Municipal Association of Victoria (MAV) is an independent body providing support services to councils and other government organisations. These wide-ranging services are supplied to 79 councils, and alongside strict governance requirements, make this small company surprisingly complex. MYOB Advanced Business offered the right mix of small business simplicity with the big business controls and reporting they desperately needed.
Small organisation, enterprise-level audit requirements
MAV is an independent body providing support services to councils and other government organisations. These include insurance schemes, workers’ compensation, managing grants and projects, and running up to 150 events a year. All 79 councils in Victoria are members.
Although MAV is small in size, the work it does requires auditing and governance at the level of a publicly-listed company. That’s where issues arose: They needed ERP system that would deliver the level of reporting they needed – without the unnecessary features and cost that come with larger solutions.
Complexity and lack of audit controls
Previously, MAV was using MYOB AccountRight, which had worked well for many aspects of the business. MAV Finance Consultant Allen Holmes explains: “All our business units used MYOB AccountRight and we found it quite simple to use. But, with more audits, we were coming under more scrutiny.”
He continues, “We’re an SME, but with the audit requirements of a publicly listed company. The ramifications were that we couldn’t fulfil our obligations to the audit committee in the way they wanted. We kept getting recommendations to do certain things that we just couldn’t do.”
Detailed reporting of purchases wasn’t tracked, which meant information about suppliers, vendors and the tender process wasn’t available to auditors. Not only that, but day to day, using the system became slow – the team had to log in and out whenever they wanted to use a different program or update data.
"We couldn’t fulfil our obligations to the audit committee in the way they wanted," Allen said.
Five programs, one management system
Because MAV offers five separate programs – Insurance Schemes, WorkCare, Guaranteed Funds, Healthplan, and MAV – their new ERP solution needed to be flexible, consolidate financial reporting, and meet audit requirements across the organisation.
They looked at several options including Xero, which didn’t offer the financial controls or reporting functions they needed. In the end MYOB Advanced was the right fit for functionality and cost.
MAV worked with their business partner team to implement the system, train users and build a custom reporting module that allows MAV to separate various elements for the financial reports.
“That part has become easier. I’ve got a lot more confidence in that, now,” says Allen.
"We’re a complex little business. We have to separate out elements to report on. That part has become easier. I’ve got a lot more confidence in that, now."
- Allen Holmes, Finance Consultant, MAV
MYOB Advanced Business a significant leap
The new system has changed the way the MAV team works. The five main areas of the business are consolidated, allowing for access to data from every program.
A custom report writer means MAV can now easily generate detailed, accurate financial reports for different business areas – a significant gain according to Finance Manager Candace Ong.
MYOB Advanced is also streamlining management of the many events that MAV delivers every year. Candice continues: “The big win was to get the reporting for the conferences and events extracted out.”
Audits were the major triggers for change and Candace says the management team is optimistic MYOB Advanced will deliver.
“We’re definitely delivering the internal audit data they’re looking for.”
- Candace Ong, Finance Manager, MAV
Before implementing MYOB Advanced | After implementing MYOB Advanced |
|---|---|
Limited financial reporting Older, slower system Inability to meet audit requirements Separation of different business areas | Detailed, customised financial reporting Software with better controls Ability to generate audit data Consolidation of all business areas |
