Why SaaS Accounting Software Is the Linchpin for Growth

Leading your Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) company through the phases of growth toward IPO already comes with enough burdens. From marketing and sales to meeting goals to employee churn, accounting is likely the last thing on your mind. But no matter where you are in your journey to going public, having the right accounting software can be a game-changer for your progress. 

As you move through your four main phases of growth—with the ultimate aim of going public—you need three main things:

  • A firm grasp of the various financial metrics that are important at each stage
  • The right enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution 
  • An expert partner 

We explain why in our eBook How SaaS Organizations Can Thrive in Every Stage of Growth. Check it out to go in-depth on each of those three components. In the eBook, we walk through each of the four phases you’ll experience on your way to IPO. You’ll learn why:

The Early Stage Is All About Alignment

What are the internal processes that will keep you working as you move into later growth phases? What is holding you back? Do you have technology that supports your future endeavours? These are all questions you’ll be asking early on. In this phase, beware of manual spreadsheets. It’s an important time to consider automation because the earlier you implement the right technology, the better prepared you’ll be for scalability in the future.

Growth Is All About Proving Your Worth

In this phase, you need to demonstrate your company’s ability to adequately manage customer lifetime value (CLTV) and repeat and predict profitability. Managing different subscription models can make this tricky, but automating operations like accounts payable makes it a lot easier. Your SaaS business is drawing investor interest, and using powerful ERP systems like Sage Intacct helps you clearly report on metrics like churn, gross margin, cost of goods sold (COGS), and more. 

Late Stage Requires Granularity

Now, investors are looking at your nuts and bolts. They want to see real business intelligence and highly measurable, bulletproof financials. You cannot provide any of that without technology like Sage Intacct. The right ERP solution gives you the ability to drill down into your financials to understand why customers are unsubscribing or analyze gross margin, for example. You’ll get tools like Advanced Revenue Recognition and SaaS Intelligence, and you’ll be able to accurately report on cash and cash burn rate to optimize your financial performance.

IPO Means Now or Never for Automation

Going public means you’ll be receiving injections of capital (exciting!) while undergoing greater financial scrutiny (not so exciting). This is where automating accounting processes is essential to get audit-ready. You’ll need to prioritize compliance and factor in accounting for multicurrency or multilocation. You’ll also be more concerned with tracking year-over-year and month-over-month customers and revenue growth. 

Hit Your Growth Goals with The Answer Company

For nearly 30 years, we’ve been helping thousands of companies in all phases of growth streamline their accounting and financial operations. Hundreds of our clients are in the technology and SaaS spaces, and we have a pulse on your particular needs. Our experts have seen the tremendous transformational opportunities for SaaS companies that use Sage Intacct, and we offer superior customer service and complete transparency should you choose us as your implementation and support partner. 

We encourage you to download our eBook to dive further into what metrics you need to track and how to track them through each phase of growth. We are here to answer any questions, and we would be happy to show you a demo of how Sage Intacct can help. Get in touch with us directly here. 

Questions?