Mondial Cash Controller – Frequently Asked Questions
1. Introduction
What is Mondial Cash Controller?	It is cash forecasting software that provides accountants and senior managers with access to the information they need to make appropriate decisions regarding the management of the company’s cash resources on a day-to-day basis. Many accountants use formal budgeting and forecasting products to predict their medium- and longer-term cash requirements. However research shows that even though one in six accountants needs to reconcile, forecast and manage cash daily, and over half have at least a weekly requirement, 85% of accountants still use spreadsheets to undertake short-term, detailed cash planning.
Why is cash management so important?	It is well known that more businesses fail through lack of cash reserves than for any other reason. Most accountants will confirm that they face more problems related to running out of cash to meet daily operating requirements than they ever do about long-term profitability. Nevertheless, lack of available cash is a day-to-day reality for many businesses. By better understanding the company’s cash position the risks of failure are diminished. Even if cash is going to become a problem in the future, there will be plenty of notice, as well as good information to secure the necessary financing.
2. The Mondial Cash Controller solution
How does Mondial Cash Controller work?	Mondial Cash Controller collates key information from multiple systems, usually the accounting system and the bank, and sometimes the budgeting system, and uses this information with variables set up in Mondial Cash Controller to provide very accurate cash history and forecast views. The reports can be presented meaningfully at the detailed level for the accountant and at summary level for executives. The flexibility in Mondial Cash Controller allows the user to be very precise when forecasting when each future transaction will appear in the cashbook, at the bank and becoming ‘cleared funds’. By getting the detail right, the summary forecasts become far more accurate and meaningful. Additionally being able to accurately forecast both the cashbook AND the bank balance gives a much rounder view of the future than traditional forecasting methods that predict only the cashbook balances.
What actual modules are in Mondial Cash Controller?	Mondial Cash History This module allows you to view the exact cashbook and bank positions in summary or detail at any time, secure in the knowledge that the information is always up-to-date. In order to manage your cash resources effectively it is important that you understand your company’s cash position at any point in time. Mondial Bank Reconciliation This is a fully automated facility that matches cashbook transactions from your accounting system and bank transactions from the bank and presents you with a simple exception report. A reconciled position between the cashbook and bank statement is vital as a starting point for accurate forecasting. Mondial Cash Forecast This module allows you to accurately forecast the date that every transaction will appear in both the cashbook and at the bank. You can include transactions that have not yet appeared in the accounting system, and you can change the forecast cashbook or bank statement date of any transaction and see the effect on your overall future cash and bank balances. Mondial Currency Manager This facility allows you to view every account in any currency irrespective of the currency that the bank account is operated in. Each account can be viewed in its own currency, in the operating currency of the organization, or in any other currency required for reporting purposes.
3. Why Mondial Cash Controller is an improvement over existing systems
I use spreadsheets to produce forecasts. Why is Mondial Cash Controller better?	It is true that the flexibility of spreadsheets allows you to create forecasts from scratch and their excellent presentation facilities mean that they are widely accepted by accountants generally. However, spreadsheets are usually linked in to neither your accounting system nor the bank. Thus all of your data must be re-keyed if the process is to rely on 'real' data as the basis for accurate cash forecasting. Often you will simply not have time to do this and forecasting will often be done using manually entered balances and estimates. The ad-hoc nature of the spreadsheet approach, and because the preparation is a manual and time-consuming exercise, mean that in many instances cash forecasting and reporting is error prone and so undertaken less regularly than it should be. Mondial Cash Controller automatically uses the transactions from the accounting system and the bank. This means there is no re-keying, a much reduced chance of user error, and more time to focus on analysis rather than set up.
