{"id":9941,"date":"2021-07-29T15:22:00","date_gmt":"2021-07-29T19:22:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/?p=9941"},"modified":"2024-09-26T07:25:29","modified_gmt":"2024-09-26T11:25:29","slug":"local-industrial-authority-alleviates-headaches-with-92-faster-audit-cycles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/local-industrial-authority-alleviates-headaches-with-92-faster-audit-cycles\/","title":{"rendered":"County industrial authority alleviates headaches with 92% faster audit cycle"},"content":{"rendered":"<header class=\"entry-header has-dark-background-color entry-header--has-illustration entry-header--has-illustration--generic\">\n\t<div class=\"container\">\n\t\t<div class=\"entry-header__row row align-center\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"col col-lg-7 col-xlg-6 entry-header__content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"component component-single-header\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"entry-header__misc text--subtitle text--uppercase text--small\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/category\/accountants\/\" class=\"entry-header__link\">Accountants<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"entry-title-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h1 class=\"entry-title\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\tCounty industrial authority alleviates headaches with 92% faster audit cycle\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"entry-header__description\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\t<div class=\"single-post-details container\">\n\t\t<div class=\"col\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"posted-on \"><time class=\"entry-date published\" datetime=\"2021-07-29T15:22:00-04:00\">July 29, 2021<\/time><\/span><span class=\"reading-time\"> min read<\/span>\n\t\t<button\n\t\t\ttype=\"button\"\n\t\t\tclass=\"social-share-button button button--icon button--secondary js-social-share-button\"\n\t\t\tdata-share-title=\"County industrial authority alleviates headaches with 92% faster audit cycle\"\n\t\t\tdata-share-url=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/local-industrial-authority-alleviates-headaches-with-92-faster-audit-cycles\/\"\n\t\t\tdata-share-text=\"Please read this interesting article\"\n\t\t>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"social-share-button__share-label\">Share<\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"social-share-button__copy-label\" hidden>Copy Link<\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"social-share-button__copy-tooltip\" aria-hidden=\"true\" hidden>Copied<\/span>\n\t\t<\/button>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/header>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-post-author has-dark-background-color alignfull\">\n\t<div class=\"container\">\n\t\t<div class=\"col\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"co-authors\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"entry-author-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t<a class=\"entry-author\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/author\/andrew-sevillia\/\">\n\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"40\" height=\"40\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/08\/andrew_sevillia_profile.jpg\" class=\"entry-author__image\" alt=\"Andrew Sevillia\" \/>\t\t\t\t<span class=\"entry-author__name\">Andrew Sevillia<\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">Serving Georgia\u2019s Macon-Bibb County area, the <a href=\"https:\/\/mbcia.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Macon-Bibb County Industrial Authority<\/a> is the area\u2019s lead agency for attracting new business investment, encouraging the expansion of existing industries, and improving the quality of life. The organization develops land and industrial parks to make it easier for employers such as Amazon to bring their businesses to Macon-Bibb. With $50 million in assets and an annual operating budget of about $12 million, its income is sourced from land sales, administrative fees, tenant rents, and appropriation from other local government agency partners. Each of these streams needs to be managed and reported on separately, which was nearly impossible before the authority deployed Sage Intacct.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">The other day, we had the opportunity to talk with Amy Tarpley, who joined the organization a few years ago as finance director. She told us about the challenges she faced when she first took over the authority\u2019s tedious paper-based accounting processes, and her journey towards trusted financials and robust, audit-ready controls. While trying to make do with Intuit QuickBooks for a short time, Tarpley struggled to manage 11 funds using a large, complicated chart of accounts. As a result of this unstable financial foundation, the organization\u2019s visibility into financials was severely limited and she had to spend half the year supporting a painful audit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">Our new customer story details how the authority achieved the following results by graduating to Sage Intacct:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><span style=\"background-color: transparent;\">Increased overall finance efficiency by 85%<\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><span style=\"background-color: transparent;\">Sped audit cycle by 92%<\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><span style=\"background-color: transparent;\">Shifted finance department to 100% electronic processes<\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><span style=\"background-color: transparent;\"><span style=\"background-color: transparent;\">Gained data security and transparency into financial processes, building trust and confidence<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Overhauling financial processes amid a global pandemic<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">When Tarpley joined the organization, one of the first things she focused on was revamping outdated workflows, despite the outdated desktop version of their prior accounting software.