Expenses Solutions for Small Organisations

Based in Saint Tropez, France, Waterman Marine Consultancy provides a range of services for the building and refitting of yachts.

The company co-ordinates everything for the client to guarantee a successful project, from the design stage through contract negotiations and writing technical specifications, the actual build stage, overseeing the quality and progress of the project and taking care of tax and registration related issues.

Yaccount, the Waterman Marine Group’s specialist online accounting application for large luxury yachts, can be used by owners chartering out their boats to ensure all expenses incurred by the client are recorded on board and charged back to them at the end of the charter.

Expenses Software on the Move

The company decided to use the standard ‘off-the-shelf’ product from WebExpenses who were the only supplier able to give Watermans a solution then and there. “WebExpenses stood out for its simplicity rather than its functionality, and that’s the way to win over users,” explained Dunn, “We could turn it on very quickly as there was no training for staff needed; you learn the system by doing it. There was never a question in my mind that it wouldn’t work,” said Dunn. “The cost of implementation was just people’s time.”

How WebExpenses Worked for Waterman

Ron Kleverlaan is a director of the company and a highly qualified marine surveyor.  His working day is really varied and can involve visiting clients, shipyards and boat shows across the world.  He manages yacht build and interior design projects, values yachts for sale and works with insurance companies as a damage surveyor. Travelling so intensively, he incurs a range of different expenses.

Previously, when Ron returned to the office he would typically have a briefcase full of travel and entertainment receipts for bank account reconciliation or recharge back to the client.

“I spent a large amount of my time at the office working through all my expenses when I really needed this valuable time to work on writing reports for clients,” Ron commented, “I sometimes had so many receipts I couldn’t remember what all of them were for!”

Affordable Functionality

Ron identified the need for a better solution and WebExpenses offered all the functionality for expenses on the move he needed and was reasonably priced for a small number of users.

Using WebExpenses SMS functionality, Ron can now record an expense as soon as it is incurred using his mobile phone and send it back to the office via a text message:

“WebExpenses is fantastic for me, as it makes my life easier.  Now I know the expense is recorded and out of my hands it means I can get on with the more important things I need to do without worrying about expenses.”

Office Manager, Gill Boulton, now simply logs into WebExpenses and allocates the expense to the client.  She then sends the information through to the Accounts Department where it can easily be imported into QuickBooks.

“I’m also able to split an expense and allocate it to two different categories,” said Gill, “so if Ron stops at a petrol station and fills up with petrol and then buys a map, I can allocate one item to the client and the other to his personal expenses.”

The Bottom Line

WebExpenses has given Ron Kleverlaan the time he needs to concentrate on providing an excellent service to clients, whilst at the same time the peace of mind that all expenses are accurately recorded.

“These are difficult times economically and the last thing my company needs is to be incurring any additional expenses, WebExpenses gives us the control we need,” he concludes.

“We are also looking at the possibility of partnering with WebExpenses to enhance our Yaccount software, the SMS functionality would be ideal in locations where it is difficult to get an Internet connection.”