Doesn’t the underlying accounting system allow me to produce cash forecasts?	Yes, and while these forecasts are useful Mondial Cash Controller provides a different, more ‘overall’ perspective for cash forecasting purposes. Accounting systems typically provide details of all of the known transactions that affect cash going in and out of a business, usually held in the sales and purchase ledgers, and can provide summary and detailed forecasts of the timing of these transactions from the cashbook perspective. Firstly, Mondial Cash Controller allows you to perform ‘what-if’ analysis by adding any number of proposed transactions to these existing ones, so that you can see the incremental effect of a proposed project on your overall cashflow. This allows you to model cashflows to include transactions over and above those already recorded in the accounting system. Similarly you can add transactions that you know are definitely about to occur, such as payroll, or the sale of a fixed asset that may not be recorded in the accounting system ahead of time and are therefore not included in the accounting system’s own forecast. This makes the cash forecast more complete. You can temporarily or permanently change the forecast date of any outstanding payment or receipt to see what the effect would be on the company’s cash balance. This allows you to manipulate the forecast so that, for example, you only pay the invoices that you can afford to pay rather than those that you are due to pay. This is important when cash is tight. Another example is that the credit controller can change the predicted payment date of any sales invoice from the accounting ‘due’ date to a more realistic ‘promised’ date based on real world conversations with customers. This updates all forecast balances immediately and provides a more realistic overview of your cash position. The Mondial system takes into account that there are often timing differences between a payment being recorded in your cashbook and it appearing on the bank statement. This usually occurs with cheque payments that are in the mail and explains why the balance in the cashbook at a point in time is often different from the one at the bank. Mondial handles this by allowing you to forecast both the cashbook balance AND the bank balance. For every transaction – whether one from the accounting system or one you have added yourself - you can apply a simple set of rules that estimates the timing difference between the cashbook and bank statement entries. Most accounting systems are excellent for the recording of historical data, and provide fairly simple forecasting capabilities. They are not designed as a more complex data modeling and forecasting solution so Mondial Cash Controller benefits them by integrating tightly and providing this functionality while avoiding the need to re-key any data.
So why did I buy the cash management application from my existing accounting software supplier?	Remember that Mondial Cash Controller is predominantly a forecasting system that provides very high flexibility when producing views of the future. It is not a historic transaction processing system. The product includes a bank reconciliation application simply because in order to forecast both the cashbook and the bank accurately you need to have the reconciled position as a starting point. Mondial Cash Controller does not actually act as your cashbook like the cash management application in your accounting system does. You cannot post transactions through Mondial Cash Controller, even the outstanding differences that appear as part of the bank reconciliation. The distinction is clear. The cash management piece of your accounting system is the repository in which all historic cashbook transactions are recorded. Mondial Cash Controller uses that historic information together with outstanding sales and purchase ledger information, and information from the bank, as the basis for producing flexible views of the future to help you manage your resources better. The two products are complementary, not competitive.
I’ve thought about using a budgeting product? Would that do the same thing as Mondial Cash Controller?	No. The two products are different and can actually be complementary to each other. Many budgeting products are excellent for producing periodic, high-level budgets that can be translated into cash forecasts by specifying the timing differences that occur between the each budgeted event occurring and it becoming a cash transaction. This is fine for medium- to longer-term high-level planning where you are dealing with total numbers rather than individual transactions. However, day-to-day cash control and forecasting is all about actual, ‘to-the-penny’ numbers. Budgeting products typically do not work with the actual transactions – individual purchase and sales invoices for example – that allow you to work out what the exact bank balance is likely to be at any point in time. Mondial Cash Controller takes every individual transaction from the accounting system and forecasts when each one will become an actual cashbook transaction, and an actual bank statement transaction. As it also starts from a reconciled position between the cashbook and the bank statement you can work out to the penny what your cashbook and bank statement balances should be at any point in time. Thus, while budgeting products are great for higher-level, more periodic cash planning, Mondial Cash Controller is great for day-by-day, transaction-by-transaction management of cash resources. The two products are complementary, not competitive.
So how do accounting systems, budgeting systems and Mondial Cash Controller fit together as complementary solutions?	Most accountants face three very specific responsibilities when managing the finances of their businesses. Ahead of time they do a budget. A budgeting product is ideal for this as it allows, at a fairly high level, to forecast all of the income and expenditure of the business, and the timing of the cashflows that relate to that income and expenditure. The accountant then uses the accounting system to record what is actually happening within the business. All income and expenses, payments and receipts are recorded, and the accountant then produces monthly and annual reports that can be compared with the original budget as a means of measuring progress. On a day-by-day basis, many accountants have to ensure that the company is able to continue to generate profits in the long-term, by having sufficient cashflow in the short-term to meet obligations. Accountants traditionally use spreadsheets to undertake this third business discipline. Mondial Cash Controller, by linking into the accounting system, and the budgeting system if required, can take much of the manual work out of this process and provide the accountant with a truly integrated solution for all of their requirements.
