Our blog looks a little different this month. In this edition we focus on a relationship with one of our trusted clients – Susan Green, Service Manager of Sutherland Food Services. Susan has been a client for many years and is one of the most respected members in the not-for-profit food services space.
Susan generously took the time to reflect on the relationship between Hopscotch and Sutherland Food Services. Here are her thoughts.
1. How long have you been working with Hopscotch?
We initially engaged Hopscotch in 2018 as our external accountants. However, shortly thereafter I decided to streamline our operators and make our payroll person redundant transferring all our daily accounting requirements to Hopscotch. This soon proved a positive move with errors reducing and efficiencies improving. It also proved a positive impact around audit time with our auditor able to correspond with the source if there were any enquiries that I wasn’t able to answer. Our auditor has made the following comments regarding the work of Hopscotch “I work with a large number of not for profit organisations and a number of different accounting firms who assist them. Sutherland Food Services accounts, records and work papers are probably the best I have come across which is a credit to you and Hopscotch Accounting. I am super impressed” Trent Atlee Auditor
2. What were the challenges you faced with your account / budget or systems?
No real challenge other than moving away from the regular model of community services having an employed accounts person. I believe there is greater scope for continuous improvement through a brokered model. Further when costing the move to Hopscotch it was economically positive also removing any associated HR issues with a dedicated staff member.
3. What solutions or strategy did Hopscotch offer?
It was a whole service strategy really. Of course there was a settling period when Hopscotch became more familiar with our business and myself working with Hopscotch staff. That relationship quickly developed. Solutions of ongoing monthly financial reports for our board, assistance with overall budgeting, scope for improvement for processes all become apparent very quickly.
4. How did you measure the success of your partnership together?
Initially it was the dollar proposal, but more importantly ensuring that when I pull up a P&L I ‘know’ its correct with all input and coding perfect. It’s also great to have a ‘go to person’ to answer any questions or queries. Our contact, apparent from Matt, is Kirra who is professional, informed and now knows our business as well as I do, which can only mean we are in great hands as we move into the new reforms for aged care.
5. Is there a surprising statistic or percentage from your business that you could share as a direct result of Hopscotch help?
It’s a whole of service improvement in all aspects of our financial management. I am 100% confident in what I see in Xero. Current trends in aged care continue to throw up challenges in terms of how we invoice, compliance etc and to be confident that everything is in order. Further, to assist me with projections for our business is essential when making decisions in relation to the business.
6. How have you found working with Matthew and his team?
Matt, Kirra, Brooke and the other members are the “dream team”. Nothing is never a problem, no question too hard and always with a prompt reply nailing precisely what I need. I could not recommend them more and would implore other not for profits to investigate out sourcing essential elements of their business.
