Case studies
Leinonen Estonia escaped Excel and simplified accounting tasks
Leinonen Estonia escaped Excel and simplified accounting tasks
Published
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Leinonen Estonia
The international accounting firm offers their clients the full service from the start to the finish.
Employees
About 300 people
Using Uku for:
- Time tracking
- Task management
- Report
- CRM
- Monitoring
- Flextime
Problem
Making data-based business decisions as an accounting firm requires an unreasonable amount of work in Excel
Solution
When tracking time in Uku, comprehensive time or work reports are just a click away.
Value
- Creating workflows in Uku standardises your processes
- Client information is available to everyone who needs it
- Managing overhours and vacation time is easy with Flextime
“Uku is for accounting tasks, and that’s a powerful advantage. It answers accounting firms’ needs.”
You must consider whether you want to grow your business or your frustration.
Külli Kink,
Head of Accounting
Leinonen is an international accounting firm with approximately 300 employees working in offices in 11 countries – Norway, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Ukraine, Hungary, Bulgaria and Kazakhstan.
Leinonen’s accountants assist clients throughout the company’s life cycle with starting, accounting tasks, payroll, legal or tax issues, and, if necessary, liquidation or merging companies.
The accounting firm has various clients, but their dream client is a medium-sized international company for whom they can offer a complete service – all accounting tasks, payroll and consulting services.
Leinonen Estonia differs from competitors because they offer clients tailor-made services using the client’s software. In addition, Leinonen offers both Estonian and Finnish accounting and payroll. Cross-border consulting and payroll is a rather complex field, but Leinonen’s long-term experience makes them a reliable partner for the client.
New processes and standards for accounting tasks come with new systems
Before Uku, Leinonen used the group’s software. However, software development is not their main focus, and the previous software had several limitations regarding reporting.
The traditional accounting work tool, Excel, was also extensively used. “The old methods were very time-consuming,” Külli Kink admits. “It took a considerable effort to get the overview.“
"To make management decisions, you need an overview; the simpler, the better."
Along with implementing Uku, they took another meaningful step in Leinonen Estonia – describing and standardising services. A written down accounting process is much easier to manage than a verbal agreement or common knowledge.
"It's a good tool for the management, middle managers and accountant."
Külli says: “We invested a lot of time ensuring that all customer information was available in Uku. Anyone who opens Uku can serve the client, and the work never stops thanks to precisely described work processes and activities and easy-to-find general information in the client profile.“
Unexpected illnesses of colleagues are inevitable in working life, and with Uku, you can easily delegate accounting tasks to your substitute.
Organised accounting tasks are easy to manage
Uku helps to organise work adapted to your company’s needs. Leinonen has built up their work plans in Uku with the help of Triin so that the work management software is a convenient daily helper for the accountant.
Shortly after utilising Uku, Leinonen’s employees’ productivity increased significantly. Comprehensive automated to-do lists ensure that every task is noticed. Uku tells the accountant when, with whom, what and where to do.
"If I had Uku when I used to work as an accountant, I would have been thrilled."
“Now we have a certain standard for payroll, accounting, closing the month or annual reports,” Külli explains. To avoid missing anything, they create sub-tasks or checklists for the tasks. Even if some steps are unnecessary for some clients, you can look at the list and rethink if everything is done or if you’ve forgotten something. “This way, the accountant’s work quality increases,” says Leinonens head of accounting services in Estonia.
"Uku is like a personal assistant because it reminds you that you must do this and that task today."
Tracking time helps you make informed business decisions
“Uku is an all-in-one tool,” Külli praises. Even if Leinonen has not started using the Billing app, they save significant time on invoicing. “The report was what we needed. With the help of the report, we see the required information for making invoices,” says Külli Kink. Leinonen wins the most because they get the necessary analytics from Uku instead of Excel with a few clicks.
"One of the accountants pointed out that it used to take six hours to prepare client's invoices; now it only takes two."
Tracking working time has also become more accurate. Leinonen’s employees are encouraged to use the stopwatch instead of manually entering it to track working time for their accounting tasks. “Some people have found they have more time,” Külli states.
Overtime, vacation and sick days out of Excel
As exemplary Uku users, Leinonen’s team implemented the Flextime app at the beginning of September to calculate overtime, vacation and sick days.
"Flextime was immediately welcomed with open arms. Very easy and convenient to use."
Previously, Leinonen used Excel to manage accountants’ overtime, which employees had to discuss with the manager first. Managing overtime, holidays and sick days in Excel took a considerable amount of valuable working time.
When tracking time for accounting tasks in Uku, the overtime hours are in the Flextime app, and the manager can approve or reject them simultaneously. According to the agreement, it is effortless to withdraw overtime bonuses in Uku as free time or extra salary.
If you ask Külli what they want to add to Uku, she answers: “I don’t know what to add because we’ve already achieved so much with Uku.”
"Uku is tailored for accounting offices, which is a strong advantage. It is exactly what you need, and you don't have to invent anything yourself."
For those who do not use Uku yet, Külli Kink, Leinonen’s head of accounting, quotes one of Leinonen’s accountants:
"It's a marvellous tool, not an inefficient extra step that someone else demands to control employees."
Triin also concludes: “Uku has always evolved with its users. Every client has brought value to Uku.”
Read more about how a large accounting firm quickly and successfully adopted the new software>
