Thesis Cuts Month-End Close from 15 Days to 6

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THE CHALLENGE FOR THESIS

Breaking Point in the "Wild West" of Spreadsheets

When Mindy Stovey, Controller at Thesis, first joined the agency as its first official accountant, the books were managed entirely in QuickBooks Desktop. As the agency scaled its digital operations and transitioned to QuickBooks Online (QBO) to handle multi-entity growth, the underlying financial infrastructure began to buckle under a heavy manual workload. While front-office innovation thrived, the accounting team lacked a native journal entry approval gatekeeper in QBO. Every adjustment posted directly to the general ledger with zero internal oversight, creating an environment where errors could easily slip through unnoticed.

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"As an accounting team, we found that the level of accuracy and control [with QBO alone] can easily slip away. Without a dedicated system for reviews, journal entries simply disappear into the general ledger, making it nearly impossible to maintain the rigorous standards required for a growing organization."

— Mindy Stovey, Controller

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Managing fixed assets and prepaids across massive, disconnected Excel tabs introduced significant formula risk, leaving the team in constant anxiety that a single broken cell could disrupt years of historical depreciation data. Furthermore, high-volume credit card reconciliations across multiple spend platforms devitalized the team. Senior Accountant, Danielle Fleming, spent half of every month buried under tedious line-item matching.

"When I joined, we were short-handed and lacked the right tools," Danielle recalls. "We were constantly buried in the weeds, which made it impossible to look beyond the immediate manual close cycle."

The breaking point arrived as the agency prepared for an impending financial audit with Deloitte. Without structured workflows, an internal audit trail, or formal segregation of duties, passing complex controls testing felt like an uphill battle. Mindy recognized that the 15-day close grind was unsustainable for an enterprise scaling its market footprint.

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"Our close just kept stretching because the manual processes were so heavy. We felt underwater. We needed an infrastructure that would allow us to trade the drudgery of data entry for professional precision and high-value contribution to the agency."

— Mindy Stovey, Controller

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HOW FLOQAST HELPS

Introducing a Digital Gatekeeper for the GL

To introduce structure, compliance, and velocity into their financial operations, Thesis implemented FloQast. The deployment quickly set a new standard for collaborative vendor partnerships. During the implementation phase of FloQast Journal Entry Management (JEM), Mindy and Danielle collaborated closely with FloQast engineers to tailor the solution to their specific operational rhythms. When the Thesis team suggested user interface enhancements, such as keyboard shortcuts to accelerate manual inputs, FloQast integrated the feedback into the live product almost immediately.

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“Throughout my career, I have managed many software implementations, but FloQast is easily my favorite. They are the most responsive and proactive group we have ever worked with; they didn’t just hand us a tool, they collaborated to ensure the software evolved to meet our specific needs. We’ve never encountered that level of engagement from a provider—they act as a true partner in our success.”

– Mindy Stovey, Controller

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The core transformation centered around JEM, which established the digital gatekeeper Thesis desperately needed. Rather than allowing entries to instantly vanish into QBO, JEM created a controlled staging area. Now, journal entries rest in a pending status until Mindy completes a formal review. If an entry requires an adjustment, she can seamlessly route it back to Danielle with embedded comments, preserving the audit trail without forcing the team to generate duplicate records from scratch.

To streamline recurring entries—some stretching across 30 complex rows—Danielle leverages FloQast’s search and clone features. Rather than typing line items line by line, she copies historical templates with a click, turning a multi-hour bookkeeping burden into an instantaneous, error-free upload. Ultimately, JEM introduced a more structured and transparent workflow across the department, solving the structural visibility issues that historically plagued their close.

"JEM provides the essential 'gatekeeper' that our ERP was missing," Danielle explains. "The ability to send an entry back for revision before it hits the books is huge. It allows us to catch errors, like flipped debits or credits, in a staging environment so our General Ledger stays pristine."

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THE FLOQAST DIFFERENCE

Nine Days Reclaimed and a Scalable Foundation for Growth

The transition from manual compliance to automated precision redefined the close. By moving fixed assets into FloQast's structured tracking environment, Danielle completely eliminated spreadsheet anxiety; the system automatically alerts the team the moment a schedule balance falls out of sync with the general ledger.

With thousands of transactions flowing through multiple entities and platforms, manual reconciliation was a time-consuming and error-prone process. By automating these reconciliations through FloQast’s automated matching engine, Thesis reduced a six-hour monthly effort into a streamlined 80-minute review. High-volume credit card reconciliations that once took half a day now take just 20 minutes, while bank reconciliations have been reduced by 50%.

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"Implementing JEM, specifically, shaved a day to a day and a half off our total close time. Our close used to be a solid 15 days of intense, manual work, but now we consistently finish in five or six. That is nearly 10 days of capacity we get back every single month to dedicate to the business."

– Mindy Stovey, Controller

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This massive compression of the close timeline yielded incredible institutional dividends well beyond basic speed. During their Deloitte audit, Thesis seamlessly demonstrated their rigorous internal control environment. Auditors were provisioned direct, self-service access to FloQast, allowing them to verify 35 checklist items independently and eliminating dozens of tedious manual requests.

Furthermore, the four-person accounting team successfully integrated multiple new corporate entities and business lines following recent acquisitions, completely absorbing the increased transaction volume without expanding headcount.

With a more structured close, the accounting team successfully moved away from constant staff pressure and toward a sustainable way of working. By automating high-volume matching and manual spreadsheets, the department has transformed from a reactive cost center into a proactive, strategic partner to the agency. Reclaimed time was immediately reallocated toward high-impact corporate initiatives, including a firm-wide employee benefits transition, 401(k) platform overhauls, and corporate process documentation.

"The human impact is significant—I no longer work weekends or past 5:00 PM during the close," notes Danielle. "FloQast gave us our time back so I can shift my focus away from administrative matching and toward proactive projects that are far more impactful for the business."

This newfound operational efficiency has effectively eliminated data-entry burnout, replacing it with institutional precision and professional fulfillment. For leadership, this time savings translates directly into scalable capacity.

"We’ve gone from being reactive to having the clear operational space to focus on strategic projects that move Thesis forward," explains Mindy. "We can feel proud of our work and know that it’s accurate. FloQast gave us the space to finally do our best, most impactful analytical work for the agency."