Choosing the Right ERP

There may be errors in spelling, grammar, and accuracy in this machine-generated transcript.

Doug Lewis: This. This could be a fun one. So I think the goal of today, if I'm not mistaken, is to take some actual questions we've been getting from people who have nothing better to do but to listen to us talk about nothing. And I think that's kind of a really interesting place to to jump in also. I'm going to challenge you, Matt, if you don't mind. I've been I [00:00:30] have been just spitting out terrible dad jokes at the end of these things for a while now.

Matt Lescault: I've been I've appreciated them and I.

Doug Lewis: I think it's your turn, though.

Matt Lescault: Oh, no, I don't got any, I don't I don't have any. I think it's.

Doug Lewis: I think it's your, your turn. So I'll give you the recording session. Uh, a lot of time here to think of something good so you can try to stump Emily and me. How about that?

Emily Madere: We might start seeing some steam come out.

Matt Lescault: Yeah, I don't know. I think I have, like, one that is, like, the most well known one ever. So, you know.

Doug Lewis: Then you better deliver it [00:01:00] really well when we get to it. But regardless, so do a little Q&A from from some of the subscribers, followers, listeners, random people who've actually been emailing me and shooting me LinkedIn messages about this. Um, it's been pretty interesting to see how many people are actually listening to this. So that's that's always fun. And yeah, and.

Emily Madere: For for those of you who don't know, we do we do pre-record this. So it's been a while I think like a month, maybe two months since we've gone live with the podcast. And I know I have gotten really positive feedback on LinkedIn. [00:01:30] So thank you everyone who's been sending me messages, who's been commenting on my my posts. It's been really amazing.

Doug Lewis: Everything I've gotten has been terribly negative. Uh, they said the other two people are great, but how how did you weasel your way into this? Which is actually similar to one of the questions somebody asked. Uh, but we'll get to that in just just a second here. So the, the I'll call it the most frequently asked question or version of it is, are you guys trying to sell me intact?

Matt Lescault: Uh, of [00:02:00] course we are.

Doug Lewis: Well, speak for yourself.

Doug Lewis: Uh, so, Matt, do you want to. Yeah, you want to. You want to take a take a second on that one?

Matt Lescault: I mean, that is not the purpose of this podcast, but I think that it is pretty evident that all two of us, me and Emily, you know, Doug doesn't actually matter. Um, but all two of us really, really think that it is a great product and that it has a really great place for certain industries and certain, uh, [00:02:30] businesses and, uh, and departments. I just think that if I said that our purpose was to sell, I'd be doing a disservice to the education component of what we're trying to do, as well as just the overall message that we're trying to deliver. Uh, from from this podcast. Emily.

Emily Madere: I do business development. Okay. I'm in sales in many ways. Do you want to take that? I'm in sales, and I sell Sage Intacct. So I think the premise of this podcast is to educate, and we're [00:03:00] not just going to share all the positives about Sage. We're not just going to share all the negatives. We're not going to trash talk QuickBooks or NetSuite. We're going to give positives and negatives to everything. And if the road to you ends up back at Sage, then we did our jobs.

Matt Lescault: Or we're never going to trash talk any of the other softwares. Really?

Emily Madere: Oh well, in a classy way.

Matt Lescault: Just keep it classy.

Emily Madere: Keep it classy.

Doug Lewis: As long as they don't write us a check, that's fine. We can trash them. Um, so by the way, I'll never try to sell [00:03:30] anyone in tech because I, I don't. That's not even what I do. So I could you could come to me saying, I'm ready to go. Here's a check. Uh, even though the the irony of using Sage Intacct and writing a check is not lost on me, I could not sell you Sage Intacct save my life. So, no, I'm not trying to sell you Sage Intacct whatsoever, but I do think it's really important topic to really hit here. Um, another fun one. Okay, this one's actually got some meat to it. Emily, I'll let you hit this first, because I think you're probably the most qualified to talk about this one. How much will Sage Intacct [00:04:00] cost me? That's the full question.

Emily Madere: Oof, that's a hard one, right? And again, I'm a salesperson, so I think it depends. Right? I think that's every that's every salesperson. Do you mean you're a politician? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Emily for Perez.

Doug Lewis: Um, in this day and age, it might not be horrible.

Emily Madere: Not hard. Um, so the thing about Sage Intacct and I think this question is a little bit sticky is maybe the the question should be, [00:04:30] um, how much will Sage Intacct cost me and how much will professional services cost me? Because there's really two factors. When you're evaluating Sage Intacct, you're going to have the implementation and you're going to have the annual subscription for the software. And typically when we're talking about professional services, it's going to be 1 to 1 of software or 1 to 1 and a half of software, even two times software. Um, the software intacct specifically is priced on the types of models that you need and [00:05:00] the type of users you have in the system. So I mean, I've seen it as low as 20,000 annually, but as high as maybe 100,000 annually. Um, it really just depends on what you need. I think the key thing to remember is finding the right partner to help you through that process.

