Freeways to Close Month-End Accounts Three Days Sooner Using COA Solutions System

• Tuesday, 24 November 2009

Freeways Trust, a leading voluntary organisation providing residential support and day services to adults with learning disabilities in the South West, is to shorten its month-end accounts process by three days using a financial management system (FMS) from COA Solutions (www.coasolutions.com). This FMS system (OpenAccounts), which includes a care industry specific income management module, will improve management reporting and eliminate duplication of effort, enabling the finance department to be redeployed on more value-adding activities. The new system will be live by February 2010.

Elizabeth Stone, Executive Director of Finance at Freeways, says, “Our current accounting system is cumbersome and restrictive with limited reporting functionality. We recognised the need for a user-friendly and flexible system with advanced reporting capabilities and a web interface to allow budget holders and managers from across the organisation to access the system. We selected COA Solutions’ FMS as it fulfilled all these criteria and the company has a strong foothold in the UK care market.”

COA Solutions’ FMS will allow Freeways to replace manually intensive financial processes with automated procedures. This includes automating bank account reconciliation and replacing the use of Excel spreadsheets for reporting purposes with automated, tailored management reports.

Stone comments, “COA Solutions’ system will improve efficiency and eliminate duplication, reducing our month-end accounts processes by three days. Reduced administration will also free-up finance staff’s time by up to one week every month, allowing them to concentrate on more value-adding tasks.”

The COA Solutions system will provide Freeways with more timely, accurate and detailed information, eliminating the need for financial and service user information to be retained on paper documents. With quick and easy access to a range of data, managers and trustees are supplied with a holistic view of the organisation’s performance, aiding decision making.

Using the integrated Advanced Income Management (AIM) module, Freeways will be able to more easily handle the different, and often complex, invoicing and cash collection requirements laid down by service users’ funding organisations, including local authorities and primary care trusts.

Stone adds, “With the income management module, we will be able to more easily manage funding organisations’ different invoicing requirements whilst further eliminating duplication of effort. As it also allows us to easily calculate price changes and retrospective price adjustments, we will improve financial transparency whilst gaining far greater control over income.”

-ENDS-

About Freeways Trust www.freewaystrust.co.uk

Freeways Trust provides care and support to adults with learning disabilities. The organisation was established as a registered charity in 1987 and currently provides a diverse range of services to people. Freeways currently operates 14 residential homes and 5 supported living homes and can support or provide access to day services, education and employment, including the provision of own learning and support centre. Freeways also provides a hydrotherapy pool, additional supporting therapies and outreach services.

Freeways strives to provide person centered services, with positive and individualised outcomes for each service user our primary aim. This means seeing each person as a unique individual with aspirations and opinions as to how they would like to be supported to live a healthy, balanced and fulfilled life.

About COA Solutions www.coasolutions.com

COA Solutions is the UK's leading supplier of integrated business management and information systems to public, private and not-for-profit organisations in the service sector. COA Solutions prides itself on getting close to its customers by understanding their businesses and responding to their business needs.

COA Solutions' award-winning Smart Business Suite combines core financial management, procurement, human resource and payroll systems, integrated with a range of collaborative, document management and business intelligence solutions. COA Solutions also provides managed and bureau service options. Its systems and services extend the value and effectiveness of the finance, HR and payroll departments across the organisation and enable managers in the business to monitor, analyse and continually improve corporate performance.

COA Solutions has more than 500 experienced and professional staff supporting and servicing over 4,000 clients across the UK service sector including Companies House, Newcastle City Council, WHSmith, Royal Bank of Scotland, Aer Lingus, National Express Group, DFS, RSPB and Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Trust.

Contacts:

Liz Ebbrell, COA Solutions
Liz.ebbrell@coasolutions.com
+44(0)1625 856505 or 07917 634 705

Ben Carey, COA Solutions
Ben.carey@coasolutions.com
+44 (0)1625 856505

This press release was distributed via SourceWire, a service from Daryl Willcox Publishing, on behalf of COA Solutions Aylesbury. For more information visit http://www.dwpub.com/pressreleasewires