This corporate services firm helped a clean energy SME fuel digital transformation with cloud accounting

Over the last two years, many businesses have found themselves contending with never before faced challenges arising from the Covid-19 pandemic. While the pandemic accelerated the pace of digitalisation for some businesses, others struggled to pivot and adapt. "Small- and medium- sized enterprises (SMEs) in particular, often lack the necessary knowledge and resources to digitally transform," notes Mr Stephan Yeong, General Manager of Luther Corporate Services (LCS).

This is where LCS comes in, overcoming these challenges and keeping their clients' businesses running smoothly and helping them stay afloat.

The firm has additionally helped its multinational clients seamlessly relocate their operations during the pandemic to countries like Singapore with greater stability and infrastructure.

"We're glad that we've been able to help our clients weather the impacts of the pandemic by simplifying the relocation and transition process," says Mr Yeong.

LCS, which provides one-stop corporate services such as accounting, corporate secretarial, payroll and tax services, attributes their clients' success to embracing digital tools such as Xero. According to Mr Yeong, cloud-based accounting software platforms like Xero can help businesses minimise disruption as it gives business owners transparency over the financial health of their business.

Finance functions such as invoicing, payments, banking and other business processes are streamlined via integration onto a shared platform, so that their accountants and advisors can view, organise and access the data all in one place.

For one long-term client in the clean energy technology business, LCS was able to set up project customisation reports using the tracking category function in Xero. This allowed the client to access on-demand reports with an overview of each project's profitability.

Before adopting Xero, the company relied on a legacy desktop-based accounting software. Due to the lack of accounting automation features, evaluating the performance of individual projects based on profitability and cost was a manual and time-consuming task.

"Both sides enjoyed time and cost savings as we educated our clients on how they could easily self-extract profitability reports via Xero, empowering project leaders to better track the team's performance and the profitability of projects. This also led to better cash flow management, improved resource allocation and provided quicker clarity on profit-making projects," notes Mr Yeong. As a cloud-based solution, Xero enabled different team members across the various functions in payment, payroll and accounting to simultaneously access real-time financial data, driving efficiency and collaboration within the organisation. With the necessary financial information readily available on a single platform, LCS was also able to produce higher value strategic reporting for the client's management and executive team.

LCS is part of the Luther law firm network which boasts a global footprint of over 20 locations, servicing over 1,000 clients across Europe and Asia, including Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, India, Thailand, Vietnam and Myanmar.

LCS believes in continuously improving the way it runs with the help of cloud technology and new digital tools. This approach enables the firm to stay on top of the changing competitive landscape and better support clients in their business growth and aspirations.

"The beauty of cloud accounting is the flexibility it offers. This has helped many local and foreign clients run their businesses remotely, which is critical in today's volatile economic climate," explains Mr Yeong.

Besides helping businesses manage costs, Mr Yeong says that cloud tools like Xero also free up valuable time and resources by automating tedious day-to-day bookkeeping processes. With records digitised and stored in the cloud, it has the added benefit of helping businesses achieve green, paperless practices .

On why the firm chose Xero, Mr Yeong says that it is the platform's comprehensive suite of offerings, including direct bank feeds with all of the major banks in Singapore. "As the lifeblood of any business, cash flow is a top priority for SMEs, and a clear and real time view of their cash flow situation helps us support our clients better," he adds.

For example, Xero's bank connections and reconciliation functions simplify transactions and help them make better sense of their numbers faster and more accurately. The integration of Hubdoc into the firm's Xero subscription has also streamlined document management between clients' and LCS teams, turning receipts, bills, and invoices into accurately coded Xero transactions and making financial document management a breeze. Xero's automated billing reminders feature also helps clients save time on billing and improve their cash flow management.

LCS prides itself on being at the forefront of the latest changes in compliance standards and statutory reporting requirements of the markets it operates in. "Amidst continual economic shifts and growth across industries in fintech, e-commerce and cryptocurrencies, we keep a close eye on the rapidly evolving business requirements of and opportunities for our clients. Our strengths lie in identifying and preventing mistakes early-on that would otherwise be costly and time-consuming to rectify," Mr Yeong shares.

He adds, "Proper financial documentation enabled by tools like Xero help businesses understand their finances early, avoid unnecessary delays, and are helpful in securing capital from banks and investors to grow."

LCS is deeply committed to guiding SMEs throughout their business journeys and educating them about proper finance procedures. As LCS enters its next decade in Singapore, it hopes to continue working closely with customers and partners like Xero to help more SMEs thrive.

Mr Yeong shares: "The main focus for our SME clients is growth and creating traction for their business. Reliable financial data is an important growth indicator that empowers business owners to make sound financial decisions based on data rather than intuition."

For more information about Xero, click here.