Matt Lescault: So my answer is I have sold as cheap as 9000 and [00:05:30] I've. I personally haven't, but my organization has sold as much as $1 million annual recurring revenue for Sage Intacct.

Emily Madere: Maybe, maybe. Let's let's back up. Are you talking from a VAR or an IAP?

Matt Lescault: I'm talking about as a VAR or a systems integrator.

Emily Madere: Okay.

Matt Lescault: So there's a there's it's it's wide. I mean, and really it and I think Emily hit it on it on the head. It's what modules you're [00:06:00] using. How many users do you need and how large is the organization and what are you tacking on to intact? And I hate the question actually, because it's how much value are you going to get out of intact? It's not about the price of the product. It's about what the product can do for you. So, you know, when I'm talking to organizations and they're evaluating intact, whether it's going from QuickBooks to intact or migrating from a Great Plains into intact or even NetSuite and [00:06:30] over to intact, it's really saying, talk to me about your pain points. Talk to me about what's going on with with your finance department. Where are you having gaps? Where are you spending a lot of manual time or where are you living in Excel? And sometimes if we focus so much on the actual cost of the software, we're not going to focus on what the software is delivering. From a value added perspective, how much time is it eliminating with your department? Are you avoiding having to increase your headcount as an organization, what are the other components [00:07:00] of this? Uh, so I want to say, what can how can Intacct save you money? Not how much does it cost? That's that's the question I want to ask.

Doug Lewis: Are you moonlighting on their PR marketing team now? Because that sounded like it sounded like quite the catch phrase there.

Matt Lescault: Yeah, well.

Matt Lescault: No, I yes, maybe sometimes just depends. No, I think that, you know, Emily deals the same stuff that I deal with is like when you talk to a customer, if you start at [00:07:30] the price, that's the only thing the customer is going to focus on. But if you start at the problem, the customer starts talking to you a lot more about what they're trying to achieve. And then we get to the price after the fact.

Emily Madere: Mhm.

Doug Lewis: So you did throw some numbers out there. Maybe that's kind of a good way to kind of cap that or answer that is Emily. If you had to throw a range out there The run of the mill small medium sized business. Switching [00:08:00] to Sage Intacct. Fairly simple, relatively out of the box. Nothing crazy. Just ballpark range of what they can expect from a cost perspective.

Matt Lescault: So unfair. Doug. I'll be honest with you. That's such an unfair question.

Doug Lewis: I thought I hit most of the caveats, but that's why it's a range. If you're a when you run for president, you're going to have to answer the questions that, you know, the hard hitting.

Emily Madere: Ones. Whenever you start to evaluate intact, whether you go with Sage Intacct direct or you go with a partner like, like Eisneramper, [00:08:30] they're going to ask you what is your budget? And it's not a chance for you to be, you know, facetious or or you don't know yet. Give them a number so that they can help you because they're going to they're going to qualify you based upon what you tell them. And they're going to be able to be honest with you and say, hey, look, this number, I don't think it's going to to to get you Sage Intacct or, um, they're able to, to work with you to put discounts [00:09:00] on the software to get you to that number.

Matt Lescault: On top of that, Emily. And you know this as well as I do sometimes organizations want, you know, the stars and the moon and the sun when it comes to the modules and what Intacct can do for them. But the budget isn't there. So it's also our job to sit there and say, hey, that's a nice to have, not a must have within the within the product to get to that budget. Um, and I completely agree with you that understanding a organization's budget and going into that [00:09:30] and, and I'm not you know, if they told me their budget was 100,000, but I can deliver at 50, I'm not going to sell it at 100,000 and sell it at 50. But if I think they need 50 and their budget is 25, it's a different conversation. So I'm I'm completely with you on that as give us a starting point, give us the ability to bring and deliver to you what you need at the budget you're willing to spend. Because I don't want to waste your time. You don't want to waste my time. We all want to get to the goal that we have.

Emily Madere: Yeah, you.

