Charterhouse Group International

Charterhouse Group International is the leading provider of remuneration solutions to the global staffing industry. They supply a range of tax-saving services with financial advantages for temporary workers, self-employed professionals and recruitment companies worldwide. They also specialise in offshore company formation and administration services, trusts and private foundations.

Founded in 1989, Charterhouse Group International is the industry leader in marketing limited company structures and has obtained an enviable reputation for providing a professional, highly confidential and reliable service in all aspects of our business.

"With SunSystems we have reduced our month-end close by a very significant amount. The procedure takes us just 5 days, whereas before it was not uncommon for this process to take anywhere up to 15 days". David Parker, Charterhouse

In 2003, Charterhouse selected SunSystems to replace their incumbent financial accounting solution in order to give them more flexibility in their reporting. David Parker, Group Financial Controller at Charterhouse said: "our old system didn't give us easy access to the information needed to manage the financial aspects of the business - and so we evaluated a number of the market leading finance packages, including SunSystems, Microsoft Great Plains and OpenAccounts, to see what product would best meet our needs".

Charterhouse ultimately selected SunSystems from Sapphire as not only did it meet their requirements for flexible reporting but, in choosing Sapphire to supply the solution, they felt they would have access to a more complete range of post-sales support and training services. David continues "Sapphire have a strong presence on the Isle of Man and, since they were in a position to offer us a range of training and consulting services, we felt that they would be able to provide us with the best service in the longer term".

SunSystems went live in the summer of 2003 and today provides them with a sound financial management solution from which they can extract their many reports. David comments "We do a variety of reports – including product reporting, profitability analysis and cost analysis by department. By using SunSystems and Vision, we are able to get the information we need quickly and we can also drill-down on individual figures to quickly establish any reasons for variances."

Other benefits SunSystems has brought to Charterhouse include:
Faster preparation of Statutory Accounts
A reduction in journal entries for Year-End reporting
Easier upload of information into SunSystems via Excel
Time savings in Account Maintenance
Automated debtor and creditor reconciliations
Efficient system administration

David says "With SunSystems we have now reduced our month-end close by a very significant amount. The procedure now takes us just 5 days, whereas before it was not uncommon for this process to take anywhere up to 15 days".

In terms of the support and assistance that David and his team receive from Sapphire, he regards these as excellent. David said: "We find Sapphire's Hotline Support capabilities second to none. If we have a query for which our Sapphire Support Consultant needs more information from us - and they don't hear back from us in 24 hours - they will get on the phone and chase us for the information… rather than the other way around!"

For companies based on the Isle of Man, David believes that Sapphire offer an extremely comprehensive service. He states "Sapphire have a very strong presence on the Island – including training facilities and frequents visits by an Account Manager. I feel that the level of support received from a supplier can be critical to the success of a project - and so I would recommend that any Isle of Man companies reviewing their financial accounting solution should speak to Sapphire about their requirements".

When asked if he had any final advice for companies that are looking for a new software solution, David concluded: "My advice would be to review your whole system to ensure that the intelligence in your accounts structure represents your business. Ensure that you leave gaps for growth and be comfortable that the supplier you choose has a responsive services team that can support you during the implementation and go-live process."

Media contact: Victoria Park +44 (0)20 7648 2008 Victoria.park@sapphiresystems.com