How this Towoomba firm’s technology expanded their wealth accounting services and grew their team

McConachie Stedman is a long-term user of Class Super. Its parent company also recently decided to move 100 of its largest non-super investment portfolios to Class Portfolio from another cloud platform. 

Getting to know Class 

SuperXperience is the 12-year-old self managed super fund (SMSF) administration arm of the Toowoomba-based accounting firm McConachie Stedman. 

The practice was happy with the desktop administration software it was using and had no plans to move to a cloud platform until Director Scott Maroske heard about Class. 

“I was at a conference where Class was presenting. I thought I’d go and have a look at what they were offering because I hadn’t really heard of them at that time. It was at that conference I realised how superior Class was,” Scott says. 

The practice moved its funds to Class Super in 2012 to speed up and improve its administration and compliance capabilities. 

Gaining efficiencies 

Class Super’s ability to deliver daily direct-connect data feeds from financial institutions and automate processes convinced Scott that the software was the right solution for  McConachie Stedman. 

The practice has since grown its funds under administration from about 350 to 600, without increasing its staff of seven. It is also adding 100 more funds from a business acquisition by McConachie Stedman and is confident Class Super can handle this additional volume without hiring new team members. 

“If anything, we are looking to add staff members only for strategic client servicing,” Scott says. “From a compliance point of view, Class Super has allowed us to deliver clients’ annual tax returns in a timelier fashion, rather than leaving it to 15 May each year.” 

The platform has helped Scott’s team achieve more than 50% efficiency gains for funds that are heavily weighted in cash and Australian shares, and 30% for other funds. This efficiency has enabled his team to focus on providing superior client service, including helping them execute strategies for their funds. 

Delivering a whole of wealth view 

McConachie Stedman’s SMSF clients have welcomed the ability to get an up-to-date view of their investment data from any device. 

Soon, some of these clients will also get a whole of wealth view of their super and non-super investments, using Class’ consolidated portfolios solution. Class has been helping McConachie Stedman expand the accounting firm’s scope of automation outside the SMSF practice into the advisory and tax teams. 

The firm also recently moved 100 of its largest non-super investment portfolios to Class Portfolio from another cloud platform. 

“The company realised that Class Portfolio was a superior product compared with the other platform it’s been using,” Scott says. “And one of the big selling points was Class’ client view. For us to provide clients with a whole of wealth view of their investments – that’s giving them a much better experience.” 

The company’s current cloud software allows financial planning clients to view their non super investments on the web only. “That’s why we believe Class is far better. With an optimised mobile experience, Class’ client view can be accessed through an iPhone, an iPad or any other device,” says Scott. 

McConachie Stedman also believes Class Portfolio has a better user interface and the back end is easier to manage because of integrated direct-connect data feeds from banks and brokers. 

The company aims to transfer its first non-super investment portfolios to the platform by the end of June 2018. “In the long term, our goal is to move the investment and business and taxation portfolios to Class,” Scott says. 

Remaining a valued client 

McConachie Stedman was one of Class’ largest SMSF specialist clients when it moved to Class Super six years ago. Although Class now has larger clients, Scott says  McConachie Stedman continues to receive the same level of service. 

“We certainly don’t feel like we are a smaller client in the way they look after us,” he says. “We still feel very much part of the Class family. They make sure our SMSF service is at the top of its game.”