AC Risk Management increases financial efficiency by 400% with accounting automation and custom reporting 

Implemented by Accounting Seed certified implementation partner, Ayodia, AC Risk Management continues to beat the competition by spending more time face-to-face with clients and less time “in the books.” 

When you think of buying insurance, you don’t typically describe the experience as “memorable.” At AC Risk Management, their mission is, “to be different in an industry that has not changed in 100 years.” When you see the type of business that Founder and CEO, Matt Avellino, has built, there’s no question as to if that mission is being fulfilled.

In an industry that is complicated and often antiquated, Avellino and his team strive to be true partners to construction companies by putting themselves in their shoes—something many other insurance companies in their space fail to do. Through their unique processes, underwriting expertise, and overall qualifications, AC Risk Management takes the risk out of selecting the right insurance.

“Our customers love us because of our hands-on approach. The way we do business is personal. We almost become internal employees at these companies so we can understand how to best serve them, to the point where they know they can lean on us,” said Avellino.

For the construction industry, it’s more than just reviewing contracts. AC Risk Management takes a comprehensive approach. They review insurance requirements for a client’s unique business. They help with their safety manuals, vehicle maintenance schedules, and many other aspects that would otherwise only be known to internal employees.

Maintaining this personal approach to insurance can be hard to accomplish when working with several clients at one time. In order to keep AC Risk Management running in the unique way it does, Avellino relies on custom technology that enhances the human experience rather than replacing it.

“Too many companies are automating everything to the point where they are eliminating all human interaction. That’s not my business. I don’t use any automation to replace the human touch we bring to the work we do. But I do use it to trigger us—to remind us to communicate well with our clients,” said Avellino.

Accounting automation that supports rather than replaces humans

While Avellino believes technology cannot, and should not, replace the human experience, he does point out several areas where automation is key in running his business smoothly and streamlining processes. “I don’t want posting journal entries and creating payables to be a manual process. The behind the scenes, data management work needs automation. For us, that’s where Accounting Seed comes in.”

For the first six years of the business, AC Risk Management was running their front and back office on a rigid insurance system that many brokers still use today. Avellino hit a point in the business where the out-of-the-box, inflexible nature of the system wasn’t working anymore. They needed software that would grow with them. After shopping around for other solutions, Avellino discovered Accounting Seed and Salesforce as the right move to build his business.

“It didn’t provide us with flexibility or customization for us to make the system our own. When we switched to Accounting Seed, we found an enterprise solution all built on Salesforce that could fulfill what we were looking for,” said Avellino.

AC Risk Management switched to Accounting Seed in 2018 with the help of Ayodia, a certified Accounting Seed implementation partner. Since that time, the company has exceeded its financial management goals in ways they didn’t think were possible including:

• 500% increase in the company’s premium customer base

• 400% increase in financial efficiency
• Significant reduction in the monthly close cycle from three weeks to one day
• Reduction in time spent creating policy-related financial records from two hours to a mere five minutes.

“With Accounting Seed, we aren’t confined. We can make the solution our own to handle the ins and outs of our processes, and create the reports we need,” said Avellino.

Unique reporting for a unique business

As a company run by relationships, understanding the retention rates alongside new business is a key metric for Avellino. Diving into how the business is progressing and how current contracts are growing (or not) helps Avellino guide each department and make strategic business decisions. Using Accounting Seed real-time dashboards and custom reporting tools, Avellino worked with Ayodia to build exactly what he wanted to see—new versus renewal business, percentage of retention on renewal business, and how each department is performing.

“Accounting Seed gave us the ability to see how our company is doing…by department, by account rep, and how profitable each rep is. It helps with compensation decisions and helps me understand what we are going to invest in the company,” said Avellino.

Along with custom reporting, Avellino uses Accounting Seed configuration capabilities to track key metrics—metrics which many brokerage companies want to see, but unfortunately many solutions on the market don’t provide easily. AC Risk Management is built on larger clients who expand their coverage into a variety of different areas. For example, they may have a client that has a general liability policy overseen by AC Risk Management, but later there may be opportunities to expand into areas like commercial auto insurance, workers compensation, life insurance, health insurance, and more.

“The more lines of business we have with a client the more we need to track. Accounting Seed has helped us see these metrics—what we have, what we don’t, what we could do—and gives us the financials alongside what these opportunities could do for our bottom line,” said Avellino.

Keeping customers at the core

At the end of the day, it’s all about the customer experience, which is different for every business. Understanding their clients on a more intimate level than other brokers on the market is how AC Risk Management sets themselves apart from the competition.

With real-time visibility into performance data, the company can improve the customer experience while growing the business; a task that isn’t easy.

“The customer lifecycle, it’s a personal thing. For my business it’s different than the brokerage down the block. Having the ability to track the customer the way I want to has helped me hit major milestones and improve the customer experience. And it changes all the time. Accounting Seed allows me the flexibility to change,” said Avellino.

A key factor in AC Risk Management’s success has not only been the switch to Accounting Seed, but also in the implementation partner they’ve built a relationship with: Ayodia.

Partners that make a real difference

From the initial implementation in 2018 to today, Ayodia has helped Avellino manage the technology while experiencing business growth year after year. From opportunities to billing to reporting, Ayodia has been a key partner in AC Risk Management’s success; particularly with the billing side of the business.

There are two ways to bill in the insurance industry: agency billing and direct billing. With the Accounting Seed platform, Ayodia has helped the company maintain GAAP compliance while also ensuring they are paid on time and treated fairly by the carriers they work with.

“It is not an easy process, and Ayodia really did an amazing thing for us,” said Avellino.

The combination of Ayodia’s implementation and support, coupled with the Accounting Seed technology, has helped Avellino reach key business goals. No longer does he worry about data quality because he has true visibility. In fact, the team is undergoing an internal audit this year, and Avellino isn’t worried a bit.

“I can pull any report and see that all the data matches, every time. When AC Risk Management goes through their internal audit, I know I can trust the reliability of the numbers. I am confident everything is going to go smoothly.”

Custom accounting leads to reliable business decisions

When you look at the AC Risk Management website, you will see this phrase:

AC Risk Management strives to be different in an industry that has not changed in 100 years. We step into your shoes; we put on your hard hat, and we get behind your desk. We study your business. We learn your trade. We learn how you do things and why you are different.

That kind of approach to customer service and support can only be accomplished with the right people and the right technology. When Avellino chose Accounting Seed on Salesforce in 2018, little did he know what kind of impact it would have on his business, his team, and his overall success.

“Accounting Seed has given me a financial tool that allows me to exude my creativity—by that I mean, build and run my business the way I want, and give me all the reporting I need to be able to make business decisions quickly. Everything we have been able to build and do with Accounting Seed gives me the confidence that I’m making the right decisions to grow my business, feed the families of all our employees, and feed my own family. I’m very pleased with what Accounting Seed has done for my business.”