Customer Stories
FloQast: Reuniting Distributed Accounting Teams (And It Feels so Good)
Let’s be honest, no one really likes conference calls. It can be hard to connect, people are constantly accidentally interrupting each other, and on top of that, you leave the call wondering whether or not the entire affair could have been handled via email.
For large, distributed accounting teams, status update calls are a fact of life. It’s time-consuming, annoying, and not at all efficient, but with accountants roving around the country — or the world — there are few other options to get everyone on the same page for the month-end close.
Innocor is one of the largest producers of polyurethane mattresses in the world, with over 20 plants and more than 1,000 employees scattered across the United States. With accountants traveling between plants, it’s no wonder why management insisted on not one, but two status update meetings a day.
In order to expedite the company’s month-end close and streamline communications, Innocor deployed FloQast. They were not disappointed.
Who Needs Meetings?
Innocor is based in New Jersey, but a significant percentage of the accountant team travels between plants around the country. This presented a significant challenge for management when it came to checking in on the status of the close — they couldn’t just pop in to ask about the status of any given reconciliation. This led to them instituting frequent check-ins by phone, twice-daily status meetings by phone, until FloQast was implemented and offered a new level of visibility.
“It’s great because you can just look right on the dashboard and see what’s not been finished,” said Senior Accountant and team facilitator Odete Vieira. “We were very excited about knowing where everybody stood, consistently.”
Now, the team only has to meet once a week.
Access to Info…Always
Prior to implementing FloQast, Innocor struggled to ensure that accountants traveling throughout the country had access to relevant information on a consistent basis. While the added visibility helped management understand what employees needed, it’s also helped them make sure that they can reach what’s needed.
“As an administrator, I run a completeness check every month to make sure we’re not missing any balance sheet accounts,” said Vieira. “FloQast is great for me because I can ensure everybody has what they need.”
Vieira and her team also realized that with all the information being readily available in FloQast, they were able to more efficiently work with auditors and save time on their audit.
“I can’t imagine working without FloQast; It just makes me so much more efficient,” she said. “I recently came across our old Excel checklist and my first thought was, ‘Oh my God, this is so archaic compared to how we operate now.’”
