STASH's accounting team was closing quickly, but their flux analysis was falling short. Now, with Numeric's data capabilities and AI tools, they're delivering CFO-ready insights and running flux with ease on nearly all of their accounts.
If you’re looking to build a portfolio without feeling like you need a crystal ball, STASH is a great place to start. Designed to make investing easy and accessible, STASH offers an all-in-one banking and investing solution for newcomers to the space.
While STASH guides its customers in managing their funds wisely, Director of Accounting Austin Fusco felt similarly that the accounting team could improve how they shared financial insights internally. With a new CFO coming aboard, he saw an opportunity to impress by elevating their variance analyses and reporting. That’s when Numeric entered the picture.
Before: A Fast Close — But A Lackluster Flux
STASH’s accounting team already ran a tight ship. Fusco, alongside Accounting Manager Qiaoying Guo, and Senior Associate Accountant Neel Attri, used a set of tools to streamline workflows, assign tasks, and maintain an organized close process.
Getting to flux analysis, however, was a different story.
Limited to only a few key accounts and constrained by time needed to finish other areas of the close, conducting flux wasn’t a priority. As Fusco put it,
“Flux reporting was really a bit of an afterthought. We did it some months, didn’t do it others, and only really focused on the accounts with dramatic changes.”
Fusco realized the team’s biggest opportunity for improvement was in delivering more robust month-end reporting. So, he began exploring solutions to make that happen.
Solving the Data Problem: Why Numeric Stood Out to STASH
STASH was already familiar with close software, using an existing close management product to close their books by a solid BD10.
However, during an initial demo with Numeric, the team saw potential for solving their flux challenges through its data capabilities and AI tools.
Numeric’s deep integration with Netsuite allowed transaction-level drill downs and data pivoting within the platform. Ad hoc reporting also seemed like a major plus—team members can easily generate custom reports: ex. tracking vendor payments over a given period, including how much was paid and to whom.
Immediately, Fusco saw key differences:
“Numeric had features that other software didn’t. The data capabilities and AI tools set it apart, instead of feeling more like a checklist and reconciliation tool. ”
The STASH team swiftly transferred over to Numeric, completing setup within two weeks. Senior Associate Accountant Neel Attri can attest to their onboarding ease:
[Onboarding] was pretty quick — nothing comes to mind regarding any issues. Even when we eventually had issues, we would flag them periodically in our channel with the Numeric solutions team and they would hop onto the concern immediately.
Now, CFO Ready Reporting and Flux Analysis
Since implementing Numeric, STASH has expanded flux analysis to cover 90-100% of accounts, up from about 50%. “It’s very rare now that we miss something,” Qiaoying Guo, STASH Accounting Manager, noted.
With the arrival of the new CFO, these changes couldn’t have come at a better time — Numeric’s visibility and reporting have been crucial in providing clear line-of-sight for him and other stakeholders who require detailed financial insights.
Not only can the accounting team spin out reports that pivot expenses by vendor, department, time period, and more, but partners can cross-check insights themselves by pulling up the line items from any account.
Fusco attests:
“In my mind, flux has been the biggest improvement by far. It’s now used in reporting to our CFO, VP of Finance, and Controller monthly—something we couldn’t do effectively prior to Numeric.”
“Numeric provides granularity on what exactly to follow up on. We can easily flag, for example, exactly what’s changing in AWS and then ask a more pointed question to our engineering leaders versus asking ‘what’s happening with AWS and then having to go through five invoices and figure it out.”
And as for the team’s favorite Numeric features? Here’s what each member had to say:
- Fusco: “The data tools make it easy to pivot and drill down—features I’ve found much simpler than working directly in NetSuite.”
- Guo: “I like the visual layout and color-coding; it’s clear when things tie out or when variances exist.”
- Attri: “I appreciate being able to link and edit workpapers directly within the platform.”
With Numeric, STASH’s accounting team has evolved from just keeping a tight close process to becoming a key strategic partner within the company. “I think what really drove [our success] was moving more towards a data mindset and being able to leverage Numeric for more than just a checklist and reconciliation tool,” Fusco states.
Their tight ship of a close has caught some valuable tailwinds — improved visibility into their accounting data and analysis courtesy of Numeric’s powerful ERP integration — all poised to keep the team smoothly sailing ahead.
Want to round out your close with faster and fuller variance analyses? Schedule a conversation with our team here.
