LGM Financial Services is an industry-leading F&I provider delivering protection products designed to help dealerships and automotive manufacturers generate loyalty and retention with consumers. The progressive company’s mission is to “revolutionize the consumer automotive experience through technology, transparency, and sustainability.”

It’s fitting that the company brought the same attributes to its financial management solution when it migrated to Sage Intacct in partnership with The Answer Company.

Financial Services Software Features

LGM Financial Services is one of Canada’s leaders in finance and insurance (F&I). They help some of the world’s largest automotive manufacturers drive consumer loyalty by delivering an exceptional consumer experience and industry-leading protection products. Everything LGM does is driven by its Social Purpose: To Accelerate Responsible Mobility for All. They believe in fair and transparent practices, greener, more accessible mobility, and a more sustainable future for people and the planet.

Steering a New Direction

For years, the company relied on Microsoft Dynamics GP (formerly Great Plains). Still, it recently sought to replace the legacy application with a modern, cloud-based ERP to support its transition to a more strategic finance department. “GP was at the end of its useful life,” recalls Gaylyn Lawton, CFO at LGM Financial Services. “We joked that whenever we logged in, it crashed—and that’s not far from the truth.”

LGM had specific goals for its new ERP application. “We wanted to modernize our financial management platform to allow the finance department to be a more strategic partner in the business,” explains Gaylyn. “To achieve that, we needed to incorporate automated workflows to reduce manual and duplicate data entry tasks. And as a result of that, we wanted to provide more accurate and timely financial insights and information to internal and external stakeholders.”

  • 50%

    reduction in time to reconcile

  • 2

    custom apps developed

The Solution

Accelerating progress

Working with its technology partner, The Answer Company, LGM identified Sage Intacct as its ideal next-generation solution. As a cloud-native application, Sage Intacct’s modern architecture supports the company’s strategic initiatives and provides a solid platform for long-term growth.

Automation on Autopilot

For example, LGM has a customized proprietary receivables application to manage contract sales, called the LGM Hub. Using Sage Intacct’s Accounting API, the skilled development team at The Answer Company integrated the application with Sage Intacct. “This saves us tremendous time and manual data entry,” explains Gaylyn. “Previously, we had to download data, then copy and paste it, then manually review and adjust the data as there were often import errors.”

High-Speed Efficiencies

In addition to working with LGM to implement the custom integration, The Answer Company developed a custom application, dubbed Cheque Writer, to solve a pressing challenge for the company. “Many of our customers continue to prefer payment by cheque rather than electronic funds transfer, so we print an enormous number of paper cheques,” Gaylyn explains. “The customization automates the cheque printing process and has shortened the cycle from weeks to just three days.”

Partner Helps Map the Course
LGM has nothing but praise for The Answer Company. “They provided us with great support and advice throughout the implementation,” Gaylyn says. “They continue to be responsive to our needs and questions, keeping the momentum going and helping us get the maximum value out of the solution.”
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The Results

Automation Changes the Game

Due to the custom connector built by The Answer Company, the LGM Hub integrates seamlessly with Sage Intacct, saving valuable time and ensuring accuracy throughout the receivables cycle. Gaylyn says, “The time savings allow us to identify problems early and give us the time—and the data—to solve them.”

LGM is taking AR automation a step further, using Sage Intacct Collections to streamline the collections and dunning processes, shortening its cash cycle, increasing accuracy, and improving customer satisfaction. “This all used to be a manual process,” notes Gaylyn. “And now it’s one more area we’ve automated.”

Custom Cheque Writer App Cuts Reconciling Time

With nearly 75 bank accounts, monthly bank reconciliation tasks used to take the finance team three weeks to complete. “The auto-matching function in Sage Intacct has helped us cut the reconciliation time by 50%,” Gaylyn says. “And we expect further time savings going forward.”

As CFO, Gaylyn appreciates that monthly financial reporting is both faster and easier. “Our entire team loves the reporting tools within Sage Intacct— especially the drill-down functionality. Rather than looking for data and compiling reports, we can spend more time analyzing that data.”

Cloud-Native and Future-Proofed

As the company progresses with future plans, Gaylyn is confident they have the insights and information to make smart, quick, informed decisions. “With the insight gained through Sage Intacct, we can better evaluate options and alternatives for moving the business forward,” she concludes. “We can look at different aspects of the business, develop insights into product lines, and generate various what-if financial scenarios to see how different strategies may contribute to the company’s success. We’re excited about the company’s future and are confident in our ability to handle whatever comes our way.”