Phidra Accountants & Adviseurs joined Liquid as one of the first accountancy partners in 2023. In this case study, we speak with Bob Jong and Lars Cramer, both partners at Phidra, about their firm and why they chose Liquid.

Getting acquainted

How would you describe Phidra as a firm?

Bob: “Next year we celebrate our twentieth anniversary, so we’ve been around for a while, but it doesn’t feel like that at all [laughs]. We now have around fifty people spread across our branches in Alkmaar, Haarlem, and recently Middenbeemster. In a nutshell: short lines of communication, clear agreements, reliability, and high-quality expertise.”

Lars adds: “Bob was there from the start; I started in 2008 myself and have been one of the partners since 2020. Over the years, we’ve increasingly positioned ourselves as an all-round advisory firm where the client knows exactly what to expect and what they’re paying for in advance. We made the switch from hourly billing to fixed service packages early on.” Bob: “Clients know where they stand with us. That creates peace of mind in the relationship and ensures the collaboration remains strong. It’s hard work, but it’s rewarded with client loyalty.”

What kind of clients do you serve, and which services do you offer them?

Lars: “It’s actually a quite wide range of businesses. Naturally, most business owners are from the region (North Holland), although we also have clients elsewhere in the country. In terms of sectors, it’s really diverse, and you see that reflected in our services. We unburden clients with their administration and financial statements, we have a tax department, we can handle payroll administration, and then, of course, there’s the advisory work that runs through everything.”

Bob: “You do see a difference between clients, of course. Some business owners have a greater need for regular contact, a sparring partner. With others, you notice that isn’t an issue, or they fulfill that need in another way. It’s all the same to us: we can handle it either way.”

Lars: “However, we are slowly noticing a change. The role of the accountant is gradually shifting. New clients, especially the younger generation, come in with different expectations than before. That also forces us to keep innovating.”

Choosing Liquid

What prompted you to start with Liquid?

Lars: “We started a pilot with Liquid within our advisory practice back in 2023, specifically for forecasts. We are increasingly being asked by clients to support them in drawing up forecasts. You notice that liquidity planning, in particular, has become very relevant since the corona crisis, and remains so given the current economic uncertainty.”

Why did you specifically choose Liquid?

Bob: “A tool like Liquid fits within our firm’s vision. By working with fixed service packages, we create space to sit alongside the business owner and go through the figures together. We’ve invested heavily in process-based software in recent years, for example, the transition to robotic accounting. In terms of software, Liquid is the missing puzzle piece to advise the client effectively.”

Lars: “We also found Liquid to be the best solution for drawing up a solid liquidity budget. Most reporting tools have a limited budget module but aren’t capable of fully calculating the cash flow. We also use PowerBI, for example, but you can’t really build a forecast in that.” Lars continues: “Additionally, an advantage of Liquid was that the software is made to be used by the business owner themselves. With this, we offer the client a tool to get started with forecasts on their own.”

Experiences with Liquid

How did the Liquid implementation go?

Lars: “We were one of the first firms to join as a pilot. The supplier created a plan for the implementation phase. Over about six weeks, we had multiple work sessions. Internally, we had a core group of three people who had to master the tool. Two accountants and a relationship manager. We then started with a handful of clients who had concrete forecast requirements.”

‍Bob: “It is important to make a few people within your team responsible. We see that with other software we adopt too. Everyone is busy, and we are dealing with the same labor shortages as elsewhere. Moreover, as accountants, we often tend to want to keep doing things the old, familiar way.”

‍Lars: “That is definitely a challenge. We saw that some colleagues still tried to create a liquidity forecast in Excel, sinking a lot of time into it. With such an internal core group, it is easier for colleagues to teach each other how to work with new tools.”

What are the client experiences?

Bob: “We are receiving many positive reactions to the switch to Liquid. Clients appreciate having their own login and always being able to access their current figures. This gives them insight into both their interim figures and the forecast.”

Lars adds: “For clients where forecasts are important, the Rolling Forecast is particularly useful. This allows them to see their forecast alongside the actuals, so they can see where the variances against expectations lie. The fact that the liquidity planning is automatically updated based on current bank balances also provides peace of mind and overview.”

How do you use Liquid with your clients?

Lars: “That varies by client. We have a number of clients who really manage and update the forecast entirely themselves. Those are clients who are already on top of their numbers. With many clients, it’s mostly a collaboration: we set up the initial forecast with input from the client, and then fine-tune it together.” Bob: “The ideal situation for us is having our periodic fixed touchpoints with the client. Monthly or quarterly. At such a moment, you pull up Liquid, and you have a talking point: you can review the company's situation together using Liquid. We are doing this increasingly often.”

Lars: “Actually, this is the transition you naturally want to make as a firm. Everyone in this industry says they want to do more advisory work, but finding a way to actually do that is another story. We do notice that it goes more smoothly with clients running on Liquid.”

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Future plans

What is in store for Phidra Accountants this year?

Bob: “Last year was very busy. Besides growth in the client base, we also acquired another firm in the region, and we are busy moving to new premises in Alkmaar. We also completed the migration to a new scan & recognize software solution. That was a major undertaking. We hope to take on a little less this year [laughs].”

Lars: “We naturally also struggle to find staff. That will remain the case this year. You solve that partly by looking at your recruitment methods and optimizing your internal processes. You essentially want to reduce the peak workload (the annual accounts, the tax returns) and ensure that the work pressure is better distributed throughout the year. Concretely, that means further automation and investing even more in expanding the advisory practice.”

And finally: what role does Liquid play in your future plans?

Lars: “I can answer that question concretely. We have decided to roll out Liquid much more broadly among a large portion of our clients. This concerns Liquid Starter in particular, one of the accountancy versions of the tool focused on interim figures (not the forecasts).”

Bob adds: “We actually want to have as many of our clients as possible in the same software stack. In terms of accounting work, that is now in place, but for the advisory practice, it is still very fragmented: some clients run PowerBI, others have their own Twinfield login, still others receive a periodic printout from the accounting system from us, or an older reporting tool is running.”

Bob continues: “And don't forget: that fragmentation also costs time. You have to check for each client how the data provision was arranged again. Liquid can serve a very large part of the client need when it comes to insight into figures, so it makes sense for us to take this step. We are going to roll this out in stages over the coming months.”

‍Lars: “Not every client needs a forecast or Rolling Forecast. But very many clients have a need for interim figures. It is great that with Liquid we can now do both: Liquid Starter for the large bulk and Liquid Insight and Pro for the subgroup that benefits from that. I also expect that clients will slowly progress to the forecast packages. Then it is naturally nice for us that they can stay in the same tool.”

Bob and Lars, thank you very much for your time!