Customer story
BHN
Learn how BHN leveraged DataSnipper to achieve 50-70% time savings and utilize resources to focus on critical analysis
Withall & Co. is a trusted financial services firm based outside in London, UK specializes in providing tailored finance services, including tax, payroll, bookkeeping, accounting, and compliance. With a client-centric approach, they offer end-to-end solutions, helping businesses navigate the complexities of setting up and growing their European operations. Known for their expertise and dedication, Withall & Co. supports their clients through seamless transitions as businesses scale and integrate financial processes in-house.
The VAT compliance process at Withall & Co involves receiving the client's quarterly general ledger (GL) and reconciling all GL movements to create a draft VAT return. This draft is linked back to the client's VAT report and GL records for comprehensive validation. Depending on the engagement, the team is tasked with checking a sample of invoices, which can range up to 100% of all purchase and sales invoices for the quarter. This often involves reviewing hundreds of invoices—such as 200 sales and 200 purchase invoices—by cross-referencing Excel data with the underlying PDFs provided by the client.
Before implementing DataSnipper, the process was highly manual and time-consuming. The VAT accountant prepared working papers by reviewing the GL data, identifying anomalies, and manually validating each invoice.
This manual approach was not only inefficient but also prone to human error, as repetitive tasks often led to oversight or mis-recording of information. Reviewing hundreds of invoices at once caused fatigue, making it challenging to maintain accuracy. These inefficiencies highlighted the need for a smarter, reliable solution to improve the quality of the firm’s VAT compliance testing.
From day one, using DataSnipper to perform manual checks improved the quality of our work and significantly reduced the chance of errors. Everything was tagged and referenced, making the review process much easier. A partner reviewing the work could simply hover over a Snip to instantly refer back to the corresponding invoice.
After implementing DataSnipper, the VAT team at Withall & Co. saw a marked improvement in the quality and efficiency of their work. DataSnipper Platform’s Document Matching and cross-referencing capabilities reduced the chance of human error and streamlined the review process, allowing the team to handle larger, more complex projects with ease.
For each project the team receives clients' general ledger (GL) data, reconciles GL movements, and prepares a draft VAT return. DataSnipper has streamlined the invoice checking process, helping the team catch errors that manual reviews might miss. Tasks that were once time-consuming, like reconciling purchase invoices, are now much faster, with projects that previously took 19 hours can now be completed in just 6 hours. This improved efficiency not only saves time but also enhances the accuracy of VAT filings, providing Withall & Co. with a competitive edge in the compliance services market. These efficiency gains translated into significant cost savings for both Withall & Co. and their clients.
With DataSnipper’s cross-referencing, teams can easily review invoices embedded directly in Excel, eliminating the need to search through hundreds of files stored on a server. This has made the review process faster and more efficient, improving collaboration across the team.
The VAT team has adapted their working papers to incorporate DataSnipper's extraction and comparison features while maintaining their existing processes. DataSnipper is most valuable for projects requiring numerous manual checks, but the team also uses it for smaller tasks to access and review documents easily. The smooth transition and immediate efficiency gains have made DataSnipper essential to their workflow.
Large VAT compliance projects, which previously took 19 hours, are now completed in just 6 hours, resulting in a 300% efficiency gains.
Document Matching and cross-referencing have reduced human error, allowing for more accurate VAT filings and uncovering mistakes previously overlooked.
By implementing DataSnipper, Withall & Co. achieved substantial time savings, translating into significant cost reductions for both the firm and its clients.
