With Aurum we get our reconciliation done quickly every day with complete accuracy that we can rely on whenever we might need to go back and search for something.
FREETHS is a law firm over 200 years old. Their time in service alone says a lot about them. They know what they are doing, they are trusted, and they are adept at excelling across periods of considerable change.
In particular, their last 30 years have been exceptionally exciting. During this time, they have grown from a firm of 40 to over 1,000 people. Inevitably, their clients, cases, and in turn, financial transactions also exponentially grew. As a result, FREETHS needed to make sure that not only were their legal best practices keeping up with contemporary demands, but so too was their financial back office.
The solution
As successful prosecutors of the landmark case against the Post Office which exposed the fallibility of sub-par accounting software, FREETHS is well versed on the importance of accurate reconciliation. They were therefore aware that despite having an experienced reconciliation team in place to manage their funds, they would not be able to sustain their high standards as the company grew.
After all, more transactions were taking place, different currencies were becoming involved, regulations from different countries were coming into play, and much more. To sustain their growth, they therefore required the assistance of automation that could handle these problems, and as such, they turned to our reconciliation software.
The results
Despite already possessing a piece of automated reconciliation software in the form of Easirec, Lorraine Royston, Team Leader of the Cashier Team at FREETHS, and her peers immediately discovered the benefits of migrating to Aurum.
For starters, the option to deploy an unlimited range of customisable fields, paired with a detailed search function, was an instant upgrade. With this functionality at their disposal, their data transparency soared and soon they were able to check received money, gather totals regarding client money, and much more.
Aurum’s search tool is extremely sophisticated. No matter if we need to clarify who to allocate a payment to or retrieve info from years back, it’s really simple to do.
Lorraine Royston, Team Leader - Cashier Team, FREETHS
Interestingly, the importance of this functionality has only grown for FREETHS. Upon updating their banking platform a couple of years ago, their ability to search for transactions within it became tricky and very limiting. Fortunately, Aurum was a more than capable replacement and in fact allows Lorraine and her peers to find answers to requests so quickly, that people are taken aback.
Our other transaction search capabilities have reduced in quality. To be honest, we would be stuck in a lot of situations and wouldn’t manage if we didn’t have Aurum.
Lorraine Royston, Team Leader - Cashier Team, FREETHS
The future also had in store for FREETHS soaring volumes of transactions. Once again, Aurum stepped up, this time in more ways than one. Firstly, despite FREETHS having grown spectacularly and taken on more transactions, Aurum’s powerful processing has kept reconciliation times low across all four of their bank accounts.
With Aurum we get our reconciliation done quickly every day with complete accuracy that we can rely on whenever we might need to go back and search for something.
Lorraine Royston, Team Leader - Cashier Team, FREETHS
In addition, the business has expanded into Scotland. This move has ushered in not just more business but also new regulations. Already accountable to the Solicitors Regulation Authority, FREETHS must now also abide by rules north of the English border. Typically, this would have signalled additional workload but due to Aurum being both a solution founded on financial accuracy that helps firms across industries comply with regulations such as CASS, and one that is extremely flexible, the team at FREETHS have found that Aurum assists them with regulations in Scotland too. As a result, regardless of volumes scaling and international expansion, the finance team has not come under additional stress.
In the past, if you were out by a certain amount, it was difficult to uncover the source of the variance, whereas with Aurum it is easy, so you can get to a resolution quicker.
Lorraine Royston, Team Leader - Cashier Team, FREETHS
Furthermore, it’s not just new regulations that the Aurum software has taken in its stride. Partnering with FREETHS has meant that it has also had to accommodate new faces; understandably, over 10 years of considerable growth, FREETHS has onboarded many employees.
Aurum is straightforward and easy to use both personally and when training others on it. If I’m ever off, other people quickly pick it up.
Lorraine Royston, Team Leader - Cashier Team, FREETHS
However, during that time, Aurum has remained a constant for their finance team. Assisted by its user-friendly interface and the fact that the same team who helped set up the software for FREETHS during a site visit continue to be their point of contact for support, whenever Lorraine has introduced a new person to Aurum, adoption has been smooth and without complications.
Everyone really likes using Aurum, it’s a good system. Also, knowing Chris personally and that he has always been there for us from day one is brilliant, it really helps having continuity you can rely on.
Lorraine Royston, Team Leader - Cashier Team, FREETHS
Overall, Aurum means that FREETHS are prepared no matter what. Whether it be increased volumes, the need to step up when other software falls down, team members going on holiday, or the introduction of new regulations – Aurum covers it all.
