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CFO finds fast and flexible solution with repeatable processes to easily handle acquisitions

The Situation

PE-backed SaaS company generating $48M in revenue with 300 employees quickly outgrew finance and accounting systems after three acquisitions. The goal was to have one streamlined process to quickly onboard and manage all entities.

  • Finance function was stretched after initial acquisitions
  • Internal processes could not scale as the company grew
  • No holistic visibility into all entities
  • CFO was buried with time-consuming daily financial operations

The Consero Solution

Consero Finance as a Service (FaaS) provides:

  • Efficient finance & accounting software and workflows that include one GL for all entities with multidimensional views
  • Experienced and on-demand finance team to address fluctuating needs
  • Accurate, timely audit-ready financial reporting
  • Consistent and reliable back-office services including, transaction processing, closing and reporting, to scale as needed

“The relationship with Consero has allowed me to move quickly with our private equity investors and evaluate potential acquisitions.
If we were to swiftly execute on an opportunity, I’m confident that they would fold it in quickly and seamlessly.” – Mike Dionne (CFO)

The Client’s Results

  • On-Demand Finance Team: Consero’s skilled finance professionals tackle the back-office transactional work and can also scale as the company experiences a spike.
  • New Systems: Updated with best-in-breed systems and proven processes mapped to the business within 30-90 days improves the quality, efficiency, and cost structure of financial operations.
  • Accurate and Real-Time Business Insight: SIMPL’s standardized and accurate financial reporting provides a clear financial picture of all entities and enables sharp decision making.
  • Repeatable Results: An acquisition-ready finance function that can easily onboard and manage new acquisitions onto one General Ledger.
  • Time for Strategy: CFO went from spending 5% of his time on strategy to 95% so he could focus on acquisitions and value-add initiatives.
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PE-backed tech firm gets instant, one-click access to all financial data with Finance as a Service

Serial entrepreneur, William Hurley (Whurley), is the CEO of a quantum computing tech company in Austin, Texas. Whurley founded Chaotic Moon which exited to Accenture and then Honest Dollar which was acquired by Goldman Sachs.

When he looked at how he was going to manage finance & accounting, he evaluated everything from traditional outsourced finance to different tech platforms, tools and services. Nothing compared to Consero’s Finance as a Service option. Consero not only had the platform, tools and infrastructure they needed, but Consero had the experience in dealing with venture capitalists and private equity.

Consero’s Finance as a Service approach simplifies the complexities of the financial operations into an easy platform. Whurey has instant, one-click access to all the financial data when he is on the phone or in a meeting with investors.

From a finance perspective, when you approach investors for funding, it is important to have a 3rd party like Finance as a Service so there is an objective view. It provides an objective view of where you are at financially, what your projections are, and how well you are supported in the financial role. Consero helped Strangeworks understand what to report to private equity investors and, more importantly, how to present it.

The support of Consero’s Financial Planning & Analysis team was a tremendous help in figuring out the total adjustable market to modeling and planning what is needed to grow and scale the business. Whurley and the Strangeworks team get timely and accurate reporting and access to their financial operations through Consero’s SIMPL financial console. They also get help with the strategic side.

When there is an institutional investment, not only is there a new requirement for reporting, but there is a need for resource planning. Consero provides those FP&A services to Strangeworks on an as-needed basis. Scaling Strangework’s financial infrastructure is easy with Consero’s SIMPL. Through the SIMPL financial console, the company has a general ledger, expense reporting and everything they need to manage their financial needs as they grow the company.

Why is it important to have your books button up? You will be able to raise more money and raise money faster when your books are in order. But, when you get to an exit, nothing becomes more imperative than having your financial house in order.

With Consero’s Finance as a Service approach and the SIMPL financial console, Whurley is completely prepared with their finances as they grow and scale the business into the future. If Whurley had to build this in-house, it would be extremely difficult to estimate how much time and money would have been spent to duplicate what they are getting with such an easy-to-use service like Consero.

Corporate franchise gets greater scalability and lower costs from outsourcing vs. in-house solution

Sunstone Yoga was faced with rapidly growing requirements for F&A services, both at the corporate level and for a diverse group of franchisee owners. While evaluating various service providers, Sunstone Yoga executives soon realized they wanted a service solution based on a team of F&A professionals dedicated to their specific business. Sunstone Yoga viewed this dedicated resource model as a strong predictor for higher service levels and greater satisfaction among its franchise owners.

Based on these factors and others, Sunstone Yoga selected Consero as its outsourced F&A service provider.

