Consero founded in 2006, and from the very start, we wanted to focus on providing high-quality service to high-growth companies. We aimed at offering a superior alternative to a traditional in-house team that has to be built from scratch and then maintained continuously.

Upon careful evaluation, we have found the best model that works well with other technologies, including the Sage Intacct accounting software. The clear winner was Bill.com, and now, 12 years later, Consero is still using Bill.com as a core part of the software stack we offer.

We use it because mainly it:

• Scales with us
• Supports the expansion of services and clients

Bill.com has grown with our company and supported our Finance as a Service model. It has enabled us to create our SIMPL financial stack that uses Bill.com as a core component.

The uniqueness behind the Consero model

Consero is, at first glance, a standard Finance as a Service (FaaS) company. However, our company is unique because we offer a model that combines several integral parts of finance and accounting:

• Traditional CFO services
• Controller services
• Bookkeeping services
• Integrated software (SIMPL)

Our SIMPL software is a single cloud-based customer interface which our clients can use to:

• Interact with the finance team working for them
• View all the financial information about their company

Now, here is where Bill.com comes in. We’ve included it for accounts payable, and with it we can offer predictable service-based pricing that can scale up or down, all depending on the needs our client has at the moment. As their needs go up or down, so does the pricing.

But why did we use Bill.com specifically?

We already mentioned many of the reasons at the beginning of the article, but there’s more. Bill.com emerged as a clear leader of all the options we examined, but it became so not only because it can scale with us and support the needs of our clients, but also because it:

• Simplifies payments
• Works quickly and easily
• Offers flexibility and complete control over payments
• Synchronizes several integral processes
• Provides complete security

The list can go on, but let’s see how exactly does Consero use Bill.com in our model.

How Consero uses Bill.com

From the very start, Bill.com saves time, money, and resources for both our clients and us.

As we first assess a client, we conduct a detailed evaluation of their business and based on the results; we recommend specific processes and technologies which are ideal for the exact needs our client has and the industry they are in.

When the implementation commences, we add Bill.com to our SIMPL stack for our client’s accounting services and any accounts payable (AP). If the AP happens to be manual, then we automate it with Bill.com. It saves us both time and effort. The result is clear – we can turn over a bill in only 24 hours – which previously took the client weeks to achieve.

As for onboarding, once each of our clients gets onboard with Consero, we assign them our highly qualified implementation team. The team can then meet with the client consistently to make sure they have access to all of their systems and books. They also start training them on the SIMPL platform, as well as Bill.com. The entire process lasts for a maximum of 30 days, and that’s also the promise we give to each of our clients. The result is that our clients fall in love with:

• The speed of Bill.com
• The fact that they can now pay bills either online or through a mobile app

In the end, Bill.com offers the possibility for all authorized auditors to gain access to the system and perform an audit. That’s much more efficient than any other model, especially the traditional one involving paper files. Auditors are allowed read-only access to the files to confirm cutoff dates for bills paid, and they are also entitled to look at invoices of payments. That enables them to see if there’s an alignment with the policy. They can do all of this without having to go to the user to confirm things because:

• They have access to everything they need and nothing more
• All of it is in one place for their convenience

The perspective of the client

The best way to describe how efficient our model is is to offer you the view of one of our clients – the Association of Latino Professionals for America (ALPFA).

ALPFA is a vast, nationwide organization that brings together over 90,000 students and professional members. It has 46 local chapters in total.

Their story with us started when they realized that they were having several problems which accumulated over time. These problems included:

• Lack of a strategic CFO
• Long-term debt
• Lack of proper controls
• Inability to keep up with all vendor payments
• Recurring errors in accounting

Once they realized they have a vast array of issues, their board voted to outsource their accounting. Shortly after they opted for the services, we at Consero provide.

After a while, the result of their cooperation with us was very positive.

• They reduced their debt by 80%
• They created real-time capabilities for cash forecast
• Several improvements in the processes they use were built
• And in the end, they increased their revenue

But what was the role of Bill.com in achieving these results? What did Consero’s model through Bill.com provide for ALPFA?

• Faster payments
• Faster expense reimbursements (within 30 to 40 days)
• Members getting refunds in no more than two weeks
• A convenient system for members that gets their money transferred quickly to their bank accounts
• Less work for chapter leaders
• Improvements in controls and processes through the robust SIMPL system
• Every AP-related activity tracked within the system
• Less expensive audits

They achieved many improvements because they allowed Consero to be their trusted and strategic advisor. We gave them a shared services model even though they have a decentralized organization. Now they have everything they need in one system with a single approval chain for every local chapter they have.