With 3,300 employees, each with their own way of handling cash, the situation was prone to errors. Fortunately, HVO-Querido got used to Elari within a week. At first, they tried to find a solution using a spreadsheet they developed themselves. When this proved too labor-intensive and error-prone, they turned to Elari. The control options for both the financial department and team leaders were the reason for a unanimous “go” for Elari.
3,300 employees, 70 cash funds, 50 locations
“A situation like that is simply prone to errors. My manager pointed that out early on,” says Gerard Emmens, a financial administration employee at HVO-Querido. “On top of that, manually transferring the cash books created unnecessary extra work. That’s why we made an immediate decision: we’re going to get started on this.”
Spreadsheets and AccountView
“We started with internal options, such as a custom-developed spreadsheet for AccountView. But this turned out to be too labor-intensive.” When HVO-Querido couldn’t figure it out on their own, they turned to the consulting firm AAG. “We explained that we were looking for a user-friendly system to securely manage our cash and bank ledgers. Elari was their first recommendation.”
Together with his manager, a direct colleague from the financial administration department, an administrator, and three site staff members, Gerard Emmens reviewed the program. “The working group then gave the green light, because it was immediately clear that the system would not only provide better management capabilities for us in financial administration but also for the team leaders.”
A clear procedure
Approval was followed by implementation. “A clear schedule had been drawn up. It was transparent what information we needed to provide to ensure the process went as smoothly as possible. It was also clear what we could expect in return. Thanks in part to that good communication, everything went smoothly.”
As is often the case when introducing a new system, employees were initially quite hesitant. “A new program is always intimidating at first, but as soon as they started working in it, everyone was quickly on board. I myself got the hang of it within a week. And even a team manager who’s usually a bit conservative about new programs was, at one point, wildly enthusiastic. Moments like that are truly a victory.”
“By using less cash, we’re keeping risks under control. But we knew that going in.”
Charles Stoelman, Financial Administration Team Leader at HVO-Querido
Cash or card?
HVO-Querido has now been working with Elari for years. They have a structured approach to this. “We handle small expenses for clients in cash, because many of our clients aren’t comfortable using digital payment methods. On the other hand, there are business-related expenses. We handle those with prepaid cards, unless it’s a very large expense. In that case, it’s handled through procurement.”
The way expenses are recorded has also changed. “My department’s role has shifted from data entry to review. Site staff record cash expenditures in the digital cash book, and we review them. For our digital expenditures, we retrieve a file from our ABN AMRO environment and import it into Elari. The transactions are automatically posted directly to the correct card ledger. They are then forwarded to site staff so they can itemize the expenses.”
Goal achieved?
Now that HVO-Querido has been using Elari for three years, it’s time to reflect on the objective. How did they achieve it? “We now have continuous insight into our cash funds and cash on hand. This means we can intervene at any given moment and don’t have to realize after the fact that the damage has already been done.” As a manager, Charles Stoelman has something to add. “Using less cash is a safer way of working. So I’d say that Elari provides the risk management we were looking for. But we knew that going in.”
