Van Den Neste & Partners is an ambitious accounting firm where 'forward thinking' with the client is paramount. In mid-2023, the team started working with Bizzcontrol. We sat down with Tom Ledermann, partner at Van Den Neste & Partners, and discussed his experiences with Bizzcontrol within the firm.
Tom, what is the vision of your office, and how does Bizzcontrol fit into this narrative?
In many accounting firms, the focus is strongly on correctly processing documents and complying with legal obligations, the compliance aspect of accountancy. For the client, the visible value remains limited to the 'tip of the iceberg' (read: the VAT return, the annual accounts, etc.), although the client pays for the large amount of invisible value below the waterline (read: correctly processing all documents to achieve accurate data).
At Van Den Neste & Partners, we wish to further reveal the value of this iceberg and fully focus on advising our clients. We want to support and advise entrepreneurs towards their personal and professional goals. We already possess highly valuable data, but thanks to Bizzcontrol, we manage to utilize the full potential of this data and translate it to our clients.
Can you elaborate on this? How does Bizzcontrol assist you in making this transition?
Thanks to the office cockpit in Bizzcontrol, we now maintain a helicopter view over all our files. The data is updated daily, ensuring that no file slips through the cracks. As a manager, this provides an extra sense of comfort, but primarily it ensures that we can grab the right file at the right moment thanks to the set triggers: "Are the depreciations posted in all files?", "In which files is there (not yet) sufficient prepayment?", "Which customers have a strong increase or decrease in turnover and/or gross margin?", etc.
Subsequently, we can explain the figures to our customers with the help of numbers and graphical representations. The simple way the figures are presented in the reports of Bizzcontrol greatly aids in making the sometimes complex figures understandable to our customers. Together, we bring the figures to life and analyze, for example, evolutions in sales per customer or purchases per supplier. This helps our customers get a good picture of their costs, which, for example, helps them negotiate volume discounts with suppliers where more purchases have been made in recent years.
You are strongly focused on software, how does Bizzcontrol fit into this overall picture?
In recent years, we have strongly focused on digitalization with the implementation of tools like Yuki, Exact Online, and Silverfin. This ensures a high degree of automation for compliance tasks, ranging from VAT returns to corporate tax and the preparation of the annual report with the required statements.
Bizzcontrol integrates seamlessly and is the package for advisors who engage with clients. Thanks to Bizzcontrol, we guarantee a uniform advisory approach towards our clients and achieve significant time savings in processes that previously were relatively manual. We can now streamline the interim reporting process in our office to get results to the client efficiently and understandably.
Bizzcontrol is intuitive, but for assistance, you can refer to our manuals and videos available through the Bizzcontrol Academy. How has this helped you?
“The Bizzcontrol Academy has greatly assisted us with the implementation of the tool, although the training with Oceane was an enormous added value. The training was clear, smooth, and super intuitive, which allowed us to integrate Bizzcontrol effortlessly into our accounting processes. Is our bookkeeping correct? Then everything is immediately accurate in Bizzcontrol as well. This makes errors practically impossible, which is a huge advantage for us,” says Alain.
Providing interim figures is naturally quite 'reactive'. How do you ensure 'proactivity' in your advisory services?
Correct. We want to keep our clients informed in between updates about the status of their business. "Am I on the right track (or not)" is a question we can easily and periodically (monthly or quarterly) answer for all our clients, thanks to the one-pagers in Bizzcontrol.
Through the triggers in Bizzcontrol, we are automatically alerted when files show figures that require our attention: files with a significant increase or decrease in revenue and/or gross margin, files with a significant rise in outstanding receivables, files that are profitable but do not generate cash, ... With these files, it is now very easy to pick up our phone and provide the client with additional clarification on their figures. As a result, we do not wait for clients to come to us with questions, but we are actually answering their questions before they can be asked!
A fine example of proactivity! However, this remains limited to the past. Do you also look towards the future with your clients together?
"Thinking ahead for you" is our motto. As accountants, we naturally work frequently with past data, but our goal is to meet with each client at least once a year to not only review interim figures but also to look towards the future. Thanks to the simulation and budgeting capabilities in Bizzcontrol, we can easily discuss this future outlook with our clients and summarize it in a clear forecast of the current and possibly even the upcoming year. This provides, on the one hand, a clear picture of the profit at the end of the year and any remaining advance payments, and on the other hand, it allows us to make adjustments to effectively achieve the set goals.
Sounds great! Could you tell us a bit more about how you have experienced the collaboration with Bizzcontrol so far?
The startup process went very smoothly. The integration with our files, applying our mapping, linking the files to our employees, ... everything was very clear! We received a clear onboarding with a defined timeline, completely tailored to our office. Thanks to this structure and clarity, it was easy to translate the startup of Bizzcontrol to the organization. Bizzcontrol understands very well that bringing about change is not always easy. The Customer Success team therefore pays a lot of attention to change management. With many other software packages, you buy the package, it works, and you pay the bill, but after that, you don't hear much more from them. Bizzcontrol approaches this completely differently! They really think proactively about the best way to integrate Bizzcontrol into the office, at the pace of our clients and our employees.
Thank you for these kind words, Tom! Finally, one last question: you yourself hesitated for some time before starting with Bizzcontrol. What would you recommend to other offices that have not yet taken the plunge?
We were quickly convinced of the added value of Bizzcontrol for our office. It wasn't a question of 'if' we would do it, but 'when' we would start. Within our office, the cost of software has risen significantly in recent years, making the timing of new software often a difficult balancing act. However, if you position yourself as a progressive office focused on providing advice and want to fully deliver on that promise, you almost have no choice but to work with your package.
With this lovely compliment, I am pleased to conclude! Thank you for this pleasant conversation, and best of luck with the continued development of your fantastic advisory firm!
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