Doug Lewis: Guys, this might [00:10:00] be a while back now, but remember that thing floating around the internet? It was probably about ten years ago. I'm going to call it the Game of Thrones thing, where they showed like the customer expectations and they showed like that big sword, uh, chair or whatever it's called. I'm not I'm not super into it. But I saw the show. You know what I'm talking about. The big throne of all the swords and everything, like expectation and then the budget. And it shows like some dude sitting there and flip flops in, like a pool noodle version of that chair where it was just like, that sounds very similar to kind of what you were describing there. Um, they want the sun [00:10:30] and the moon and all that whatnot. This one's. This one's kind of fun, too. Um, I'm I'm going to read it verbatim. I'm not making this up. I'm terrified of switching all my accounting stuff to a new system. What is the process look like? So this is coming from looks like the point of view of, like a consumer facing kind of question of how much pain is this going to be for me to switch from whatever I'm on now to Sage Intacct.

Matt Lescault: You want me to go? Emily, you want to take this? How? [00:11:00] You want to approach this?

Emily Madere: Go ahead.

Matt Lescault: I'm gonna give you. I'm gonna give you the the introduction and the spiel that I try to give every single person, either before they buy from me or right after they buy from me. And I'm getting.

Emily Madere: An inside look into your sales process.

Matt Lescault: Now, this is this is more of expectation delivery. I just say nobody in the history of ever has woken up in the morning and said, I want to implement a new accounting software. It is my dream and I am excited to do it. [00:11:30]

Doug Lewis: Bold statement, but all right, go ahead.

Matt Lescault: But we know it's necessary. That's why we're on this, on this call. We know that you have the pain points that you discussed, you know, with us through this process. And that's that's the end goal. But understand that every implementation has speed bumps. And those speed bumps are really Softened by communication. And our job as your partner implementation is to communicate well and often with you. And your job as our [00:12:00] client is to communication. To communicate well and often with us, because too often the organizations might see something that they think is a problem, but they're like, you know what? That's just one small thing, but it adds up. It's like, you know, uh, it's the thousand cuts kind of component until there's a problem. And we haven't communicated through that. Uh, so I don't I don't think implementations are scary. I think implementations are need to be very [00:12:30] process oriented, need to be very communicative, and expectations have to be built immediately. Now we can go into the actual process and what it looks like and, and so forth in this conversation. But I think that if we can get that message through in the very beginning, all else falls into place. That's that's my opinion.

Emily Madere: Mhm.

Emily Madere: Yeah. So um just from a high level I think to talk about process. So we split our implementations up [00:13:00] into like 5 or 6 phases. But in the in the sales process during our proposal or engagement letter review, we go in detail as to what exactly those phases are and what exactly, um, the client can expect in those phases. And I think when you have those calls with whoever you're buying software with, whether it's Intacct, NetSuite, whoever, um, during the proposal engagement letter phase, when they're going through what they're going to do for implementation, this is a great time for you to ask [00:13:30] questions, to talk to other people that they implemented to get their implementation feedback. This is a good time for you to ask those questions. And it's it's really it's nothing to be terrified about. It's a change. And no one really likes change, especially when you've been in QuickBooks for 20 years. But like Matt said, you wouldn't be having these conversations if something wasn't wrong.

Matt Lescault: Well, and.

Matt Lescault: Change is scary no matter what, okay? Change is scary for people [00:14:00] and it's disruptive. You know, that's that's the reality. Um, dig a little bit further into kind of what Emily's talking about is, you know, we look at it from a phased approach for implementation. A lot of times we talk about kind of the design phase, configuration phase, user acceptance, go live testing, uh, things of that nature. And what's important is when you're talking to that partner, as you're, as you're, uh, evaluating your, the purchase of intact and the partnership with that [00:14:30] firm that's going to be your professional services delivery team. Your implementer is really understanding what is expected from you versus what is expected from the implementer. And that's one of the things that a really good statement of work, a really good, uh, documented process is going to have a whole section around assumptions. Assumptions, scenarios and says, hey in, I'm going to make it up. Data migration. You're expected to do this, and this is what we're going to expect to do. The [00:15:00] biggest issues that I've seen with blown implementations have to do with very, um, uh, with SSW or engagements that are leave a lot of room for interpretation. A lot of gray area within them. And then it's like the client doesn't know what to expect. And then you're, you're you're having to educate while you're trying to, uh, to deliver. And that's that. That's a big challenge.

Doug Lewis: And, Matt, I know this is a pretty generalized term, but SSW when. [00:15:30]

Matt Lescault: What's a statement of work? I thought I.

Matt Lescault: Said statement of work.

Matt Lescault: But I.

Doug Lewis: Didn't catch it. Did you, Emily?

Emily Madere: Did you catch it? Uh oh. What did we.

Doug Lewis: Say? Ten grand every time someone slips up, right? Yeah.

Emily Madere: Ten grand.

Doug Lewis: Wow. That's what I remember.

Matt Lescault: Is that, like, $10,000?

Doug Lewis: Well, if I.

