BILL is cornerstone of Redmond Accounting’s continued success

Redmond Accounting Inc. believes technology is key to keeping businesses in check. The firm helps its clients optimize business infrastructure and ensure success, offering cloud bookkeeping, payroll and accounting, virtual controller and fractional CFO services, and software setup and support.

This successful approach has drawn notice not only from small and midsized businesses but also accounting firms. According to founder and CEO Laura Redmond, “Other accounting firms have noticed and are having us teach them how to implement the same processes with their clients.” 

As cloud, automation, and AI adoption have accelerated, so has Redmond Accounting’s business. Redmond says one of the keys to their success was the early embrace of a paperless practice, realizing that the efficiency and cost-effectiveness gains would position the firm for growth. With strong capabilities that streamline back-office operations, automate invoice entry and support approval and payment workflows, BILL has been fundamental to the firm’s success.

Offering client accounting services, the firm acts as the accounting department for dozens of companies performing the roles of Controller and CFO. It also acts as a strategic advisor in a consulting capacity, setting up accounting technology infrastructures for the growing number of companies looking to outsource and optimize their back-office processes. As industry thought leaders, Redmond Accounting’s expertise includes making technology decisions and implementing innovative business processes, internal controls, and paperless workflows.

“We have been using BILL for our firm and for our clients for over 15 years. The success of our clients and our company depends on it,” said Laura Redmond, Founder of Redmond Accounting Inc. “BILL enables us to operate as very efficient accounting departments for our clients while providing them with peace-of-mind that their transactions are safe and secure. In addition to being able to pass on cost savings and efficiencies to our clients, our embrace of BILL and a paperless practice means internal controls and no manual checks for our clients, reducing concerns around fraud.”

Securing AP with BILL

Redmond Accounting offers different levels of service to meet their clients’ unique needs, all while saving them time and money. The firm relies on features like date-stamped approvals to provide internal safeguards and expedited payment options with tracking, fast international payments, and remote access. 

The firm also sets up approval queues with multi-approval levels which allow executives to review and approve invoices in a matter of minutes. All of this transaction history is stored in BILL, and can be accessed as needed, drastically reducing the time spent on filing and retrieving information. 

“We store all of the client’s bills and vendor W-9s in BILL, and can easily access their historical information,” explains Redmond.

Even if a client insists on paper checks, Redmond notes that BILL adds additional security measures to help protect clients’ AP.  

“We advise clients about fraud risk and the importance of electronic payments,” Redmond said. “Even if a client insists on sending payments via paper checks, they’re better off using BILL. BILL offers positive pay on every paper check. In addition, each paper check sent by BILL is sent on a client’s behalf with BILL’s bank account number on it, not your client’s, thereby protecting your client’s bank account information. I’ve witnessed fraud with clients before they were using BILL. And I’ve witnessed fraud attempts with clients who were using BILL, in particular a large multi-state, multi-check fraudulent payments case amounting to hundreds of thousands of dollars. The lead detective looked across the table at me and said, ‘The reason your client did not lose a penny was solely because they were using BILL.’ Information like this is important for your clients to know. It sets the stage for why they may want to use this technology.”

Unsung heroes

With somewhere in the region of 500 invoices a month to pay and with volume steadily increasing, Redmond recalls how long it used to take to print, tear, paper clip and deliver invoices to clients in the past. “I recall life before cloud accounting! Once we had gone through all of the manual steps of printing and compiling checks with invoices, we then had to mail a package to the client, wait for the client to route and approve everything, and then send it back to us. It was a very labor-intensive process and there were many instances when paperwork or checks went missing,” says Redmond. “The controls that BILL has in place are the unsung heroes for our firm!” Every step of the AP process is tracked and safeguarded, and BILL accounts come with fraud protection, which gives Redmond peace of mind. “BILL definitely saves our firm and clients time but even if it took a little longer, I would still use it. It is that cool! It really is the cornerstone of our business.”