The Risk Management Association
The Risk Management Association is considered the premier association for risk management professionals in the Australian financial services community.
Reflecting the growing professional development needs of their members, they aim to attract new members to the community by extending the range of events on offer, establishing special interest forums and bringing a wider range of resources to their membership.
But when it comes to accounting administration, they leave that to the professionals.
Accounting pain points
Before partnering with True Accounting, RMA had a number of financial pain points that needed attention, such as
– preparation of financial documentation that was of a high enough standard for audit
– understanding their tax and reporting obligations, and
– limited access to skilled finance professionals.
Executive Director Richard Gilbert explains the motivation for outsourcing RMA’s accounting.
A considered decision to outsource their accounting services
“I came into RMA with True Accounting already managing our finances. It is not our core business to do accounting administration so it is brilliant having a service like AFG.”
Working with not for profits and associations has given True Accounting an unmatched skill set.
They understand the governance and regulatory requirements unique to the sector.
“Outsourcing is a highly considered decision but AFG made the decision easy. Our accounting and bookkeeping can be done considerably cheaper through this model, and at a much higher quality, than in-house. I have over 20 years of experience in the not for profit space, and working with AFG is fantastic,” says Richard.
The right skills
“AFG has great people working on all of our day to day processes,” explains Richard.
“The staff are of a high calibre and whenever a problem does arise (which is rare) there are quality supervisors managing the resolution.”
“AFG has fantastic leadership and Kirsten has done wonders with the organisation.”
Richard appreciates that, along with their friendly nature, the team at AFG are technically skilled, too.
“AFG has a great hold on new accounting software and they administer Xero very well. With AFG, we have had five clean and seamless audits. We trust that when AFG is working on our finances, that they will be done well.”
Going the extra mile to resolve issues
“Neil Hu has been a constant problem solver for us. He has resolved problems with banking signatories and invoice payment through research and digging.
He is always willing to share financial intelligence with me and he is methodical and diligent when it comes to making payments and picking up repeats and mistakes. Plus – he loves the round ball game too so we always sneak some soccer chat into our conversations about money!”
Rebuilding trust
With the Royal Commission underway, rebuilding trust with the big banks and focussing on risk management is front and centre for RMA for the immediate future.
They also are wanting to focus on “ensuring that our members have access to professional and high-quality development opportunities.”
And they’ll be leaving the accounting administration to the pros…
“Overall, we are more than happy with True Accounting’s services.
The management and staff offer comprehensive and high-quality accounting services with a smile.”