Elke Haemelynck is the founder of Happy Humans, a team of enthusiastic HR consultants from Ghent. To manage her company effectively, Elke needs a clear view of her figures. Thanks to her collaboration with Accountantsburo Lauwers, she is proactively and promptly informed, enabling her to make the right decisions. We spoke with Luc Lauwers and Elke to discuss how Bizzcontrol has assisted them in their collaboration.
Elke, what do you consider important in the collaboration with your accountant?
Elke: “I assume that everything I provide is processed correctly and that my questions are answered promptly and quickly. However, it is the proactive feedback on my figures that really excites me! On October 13th, I already received my interim report up to and including September. This gave me immediate insight into how the organization performed in the past, where we stand today, and what the possibilities are for the future.”
Could you specify why you find this reporting so insightful?
Elke: "I am a psychologist by training, so in the past, it was sometimes challenging for me to extract the right insights from the many figures. The reports I now receive include, in addition to the numbers, a summarizing explanation in layman's terms. Furthermore, the graphical representation of my results helps me quickly grasp how well or poorly we are doing at a glance. It may sound a bit simplistic, but the green and red colors assist me in capturing the essence, so I know quickly where I need to focus my attention."
Luc, you started with Bizzcontrol at the beginning of 2023. What was your main reason for entering into a partnership with us?
Luc: “Within our office, we are constantly working to further develop our advisory role. Thanks to the integration of digital tools like Yuki and Silverfin, we manage to process all documents timely and comply with all legal obligations. Before Bizzcontrol, our reporting was sometimes too much in accounting jargon, making it difficult for non-financial professionals to interpret the figures. With our new approach, we notice that our clients gain quicker insights into their numbers and can make better-informed decisions.”
Could you provide a concrete example of this?
Luc: “Certainly! Recently, I was with a business owner of a wholesale company that was making a profit but not generating extra cash. ‘Where has my money gone’ is a question we often receive. As accountants, we used to refer to the balance sheet to explain this, but it was very difficult to convey this clearly to our clients. Thanks to the cash flow statement in Bizzcontrol, we can now perfectly bridge the gap between the company's operating profit and the generated cash flow. Has inventory increased, have customers not paid on time, have investments been made, have loans been repaid, etc.? These are all matters that entrepreneurs can understand, allowing us to answer the question with pleasure and even proactively now!”
How do you manage to address this proactively?
Luc: “With the monitoring in Bizzcontrol! We have set up triggers that automatically activate when certain cases require our attention. This way, we can proactively answer questions even before they are asked. It used to be an almost impossible task to keep an overview of all the cases. Thanks to our central office cockpit we can guarantee that no case slips through the cracks. This not only helps us in our proactive advisory role but also certainly provides extra peace of mind.”
That sounds great! However, it doesn't seem easy to get all your employees on board with this. How do you succeed in this?
Luc: “Juniors who are fresh out of school obviously need to grow in this area. However, we receive excellent support from Bizzcontrol in terms of training, enabling all our employees to quickly get started with reporting. Thanks to the automatically generated reports, our staff gain faster insights into the figures, which helps them communicate the message to our clients. Those who are familiar with this can utilize the powerful analysis modules in Bizzcontrol, allowing us to support client discussions with dynamic presentations of the figures. This easily provides additional insights such as the evolution of revenue per customer, costs per supplier, margins per product group, ... The great ease of use of Bizzcontrol helps us to allow our employees to grow in their advisory role.”
Fantastic to hear. Assisting young accountants to quickly take on the role of advisor is something we are also strongly committed to.
Luc: “Indeed, the Bizzgames that you organize is a fantastic initiative! It shows students that besides all administrative and fiscal tasks, they can also play an important role in helping entrepreneurs. The focus of the students' education could be even more directed towards gaining insight into the results. This will help us as an office to evolve our new employees into fully-fledged business advisors even faster.”
And this will ultimately benefit the entrepreneurs! Elke, is it correct to say that the reporting through Bizzcontrol has helped you make better decisions?
Elke: “Absolutely. As a business manager, it's essential to make decisions that ensure the financial health of your company. However, you want to focus on what you enjoy: entrepreneurship. Thanks to clear interim figures, I regularly see the impact certain decisions have had on my results, and I can base my future decisions on this information. This not only leads to a healthy business but also provides extra peace of mind.”
If we have contributed in this way, we are once again a step closer to our mission to help entrepreneurs make better decisions! With these fine words, I would like to conclude this conversation. Wishing you both much success in the further development of your wonderful enterprises!
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