Management information for a consulting firm's board with MAIA
The board of a mid-sized consulting firm wants faster answers on revenue, margin and outstanding invoices, but the figures sit in the accounts and the agreements that explain them in contracts and framework agreements. With MAIA the board asks its questions in plain language. MAIA sets the figures from Exact Online against those agreements, states with every answer on figures up to which date postings have been processed, and reviews new postings every working day.
The Challenge
At a consulting firm, revenue and margin depend on agreements: rates, framework agreements with clients and financing terms. The accounts show what happens, but not why. Anyone who wants to know why the margin on a service line is falling, or which invoices have been outstanding longest, has to put figures and contracts side by side themselves.
That work falls to a few people who know the accounts well. Reports come after the fact, and questions that come up in between are left waiting.
Our Solution
The firm connects MAIA to its Exact Online administration, as an app in its own Exact environment; the firm decides who sees what. It adds contracts, framework agreements and financing terms as documents. The board asks its questions in plain language, for example where revenue will land this year or why the margin on a service line is falling.
MAIA shows what the underlying trend is, what is just the season and where this year differs from last year, as well as how old open invoices are and with which clients. With every answer on figures, MAIA states up to which date postings have been processed.
Every working day MAIA reviews new postings and lists what deviates, such as possible duplicate postings or a recurring invoice that is missing. Whoever is responsible gets a message in the morning, and every finding links to the underlying entry. MAIA only proposes a correction: it becomes a new memorial posting only after an employee approves it. Writing back is off by default. More about MAIA: management information from all your data.
Results & Impact
The board has one place where figures and agreements come together, and can ask a question when it arises instead of waiting for the next report. Because every answer on figures states up to which date postings have been processed, it is clear how current the picture is.
Deviations in the accounts are raised every working day, with the underlying entry attached. MAIA takes over the searching and counting; the judgement stays with the people who know the firm. Customer data is stored on our own servers in EU data centres, separated per organisation.
This case study describes a typical use of MAIA. What it delivers depends on the organisation's own accounts and agreements.