Meet Float – a delightfully simple and award-winning cashflow management software that automates your clients cash forecasting saving them and you hours of time each month.
Founded in 2011 by CEO Colin Hewitt, Float has been at the cutting edge of cashflow forecasting and making Xero, Freeagent and Quickbooks users life simpler and more productive by helping businesses keep on top of their cash flow.
We managed to catch up with the Float team to ask them a few questions…
Tell us a little about yourself
FL: We’re based in Edinburgh with a team of 10 and we’ve been around since 2011. We now integrate with three accounting platforms: Xero, FreeAgent and QuickBooks Online.
Tell us a little about your tech firm and why you started it?
FL: Float is cash flow forecasting software for business owners, finance departments and business advisors. We integrate seamlessly with QuickBooks Online, FreeAgent and Xero to give you an easy-to-understand but powerful tool that provides an accurate, real-time view of your bank balance next week, next month, next year and beyond.
Colin Hewitt started Float after having run a digital agency and experienced the pain of trying to manage a cash flow spreadsheet. Realising that there had to be a better way, Colin started to build Float.
What are the main features of your tech services?
FL: Set budgets for expected cash – in Float, you can create budgets (placeholders) for cash you expect to pay or receive, even if there are no bills or invoices associated with them yet.
Giving you control – Float makes intelligent projections based on the due dates on your bills and invoices. You then have further control to manually update that data to better reflect what’s actually happening.
Always up-to-date – Float’s seamless integration with your accounting software means that your forecast will always be up-to-date.
Easily share your forecasts – Add your accountant, employees or investors as users to simply share your forecasts online. Or just export your forecast as a PDF and send it to them.
No number goes unexplained – With Float you can drill into the detail behind the numbers and make notes, meaning you’re never more than a click away from completely understanding your numbers.
What key benefits do you consider that your tech offers to people thinking about using it?
FL: Benefits for accountants and bookkeepers: We offer a partner programme that comes with a free account for your own practice, 40-80% off the cost of Float for clients, a dashboard to view all client companies and complementary client training.
Cash flow forecasts business owners can understand and use – Simple cash flow forecasting for small business owners, and you don’t have to be an accountant to use it.
Manage your short term cash flow – Float forecasts when cash will move in and out of your account based on data from your accounting software. You can now predict what your bank balance will be at any point in the future. Stop lying awake at night, and wrap yourself in bedsheets, not spreadsheets.
Forecast the longer term – Float helps you answer difficult questions about the future, such as ‘What will happen to my bank balance if sales increase/decline over the next 6 months?’ or ‘Should I buy or lease the new company car?’
Does your tech firm focus on any specific sectors or industries?
FL: Our users come from a wide variety of backgrounds, and tend to be either business owners or business advisors.
Client Testimonials
“Float is brilliantly simple. It gives a business owner the ability to easily predict cash flows and identify any problem areas. Its simplicity makes it easy to update and really usable as a day to day management tool.”
– Gail Bainbridge, Bainbridge Lewis
“By using Float I am now able to help my clients in a way that I simply wasn’t able to before. Float delivers pertinent cash flow information to my clients efficiently and effectively, using data sourced straight from Xero! It does exactly what I want – it provides an extra layer of insight for my clients in relation to their business operations.”
– Geoff Trabant, Easy Online Bookkeeping
“I am finding Float an excellent app for management of my clients’ goals and expectations. Many of them are going through a growth surge and the Float tool is working as a daily point of focus and for longer term planning.”
– Nick Houlbrooke, Houlbrooke Group
“Float is awesome, I previously used a spreadsheet for my cashflow forecasting which was high maintenance and inaccurate and since using Float I have never looked back. I don’t know how anyone can run their business without it!”
– Denny O’Halloran, Roofline
“Float helps us understand how much cash we have to reinvest into the business and make sure no one goes unpaid. It’s really helped us get a better understanding of where we’re headed.”
– Shane O’Connell, Summer of Dev
“Your accounting software helps you look at your business going backwards, Float lets you look at it into the future. It’s simple, and you don’t need to be an Excel master to run it.”
– Avery Dorland, Windigo Online
If you’re a financial advisor (cloud accountant, bookkeeper or virtual FD), read more about their partner program and available discounts at www.floatapp.com/partners
Check out float here;
www.floatapp.com
Twitter: @floatapp
