Case Study 3. Direct-Effect

Case Study 3

This company was a charity working in the environmental sector with turnover of around £1M. Before Diana’s appointment, there was a manual accounts system in place. This did not cope with the many (over 50) restricted funds, and indeed although the bank account was reconciled, the restricted funds themselves were not. Several funders had complained that reports on how their monies had been spent were inadequate, and the auditors had had to qualify the accounts for the previous year as they had been unable to complete their audit satisfactorily.

Diana implemented a computerised system (Quickbooks) immediately, and within 5 months had caught up the 9 months of the year before her appointment as well as finished the rest of the year and prepared the year end for the auditors. She also introduced quarterly management accounts for the trustees. The accounts subsequently passed audit with no corrections.

The next year, Diana developed a complex spreadsheet model to enable accurate quarter by quarter allocation of staff time, budgets and forecasts for every project. She also developed a project management tool based on Access.

As the charity increased its trading, Diana oversaw the setting up of a trading subsidiary, as well as the VAT registration of both companies. This of course necessitated changes to the accounts system, further complicated by the need for partial exemption calculations for the charity. The charity also started to gain European funding, so further developments of the accounts system were needed to cope with multiple currencies including the management of bank accounts in other currencies.

She employed a person on the ‘Pathways to Work’ programme, whom she trained up to take full control of the accounts function, from a starting point of having no accounts experience other than keeping a petty cash book.

Diana oversaw other developments, including the development of the computer network to include a file server and two high spec networked laser printers. She also acted as company secretary, and worked collaboratively with staff and trustees to develop personnel policies within the organisation.