AI
Success Story

How Sydney Accounting Firm Reduced Month-End Close by 70%

Sydney Accounting Firm | 45 employees

Accounting
Sydney
10 weeks

3.8x

Return on Investment

70%
Time Saved
$89k
Annual Savings
70%

Reduction in Admin Time

Reduction in month-end close time
$89k

Annual Labor Savings

Annual labor cost savings
3.8x

Return On Investment

Payback in 3.2 months
10 weeks

Implementation Time

Kickoff to Go-Live
1

The Challenge

What was holding them back?

"Manual data entry for client reconciliations was consuming 25 hours per week. Month-end close process took 5 days with multiple staff working overtime. Limited real-time visibility into financial performance. Error rates were 8% requiring extensive rework."

Sydney Accounting Firm was facing significant operational hurdles. Manual processes were not only slow but error-prone, leading to client dissatisfaction and team burnout. The lack of scalable systems meant that taking on new business required linear headcount growth, crushing margins.

Manual Bottlenecks

Key staff spent ~40% of their week on low-value data entry instead of strategic work.

Data Fragmentation

Critical business data was siloed in disparate spreadsheets, making real-time reporting impossible.

2

The Solution

How we transformed their operations

Implemented automated invoice processing using Power Automate with OCR for data extraction. Built real-time financial dashboards in Power BI pulling from multiple data sources. Automated month-end reconciliation workflows with exception-based review. Integrated QuickBooks, bank feeds, and client management systems. We deployed a layered automation architecture that addressed immediate pain points while building a foundation for future scalability.

Implementation Components

Technology Stack

Microsoft Power AutomateCore Component
Microsoft Power BICore Component
Azure AI Document IntelligenceCore Component
QuickBooks API integrationCore Component

Implementation Journey

Weeks 1-2: Discovery & Design

Deep dive into current processes, stakeholder interviews, and solution architecture design.

Weeks 3-6: Build & Integration

Agile development of automation flows, dashboard configuration, and API integration.

Weeks 7-8: Testing & Training

User acceptance testing (UAT), bug fixes, and hands-on team training sessions.

Week 10: Go Live & Handoff

Full deployment, production monitoring, and final project sign-off.

3

The Results

Measurable impact across the business

Time Metrics5 days / month
1.5 days
70% Reduction
Error Rate8% manual error
0.5%
94% Improvement
Processing Cost$12.50 / unit
$1.80
85% Savings

"The transformation was remarkable. What used to take us a week now takes a day and a half. Our team can finally focus on strategic work instead of manual data entry."

S
Sarah Mitchell
CFO, Sydney Accounting Firm

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Project Snapshot

Industry
Accounting
LocationSydney
ServicesFinance & Accounting
Timeline10 weeks
Results3.8x ROI