it as I could do it all in CashManager," Mr Miles surmised.

Software that's effective over time is hard to find in today's market. With more technology firms failing to support anything but the latest and greatest versions of their products, continuity is becoming a rare commodity. CashManager from Accomplish addresses that very issue.

"A hugely valuable thing for me is the backward compatibility. If I open up a file that's 15 years old, CashManager just sits and works its way through and presents the data formatted accurately in the most recent version of the software," Mr Miles concluded.

Without CashManager from Accomplish, Miles and Associates would not have been able to manage their accounts as effectively across its company history. The years of service Mr Miles has used the software stands as the best testament to its usefulness.