Mid-market supported in financial report automation by Deloitte and AccountsIQ
A new partnership is looking to provide small and mid-sized businesses with an automated finance management solution. Big Four professional services firm Deloitte and accounting platform AccountsIQ will collaborate to support clients in their next stage of growth.
Explaining why the two firms are partnering now, Ian Whitefoot, partner at Deloitte Ireland’s corporate finance practice, said, “In recent years, we’ve seen a significant increase in the attractiveness of Irish SME assets and companies to private equity investors in Ireland, the UK and the US.”
When institutional investors enter the market to buy businesses, Whitefoot noted that “there is an expectation for a step up in financial reporting”. As private equity backers help to grow SMEs rapidly, many need to know how financial information is maintained and how it is reported against the value case for an acquisition – but this can out-pace the old ways organisations did this; and simply put, “spreadsheets cannot be relied upon when reaching this stage.”
Deloitte Ireland’s corporate finance team works with around 200 mid-market companies annually, many of which are preparing for growth, investment, restructuring or sale. As a result, it has identified a growing gap in the market for scaling businesses with revenues between £30 million and £100 million. While entry-level finance systems often lacked the sophistication required to support increasing operational and reporting complexity, larger enterprise platforms could be costly, resource-intensive, and overly complex to implement.
Strategic partnership
As a result, Deloitte Ireland recognised cloud accounting platform AccountsIQ as a strong fit for its mid-sized clients seeking a more scalable and insight-driven finance platform, particularly with many outgrowing Sage 50 or spreadsheet-based operations.
Whitefoot added, “We are pleased to introduce our portfolio companies to an award-winning finance platform designed for the next stage of growth. Businesses acquired by private equity firms often carry accounting inaccuracies, something that can now be solved by the AccountsIQ platform, which offers implementation costs suited to Private Equity houses’ post-investment budgets.”
AccountsIQ’s cloud accounting software streamlines businesses’ workflows, boosting financial insights, which can in turn empower better business decisions, and faster results. The platform provides multi-entity finance management and a clear dashboard to help firms modernise finance operations with AI automation.
Darren Cran, CEO of AccountsIQ, concluded, “Deloitte works with some of the world’s leading business teams and, with this partnership, we can help ambitious mid-market companies build finance functions fit for growth. Unlike many competing platforms, our platform is designed with mid-market businesses in mind. In the age of AI and automation, AccountsIQ’s current features and product roadmap will support Deloitte Ireland’s future strategy.”
