Charitable Accounting Case Study – Bay Hospitals Charity
Charitable Accounting Case Study – Bay Hospitals Charity
Bay Hospitals Charity uses Harlequin Charitable Accounting to manage their funds and provide reports for their stakeholders.
Why did you choose Harlequin?
I can give all the credit to my previous manager who was the person who bought both Harlequin Charitable Accounting and CRM in 2009. She had visited an Institute of Fundraising North West conference and returned with some literature. She did her research with other trusts in the area and booked in a demo on both software. The software we previously used was an old system that was a very basic accounting package which needed a lot of manual input to produce the accounts. Harlequin in comparison offered us a bells and whistles solution, in particular when it came to annual reporting. The integration between CRM and Accounting was also a key benefit for us but the key focus was accounting.
How does Harlequin Charitable Accounting fit your needs?
There’s only 2 of us in the charity so we both use it primarily as a cash till system, importing all the transactions. This data enables me to produce the monthly reporting and quarterly trustee reports with ease. Requisitions all come through me, I can check balances on the system before authorising each spend prior to updating the totals.
What advice do you have for others looking for accounting software?
We always seek advice from other trusts to see what others use. There are also social media networking groups where we can ask for recommendations from members.
"Harlequin offers a bells and whistles solution especially when it comes to annual reporting."
What are the key benefits for you?
The information is easily downloadable into Excel. The fund manager statement historically used to take a few hours of printing, folding and inserting each into an envelope. Now we only have to press a button and the relevant report is sent by email to the appropriate fund manager. We at the charity can produce most of the financial reports for the finance team. We can produce a full set of charity accounts which saves the finance team time and money when producing year end accounts. The ability to produce a statement in minutes is essential for retrieving a summary for care group managers. And the ability to manage a fund and record commitments is an essential tool. Not only is the integration with CRM a bonus but also with our general ledger, Oracle, for purchases made through the trust.
What are your plans for the future in relation to Harlequin?
We are looking forward to the upcoming upgrade of our accounting software. The new system will further streamline our processes, enhance integrations and enable even more flexibility in reporting.
What has impressed you most about Harlequin?
What has impressed me the most is the ability to easily report and export data for manipulation. Harlequin are always keen to receive feedback to further develop the software.
How has it been working with Harlequin?
The support has been exceptional, the phone support from Martin in particular has been very useful. Any problems are responded to quickly and we always feel valued and listened to.
Charitable Accounting Case Study
Christine Metcalfe (Charity Officer)
Published on: July 13, 2022
Bay Hospitals Charity manages charitable money given to University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust and its associated Hospitals.
The team of only two staff support the Trust in providing the best possible standards of treatment, care and support. In the 2020/21 financial year their income was £631k with an expenditure of £626k.
Bay Hospitals Charity implemented both Harlequin CRM and Harlequin Charitable Accounting system in 2009.
