The Trust will be utilising the Paperless and Authorise-e™ modules within Exchequer, which will enable the finance department to send out documents, such as orders, invoices and statements, in a secure format, via fax or email, saving a considerable amount of administrative time.

 

Geoffrey Briggs, Head of Support Services at Halo, comments, "The issuing of purchase order numbers through the Paperless module and Authorise-e™ has eradicated what was a very time consuming task.  Previously all of our orders were handwritten and physically taken to a Manager for authorisation. This often resulted in the order remaining stagnant because a Manager was not available to authorise it, however now employees can create an order and send it to a Manager for authorisation electronically, which reduces the volume of paper in the office."

Briggs continues, "Another benefit of Exchequer is that Authorise-e™ will electronically re-route the purchase order to another Manager for authorisation if the first Manager is not available. This makes the authorisation process much quicker and easier than it was before."

 

The versatility of the OLE Report Writer is also bringing significant benefits to the Trust, as it provides a seamless link between Microsoft Excel and the financial management data held within Exchequer. By producing management reports within Microsoft Excel, the Trust's management team has visibility of financial information in a familiar and user-friendly format, which makes it very easy to analyse and interpret business performance.  

The implementation of Exchequer also helps Halo to maintain its charitable status, by demonstrating independence from the local authority. Briggs explains, "Our charitable status is vital in order to secure funding to support the maintenance and development of Herefordshire's leisure facilities. By implementing our own accounting system we are proving that we are compliant with the Charity Commission Law which states that organisations must operate independently rather than as a subsidiary of our local authority."

 

Briggs concludes, "We are very pleased with our choice of Exchequer. It is a modern and easy-to-use system, which will deliver cost efficiencies by eliminating time consuming processes, such as manual admin tasks, within the organisation. In addition, the reporting functionality within Exchequer makes it much easier to produce and distribute management reports, helping us to provide transparency of information to all members of staff and stakeholders."