Doug Lewis: Can do that conversion in my head quicker, I would have a better joke. Um, I'm gonna need a minute on that one. No, uh, but that, uh, I think we'll go back to the tape, but I think that might have been a slip up. Oh, well, that's that's an exciting day for me. [00:16:00] I can catch you slipping up. Um, okay, so this one will kind of feed on it. Here's another one that is kind of interesting. Kind of like pricing process, all that fun stuff. Uh, currently using Excel to manage grants. Uh, is it actually worth switching to Sage? I'm a 500 and 1C3, uh, and about $5 million a year in funding and service revenue. So we got some information there, but I think we're missing some [00:16:30] crucial pieces, if I'm not mistaken. But, uh, the core of the question is I'm using Excel. Should I switch if I'm managing grants? Emily, you want you want to take that one first?

Emily Madere: Um, the answer is depends. Right? Again, I'm sales person. It it depends. Right. You're a you're a $5 million, um, nonprofit. Okay. And we just talked about this, but what is your budget, Matt? I mean, what do you think?

Matt Lescault: So [00:17:00] the fact that they're doing grants is the big kicker for me, in which I would say there's a high likelihood that intact is the right solution. The fact that they're managing the grant process in Excel has has a high likelihood that what they're dealing with is the fact that their grants are a different fiscal year than their organization's fiscal year, and something like a QuickBooks does not support that. Um, it doesn't support, uh, different, uh, reporting years within the system [00:17:30] itself. And so and when we have grants, we have different type of grants, we have cost reimbursement grants, we have fixed fee grants. Uh, you know, we have, uh, percentage completion grants and things of that nature. And where in tax grant tracking and billing module is, uh, comes in, really solves those issues. And so for me, in sort of the conversation, I would be asking the organization, what type of grants do you have and where are you getting those grants? Are those federal grants or are they state grants local? Are they foundational grants? [00:18:00] What are we talking about here and what's your requirement for reporting? Are you dealing with a single audit requirement because of that. And all of those pieces would dictate, you know, how we how we configured intact. But it's the biggest reason that I see nonprofits move out of a QuickBooks Sage 50 zero, even NetSuite Great Plains dynamics. Because this is this is why if you look on G2 [00:18:30] crowd or if you look at all, uh, all of the review sites that from a nonprofit specific Sage outperforms every other product on the marketplace. Um, I've seen organizations.

Doug Lewis: Do you do you recall some of the components that make that the case? You know, like, it's great to see the rankings and ratings, but behind that, what really sets them apart, specifically in the nonprofit area.

Matt Lescault: So grants tracking and billing, that module dynamic allocations. Another huge one for, uh, [00:19:00] for nonprofits. Then you get into some of the ones that are not so much nonprofit specific, but you a lot of nonprofits run into them is how time, uh, relates and Sage intelligent time relates into, uh, the dynamic allocations, ability to post labor costs into those grants from a grant reporting perspective and automate that whole process within it through, uh, through the allocation modeling, um, your, your inclusion [00:19:30] of a prepaid expense amortization, uh, module as well is another big component. But if we go back to and I think we talked about it is that Sage Intacct was built for nonprofits. First it was the it was their focus when it sort of came out of, uh, development and what I, what what makes a lot of sense of why it spread its wings into so many other industries is if you really look at nonprofits, there's nonprofits do kind of everything under the sun. In a way. I've seen nonprofits that [00:20:00] sell software, I've seen nonprofits that sell subscriptions. I've seen nonprofits that sell retail. I mean, you name it all. Um, and that's where that's where, uh intacct really started. So I guess where I would leave that is my guess, is very high likelihood that there'd be a huge value in that organization shifting to. Uh Sage Intacct. And just because there 5 million isn't really a key indicator [00:20:30] for me, I have moved nonprofits that are doing a million and a half that had federal grants into intacct to solve this very issue, because as soon as you're managing grants in Excel, you're leaving yourself open for a lot of errors and then a complex auditing and reporting process.

Doug Lewis: Well, that's actually you hit that on the head. That's a good question. You've done it as low as, you know, a million and a half in the nonprofit sector. Is there kind of a revenue threshold that you [00:21:00] see? Listen, you cannot be doing this in Excel anymore. Like is there a general rule of thumb where it says, if you're above a certain amount of funding and you're doing this in Excel, it's going to end poorly for you or you're open to exposure.

Matt Lescault: Public service announcement Microsoft I love you. You're Azure products are great. You're I you know Microsoft Surface is an awesome laptop if you're operating your accounting in Excel. Still it's time. I don't care where you know I don't care what you're doing. It's time to figure out how to solve that and not be [00:21:30] doing your accounting in Excel. I think Excel is great from a modeling perspective. I think it's great from a, uh, from a day to day use of, of deploying metrics and things like that that are, that are kind of like your own testbed. But if you're relying on it to actually facilitate the accounting records of your organization, whether you're a nonprofit or not, a nonprofit or I should say, or a for profit, it's time to change.

