ADreach, one of South Africa’s most innovative media companies boasts more than 40 000 outdoor advertising sites across the country. It has a diverse set of financial requirements where the operations of its seven branches need to be reconciled to the company’s overall performance.

Large footprint
The company has been in business for 13 years and before adopting Pastel Partner, was managing its accounts manually. Ken Mourant, the CFO of ADreach explains: “We were not even using an Excel system and all data was captured by hand in cash books and ledgers.” When the company expanded its presence nationally, a modern business software solution was essential. “Operating manually meant we would have to fly staff, cash books in hand, from each province to our head office so that the company’s annual statements could be pulled together.”

What the company needed was a comprehensive, yet user-friendly software package that could meet all its accounting needs: monthly trial balances, general ledgers, supplier’s ledgers and customer statements. Because of the nature of the business, ADreach also needed VAT to be automatically calculated to every transaction.

The right brand
When looking for a new system there were several competitors in the market. “Our auditing firm immediately advised us to use Pastel. Their clients comprised smaller businesses which were all successfully operating Pastel. For small to medium sized businesses it is the only system that matches every conceivable accounting need and is still easy to use and affordable,” says Mourant.

With branches nationally, each with a full spectrum of accounting processes, quick access to training and support was also an important factor in choosing accounting software. “If we have an issue in one of our stations we cannot reconcile the finances of each branch to get a full picture of the company’s balances as a whole. A support service that is easily accessible from each of our branches is of the utmost importance.”

Mass appeal
ADreach now manages all of its accounting requirements with one program and can produce monthly reports with branch and company-wide information with ease. “Pastel Partner has made the company highly efficient in producing accurate management accounts, controlling debtors and creditors as well as simplifying our day to day accounting needs.”

He adds that since inception, Pastel staff have always been on hand to assist with queries. “We have enjoyed support every step of the way and our ongoing training needs have been met.”

In addition to the accounting package, ADreach uses Pastel Payroll, which it finds equally user friendly with the same high standard of customer support. “Pastel is a well-known brand that is strongly recommended,” concludes Mourant.

The Solution at a glance

Industry: Outdoor advertising
No. of Users: 15
Previous Solution: Microsoft Excel

Key Benefits of Pastel Partner:

• User friendly and affordable solution that meets all our accounting requirements
• We can produce monthly reports with branch and company-wide information with ease
• Pastel Partner has made the company highly efficient in producing accurate management accounts, controlling debtors and creditors as well as simplifying our day to day accounting needs
• Excellent support centre