With over 30 years of experience in taxation and accounting management, Eric Cirulis, CEO of Lark Business Advisory, has always been more interested in people than spreadsheets. His goal was to prioritise client care for his firm’s 400 clients and streamline operations. 

Eric also wanted the freedom to work from anywhere, mainly as he often traveled interstate to visit clients. Unfortunately, Lark's previous setup — a server-based, legacy system — didn't support his vision. 

Lark Business Advisory previously operated on a server with old technology, which Eric describes as outdated and cumbersome.

"A lot of it was very slow, clunky, and inefficient. But it was stuff that we'd used for many years, and it had reached, in my view, its practical use by date," he remarks. 

Because the systems weren't cloud-based, Eric and his team had to be in the office to access critical data and complete their work. This issue was even more pronounced when Eric had to travel for business. 

According to Eric, the firm's previous engagement letter process was just as clunky, requiring several steps. The team also lacked visibility on the status of these letters; there was no way of knowing if the client received or viewed the engagement letters. 

Another pain point? Payment collection. Signing the engagement letter and collecting fees for the proposal used to be two separate tasks, which further prolonged the client's journey.

Lark's previous system left much to be desired in the billing and payments department. They had to send invoices and reminders manually, which took time away from high-level business activities. 

Then, when it came to remitting payments, clients typically printed Lark's invoices and paid by EFT, which could take a couple of weeks.

Lark Business Advisory transitioned to Ignition in 2019 to manage client engagements, billing and payments, and never looked back. For Eric, this was a total game changer, saying that "the transition was magic."  

Cumbersome tools no longer hindered Eric and his team. With Ignition, they could access all the data they needed from one cloud-based, central platform and work from anywhere. 

These benefits allowed them to devote more energy to serving their clients. 

This shift meant they had more satisfied clients, which ultimately led to higher revenues. In fact, Lark had its largest revenue growth—20.9%—shortly after switching to Ignition because the platform freed up their time to deliver top-notch work and prioritise client services. 

Ignition also streamlined proposals, client engagement, and onboarding. Whereas the previous system required Lark Business Advisory to navigate multiple steps and documents, Ignition enabled clients to view the documents, sign them, and pay the necessary fees, all within the same interface.

"Also, both parties have a signed soft copy on file, significantly reducing processing and filing time," he adds. 

Eric and his team now have better visibility into the status of their engagement letters and payments. 

"Ignition records when a client has looked at their fee proposal and sends an email when the proposal has been accepted. This is great for checking if a client has viewed their proposal," shares Eric.

He continues, "It is very satisfying reviewing the 'Fee Proposal Accepted' email, which means payment has been made and is on the way!"

Ignition reduced the formerly time-consuming and specialised invoicing process by at least half, making it much more efficient.

Anyone qualified could now issue an invoice, and reminders could be sent automatically, which resulted in even more time savings. In terms of MRR, billing was automatic, often a matter of simply editing and re-issuing a previous invoice.

Ignition also dramatically reduced Lark's collection cycle. 

Automating collection reminders with Ignition kept Lark's debtor days low without the need for staff intervention. "I love it. After a few days unanswered, it resends the proposal. Believe me, it works."