Doug Lewis: I'm going [00:22:00] to pull one two off of this one. Came directly to my LinkedIn account. So let me let me switch gears and find where that was. But it was an interesting question. Ah yeah. All right. So I'm running a CAS practice right now. Don't know the size of client accounting services outsourced to accounting practice right now. Uh, currently I just consult on QuickBooks. Xero and Acumatica are the three the core of this question that becomes, should I service all providers, including Intacct, [00:22:30] or should I really try to focus in 1 or 2 core areas? Quickbooks has the largest market share right now. So Emily, that might be more up your alley if you're running. If you're running, this is not me. Sorry. The question is basically, should I focus on one platform to really run a CAS department, or should I be kind of servicing all the players out there in the software space?

Matt Lescault: I'm going to go with a neither.

Doug Lewis: That's it, I love it.

Matt Lescault: Wow. [00:23:00] No.

Doug Lewis: So you heard it here first.

Matt Lescault: So look, there is a subset of clients, good clients that will always be in QuickBooks and Xero. And to the to the listeners point, QuickBooks is has the largest market share. 39%, if I'm not mistaken, 39% in North America or US. I think it's North America.

Doug Lewis: Yeah, let's let's.

Doug Lewis: Stick with North America. So QuickBooks at 39%. Do you know offhand just [00:23:30] kind of the next major players and ballpark where they are in that?

Matt Lescault: I don't I know that I know that QuickBooks is 39. I know that Intacct is 9 or 10%. But then you start like you you start having like a ton of these different like, products. I don't know where Acumatica is, but Acumatica is kind of known for me from manufacturing component. I mean, how many manufacturers out there in the United States right now are in North America? I just I don't know what the what that percentage breakdown is. Um, I, I [00:24:00] personally would say, hey, pick your small business platform and pick your ERP platform and focus on those, those two components. It's probably going to be QuickBooks and either Intacct NetSuite or dynamics. Now Acumatica is very specific as a niche. And I think what's interesting about this, and I'd really like to know more about the organization that's there, is that I'm assuming what they have is a industry niche [00:24:30] that would support Acumatica. Um, now, Emily, didn't Eisner and Empire do Acumatica we have intact?

Emily Madere: We have a rather large, intact cast practice. Um, I think we do. Yardi.

Matt Lescault: That makes.

Matt Lescault: Sense. Real estate and intact can't compete with the real estate component of Yardi, right? Um, even though Yardi is a little bit more of a legacy type product, but I think, you know. Emily. [00:25:00]

Emily Madere: Yeah, yeah. Yardi. Um, Yardi is a very niche product, and I think intact is still catching up on on the real estate, uh, their module. So I think.

Matt Lescault: Property Management

Emily Madere: If you're. Yeah, if you're, if you're, if you're in property management and you're choosing between intact and yardi intact is working on their module. So I think that maybe the choice would be yardi for you. But yeah that's all. Yeah. Intact and yardi I think that's the only ones that we do. And then we have our practices of Sage Intacct and workday [00:25:30] adaptive planning.

Matt Lescault: Yep.

Matt Lescault: And workday is another one that has some niche, uh, applications. I'm not as familiar with it. But again, you know, if you're a CAS Organization that is spending or focused specifically on, call it restaurants or call it construction firms. You're going to want to pick that software that aligns best with you. Now I use two that Intacct does well in. And so, uh, I'm not saying to go outside [00:26:00] of intact for those two, but, uh, I would not try to be a cast practice that does, that deploys services between multiple ERPs. And here's why it is challenging enough for a cast practice to keep up with the evolving changes that happen on a quarterly basis. Uh, with the multitude of modules in Intacct or NetSuite. Now, I'm gonna focus on those two right now, because I don't need to keep throwing out names [00:26:30] that if you start, uh, going too wide, then you're going to you're going to lose that sort of.

Matt Lescault: That.

Matt Lescault: Specialty, that knowledge, that expertise. Now, you start getting into the top 100 firms where they have multiple offices and they've acquired, uh, multiple CAS firms and maybe their West Coast CAS firm specialized in intact in their Midwest was NetSuite and their East Coast. And I'm making this up obviously uh, was dynamics. Maybe there's a play there, but [00:27:00] if we're talking about an organization, um, you know that that that is kind.

Matt Lescault: Of.

Matt Lescault: On the more average size, I guess is the better way to put it. Um, you know, I think it's a major challenge trying to keep up with, uh, that evolving feature set and technology.

