Santa Catalina Island Company Streamlines
Budgeting with Sage PFW Premier Budgeting
Santa Catalina Island is part of the Channel Islands off California’s southern coast, just 22
miles from Los Angeles. About 3,500 people call the 22-mile long island home, and one
million more visit the picturesque location every year. Santa Catalina Island Company is
host to many of those visitors. Its hotels, restaurants, golf course, Casino Ballroom, and
tour operations lure tourists of every age and every nationality. The company has roots on
the island that go back more than 100 years, and it is committed to preserving the unique
qualities of the island. With three separate companies and 58 lines of business, Santa
Catalina Island Company has a busy accounting office that requires a robust budgeting
tool—that tool is Sage PFW Premier Budgeting.
Move Beyond Spreadsheets
Just four years ago, Santa Catalina Island Company tackled its budget cycle as the majority
of small and medium-sized businesses do—using spreadsheets. While spreadsheets
handle the formulas needed for budgeting, they were inadequate to meet Santa Catalina
Island Company’s complex budgeting requirements. Nancy Delehant, director of strategic
information for the company, explains. “If we never had to make a change to our budget or
consolidate budget data across departments or companies, I suppose Excel would work
just fine. But we do make changes and do require consolidation, so we needed a tool better
suited for the job.”
Because Santa Catalina Island Company was already using Sage PFW ERP, it was logical to add
the Sage PFW Premier Budgeting module. “We looked at other solutions, but Premier Budgeting
is very powerful, very flexible, and integrates directly with our General Ledger module. The
interface is very similar to a spreadsheet, so it was easy for us to master,” says Delehant.
“The tree view in Premier Budgeting
makes it easy to see the structure of the entire company. I can
click and open any of the budgets easily.”
Share Budget-Driving Information
Before Premier Budgeting, Delehant would distribute a spreadsheet to each department
head. After completing the budget, Delehant imported the data into Sage PFW, worked to
make it balance, and hoped for no changes. As the inevitable changes occurred, though,
Delehant had to back out the previous information, update the spreadsheet, and perform the
import again. “It was a very laborious process,” she recalls.
Now, Delehant distributes a neatly organized form generated by Premier Budgeting that
shows last year’s budget figures. To help department heads develop accurate, meaningful budgets, the form also includes budget-driving information
such as the average daily room rate, average pay rates, and
passenger counts on the island ferry.
The department heads annotate the document with their
updates to the forecast and then return it to Delehant. “I often
enter the data while they wait and hand them a printed budget
right away,” she says. “Before Premier Budgeting it was weeks
before we could get their budgets back to them.”
When budget changes come in throughout the quarter, Delehant
simply updates the number, and the budget recalculates and
updates the general ledger automatically.
Provide Secure Access
When the company was using spreadsheets, Delehant felt she
had to check every number, every time, because it was possible
that formulas had been changed. In Premier Budgeting, the
formulas do not change; only the results do.
“I run spot checks for accuracy, and it’s correct every time,” she
says. “We’ve configured the module’s security so that authorized
users can see and print their department’s budgets but cannot
change the underlying formulas.”
Organize and Consolidate
With three corporate entities and 58 lines of business, Santa
Catalina Island Company’s budget is large and complex, yet
Premier Budgeting allows management to view and interact with
the budget in straightforward, meaningful ways.
“Before I had folders on my computer for each department
with the spreadsheets inside. I would have to open up each
one individually to review it. The tree view in Premier Budgeting
makes it easy to see the structure of the entire company. I can
click and open any of the budgets easily,” Delehant explains.
Generating a consolidated budget across the three companies
used to involve adding them all together manually. “It took us
weeks to merge the data together and compile the budget,”
Delehant says. “Now we can generate a consolidated budget in a
few hours.”
Streamline a Vital Process
Sage PFW Premier Budgeting streamlines and improves the
budget process for Santa Catalina Island Company. “Our budgets
are our road maps—they help define a clear direction for the
company,” explains Delehant. “Department heads use them as
an indicator of what they can spend and what their goals are.
Management uses them to project cash flow for the coming
months and year ahead.”
Santa Catalina Island Company’s budget cycle used to begin in
September and wrap up in December. Thanks to the streamlined
functionality Premier Budgeting delivers, the company now starts
in October and is done by Thanksgiving. “Premier Budgeting has
made such a difference in our budget process. It’s shaved two full
months off the cycle,” concludes Delehant.
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