Accounting Management System for

CODO/franchise

networks of major

oil companies

Bringing site level performance to the head

office

via the cloud

What is CounterBooks?

• A leading online retail accounting management suite for oil companies and their dealers/franchisees.

• The cloud based suite consists of:

• Purposely designed to solve the challenges of dealer networks, groups and franchised petrol retail operations.

• CounterBooks is accessible anywhere via an internet enabled device through a fully secure, cloud infrastructure on a flexible monthly subscription model.

• Used by 1000’s of retailers across Europe.

• Recommended by industry experts and deployed by several of the largest oil companies in the world.

History of CounterBooksCounterBooks has a purely retail background, and unlike any other accounting system, it was initially designed by a petrol retailer to help resolve the unique challenges he faced on a daily basis which traditional accounting systems did not.

Today, it is the leading online retail accounting management suite used by 1000’s of petrol retailers across the world.

1998 - Founded by Chantrey Vellacott DFK, a Top 20 UK accounting firm (~ 300 staff)1999 - First implementation for ESSO2003 - Cloud version of CounterBooks developed2003 - Implemented in Switzerland and Finland2005 - Implemented in Germany2006 - 1st file import from POS/BOS2007 - CounterBooks available in the UK & Ireland2011 - Available in South Africa2012 - Server-to-Server interface launched

CounterBooks Features and Benefits

Description:An online full general ledger accounting system specifically designed for dealers/franchisees of oil companies to manage their business.

Features: • Easy to use and full general ledger system.• Integration with POS/BOS/supplier invoices.• Standardised chart of accounts and wide

array of accounting reports.• Multi lingual and customised for local

markets.• Drill down to transaction data.• Customised oil company reports. • Accounting period locking to avoid back

posting. • Hosted online – rapid deployment and low

capex

Benefits:• Reduced costs • Easy to use• Financial controls • Accessible online

Description:An online retail management information system for oil companies to gain transparency and control of their dealer/franchisee network.

Features: • Reports on locked periods and usage.• Full access to all sites with drilldown

capabilities. • Purchase compliance and assessment. • Network wide P&L and Net worth/Liquidity

reports.• Comprehensive data analysis across the full

spectrum of the accounting data. • Export data into spreadsheets for further

analysis.• Hosted online – rapid deployment and low

capex.

Benefits:• Transparency • Control • Benchmarking • Accessible online

• Proven track record in delivering projects, to brief and in budget for some of the

largest retail companies in the world.

Client Portfolio • Case Study 1 - 65 store franchise group.

From the daily sales by department data, entered at store level, variable

commission rates were applied, and monthly franchise fees calculated

automatically. These were produced within 2 or 3 days of the month end .

• Case Study 2 - 100+ petrol convenience network. In 2010, the group analysed

drive offs in the previous year, by forecourt and by territory. Time taken to

produce the analysis – 20 minutes.

• Case Study 3 - 250+ franchise group. The group expects their franchisees to

complete their data entry within 15 days of the month end and for their

accountant to have reviewed the financial statements within a further 15 days.

Head office staff can access a real time report showing progress against these

targets and exception reports showing those that missed.

Stakeholder Benefits

CounterBooks

Credit analysts

Dealer/

franchisee

Accounting partner

Territory manager

Regional managerGeneral management

Finance manager

Billing manager

Convenience suppliers

Stakeholder BenefitsGeneral management

Transparency, consistency and control.

Dealer/franchisee

Easy to use, reduced costs, improved controls and in-depth reports.

Credit analysts Real time data to assess credit risk of retailers.

Accounting service partner

Automated and standardised online accounting platform.

Territory manager

Online and immediate access to standardised data.

Convenience supplier

Reduced costs and improved processes.

Reduce costs +

Improve performance +Manage risk +

Assess compliance +

General Architecture

Data Import 95%

Manual Input 5%

Delivery Notes

Data for analysis

Invoice data

Electronic

invoicing

including

Preferred

Suppliers,

Utilities etc.

Data Export File Advice

and

special

bookings

Reporting

POS

Preferred

Suppliers

Utilities etc.