Doug Lewis: All right. Um, this is I'm going to read the question in its entirety on this one. Okay, guys, so buckle up. This is the entire question. Intacct or NetSuite. [00:27:30] That's it. That's the question, Emily, how would you answer that? Someone asked you that.

Emily Madere: Obviously I have preference. Right? So my preference is intact. But when when I'm working with my prospects, if I know NetSuite is the better fit for them, whether it is because of their industry or specific functionality, I'll I'll be honest. [00:28:00] If NetSuite, I think with both softwares, clients need to evaluate everything, evaluate the the software proposal, ask questions around it. What exactly is intact proposing? Is there any hidden caveats? Talk to their clients. Same thing for NetSuite. And a lot of the times, especially what I've been seeing on LinkedIn recently is, um, NetSuite free implementations. Just make sure free isn't always free. [00:28:30]

Matt Lescault: I think they.

Matt Lescault: Call it their sweet success.

Emily Madere: Yep. Just be careful.

Matt Lescault: And it's and timile's point. It's not so much free implementation. It's self implementation which comes with its own challenges. I mean, I'm with Emily on this. I know Intacct I'm gonna prefer Intacct there's certain places or industries that, uh, NetSuite at least historically, has out outsold [00:29:00] intact, but is becoming slimmer and slimmer across the board, and the differentiation has become challenging. Now, what's some of the what? Some of the feedback that I've gotten from buyers that selected Intacct? I like the user interface better. With Intacct, it felt easier to use, it felt more natural to navigate, and therefore I chose Intacct. Then when it came into industry specific stuff, I mean non-profits [00:29:30] Intacct just blows NetSuite away. It's interesting. I heard this is a rumor. I have no actual factual knowledge of this. Um, but I heard that NetSuite is building a nonprofit team specifically to combat the losses that they're having, um, to intact in that, uh, that industry. It was just this past year that I think intact surpassed NetSuite as market share in SAS. And so I think that was a big win for for intact. And so when you're doing that research, it's [00:30:00] really understanding what what you're getting and why. I've heard I did a migration from NetSuite to intact because intact. Uh, it's because NetSuite did a 300% price increase on their renewal, and they came over to intact because of, uh, because of the price increase guarantee that intact gives from a year to year basis. Um, so there's, there's there's a whole bunch of things to, to look at, um, when making those decisions.

Emily Madere: Yeah.

Emily Madere: I, [00:30:30] we don't get into, um, competitive situations with NetSuite too often. But when we do, I would say probably 95 to 80% of the time. Clients say they chose intact because they get to work with us. So that's another aspect of finding the right partner.

Doug Lewis: So everything just depends. We could just pretty much sum the entire yeah, everything. You know, you know, it just depends how much money you have.

Emily Madere: Like if you if you want to actually in detail talk about this [00:31:00] stuff like message me on LinkedIn.

Doug Lewis: That's a good way to do it. Yeah. You are working on your your political career. That's great. Hey. Yeah. Yeah.

Matt Lescault: My constituents think she's also selling on the podcast, so that's true. Go back to the first question. It's yes.

Matt Lescault: Yes, yes. So.

Emily Madere: Thanks for calling me out on that one. No. But I think educated conversations, they need to happen because I feel like in the software world, unless you're in it every day, it's kind of like this big question mark. It's a scary cloud sometimes, [00:31:30] and I don't think it needs to be that way.

Matt Lescault: I agree with you. Just kind of walked into that was a softball. I had to take it. Usually it's Doug picking on me. I just I just turned.

Doug Lewis: Yeah. Well, stop making it so easy and I'll stop doing it. That's. There we go.

Matt Lescault: No you won't.

Doug Lewis: No you won't. No. I'll just. I'm just too good at it. Um. All right. This this is a fun one. So this could go a couple ways, but how much do you factor a firm's accounting system during an M&A transaction? So this could go kind of either way. I'll I'll actually jump in on this [00:32:00] one since this is kind of the world I live in. So most of the M&A transactions I do are accounting firm to accounting firm M&A transactions. So these are firms that are going to have, you know, multiple systems and all this stuff in place, likely at the sizes that my transactions usually fall in. If we're looking at like a private company. So construction manufacturing type of company that's selling or something like that, that's not a world that I can speak to as clearly. But in the accounting world, M&A transactions, the accounting systems never really I [00:32:30] don't want to say they're going to add any value to a firm. If you have a thriving practice that is niche in one specific software program, like if you have a thriving, intact practice or NetSuite or Xero, Acumatica or whomever out there that's that's important.

