Banking Nonprofit Achieves Significant Efficiency with Migration from Sage 100 to Sage Intacct
The Consumer Bankers Association (CBA) has advocated for the retail banking industry and its members for over a century. Its member financial institutions, ranging from towering national entities to local community institutions, represent approximately 68% of all bank-held assets in the United States. CBA operates as a nonprofit. The $15 million it generates annually from dues and educational courses directly benefits its members.
As the banking landscape evolves, CBA must ensure that its own financial processes remain modern. That’s why it invested strategically in its financial future, partnering with DSD Business Systems to migrate from Sage 100 to Sage Intacct.
Investing in the Future
Mitslal Girmay, Accounting Director for CBA, recalls their years of satisfaction with Sage 100.
“But our needs were getting more sophisticated, and Sage 100 wasn’t keeping up. For example, we needed better integration with other business applications, and that was proving too difficult with Sage 100.”
Operating on the promise of better integration, CBA briefly adopted Microsoft Dynamics GP. “It didn’t work,” Mitslal says. “The integration wasn’t there, and we found GP very difficult to use. I was ready to go back to Sage 100, but someone on our management team suggested Sage Intacct. It’s proven to be an ideal choice for CBA.”
DSD Brokers Trust
After identifying Sage Intacct as an ideal replacement, the organization reached out to DSD, one of the country’s leading Sage business and technology partners.
“We liked that they were experts in both Sage 100 and Sage Intacct,” and their approach to the migration was well planned, thorough, and efficient. Our DSD consultants knew what they were doing—it was an excellent experience.”
Sage Intacct Quickly Becomes an Asset
The transformative impact of Sage Intacct on CBA is evident. From workflow efficiencies to timely adoption during the pandemic, the system has reshaped the organization’s financial management. “So much has changed for the better,” Mitslal says. “Every workflow is more efficient and more straightforward. And our timing was ideal. We were up and running on Sage Intacct when the pandemic hit. With easy remote access and paperless processes, we didn’t miss a beat.”
The Sage Intacct dimension feature is partially responsible for the improvement. DSD showed CBA how, by using dimensions, it could dramatically shrink its chart of accounts and vastly simplify and improve financial reporting tasks. Rather than using account segments to represent departments and projects, for example, CBA stores this data as a dimension. “We used to have a 50-page printout of our chart of accounts,” Mitslal recalls. “Now it’s short and concise, and we can report on any aspect of our operation quickly and easily.”
Banking 30% Of Her Time
Another benefit CBA has uncovered in Sage Intacct is how easy it is to create, duplicate, and edit journal entries. Mitslal speeds through monthly tasks with the ability to copy a previous journal entry and update the amounts or allocations. Correcting a journal entry is equally easy.
“Say I need to change a description or correct an account number. In Sage 100, I had to create a reversing journal entry and an adjusting entry. In Sage Intacct, I just make the edit. The audit trail captures it all in keeping with best business practices. Plus, I can work in months or years that have already been closed. It saves so much time and duplication.”
Similarly, when she’s working in the general ledger module and realizes she needs to add a new member to the database, she can do it all on the fly without closing out of where she’s working. “In Sage 100, I would have to leave the screen, go to customer maintenance and make the addition. Simple efficiencies like these add up to real savings throughout my day. I estimate that I’m saving 30% of my time—which is huge!”
Large Margin of Efficiency
Recently, as Mitslal prepared for a two-week holiday, she planned ahead, so as not to burden her coworkers. “I built draft journal entries in Sage Intacct. While I’m away, they can go in, change the dates, and post them,” she says.
CBA underwent its first audit since migrating to Sage Intacct. “We were able to give the auditors access to Sage Intacct to do their work,” Mitslal says. “All the supporting documents are attached to the files, so they were able to complete the audit quickly.”
Bond of Trust
The organization is currently working with DSD to implement Expensify to automate employee expense reporting further. The two are also collaborating on integrating CBA’s membership application into Sage Intacct—a project temporarily stalled when the membership software changed its database structure. CBA’s ongoing collaboration with DSD showcases their trust in the partnership. Mitslal says she’d recommend DSD without hesitation. “They know the product inside and out, and whenever we have questions, I get fast answers from a real person who understands our business.”
She concludes, “I love my job, and with Sage Intacct, there’s more to love. I’m spending less time on data entry and manual tasks and more time looking forward and engaging in strategic planning. That’s the promise of technology, and Sage Intacct delivers.”