Small local

suppliers

Oil company

Accountant

Dealer/Franchisee

Deliveries

reconciled

with invoices

by site manager

Paper

Invoices

Reporting Architecture Interim Reports

- P&L

- Balance sheet

Always up to date

Head Office reports

Dealer/franchisee

Accountant

Territory Manager

and

Head Office

Statutory/Audit Reports

Data analysis

and data mining

Month End reports

- comply with Oil company requirements

Formatted pdf documents

Usage reports

Territory Manager reports

Deployment Options

There are three deployment options for the CounterBooks suite.

Retail Management

Information

System

Online Retail

Accounting

System

Dealer/franchisee Oil company

Deployment option Applicable

Online Retail Accounting System (only)If there are no reporting requirements to Head Office by the dealer/franchisee.

Retail Management Information System (only)

If there is an existing accounting service provider but no or limited transparency and control through analysis and reporting via consolidated database.

Full Retail Accounting Management SuiteIf the dealer/franchisee and oil company wish to benefit from the entirety of the suite.

Global Deployment Capabilities• The application is delivered through the cloud, which reduces the requirement for capex

investment and provides a rapid deployment platform.

• CounterBooks has the unique capabilities to deploy globally. The application can be tailored to meet the needs of any local market :-

Multi lingual – can be translated into any language – all character sets can be supported. Compliant with local accounting standards. Compliant with government requirements. Customised reporting to meet the oil companies’ requirements.

• CounterBooks can be supported by the incumbent accounting service providers, however CounterBooks can source alternative providers through its affiliation of DFK, which is a Top 10 international advisory network with over 380 offices and 10,000 staff. This relationship provides CounterBooks with the international accounting expertise and accounting professionals to deliver a global project.

Business case for CounterBooksMany of our clients use CounterBooks as an integral tool for managing their network from ‘day to day’ management to making strategic decisions. The two drivers for a business case of CounterBooks include:-

• Transparency and control• Assess the credit risk of

dealers/franchisees and take remedial action to mitigate risk thereby reducing losses.

• Monitor and benchmark dealers/franchisees performance in real time with quicker month end routines.

• Analyse dealers/franchisees earnings and remuneration with drill down functionality.

• Reduced time budgeting and analysing variance against budget.

• Investigate purchase compliance across dealers/franchisees.

• Assists in strategic decision making such as disposals while streamlining financial due diligence.

• Self funding through cost savings• Through integration and automation of

the accounting process, CounterBooks can reduce time and costs by up to 85% thereby providing substantial cost savings to fund the deployment across a network.

• Collating information from dealers/franchisees into central database – many oil companies receive varying levels and quality of information which is often re-entered into an separate database which requires additional resources/costs and liable to errors.

Summary Points • CounterBooks is an online retail accounting management suite • Dealers/franchisees use the online retail accounting system• Oil companies use the retail management information system• The full CounterBooks suite can be deployed, alternatively just the accounting system or MIS• Deployed over the cloud – rapid deployment, reduced capex, and fully managed.• Successfully deployed by several major oil companies.• CounterBooks can be translated and customised for all countries. • Local accounting support can be delivered through incumbent providers or the DFK network.• CounterBooks will deliver the following benefits:-

• Lower costs (transmission costs, accounting costs)• Improved reporting – standardised and customised reporting across the network with full

data analysis capabilities.• Manage risk – assess credit, business and churn risk through monitoring net worth and

liquidity.• Monitor compliance – assess the purchasing compliance of retailers and reporting

deadlines.• Easy to use – designed to be intuitive and easy to use.

• Fully supported – full training and helpdesk support is provided to all users resulting in high customer satisfaction and user engagement.

• Cost savings and self funding project – the deployment of CounterBooks is often funded by the savings of the retailers professional service fees.

RFI or RFP:We would be delighted to respond to any ‘Request For Information’ (RFI) and ‘Request For Proposal’ (RFP) – please forward all requests.

Book an online demonstration:

W: www.CounterBooks.comT: (+44) 020 7099 1050E:

contact@CounterBooks.com

If you are interested in understanding how CounterBooks could empower you and your stakeholders by reducing costs,

improving accuracy while making more informed business decisions – please contact us to book an online demonstration.

Next steps

Benchmarking of current provision:We would happily produce a benchmarking report of your current provision against CounterBooks capabilities – please forward

all requests.