Doug Lewis: If that firm already does that, they'll value that a little bit differently. But when you look at like accounting systems and software programs that are in place, I would say the majority of M&A transactions out there in the accounting firm to accounting firm sector, it's just going to not discount you to have good, good accounting systems in place, but it's not really going to add much [00:33:00] value to the practice. It's fun. I've seen a lot of people out there now who, ironically, are selling software programs saying, oh, if you use our program and you know, it'll it'll increase your multiple when you sell your firm. And I'm just like, wow, that's that is off base to say the least, because it doesn't matter what you're using. When I acquire you, you're going to start using what I'm already using. So, um, I think the short answer in the accounting M&A sector, if you are up to date on whatever programs you're using, [00:33:30] um, it's just going to not discount you. But it's it's pretty rare when we see that dramatically impact or increase the value of a firm.

Matt Lescault: When you're answering.

Matt Lescault: This, answering this question, are you thinking about what they're using internally to operate their financials, or are you considering what they're using to, uh, operate their client's financials?

Doug Lewis: I'd say yes. Everything across the board.

Matt Lescault: Because your.

Matt Lescault: Answer fits for both.

Doug Lewis: Yes, exactly. It does. Because, you know, as long as you're not a dinosaur from a [00:34:00] technological standpoint, regardless of whatever systems you're using, there's going to be some some changes, some migration in those systems, even if you're on the same systems and I acquire somebody, I'm not going to give you a higher valuation because we happen to be running the same software systems. That's just not going to happen. Um, but what it will do is if we're on completely different systems or Matt, I'm looking to acquire your practice and you're a bit of a dinosaur from a technological standpoint, you're not up to date in whatever softwares you're using internally. Um, that can discount your practice. But [00:34:30] it's it's rare that it goes the other way that, I mean.

Matt Lescault: Like when you.

Matt Lescault: Still pay per file returns as a tax.

Matt Lescault: Preparer.

Doug Lewis: Correct. Which I have seen recently.

Matt Lescault: It was a previous episode. You talked about it?

Doug Lewis: I it was a good it was a good high performing firm. And guess what. They they sold it at a steep discount because it's no different when the accounting systems are taking place. Whatever software programs you're on, if there's a lot of work that needs to get done to get that firm in a place where you can integrate them efficiently, it's [00:35:00] going to discount the practice. But it's pretty rare when I see increased multiples, which I love, people who don't do any transactions. Talk about that. Um, saying, if you use my software, your firm uses my software, you'll get a better multiple when you sell. Um, I would say the majority of the time that's, that's just blowing smoke. That's snake oil. But Matt, you've done you've done a couple transactions yourself. What do you think about that?

Matt Lescault: I mean, I.

Matt Lescault: Would I would tend to agree. I mean what what you're looking for average value of client. You're looking for average tenure of client you're looking for. Does it fit your matrix [00:35:30] of work, meaning your specialty of industry, or are you looking to dive into a new industry? And therefore there's a there's a degree of expertise that you're trying to buy. You know, what is the caliber of the staff? You know, those are the things that, you know, really drive the valuation of of the firms, in my opinion. And when, you know, when I, when I look to evaluate and I say, what am I buying? Am I buying something that has longevity?

Doug Lewis: Exactly. So you're not going to put a premium on a firm that happens to be running the same software programs, or is on the [00:36:00] same, you know, accounting softwares, but it could significantly discount a firm if they're not in a place where you can integrate them. I mean, if.

Matt Lescault: They were using Sage.

Matt Lescault: 50 and that's all they were doing, that'd be a discount.

Doug Lewis: Well, there's the quote right there.

Matt Lescault: I mean, I'm not I mean, we're supposed to be honest here, but.

Doug Lewis: No, totally.

Matt Lescault: Sage 50 is you've talked about this not developed.

Emily Madere: You really have it out.

Emily Madere: For Sage 50.

Matt Lescault: I just want every Sage 50 customer to come to me and and move to intact. [00:36:30]

Doug Lewis: And how much would that cost them?

Matt Lescault: Just like be like.

Doug Lewis: How much would that cost to do that? What? What's that.

Doug Lewis: Integration cost? What's that look like?

Emily Madere: It depends. I'm gonna say it. It depends.

Doug Lewis: No butt load of BS.

Matt Lescault: You know, I think I think I, I, I agree.

Doug Lewis: I agree, I agree. Nailed it on the head there. Um, we can we can wrap this up here. Soon we'll we'll kind of we'll wrap with this [00:37:00] one. And then. Matt, I need to hear your joke.

Matt Lescault: Um, I'm not a fan.

Doug Lewis: Favorite Sage marketplace partners to work with. Okay, so this is this could be a free little advertisement for somebody's favorite Sage marketplace partners to work with. Emily, do you want to you want to hit that one first without making too many people angry?

