Here’s the blueprint:
The client company has 180 direct labor employees, each driving a car and working at different locations with varying pay rates. They also manage 120 distinct cost and revenue centers. Their goal was to produce an income statement for each revenue-generating employee.
Our competition, a publicly traded company in Austin, TX, quoted “about $150,000” for setup and $30,000 per month for maintenance, with no definite timeline for completion—only that it “could” take “about” six months. Define “could” and “about.”
Plus & Minus to the rescue!
The first step we took was helping them create a chart of accounts that captured all the revenues and expenses necessary for the company’s operations. Since the client was committed to getting the financial recording process underway, we completed the chart of accounts within two weeks.
Many kudos go to the company’s brilliant controller, who knew exactly what she wanted.
In just another week, the client had successfully loaded all customer data, including accounts receivable, and all vendor data.
Then came the mother lode: setting up all the employees in the payroll system. This involved configuring local, school district, township, county, state, and federal taxes and other deductions like medical, dental, LTD, and child support garnishments. From start to finish, this conversion phase took just eight business days—not bad for 220 employees.
Now, the company can produce an income statement for each operational employee, including direct costs such as salary, payroll burden, and vehicle expenses. Boom! A manager’s dream come true.
The total cost for this installation was $15,000—a savings of $135,000.
Total elapsed time: five weeks.
The monthly cost for cloud service, updates, and support is just $500—a savings of $29,500 per month. In other words, that’s a $29,500 monthly annuity. Apply present interest rates and an infinite time period to calculate the net present value of that annuity.
Why is the monthly maintenance fee so small? NO MODULES!
No modules mean no IT overhead costs.
Plus & Minus: an industrial-strength accounting software package. We know accounting and accounting software.
Give us a shout! Maybe those big accounting software companies are bloated because they sponsor Formula 1 racing cars. Do you really want to pay for those pit passes? Or those sailboats? I didn’t think so.
