Overview
Launched in 2002, Beyond Chocolate is an independent company offering a radical new approach to weight-loss and body confidence. It is based on ten proven principles that close the door on yo-yo dieting and overeating and opens another to a completely new attitude to food and body image.

Challenge
As a start-up, Beyond Chocolate initially managed its accounts using a tailor made Excel spreadsheet, which was extremely complex, comprising a number of different tabs.

Not only was the presentation of the accounts very unattractive and confusing for VAT inspectors, it also posed a number of limitations. It was not compatible for print and worse still, did not provide Beyond Chocolate with the opportunity to create meaningful reports for tracking trends and sales.

Solution
Beyond Chocolate started looking for a simpler and more effective accounting solution for small businesses and discovered Accountz and its range of accounting solutions for businesses, Business Accountz.

Sophie Boss, co- founder of Beyond Chocolate commented: “We considered several accounting software packages, however, Business Accountz was the only one that was compatible with Macs. This meant that there were no external costs or packages to download so we could keep costs to a minimum, which was an important factor for us. The fact that Business Accountz could provide reports instantly was also a major selling point as we needed to be able to manage our finances transparently, and in real-time.”

“We were also very impressed with the personable approach Accountz took with its customers which reassured us of the high level of support we would receive,” Sophie continued.

After assessing its needs and ensuring that the Accountz software met them, Beyond Chocolate selected Business Accountz Enterprise, to help them manage their accounts more efficiently.

Evaluation
Beyond Chocolate has been using Business Accountz Enterprise for five months and is already realising the benefits.

Sophie commented: “Business Accountz Enterprise is very easy and simple to use, which means that even without any financial knowledge you can still manage your accounts in a very straight forward way. Accountz provides training for those who wish to gain a better understanding of the necessities of handling company finances which we found very valuable.”

“Due to the online nature of our business, Business Accountz Enterprise was particularly attractive as we can now use an advanced feature to ensure that upfront payments are accounted for in the upcoming months books,” she said.

Sophie expanded: “We can also process VAT returns at the touch of a button and tailoring and creating invoices is effortless, which is perfect for an agile small business like ours.”

“One of the most significant benefits of using Business Accountz Enterprise is that we now have access to a rich database which we can use to map trends and sales, which is a cost effective way for us to measure marketing initiatives and general customer demand. We can now be very strategic, which as a small business is absolutely crucial in order to grow whilst also remaining financially stable,” Sophie concluded.

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