Emily Madere: Um.

Doug Lewis: Or do you need to go look at your PNL first to see who's who's referred? Who's referred the most to you?

Emily Madere: Um, so, okay, so I'm gonna go with [00:37:30] this first one because and I'll tell you why. Because I've worked with them with a couple of clients. Every time I see them at the conferences, they are so welcoming. I've gone out to dinner with them. They are great and that is Bin Technologies out of Dallas. I believe they do. They do custom integrations. Um, recently they helped us integrate one of the law firms we work with. Um, they helped integrate Sage Intacct in their liquefy instance together. [00:38:00] Um, in our clients had nothing but positive things to say about them.

Doug Lewis: Pretty glowing review. Matt, do you have a favorite, uh, partner out there? Again, if you need to go, take a second to look at your PNL, too.

Matt Lescault: I'm trying. I'm trying to be like, who am I not gonna upset? We work with so many, and like, there's so many, you know, there's so many, uh, marketplace partners that do the same thing but do it slightly differently. And so there's reasons to bring each one in. Um, but, hey, I can't get in trouble with this one. We had Eric on here. I love data [00:38:30] blend. I love what the what their platform can do and the fact that they're integral within intact and have that direct relationship through the direct sales team. I can't get beat up on it, and I actually really do love them. So that's my, uh, that's my go to in this in this answer today.

Doug Lewis: As a real cop out since we've already had them as a guest. Yeah, but.

Emily Madere: But there's, there's, there's a ton of other great marketplace out there, marketplace partners out there like our sponsors. So thank you, Avalara Corp and Bookkeep. [00:39:00] Those are those are awesome systems. They're they're on the Sage Intacct marketplace and they have very advanced integrations into intact. Um, but there are a lot of other ones. So if you're on the Sage Intacct marketplace and you want to be on our podcast or sponsor our podcast, just hit us up.

Matt Lescault: Oh, so should we say that the next time that we're asked this question and Duncan asks, every time will be the next one that sponsors us?

Doug Lewis: Oh, there you go, Ben.

Emily Madere: Technologies, I'm calling you.

Emily Madere: Out.

Doug Lewis: Yeah, there you go. Yeah. Who knows? Maybe we'll have you on as a guest. [00:39:30] Who knows? We'll have on his guest next. We actually do have some pretty cool guests lined up, so that'll be that'll be fun to keep listening to. Who knows, maybe Donald Trump will show up. We don't know. The invites out. It's an open invite I don't know. Who knows? Uh, let's just. We can't say that he won't show up at this point. Does he use.

Emily Madere: Intact? I need to know.

Doug Lewis: I mean, odds are, you know, the man's probably an expert. Um, so I think that's probably a good place to go. By the way, they've got tons of these questions. Keep them coming in, guys. These are fun. Um, periodically we'll just do these episodes where we just run through some of the most [00:40:00] commonly asked ones. Um, just really flood Matt and Emily's inbox. Leave mine alone. Um, so, Matt, I got to hear this. You got to cap it. The only Matt. The only dad joke you claim to know in the world that I can recite.

Matt Lescault: Yes.

Doug Lewis: Okay. All right.

Matt Lescault: If a seagull flies by the sea, what would you call it if it flew by the bay?

Doug Lewis: Is this.

Doug Lewis: Is this as obvious as it sounds?

Emily Madere: Uh, bagel? A bagel? A bagel?

Doug Lewis: Oh, [00:40:30] boy. Okay. I thought mine were bad. Yeah, you know what?

Matt Lescault: No, I'm just making sure.

Matt Lescault: You never ask me again.

Doug Lewis: Yeah, Emily's gonna get the next crack at one, because that was pathetic. You need to work on it and actually go back to the drawing board, study, create some good jokes, and then we can try you again at some point.

Emily Madere: Watching YouTube.

Emily Madere: Videos.

Doug Lewis: Yeah.

Doug Lewis: That was rough.

Matt Lescault: My dad, dad joke book in stride.

Doug Lewis: You should. You should.

Emily Madere: Dad probably be better. Honestly.

Matt Lescault: I got. Well, he did this to me. I dug, [00:41:00] thank you. Didn't even give me any warning. I'm just saying.

Emily Madere: You had more than enough time to Google.

Doug Lewis: Something to say. We've been doing this for a good 30, 40 minutes at this point, and that's the best you could think. But it's okay. We'll get better, everybody. Matt will get better specifically. Um, on the next time. Thanks for thanks for joining, guys. Uh, tune in again next week. It'll be it'll be something different, something weird. So that'll be fun. We'll see where that goes. Now we have to deliver on that. Thanks for joining, guys.

Emily Madere: Bye bye bye.