Customer Case Studies

Pathway Lending

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© 2019 Sage Intacct, Inc. All rights reserved. www.sageintacct.com 877-437-7765 Company Overview Created in 1999, Pathway Lending is a private, 501(c)3 economic development agency certified by the US Treasury to provide lending solutions and educational services to small businesses. This organization is dedicated to developing and strengthening economic opportunity in underserved communities throughout Tennessee and Alabama. Executive Summary Previous So ware: • Microso Dynamics SL (Solomon) Results with Sage Intacct: • Month end close cycle reduced 60% • Provided be er insights to executives through real-time dashboards instead of backward-looking reports • Increased efficiency of billing across grants and shortened billing analysis from two days to two hours • Lowered the total cost of the accounting department by freeing the CFO from performing accounting-related tasks • Grew assets 100% with 0% increase in accounting staff Challenges Growing Businesses to Benefit Communities "Small businesses are important to this whole nation. I don't think we appreciate that enough," said Barbara Harris, CFO of Pathway Lending. Her nonprofit organization has a mission "to see companies come alive and grow and be able to employ—to grow the economy." In order to help underserved communities thrive, Pathway Lending provides loans and educational services for small business owners. Headquartered in Nashville and serving businesses throughout Tennessee and Alabama, the organization offers loans and resources to businesses that might not qualify for traditional financing. This could be because the businesses are too young or do not have a high enough credit score. In 2017, Pathway Lending originated $40.2 million in business loans, aided 883 clients, delivered 8,153 hours of technical assistance, and grew to $137 million in total assets. Harris and her team prepare month-end reports and report quarterly to the board of directors. Unfortunately, their prior accounting so ware, Microso Dynamics SL (Solomon), did not allow them to access financial insights, or present reports the way they wanted. The so ware also did not include dashboards. Pathway Lending does a lot of project accounting, and it was "cumbersome" to capture and present the information needed to bill across 10 to 12 different educational grants. Describing her team's difficulties with Microso Dynamics SL, Harris recalled, "It wasn't robust at all. It was very antiquated. I had to manipulate the reports that came from it in an Excel spreadsheet in order to make them presentable to the board. You shouldn't have to do that. You should be able to customize reports for internal employees and external stakeholders." Solutions Flexibility and Efficiency to Support Strategic Growth Pathway Lending worked with LBMC Technology Solutions, their technology partner of more than 20 years, to find a solution that offered a be er fit. Harris wanted a financial management solution with flexible, user-friendly reporting and a chart of accounts that could be divided into dimensions to reflect the organization's business segments. The CEO requested dashboards that would enable him to see real-time financial information as well as statistical metrics about the organization's mission, such as how many loans were originated, the total amount of loans, the number of clients served, and the number of hours of educational services delivered. Pathway Lending evaluated Sage Intacct, Oracle NetSuite, and Accumatica before choosing Sage Intacct. Harris said NetSuite did not offer the user friendliness she hoped for nor dimensions in the chart of accounts that she needed. Becoming a Strategic Partner to the C-Suite Pathway Lending C A S E S T U D Y

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