Phase 3 stepped in to provide a dedicated consultant who worked with them to managed day-to-day payroll tasks, while also implementing longer term improvements.
Charcoalblue was established in the heart of the UK
theatre industry in 2004. Since then, they have carved out
a reputation as the world’s leading integrated Theatre,
Acoustic and Experience Consultancy service.
They now operate as a cohesive and collaborative team across six
international studios in the UK, USA and Australia, delivering
projects to every corner of the globe.
They'd outgrowing their old finance system
They needed a new solution that could handle more data
We helped them migrate over to a cloud based system
The new system could accommodate the needs of their new business structure
Now they spend less time on manual tasks and can focus on the businesses future
Charcoalblue was using Sage 50 Accounts as their core accounting system, but they had a £15m PA turnover and Sage 50 was becoming a little overwhelmed with how much data they were throwing at it.
They wanted to step away from the sheer amount of manual work that they were conducting on Sage 50, which was acting as a data gathering tool for them. A lot of the accounting was actually happening on Microsoft Excel, so the need for a more automated system consolidated reporting was crucial for them. They wanted to be able to produce reports including top line reporting and financial analysis but Sage 50 couldn’t accommodate this.
They also wanted a system that would allow them to switch between their four international entities seamlessly and report on all of them clearly in one base currency. The system needed to allow them to access their accounts in any country they operate in, in the same manner.
Since they had a growing finance department with multiple global users simultaneously, they needed a to go fully cloud based. One of their biggest issues with Sage 50 was the speed, as it was based on a server in London but had users globally.
We migrated Charcoalblue over to Sage Intacct, a fully cloud based system, which could be accessed globally and handle more data with greater speed. This also gave them the consolidated reporting and the increased automation they needed.
With the use of a Fast Start template and the flexibility we offer at Phase 3, we managed to accommodate their complex business structure, with multiple Business Units, Locations and Multi-currency Entities.
Charcoalblue also opted for the brilliant Global Consolidations module alongside their solution for its powerful consolidated reporting abilities and are now able to run meaningful top-line reports in a single base currency at the click of a button.
Migrated onto a fully cloud based system
More data with greater speed
Used a Fast Start template and flexible approach
Accommodated their complex business structure
Top-line reports in a single base currency
Charcoalblue is now Live on Intacct and we have already arranged sessions to go through post Go Live tasks such as designing their printed document templates and historical data importing.
With the capabilities of Intacct, Charcoalblue are now able to use their finance system to do more than just data gather, they can do some real, powerful, and meaningful accounting with business growth in mind and see that in real time.
Charcoalblue now have big plans about a second stage of work with Intacct involving API integration with their HR software – People HR, as well as a period of bedding in the system and re-aligining their processes, ready to hit the ground running with their new financial year.
