A stronger foundation for a complex mission

Client background

Housing Partnership Network (HPN) is a national not-for-profit that supports member organizations working to

expand affordable housing across the country. Its network includes property owners, developers, and financing organizations and its work spans membership activity, grants and lending-related operations. HPN also oversees multiple entities, including a major lending arm, which adds financial and operational complexity to an already important mission.

With roughly 50 to 55 employees and a lean finance team of just three, HPN needs systems that help the team move quickly, stay organized and keep pace with a growing, multi-entity operation.

The business challenge

Before moving to Sage Intacct, HPN ran on Abila MIP. The team had outgrown it. Reporting was difficult, integrations were limited and too much work happened outside the system in spreadsheets.

For HPN’s accounting team, that was one of the biggest frustrations. “There was just so much happening in Excel,” the Director of Finance says. “It took too much effort to get information out and too much of the work lived outside the system.”

This slowed the finance team down. Administrative allocations were handled manually, reporting took more effort than it should have, the monthly close took longer and processes were harder to standardize. Since the organization manages multiple entities, grants, membership revenue and lending activity, the old setup left too much room for workarounds.

HPN’s Controller viewed the issue from a broader operational perspective. The team had the information it needed, but getting to it took too much effort and the level of detail was not always where it needed to be. In a complex not-for-profit environment, with a small team, that kind of friction adds up fast. “We had the information, but it wasn’t as immediate and we didn’t always have the level of detail we needed.”

The team wanted a system that could better support allocations, inter-entity accounting, grant tracking and reporting, while also being easier to navigate and more useful to people across the organization.

Strategy and solution

In 2021, HPN teamed up with Baker Tilly to acquire, implement and support their selection of Sage Intacct. By embracing a collaborative strategy, Baker Tilly demonstrated their dedication to working in close alliance with HPN, providing guidance and support every step of the way during their digital transformation journey.

That alliance quickly translated into practical improvements across daytoday finance operations. One clear example is administrative allocations. HPN previously managed this work manually in Excel. Baker Tilly helped develop the allocation calculation in Sage Intacct, transforming a process that used to take half a day or sometimes a full day into one that now completes in seconds. “We used to do that allocation by hand in Excel,” Director of Finance says. “Now it happens in seconds. That alone is a huge improvement.”

Baker Tilly also helps HPN build out reporting groups that the team continues to use each month. Now, instead of spending so much time assembling numbers, the team can spend more time reviewing, understanding and acting on them. “We can get information out faster now,” they add. “It frees up time and gets us out of spreadsheet work.”

HPN also uses Sage Intacct to bring more structure to purchasing and expense management. The purchasing module helps the organization track spending against budget, strengthen accountability and maintain a clearer audit trail. Employees across the organization use the system for expense-related workflows and managers have better visibility into what is being spent and where. HPN also uses dimensions to track projects and grant-related activity more precisely, supporting both internal reporting and not-for-profit requirements.

The organization’s integrations are another important part of the story. HPN uses Workday Adaptive for budgeting and planning, giving its FP&A team access to more current financial data. It also connects Sage Intacct to Salesforce in a two-way integration tied to receivables and membership dues. Opportunities created in Salesforce sync into Sage Intacct for invoicing, and invoice details and payment information flow back into Salesforce. Baker Tilly helps HPN’s accounting and IT teams put that integration in place.

That connection removes another manual process. Once invoices are created, they are automatically sent with the invoice attached. What used to require extra handling now moves much more smoothly.

HPN also connects Sage Intacct to bank feeds and uses connected tools for time, expense and contract management, reducing uploads and manual handoffs that used to slow the team down.

For HPN’s Controller, Baker Tilly’s value shows up in both the day-to-day and the more technical work. “What I appreciate is the depth of their support. They can help with a straightforward question but they can also help build something more involved inside the system when we need it.”

As HPN adds entities and explores new initiatives, Sage Intacct’s multi-entity and consolidation capabilities make it easier for finance to support that growth.

Results

With Sage Intacct and Baker Tilly, HPN runs finance faster, with greater consistency and with less manual effort.

The administrative allocation process, once handled manually in Excel, now runs in seconds rather than taking half a day to a full day. Monthly close now takes about 10 days, down from roughly 13 to 15 days before. In this environment, efficiency is what makes the workload manageable.

The team also has stronger reporting, better process discipline and more visibility into spending and approvals. That makes it easier to stay on budget, support grant-related requirements and get useful information into the hands of the people who need it.

One of the biggest benefits is what the team gets back. “Now we have more time to review the data, analyze it and find the answers we need,” the Controller says.

The Director of Finance says Baker Tilly remains a dependable part of that equation. “Their support is really good. I use the help desk a lot and I usually hear back within 24 hours. And if it’s something bigger, they connect us with the right person who can help.”

For HPN, Sage Intacct and Baker Tilly give the finance team a stronger financial foundation for what comes next. With less manual work and greater visibility across the organization, the team is better positioned to support growth, accountability and the mission ahead.