Sam Mehta is the Operations Manager at Wenodo, an accounting firm based in London that offers end-to-end management accounting services to hospitality clients across the UK and UAE. Wenodo takes care of bookkeeping, payroll, supplier payments, reconciliation, tax, and performance analytics for bars, restaurants, and F&B operators. This allows their clients to concentrate on growing their businesses while leaving the financial management to the experts.

Wenodo is a 100% Xero firm that treats clients' businesses as their own, making optimising client profitability a core focus. The Wenodo team achieves this by providing clients with weekly insight into profitability, including revenue generated and expenditure on areas such as staffing. This enables clients to make informed decisions when creating rotas, especially as the majority of hospitality staff are paid hourly.

From Tedious Transfers to Payment Paradise

Prior to finding Telleroo, Wenodo processed client payments via bank transfer. This process was time-consuming and clients lacked transparency from a cash flow perspective, which was impacting trust. When searching for a payments solution to integrate with Xero, Wenodo knew speed and transparency were key.

Connecting Xero to Telleroo transformed the payment process, optimising the whole flow from payments to reconciliation. Previously, Wenodo would export the file from Xero to upload to the client's business banking for payment, then double-check everything in Xero afterwards. However, with Telleroo, payment information is synced straight from Xero, and new or updated payees are flagged. This gives Sam and the team confidence that payments are being processed correctly and any errors can be easily detected.

Additionally, Sam says that the ability to see the invoices associated with a pay run from within the Telleroo platform not only enables the Wenodo team to double-check new payee payment data but also allows their more risk-averse clients to verify that payments are going to the right place whilst they are at the approval stage, a benefit their clients love.

Navigating the Complexities of the Hospitality Industry

The Wenodo team understands the importance of paying suppliers on time in the hospitality industry. If payments are late, suppliers can put orders on hold, which can impact the business's ability to meet demand. With Telleroo, Wenodo ensures payments are made on time, allowing clients to maintain good relationships with their suppliers.

The speed at which payments are processed through Telleroo also allows clients to deprioritise non-essential payments to allocate funds to take advantage of time-sensitive offers. This flexibility enables clients to thrive and navigate uncertainty with minimal impact on operations. Sam says “If a client has requested an urgent payment, it can be in the supplier’s account in 5 minutes. And if I have 50 suppliers to pay, as all I have to do is push it from Xero, confirm the values and click ‘review’, this takes me seconds to do.”

Providing Transparency and Control

The Wenodo team sets up batches of payments on a weekly basis and sends these over to clients who then approve the whole batch or a selection of payments within the batch. This gives the client control whilst providing them with full transparency into the process. According to Sam this process also allows clients to keep a close eye on their cash flow.

Sam says “I’ve been in the accounting industry for over a decade and in my opinion, Telleroo is the easiest and fastest way to make payments. I haven’t seen anything that can do what Telleroo can do, we love it.”

Additionally, Wenodo uses other Xero apps, such as ApprovalMax for invoice approvals, Autoentry for data entry, Syft for analytics, and Staffology for payroll. The automation gains from these apps allow the team to quickly adapt to changing conditions, enabling them to expertly manage their clients' financial processes and stay ahead of any challenges.

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