Consero provides Sunstone Yoga with greater flexibility in financial and administrative management

The business situation

Recently, Sunstone Yoga was faced with rapidly growing requirements for financial and administrative (F&A) services, both at the corporate level and for a diverse group of franchisee owners. The company understood the benefits of outsourcing F&A services, so it began a search for an experienced service provider solution that met the following criteria:

  • Frees owners to focus on more strategic business activities
  • Delivers greater scaleability and lower costs than an in-house solution
  • Provides efficiencies and consistency across all corporate and studio entities

While evaluating various service providers, Sunstone Yoga executives soon realized that they also wanted a service solution based on a team of F&A professionals dedicated to their specific business. Sunstone Yoga viewed this dedicated resource model as a strong predictor for higher service levels and greater satisfaction among its franchisee owners.

Based on these factors and others, Sunstone Yoga selected Consero Global Solutions as its outsourced F&A service provider.

About Sunstone Yoga

Sunstone Yoga is a privately-held retail yoga company that has both corporate- and franchisee-owned studios. Executing against its plan of establishing yoga studios across the United States and creating a national brand, Sunstone Yoga has grown rapidly over the last few years, with 16 studios currently in operation. Along with providing yoga classes and teacher certification, Sunstone Yoga sells a wide array of merchandise including clothing, books, food, beverages and other items.

A full team dedicated to the success of Sunstone Yoga Consero provides Sunstone Yoga with a full team of seasoned experts in F&A, to handle all of the activities required by their finance function at both the corporate and franchise level.

Along with the dedicated service team, a Consero Engagement Manager is responsible for managing the Consero team, providing first-tier account support, conducting periodic account reviews, and driving client success. Every member of the dedicated Consero staff reports directly to the Engagement Manager, helping to ensure that issues are addressed promptly and that all goals are met according to plan.

Working closely with Sunstone Yoga executives, the dedicated Consero team has created consistent, scalable processes to support functional F&A areas for all corporate and franchisee locations. These functional areas include:

  • Revenue accounting
  • Accounts payable and receivable processing
  • Travel & expense processing
  • Bank and credit card reconciliations
  • Payroll administration and payroll accounting
  • Sales tax calculation and filing
  • Weekly, monthly, and consolidated financial reporting
  • Budget, forecast, and variance reporting
  • Audit support

In addition to supporting these key functional areas, Consero also utilizes its best practice expertise to drive further process and productivity improvements. Because Consero works with both corporate and franchisees, efficiencies gained in one part of the business are quickly leveraged across the entire enterprise.

Results: significant cost savings and benefits across the board

With Consero, Sunstone Yoga was able to outsource all of its corporate and franchisee accounting as well as to establish a comprehensive set of financial analytics and dashboards—ultimately saving the company over $500,000 in F&A costs each year.

For both Sunstone Yoga and its growing family of franchisees, benefits include:

  • An improved franchisee model: Providing Sunstone Yoga with a unique, standardized service offering to attract new studio franchisees and support growth
  • Greater strategic focus: Allowing studio franchisees to focus on building their business instead of spending up to 25% of their time on non-revenue generating F&A tasks
  • Enhanced scaleability: Supporting rapid scaling of Sunstone Yoga through a standardized set of F&A practices
  • Better business decision making: Giving corporate management consistent data and analysis across all studios to support informed decision making

With Consero, Sunstone Yoga now enjoys a strategic F&A solution, helping to support and grow their enterprise both now and in the years ahead.

Challenge

  • F&A support required for a growing number of franchisees
  • Owners needing to focus on growth rather than financial administration
  • Growing operational and process demands
  • Limited visibility into finances at the corporate level Consero Solution
  • Customized processes and financial controls
  • Scaleable financial technology platform
  • Client-defined periodic reporting at corporate and franchise level
  • Dedicated, fully managed F&A service team
  • On demand, variable cost solution

Benefits

  • A unique and attractive service offering for franchisees
  • Up to $500,000 in reductions for F&A
  • The ability for owners to focus more on strategic business decisions
  • Salability supported by a standardized set of finance and accounting practices
  • Best practices provided by Consero finance professionals
  • Greater efficiencies and consistencies across all corporate and franchise entities

“Consero was able to provide us with a corporate F&A solution superior to other vendors while offering an equally effective solution to our franchise studio owners. Our franchisees can now focus on growing their businesses and not worry about necessary, but non-strategic back office functions.”
– Brandon Hartsell (CEO, Sunstone Yoga)

For more information

For more information about Consero Global Solutions, contact us at US (800) 913-8702 or by email at info@conseroglobal.com.

ABOUT CONSERO

Consero was founded in early 2006 with the goal of providing superior finance and administration (F&A) solutions to small and growing companies at a reduced cost. Since then, Consero has grown to be recognized as the #1 provider in the industry by independent publications like the Black Book of Outsourcing. Consero’s unique Empower Financial Platform helps growing companies to address complex finance requirements, scale finance operations quickly and cost-effectively, and deliver best practices to support strategic decision making by C-level executives.