How William Buck Victoria uses Xero and Syft Analytics to turn reporting into real advisory conversations
For many accounting firms, management reporting can feel like a necessary chore rather than a true advisory opportunity. But for William Buck Victoria, reporting has become a powerful driver of deeper client conversations, better decisions, and scalable advisory services, thanks to Xero and Syft Analytics.
With 32 partners and a comprehensive suite of services, including business advisory, audit, tax, corporate finance, restructuring & insolvency and wealth management, William Buck Victoria handles substantial financial and non-financial data for its clients. The challenge and opportunity for the firm was to transform this extensive data into genuinely valuable insights for their clientele.
Enhancing traditional reporting
Like many firms, William Buck had tried a range of reporting tools over the years. While these platforms worked in certain scenarios, they often struggled when it came to creating efficiencies across the following:
- Producing genuinely bespoke reports
- Handling consolidated groups efficiently
- Reducing manual Excel work
- Communicating insights clearly to non-financial stakeholders
Consolidated reporting was a particular pain point. Accountants frequently found themselves downloading multiple reports from Xero and manually stitching them together in Excel, an approach that was time-consuming and increased the risk of errors.
The team needed a reporting solution that was powerful enough to handle complexity, while still integrating seamlessly with Excel, the platform they know best.
Elevating performance with Syft Analytics
William Buck adopted Syft Analytics to sit alongside Xero and quickly saw the difference.
Syft’s deep integration with Xero allowed the team to combine financial and non-financial data in ways that simply weren’t possible with their previous tools. Just as importantly, Syft worked with Excel, not against it, through the Syft Excel Add-In.
Onboarding was smooth, and adoption was driven internally by Paul Koutsakis, William Buck Victoria’s “Syft guru”. The firm deliberately started small, trialing Syft with clients most likely to benefit from its features, before rolling it out more broadly across their Business Advisory team.
From manual reports to meaningful insights
One of the biggest wins has been how dramatically Syft has changed their reporting workflows.
Before Syft, preparing consolidated management reports could save hours per client. With Syft, intelligently designed consolidated reports reduced that time considerably, with well-designed reports taking around 10 minutes, while also lowering the risk of errors.
Other time-saving improvements included:
- Automated executive summaries, reducing time taken from 30–60 minutes to a quick review
- Enhancing filters on data by reporting directly on transaction contacts, groups, and tags
- Automated inter-entity elimination journals for consolidated reporting
- Faster reconciliation of inter-entity balances using the Syft Excel Add-In
The result? Less time spent preparing reports, and more time spent interpreting them.
Reporting that fuels better conversations
The real impact of Syft hasn’t just been efficiency, it’s been enhancing the quality of their client conversations. With timely, accurate, and visually clear management reports, William Buck has been able to:
- Identify profitability issues earlier and work collaboratively with clients to address them
- Support data-driven remuneration and bonus decisions
- Analyse performance against budget and investigate meaningful variances
- Strengthen relationships with lenders through clearer, more reliable covenant reporting
In one case, a Syft report triggered a critical discussion about why a business wasn’t meeting its profitability goals. Using Syft’s interface, the team was able to quickly pinpoint underlying issues and help the client develop practical strategies to get back on track.
Scaling advisory without losing quality
After around six months of using Syft, William Buck Victoria has assisted approximately 60 clients to develop effective and efficient financial reports, and this continues to grow.
More importantly, Syft has helped the firm deliver advisory services at scale, without compromising quality. Managers are now more confident identifying clients who would benefit from enhanced reporting, and accountants are better equipped to deliver insights consistently.
The Syft Analytics features such as:
- Custom P&Ls
- Automated eliminations for consolidated groups
- Live View interactive reports
- Dynamic executive summaries
have made it easier for the team to say “yes” to client requests that previously felt too complex or time-consuming.
For firms looking to elevate their advisory offering, William Buck’s experience highlights an important lesson: reporting isn’t just about the numbers, it’s about conversations that come with better insights.
By using Xero and Syft Analytics together, William Buck has transformed reporting from a compliance task into a strategic tool that delivers real value for clients.