LEPRA
In 2001, LEPRA helped fund projects affecting the lives of almost 300 million people. In the same period, almost 800,000 new cases of leprosy were diagnosed. The challenge is great: creating a world where leprosy has been eradicated and the suffering and pain it causes are relieved and prevented.
This noble aim requires great resources and excellent financial management. The trustees of the charity are responsible for keeping proper accounting records which disclose at any time the financial position of the charity. They must also ensure that the charity’s financial statements comply with the applicable accounting standards and SORP. Having the right accounting system is essential.
The Challenge
In 1998, The British Leprosy Relief Association found itself with a UNIX based accounts system (FACT 2000) that was not year 2000 compliant. The decision was made to replace this system and, at the same time, to integrate it with a new fundraising database. The replacement accounting solution would need to be cost-effective, simple to use and capable of deployment in several different countries.
The Selection Process
A number of accounts packages were evaluated, including Sun Systems, Sage, Pegasus and Access Accounts. Of all the solutions on offer, Access Accounts was the only one to meet all of LEPRA’s core requirements – including integration with a new fundraising database, ‘Progress’. Just as importantly, it fell within budget.
In addition to the core accounts, Access also provided integrated Fixed Asset Management, Stock Control and Payroll – functions which would help the charity to keep tighter control of its operations and reduce costs.
“Access is a good system at a reasonable price. The Foundations version makes the package affordable for projects abroad, where offices and budgets are smaller. This was a key advantage of Access over other packages,” says Ian Gibbons, FD.
Implementation
Opening balances were entered into Access at the start of the new financial year and training began. It was that simple. During training, Ian was pleased to discover the intuitive nature of the system, “Once you learn one module, it’s easy to use the others. You quickly get used to the buttons and everything is quite straightforward. For us, the most difficult aspect was moving away from the keyboard! Previously, we never used the mouse… now it’s difficult to imagine life without one.” With deployment and training required in several locations outside the UK, this intuitive quality was to prove extremely beneficial.
Purchase Ledger, Nominal Ledger & Cashbook
Integration between the Progress fundraising database and Access Accounts is a major benefit. Data on donations is now imported directly into the Access Nominal Ledger, reducing errors and eliminating the need for any re-keying. With its automated cheque runs, the Access Purchase Ledger has helped to purchasing procedures clean and accurate.
The Cashbook is extremely useful in India and Bangladesh, where cheques are written manually. As Christine Baldwin (Accounts Manager) explains, it provides facilities for controlling petty cash on individual projects and accounting for vouchers – helping overseas representatives to stay on top of their bank balances. “The system works well and is very straightforward. From my perspective, this is the most important thing.
Accounting for Gifts
LEPRA provides medical treatment to cure leprosy. The stock control module is used extensively in India, to track and value the medicines needed to achieve this aim. Because many of these medicines are donated, the module not only provides a stock register for individual projects, but also simplifies the process of accounting for gifts – values can be assigned to drug donations and imported into the ledgers directly from the stock module.
Fixed Assets
Integrated fixed asset management and enables LEPRA to maximise its return on fixed assets. Tighter control over every aspect of the management process – from planning and finance through to tracking, documentation and reporting – also helps to reduce administrative costs.
Reporting
Access helps LEPRA to keep a keen eye on all its spending – a key requirement for any charity. For example, income and expenditure for individual fundraising events is quickly identifiable and readily available for analysis. Specific projects, such as the creation and distribution of the charity newsletter, are easy to report on. Once again, this tighter control helps to keep costs to a minimum.
The ability to work on accounts data using Microsoft Excel also has considerable benefits, making the difficult task of SORP reporting much easier.
Security
Chris Ransom, IT Manager, is equally satisfied with the control Access Accounts brings to LEPRA’s activities. He explains, “From an IT perspective, all Access data is held in one folder. This makes the task of creating a complete backup easy. We know that with Access our data is secure. And this is critical to our organisation.”
A Summary of the Benefits
“The flexibility of the Access system is well proven by the fact that we use it for overseas projects. Our local representatives have successfully managed these projects and created financial reports in the format we require. This also demonstrates how easy the system is to use of use. We have been able to change the accounting of overseas projects from manual to computer based procedures with very few difficulties. This has been a real bonus,” says Ian.
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