Andy Turpin, Partner of PEM’s Virtual Finance Office, discusses utilising technology to drive business efficiencies.
PEM is the largest firm of accountants, tax and business advisers based in Cambridge offering a comprehensive range of compliance and advisory services to businesses of all sizes.
Andy Turpin, Partner of the Virtual Financial Office (VFO) at PEM, is passionate about utilising the latest accounting technology to drive efficiencies and help his clients achieve their growth potential.
“Every business deserves access to software that will enable them to grow and survive in the current market. It is our duty and responsibility to help our clients to achieve this.”
Andy joined PEM just over four years ago and now heads up the VFO or outsourcing team. The 24-strong team is focused on helping businesses become more efficient and cost-effective by leveraging modern technology.
“Some businesses are still using expensive and clunky desktop systems which are ineffective at delivering the data our clients and team need. It is impossible to have strategic, forward-looking conversations with old, out of date data.”
To enable PEM to deliver a fully cloud-based, outsourced finance function to clients, the team has built a strategic app stack.
Andy says “We have integrated with a range of apps, which provide specialist functionality across credit control, funding, cash flow and more. By migrating clients to Xero and integrating with other leading cloud software, PEM and our clients get access to live, synchronised data.”
Having access to up to date and timely data allows PEM to build stronger, more valuable relationships with their clients.
Recently, PEM have focused on identifying and partnering with industry-specific apps that are designed to meet the unique needs of the different sectors that PEM serve. When searching for a solution for their property clients, the PEM team came across Re-Leased. Re-Leased provides automated, intelligent property management software and were winners of Xero’s Industry-Specific App of the Year Award, 2020.
“Re-Leased is a great product and I could immediately think of several clients who would benefit from the Re-Leased offering.”
PEM has started their mission to help property management clients become more efficient by moving two clients to Re-Leased.
Case studies
In the first instance, Andy and the PEM team had migrated a longstanding PEM client onto Xero. This client manages a diverse portfolio representing a variety of asset classes and Xero provided improved insight into the business for both the owners and PEM. The improved financial oversight allowed PEM to analyse how the client could improve their day-to-day operations and PEM quickly identified that the client’s property management system needed to be modernised. Knowing that the new solution needed to easily integrate with Xero, be cloud-based and allow his client to take control of their portfolio, PEM recommended Re-Leased. The client is currently working with the Re-Leased team to implement the software and both PEM and the client are excited to start optimising their business with integrated data, smart automation and better access to business insights.
The second client who adopted Re-Leased was already using Xero as their accounting software and had already identified their requirement for an integrated property management software. The client needed to get oversight of tasks coming up across their portfolio, so the PEM team suggested they try Re-Leased. Re-Leased is designed so property professionals never miss key dates or tasks with instant reminders and alerts, as well as great integrations with Outlook 365 and Google Calendar. The PEM team and the client are confident that their updated systems will optimise and grow their business.
To see how our VFO team can help your company, get in touch.