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ScaleFactor

Score9.5 out of 10

8 Reviews and Ratings

What is ScaleFactor?

Austin-based ScaleFactor provides their small business accounting automation platform designed to combine software and expert assistance to SMBs and remove concern for financial, tax and accounting challenges.

Media

1 / 5

Top Performing Features

  • Custom reports

    Users can create custom reports.

    Category average: 8

  • Accounts payable

    This includes the automation and tracking of payment to vendors and suppliers, with features such as payment scheduling, check printing, open purchase order alerts, document management, direct ACH bill payment, and vendor records.

    Category average: 8.7

  • Electronic tax filing

    The software provides a full electronic interface for the filing of repeatable taxes, such as payroll or sales tax.

    Category average: 8.6

Areas for Improvement

  • Inventory tracking

    The software syncs orders and stock to maintain a real-time picture of inventory and supports multiple methods such as LIFO and FIFO.

    Category average: 7.6

  • Plug-ins

    A number of third-party plug-ins are available to expand the core functionality of the software.

    Category average: 7.9

  • Self-service portal

    The software provides online portals for certain stakeholders to find information relevant to them, such as employees, vendors and customers.

    Category average: 8

grow your business with flexible software

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

My company outsources a lot of accounting work, we do not have the resources to handle the work in-house and need to be flexible with our accounting and finance needs. ScaleFactor has been able to accommodate our needs and modify their ways of working to fit our organization. Their staff is very knowledgeable and willing to work with our accounting and finance staff to help tailor a solution to our business needs. My company has been using ScaleFactor for over a year, and I have been very pleased with the results.

Pros

  • ScaleFactor has been a great resource for me as I got my business off the ground. They have allowed me to focus on marketing and strategy while they handle my Quickbooks and other accounting needs. Great accounting and finance solutions that don't require you to hire an in-house staff
  • Presenting data clearly.

Cons

  • Chatbot not working well.

Return on Investment

  • Increase productivity.
  • Help financial management.

Other Software Used

AnyDesk, Semrush, Mojo Dialer

Usability

A flexible software, pulling from the best solutions already available

Pros

  • Advanced cloud based systems integration. Able to link up credit cards, banks, expense management 3rd party systems, payroll, etc.
  • Flexible in crafting ways-of-working to fit your organization. Not a "one size fits all" approach. Able to tailor your specific accounting and finance solution.

Cons

  • On-boarding was a bit rocky at first. Our company accounting practices needed some refinement in that they were a bit onerous. This led to some false starts as we worked with the ScaleFactor team to improve our internal processes and reduce the recurrence of custom QuickBooks accounting.
  • Software works great with top to mid tier financial institutions. Though lower tier or less advanced financial institutions can be problematic in their ability to port data into ScaleFactor. Not really a ScaleFactor issue, just a call out.

Return on Investment

  • Speed of back-office business activities has sped up significantly. Better decisions made faster.
  • Organizing and standardizing pesky aspects of running a business like employee expense tracking and accounts payable bill entry.

Simplifies Taxes as a great Plugin for Xero

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I use Scale factor for my own LTD company, I use it as an addon / plugin to Xero. It helps simplify and speed up the whole process from managing invoices to filing VAT and corporation Tax. It connects to all my bank accounts bar Kent reliance for some reason super speeding up importing statements.

Pros

  • Connecting accounts, makes sure statements are always up to date.
  • Bulk transactions automatically matched for accounting purposes
  • helps keep on top of VAT so there isn't the mad panic every quarter

Cons

  • Could connect with All saving accounts i.e. Building society saving aswell as major banks.
  • When a connected bank or savings account hasn't been used for a month or 2 it could show a 0 transaction to keep it updated rather then saying "last updated 3 months ago"

Return on Investment

  • Scale factor saved me time as a plugin for Xero
  • Scale factor took out some of the stress of sorting out my VAT

Alternatives Considered

Xero

Other Software Used

Wix, Ascend, by Wix, Autodesk Fusion 360

Usability

One of our strongest partners for 3+ years.

Pros

  • Delivering accurate financials quickly at the close of each month.
  • Getting small business's organized and set up for success.
  • Providing infrastructure and support at a fraction of the price of in-house talent.

Cons

  • Need to make sure they strike a balance between automation and hands on service.

Return on Investment

  • They have been fundamental in helping us grow and scale at a relatively low cost in comparison to out-sourcing these functions. We can spend more on other items that can fuel growth while knowing the back end is taken care of.
  • They provide automated supports for key areas like payroll, expenses, etc so that we can quickly get back to focusing on the other items.

Other Software Used

QuickBooks Online, Abacus, Gusto, Shopify

Growing company with a great service

Pros

  • Presenting data clearly with visual aids that are easy to read, modern and attractive.
  • One place for all my information, instead of looking at Quickbooks, sales analysis and reports in three different places.

Cons

  • Seems to be a constant turnover in my team at ScaleFactor, which means a lot of explaining what our business does and needs again and again. And that means a lot of emails, disorganization and phone calls (Taking my time).
  • Chatbot doesn't seem to work well. Never answers the questions I'm in need of for a quick answer!

Return on Investment

  • Helps us keep clean, well-organized books.
  • Has more features than our small company needs, which means it a little expensive for us.

Other Software Used

QuickBooks Online