4. Integration Information
Which accounting systems does Mondial Cash Controller integrate with?	Mondial Cash Controller supports ‘packaged’ integration with some high volume, lower and mid-priced accounting software products that typically retail at between £1,000 ($1,750) and £10,000 ($17,500). Because businesses that buy this type of accounting software are smaller and typically have fairly straightforward requirements then the software can normally be used straight out of the box. For companies working with larger, more complex accounting systems the interfaces are currently supported on a ‘made-to-order’ basis. Larger companies often incorporate numerous divisions, each with their own way of operation, and their own idiosyncrasies when it comes to invoicing, payments and cash management. As a result the implementation often takes longer, is more customised, and is often part of a larger internal project to tighten up working capital usage. An advantage of Mondial Cash Controller is that it can link into older and newer versions of the same product line. This enables customers using older accounting systems to use Mondial Cash Controller without having to upgrade. This makes Mondial Cash Controller a relatively risk free investment as it provides an incremental benefit over existing systems, yet does not require a complete overhaul of their back office.
Can I link to more than one accounting product at once?	Yes. We have built Mondial Cash Controller so that you can bring in bank account information from multiple, different accounting systems simultaneously. This facility provides head offices with the ability to consolidate information from group companies to get an overview of the overall financial position, for the group position for a single bank, or for the group exposure in an individual foreign currency.
Which banks does Mondial Cash Controller integrate with?	Essentially any bank that produces export files to a standard known as BAI. So far we have tested Mondial Cash Controller with Natwest, Barclays and Lloyds in the UK, and are working on HSBC. We also provide documentation to allow integration to be built by a third party to any bank we have not tested the integration with.
What if I have overseas operations?	Mondial Cash Controller supports multi-currency operations. Currencies can be imported directly from the internet at the touch of a button and all views and reports displayed using any base currency as required. Euro triangulation is incorporated.
5. The technology underlying Mondial Cash Controller
What technology does Mondial Cash Controller employ?	Mondial Cash Controller is written in Microsoft Visual Basic, and runs on either a Microsoft Access or Microsoft SQL Server database. The system runs on Windows 98, Windows NT, Windows 2000 and Windows XP.
What languages does the product run in?	At the moment only English. However the product has been designed so that other language translations can be made by any authorised third-party without any need to change the underlying source code. As the product becomes more mature it is anticipated that Mondial Software will license third parties in different geographic and cultural markets to create localised versions of the product.
Why does Mondial Cash Controller not support either Windows 95 or Windows 3.1?	While we recognise that some customers still run on these older technology platforms there are significant reasons that we have chosen not to operate on these systems. Firstly, Microsoft no longer supports these platforms, and as a development company we need to ensure where possible that we can get support for the technical environments that we build our products on. Secondly, the more platforms that we have to test and support, the less time we have to build features, and the longer it takes us to get our maintenance releases and upgrades into the market. We would rather spend less time supporting a smaller number of current, stable, popular environments and more time providing better features and functions.
6. Benefits of Mondial Cash Controller
Do I have to wait a long time to reap the benefits of Mondial Cash Controller?	No. Administrative time can be significantly reduced straight away. You can automatically reconcile your bank accounts in seconds at the touch of a button and you can produce accurate cash and bank forecasts with no additional data entry. Your credit controller can update the expected receipt date of any invoice based on real world conversations with customers and see the immediate effect on your overall cash balances. You can perform as many ‘what if’ scenarios on individual payment and receipt dates as you wish to ensure that you only make the payments that you can afford, and that future balances stay within bank approved limits. The time saved on each of these tasks compared to how you currently undertake them can be quantified relatively easily and will demonstrate the quick payback and impressive return on investment you receive from Mondial Cash Controller.
Are there any more strategic benefits that will help the company as a whole?	Yes. In fact in the longer term business benefits are even more pronounced. Line managers can be shown the effect that each deal they undertake has on cash flow as well as profitability. This allows them to negotiate more appropriate payment terms as well as higher margins with customers and vendors. You may even be able to remove the need for financing altogether! Additionally you can view the effect that any proposed new project has on your overall cash position and determine the most appropriate way of financing it. Better discounts can be obtained from suppliers by better understanding their payment history. Lower interest rates obtained by planning ahead. Using Mondial Cash Controller you can significantly reduce the risk of high costs arising through the ‘emergency’ need for short-term borrowing.
Is Mondial Cash Controller a risky investment?