How we transformed our client communication using Fathom 

Fathom interviewed Keila Hill-Trawick, Founder of Little Fish Accounting about her experience with Fathom. In this case study, we hear:  

• How using customisable visuals in reports made financial information more accessible to clients without a finance background.  
• How Fathom has helped Keila’s team engage in more meaningful conversations with clients about the implications of financial data on their business strategies.  

“Fathom gives you the ability to be flexible around the information you're presenting to clients so you can have the conversations you want to have with them.”  

“The ability to create reports in different formats has been a game changer. Fathom has helped us communicate to clients just enough information for them to make decisions without overwhelming them with sheer numbers.”  

The company  

Little Fish Accounting is an accounting firm in Maryland US, focused on providing services to clients with teams of less than ten.   

Since 2018, they’ve been helping business owners take care of their finances year-round, assisting clients in understanding and leveraging their financial data for strategic decision-making, with a focus on building and maintaining strong client relationships.   

The challenge  

Says Keila, "we made the decision years ago to stop doing ad hoc work; it was important to us that clients have a holistic experience with a focus on helping them use their financials to make strategic decisions for their business. 

"We wanted a consolidated report that could provide us with all of the necessary details to guide our clients, instead of having to refer to multiple spreadsheets. And we didn’t have the ability to create dynamic and flexible reports using traditional accounting software.   

"To keep clients engaged we needed something visually appealing, customised, and informative. A solution that not only enhanced the aesthetics of financial statements but also provided deeper insights into various key performance indicators (KPIs) and allowed for future-oriented discussions." 

The solution   

"Fathom had a really easy learning curve, what I appreciated most was the drag and drop function to create a report. I could play around and figure out what I wanted to show my clients. It made it very easy for me to make repeatable templates that I could use with other clients and quickly customise.  

"We quickly realised how much more information we could provide to clients beyond just their financials. We started using graphs to compare prior periods, including a chart that would show revenue for this year versus last year and versus budget.  

"Creating reports with information in different formats has been a game changer in helping us to just communicate with clients without overwhelming them with sheer numbers. The ability to analyse data in different ways means we can talk to our clients on a human level about what's going on in their business and beyond.   

"Finally, we love the ability to talk about future decisions using Fathom’s forecasting. Having both a budget and forecast, being able to compare the truth through a graph, gives us the tools to talk about what does that mean?, what strategic decisions can we make? It’s been instrumental in providing our clients with the best advisory service."  

The results 

1. Deeper client understanding of their numbers    

"Fathom has helped our clients get a firm grasp on their numbers because we're showing information in so many different modes. A lot of our clients don't have a finance background and fear the numbers, so they are leaning on us to interpret what the data means.  

"We can play together in Fathom to see what the best charts, graphs, or text information are that gives them the best understanding to make confident decisions that affect their business."   

"Having reports that are easy to understand allows us to have conversations that feel relatable, it's been an improvement to our client relationships that we might not have had otherwise.   

"Clients are asking us questions they probably wouldn't have been able to articulate if the information was broken out  across multiple spreadsheets.   

"We've really been able to say, "hey, the numbers are here, this is what they mean, here's what's important." But also, "how are you doing? How is your business feeling? Let's talk about how we can change some of these numbers."

"These are conversations that we don't get to have when we're just focused on a flat balance sheet and profit and loss statement."  

Are you sure you still want to use spreadsheets?  

There’s a better way. Simplify the numbers for clients and take them through the insights that matter. Try Fathom for free. 

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