Benefits of Payapps to Vital Accounts’ construction clients:
- Increased visibility of project finances and invoices-to-date
- Better progress payment process improves cashflow
- Efficient invoice timing improves payment cycle
- Accurate management of variations and retention payments
About Vital Accounts
In their own words, Vital Accounts is “a group of number-crunching innovators with a history in trade and construction”. Highly awarded, Vital Accounts specialises in bookkeeping, payroll and ATO reporting, helping construction subcontractors and trades manage the day-to-day demands of their businesses.
Beyond that, they are committed to supporting their clients to grow their businesses, focusing on using technology to streamline business processes, manage projects and increase profits.
Payapps becomes a vital tool for subcontractors managing project finances
As a bookkeeper and provider of managed services to subcontractors, Vital Accounts is proficient in using a range of technology products to assist their clients. They are passionate advocates of cloud technology to improve a range of business processes.
When Vital Accounts discovered Payapps, they quickly saw the potential for it to help their 60+ construction clients improve their management of project finances, progress payments, variations and retention payments.
Problem: lack of visibility of project finances and invoicing
The Vital Accounts team had long identified progress payments, variations and retentions as an issue for their construction clients. There was lack of visibility and clarity about how much to invoice at each stage of a project and what had been invoiced to date.
Managing retention payments was particularly problematic with invoices and receivables not reflecting the actual monies owed at any moment in time. Poor record-keeping also meant that retained funds were sometimes not claimed at the conclusion of projects.
The Vital Accounts team also observed that as subcontractors grew and started to take on larger projects with commercial builders, the risks of poor financial management grew with them. The problem was so bad that Vital created a bespoke spreadsheet to help clients deal with this issue. Then they discovered Payapps.
Solution: introducing Payapps to subcontractors
While working with one of their clients, an electrical contractor, Vital Accounts was introduced to Payapps. The Vital team quickly realised that Payapps was key to solving on-going problems their clients have with progress payments, variations and retentions.
Payapps provides a simple way for subcontractors, and the Vital team, to see the status of project finances, invoices issued and funds retained over the duration of the project.
In most cases, Vital Accounts clients are using Payapps to self-manage their contracts, meaning Payapps is not being used by project main contractors. Of course, when both main contractor and subcontractor are using Payapps, it makes the progress payment approval process automated and even more transparent.
And for Vital Accounts, an awarded Xero partner, the easy integration of Payapps with the Xero cloud platform provides a seamless progress payment management solution for subcontractors.
Outcome: better visibility of project finances means better financial results
Payapps provides an innovative solution to Vital Accounts construction clients, and solves a major financial problem that many clients experience, if they are even aware of it. Benefits include:
- Increased visibility of project finances
- Awareness of what has been invoiced and what needs to be invoiced
- Easier management of both approved and unapproved variations
- Better management and awareness of retained funds held in receivables
- Increased knowledge to take on larger commercial projects that require more paperwork for compliance
Vital Accounts is advocating the use of Payapps to their construction clients to better manage project finances and cashflow, as well as save time and stress with their progress payments, variations and retentions.
“Payapps makes managing invoicing and progress payments easier than ever before. Poor record-keeping and failure to issue invoices in a timely manner costs our clients a lot of money – not only the money they might fail to claim, but the fees they pay us to correct errors and chase outstanding funds. Payapps is a powerful solution to eliminate this problem forever.”
James Hukin Director | Vital Accounts | Xero Bookkeeping Partner of the Year 2021