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">\u201cBefore I joined, my predecessor would make journal entries on green ledger paper \u2014 binders and binders of it \u2014 and then key entries in the old software without any descriptions or documentation,\u201d Tarpley said. \u201cThen one day the system crashed while I was trying to print checks, so I quickly converted to QuickBooks as a stop-gap. Of course, when the auditor came, it was so hard to find the details we needed. I ended up working side-by-side with him almost every day for six months.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">Tarpley knew that the Authority needed a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/sage-business-cloud\/intacct\/product-capabilities\/core-financials\/\r\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">modern financial system<\/a>. She wanted a cloud-based solution that could be accessible to all stakeholders, including the executive director and auditors. With their support, she selected Sage Intacct and started planning for the implementation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">\u201cSage Intacct\u2019s customer service has been amazing from day one, and I really liked how well the system\u2019s multi-entity capabilities adapted to our needs,\u201d noted Tarpley. \u201cWe looked at Tyler Technologies, but it was clear we would have to make everything fit their structure and that wasn&#8217;t going to work for us long-term.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">As a finance department of one, her goal was to greatly improve productivity by replacing paper and spreadsheets with automated processes and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/sage-business-cloud\/intacct\/product-capabilities\/extended-capabilities\/financial-reporting\/\r\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">improving visibility through real-time reporting<\/a> across funds. But Tarpley was trying to do all of this amidst a surge in industrial development \u2014 and then the global pandemic hit. Just as she started working with Sage Intacct implementation partner Armanino, COVID-19 sent everyone home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">\u201cAll of the sudden, my kids were out of school and I was working from home trying to finish this implementation,\u201d remembered Tarpley. \u201cI would get up and start working from 4:00 AM to 10:00 AM, and then do school with the kids. But with Armanino\u2019s help, we managed to go live in just a few months, and it was a smooth migration.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Dramatic productivity gains shift energy to strategic projects<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">Sage Intacct supports streamlined multi-entity accounting that Tarpley estimates makes her 85% more efficient. She\u2019s been able to eliminate manual, duplicative data entry for payroll, AP, and AR, while implementing a monthly close process for the first time in the authority\u2019s history. In addition, fund distribution for its land management function is much faster. The organization now distributes up to 300 checks a month to vendors using recurring checks in Sage Intacct \u2014 shortening a two-day process to an afternoon endeavor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">Most notably, Sage Intacct helped the authority cut its audit cycle by 92% \u2014 from 6 months to 2 weeks \u2014 by giving auditors read-only access to the system. Tarpley pointed out, \u201cNow, any time a question arises during the audit process, they are either able to see the documentation and transaction themselves, or I\u2019m able to confidently get them an answer within minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">She added, \u201cThe time Sage Intacct\u2019s automated workflows save lets me focus on other more strategic work. I\u2019ve probably cut down at least a day\u2019s worth of work each week which can instead be put towards something more productive that I wouldn\u2019t otherwise get to.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Accurate insight engenders trust and confidence<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">The Authority greatly appreciates its comprehensive financial visibility in Sage Intacct, which increases transparency through quick, easy, flexible, real-time reporting. \u201cNow I can run a basic P&amp;L report and check where we\u2019re at with budget for the general fund at any time,\u201d said Tarpley. \u201cThat information can be shared with the board, who in turn passes it along to the commission so they can monitor how we\u2019re spending the funds that have been appropriated for us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">With several funds and projects at various stages at any given time, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/sage-business-cloud\/intacct\/product-capabilities\/extended-capabilities\/financial-reporting\/multi-dimensional-system\/\r\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Sage Intacct\u2019s multi-dimensional structure<\/a> also provides valuable insights. \u201cRight now, we have three different projects going on at one of our industrial parks. Three years ago, if somebody asked me for a status update on the funding for one of those projects, I would have to take at least a few days to get back to them,\u201d Tarpley shared. \u201cNow, I\u2019m able to easily pull that data from Sage Intacct and send it off. It\u2019s the ability to do things like this that just make everything so much easier.