How City Golf Saved $100K in Finance Costs with Automation
Situated in the heart of Toowoomba, Queensland, City Golf Club is a premier golfing destination renowned for its 18-hole championship course, which has hosted the prestigious Queensland PGA Championship. The course offers an enjoyable experience for golfers of all skill levels. Beyond golf, the club boasts a variety of amenities, including a mini golf course, driving range, multiple dining options, and a motel, making it a comprehensive leisure venue for both members and visitors. With its rich history and commitment to excellence, City Golf Club continues to be a beloved institution in the Toowoomba community.
However, the biggest challenge for City Golf Club was that its finance function had grown organically over time, leading to fragmented processes and inefficiencies. As a result, tasks like invoice processing and reporting were more time-consuming and prone to errors, limiting the finance team’s ability to support the club’s growth. To address this, the club sought an AP automation solution that could streamline these processes and work smoothly within a tech stack for cohesive finance operations.
Missing the Fairway with Outdated Processes
Paul Stephenson, City Golf Club's virtual CFO, oversees the club’s financial performance, focusing on timeliness and consistency across all finance processes. He believes that AP teams could fall behind without an effective automation solution.
"It’s not just about handling the day-to-day accounts payable and approval processes, but also the back-end work like reconciling statements. For your AP person, 50% of their week can disappear just keeping on top of these tasks."
Paul shared that when City Golf's management had an appetite for change and a focus on streamlining and efficiencies, their goal was to implement a tech stack that generated revenue. They wanted to streamline and utilise Xero functionality in ways that most people don’t.
"You review the paper process and take the team on the journey. That way, you and your team can focus on the business, and the software providers can think about integrating better, more AI-efficient products into their software.''
Paul also explained that they evaluated different solutions, prioritising the selection of one that genuinely reduced manual work rather than adding another layer of complexity.
"The automation software we tried before used to be appealing, but it hasn’t developed or grown the way Lightyear has. It really doesn’t handle the complexities of hospitality. The key benefit of Lightyear is that it was developed by hospitality people, for hospitality. That’s why Lightyear is the solution we chose."
Any business, especially clubs, that doesn’t take advantage of what’s available in the marketplace specifically developed for hospitality, is doing themselves a disservice.
100% Output with 75% Less AP Effort
Paul explained how Lightyear handles the full spectrum of City Golf’s finance processes, including purchase orders, statement reconciliations, and inventory uploads to the point of sale, eliminating the need for manual input. Its intuitive design makes it easy to use, and staff appreciate its user-friendly interface.
"I was speaking with a lady today, and she said, ‘Every time I open Lightyear, I get excited because it’s so easy to use.’ She’s from the accounting world, so she understands why this product is so amazing."
But that was just the beginning. Paul noted that beyond invoice entry, there were other challenges, such as filing invoices, managing archive folders full of paper, and handling the ongoing printing requirements. With Lightyear, however, all of this is automatically stored in Xero, removing the need for manual filing and paper-based processes.
"Previously, half of the week was spent on back-end AP activities. Now, we don’t have to do any of it. The time saved is incredible because there is no printing of paper or manual statement reconciliations, and that’s why you save around 75% of your accounts payable workload."
Paul shared that once the team became familiar with the changes, everyone saw Lightyear’s value, often saying they wished they had adopted it sooner.
"Everyone who uses Lightyear has their own reasons for loving it. From an accounts payable perspective, they love it because everything is done for them when the invoice arrives. For approvers, they love that they can approve from their phone, on the fly, at home, wherever they like. The financial controller and finance manager love it because they can rely on the accuracy and consistency of the information pushed into Xero."
For City Golf, the process is now far more straightforward since everything is stamped, automated, and ready to go within seconds.
Teeing Up the Winning Tech Stack
"When you adopt a proper tech stack, it’s functional, fluid, and fast. The outcome is lower costs, prompt information, and effective decision-making. It ensures that the information flowing into the accounting system and the profit, loss, and balance sheet reports is accurate. Without it, we’re stepping back into times gone by, missing the chance to take advantage of modern tools."
Paul elaborated that Lightyear integrates well with both Xero and Senpos, similar to other tools like Fathom and Wirely. This creates a tech stack environment that clubs can implement and then essentially “set and forget,” receiving accurate and reliable information in the format they need for effective decision-making.
"Integrating an effective point of sale system like Senpos with Lightyear ensures information flows seamlessly between systems, avoiding duplicate processes and manual data entry, and improving efficiency."
He added that introducing Fathom into club operations was a turning point for them.
"The beauty of Fathom is that it produces professional reports quickly and effortlessly. You can customise them for specific managers and generate what they need, when they need it. Since introducing Fathom into club operations, the results have been exceptional. Many people don’t realise just how powerful it can be as a management reporting tool."
Paul further highlighted that a strong tech stack helps prevent potential losses in areas such as inventory, while also reducing printing, storage, and other overhead expenses.
"It’s really important to jump on board and introduce these solutions to their team."
Previously, half of the week was spent on back-end AP activities. Now, we don’t have to do any of it.
$100K Savings in Finance Department
‘'With Lightyear, you go from running two people entering invoices to down to 1/4 of that. So, you're running 25% of what you had before for a large organisation like City Golf.''
Paul added that having an automated solution like Lightyear within a tech stack doesn’t just lighten the workload, it also delivers significant savings on overheads, especially labour costs.
"I would say you save yourself $100,000 a year in finance department wages just by taking on one product like Lightyear."
When asked what advice Paul would give other finance leaders looking at Lightyear for AP automation, he said:
"I would say if you’re not implementing software like Lightyear, then you’re not doing your clients any favours. As a finance leader, you need this arrow in your quiver. Otherwise, you’re leaving clients high and dry with outdated processes."
See how Lightyear can help you reduce AP costs
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