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">What\u2019s more, the organization can maintain a culture of trust, thanks to Sage Intacct. \u201cThe transparency that Sage Intacct gives us has been huge in terms of re-establishing trust in our financial processes,\u201d commented Tarpley. \u201cOur executive director is able to access his own Sage Intacct dashboard whenever he wants, which gives him the trust factor he needs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">To find out more about how Sage Intacct helps the Macon-Bibb County Industrial Authority free up resources to advance its mission of job creation, job retention, business expansion, and improved quality of life, read our new customer story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"single-cta gated-content\">\n\t<div class=\"single-cta__positioner\">\n\t\t<div class=\"single-cta__wrapper has-dark-background-color\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"single-cta__content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"single-cta__title h3\">MBCIA - Local Industrial Authority Improves Efficiency 85% <\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"single-cta__description\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Find out more about how Sage Intacct helped the Macon-Bibb County Industrial Authority free up resources to advance its mission of job creation, job retention, business expansion, and improved quality of life.<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a\n\t\t\t\t\t\thref=\"#gate-d1ff4cb4-9531-42fd-99e5-ab22fcfc2b47\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\tclass=\"single-cta__button button button--primary\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t>Download<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1440\" height=\"810\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/GettyImages-1160593322-1440x810.jpg\" class=\"single-cta__image\" alt=\"Skyline of beautiful city\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/GettyImages-1160593322-1440x810.jpg 1440w\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 48em) 33vw, 100vw\" \/>\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"single-cta\">\n\t<div class=\"single-cta__positioner\">\n\t\t<div class=\"single-cta__wrapper has-dark-background-color\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"single-cta__content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"single-cta__title h3\">Subscribe to our Sage Advice Newsletter<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"single-cta__description\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Get our latest business advice delivered directly to your inbox.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a\n\t\t\t\t\t\thref=\"#gate-ab515c6e-7e90-4c2f-a67e-113872516e8b\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\tclass=\"single-cta__button button button--primary\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t>Subscribe<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1440\" height=\"810\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/GettyImages-1073797282-1440x810.jpg\" class=\"single-cta__image\" alt=\"Working from home with tea in hand\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/GettyImages-1073797282-1440x810.jpg 1440w\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 48em) 33vw, 100vw\" \/>\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Serving Georgia\u2019s Macon-Bibb County area, the Macon-Bibb County Industrial Authority is the area\u2019s lead agency for attracting new business investment, encouraging the expansion of existing industries, and improving the quality of life. The organization develops land and industrial parks to make it easier for employers such as Amazon to bring their businesses to Macon-Bibb. With [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1446,"featured_media":9014,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sage_video":false,"post_featured_image_hide":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[158,404,44],"tags":[2,4,170,420,346,279],"business_type":[312,41],"lilypad":[],"context":[418,429],"industry":[50,450,204],"persona":[100,98,151],"imagine_tag":[209,246,215,436,437,441],"coauthors":[613],"class_list":["post-9941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-accountants","category-construction","category-strategy-legal-operations","tag-accountants","tag-business-intelligence","tag-business-strategy","tag-cloud-financial-management","tag-cloud-technology","tag-sage-events","business_type-accountants","business_type-growing-business","industry-construction-and-real-estate","industry-software-saas","industry-technology"],"sage_meta":{"region":"en-us","author_name":"Andrew Sevillia","featured_image":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/GettyImages-1345133361.jpg","imagine_tags":{"209":"Accounting","246":"Construction","215":"HR and Payroll","436":"Intacct Accounting","437":"Intacct Construction","441":"Intacct Payroll And HR"}},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"Sage Advice US","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/users\/1446"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9941"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9941\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/media\/9014"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9941"},{"taxonomy":"business_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/business_type?post=9941"},{"taxonomy":"lilypad","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/lilypad?post=9941"},{"taxonomy":"context","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/context?post=9941"},{"taxonomy":"industry","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/industry?post=9941"},{"taxonomy":"persona","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/persona?post=9941"},{"taxonomy":"imagine_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/imagine_tag?post=9941"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=9941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}