Sparkrock Webinar: Staying Resilient – Strategies for Nonprofits in Times of Change

Brianna: 
Hello everyone, and welcome to our latest webinar: Staying Resilient – Strategies for Nonprofits in Times of Change. 

Here’s what we have planned for today: 

• We'll begin by reviewing the current nonprofit landscape 

• Then, we’ll hear from Finnovate for Good 

• After that, the Sparkrock team will provide an overview and a live demo 

• And we’ll close out with a Q&A session 

But first, let’s introduce the team. I’ll start from left to right. Gary, over to you. 

Gary: 
Thank you, Bri. Hello everyone—very excited to be here. Just a few words about myself: I’m a Senior Account Executive at Sparkrock. I’ve been working in the ERP space for over a decade now, helping both for-profit and nonprofit organizations find the right solution. Over the past few years, I’ve focused exclusively on the nonprofit sector, which ultimately led me to join Sparkrock. 

Andrew: 
And I’m Andrew Horrow, founder and partner at Finnovate for Good. 
By day, I’m also the Director of Finance at the Fifth Avenue Committee, an affordable housing nonprofit in Brooklyn. I’ve spent over 15 years in the nonprofit sector—across audit, tax, and consulting. My goal is to help nonprofits get the most out of their resources—whether that’s process, systems, or people. 

Jennifer: 
My name is Jennifer Hume, and I’m one of the Pre-Sales Consultants here at Sparkrock. I’ve been with Sparkrock for four years, and before that, I was a customer for 12 years. I’m also a CPA, and I have firsthand experience using this solution. I’m really excited to walk you through a demo a little later in the session. 

Brianna: 
And I’m Brianna Ramsden, the Marketing Manager here at Sparkrock. I’ll be running the slides and managing the Q&A today. I’ve spent the past 15 years working with nonprofits—focused on training, events, and marketing. 

Quick housekeeping before we dive in: 

• All participant mics will be muted unless you're speaking, just to avoid background noise 

• You’ll receive a recording of this webinar within the next week 

• Feel free to drop your questions into the Q&A box at any time 

With that, Gary—over to you. 

Gary: 
Thanks, Bri. I believe I’ve got control of the screen now—here we go. 

To talk about how nonprofits can stay resilient in times of change, we first need to look at the current landscape. 

There’s one reality that almost every nonprofit faces—and I’m sure everyone on this call can relate: nonprofits are strapped for resources. 

They operate on extremely tight budgets and have to be strategic about every dollar. Most of those dollars go directly toward the mission, and rightfully so. 

Gary: 
Right. But as a result, the technology nonprofits use often lags behind. Many organizations find themselves stuck with outdated systems—software that’s 10, 15, even 20 years old. 

These are typically legacy, on-premise systems—inefficient, inadequate, and requiring a lot of manual effort to maintain. But when you're working with limited budgets and limited resources, how do you make those decisions? 

Why would you invest in fixing or improving a system that your organization has been using for years—especially when it technically still works? 

What we’ve seen is that most technology decisions are reactive. They happen only when there’s no other choice—usually when the system is no longer viable. It’s often triggered by an “end of life” announcement from the vendor. 

And what does end of life mean? 

• No more new features 

• No more updates or improvements 

• No bug fixes 

• Not even security patches 

Suddenly, you're left vulnerable—with no safety net. And that's when many nonprofits start exploring modernization. But at that point, they’re doing it because they have to, not because it’s part of a strategic plan. 

The reality is, long before a system reaches end of life, most organizations are already well aware of the challenges: 

• Increasing tech gaps 

• Compatibility issues 

• Lack of automation 

• Inefficiencies and manual work that weigh down teams every day 

But because of budget constraints, decisions become about the software—not about the processes. And that’s a problem. 

I don’t think this is up for debate: every nonprofit leader I’ve spoken with agrees that modernization is essential—not just because the system is outdated, but because the well-being of the organization depends on it. 

Now, how do we reconcile this need with financial limitations? 

To make things more complex, let’s add some unpredictability into the mix. Imagine a situation where the government temporarily freezes federal grants or pauses funding for your programs. That’s not far-fetched—it can happen. 

And what does that create? 

• Stress 

• Uncertainty 

• Risk 

And uncertainty is the keyword here—it can paralyze organizations. The default reaction is often, “Let’s wait and see.” 

But even though the current moment may feel extreme, unexpected events happen every year. In fact, a recent study showed: 

• 65% of nonprofits receive less funding than forecasted 

• The gap between forecast and actuals can be as high as 30% 

Maybe you don’t get the donation you were counting on. Maybe a key employee leaves and you can’t replace them. Or maybe a policy shift impacts your ability to hire. 

Uncertainty happens. But regardless, your organization still has to operate. You still have a community relying on your services. 

So today’s conversation isn’t about any one event. It’s about staying resilient in any circumstance. And how do we do that? 

To help us explore that question, I’m going to hand it over to Andrew, who brings not only his experience as a CFO, but also his perspective as a nonprofit consultant. 

Gary: 
Andrew, I’d love to hear your thoughts. 

Andrew: 
Thanks, Gary. 

Yeah—it’s a really interesting time for nonprofits, and we’ll get into more of that shortly. But I think this slide says it all—and I’ll actually jump to the second bullet point: 

Staying still isn’t safe. 

Sometimes, just getting through the day is how we operate. I know that as a CFO, there are days when I think: It would be easier to just keep doing what we’re doing—even if it takes six hours a day—instead of investing time to make a change. 

Andrew: 
I think a big part of this conversation is about how we break through change inertia—how we set up our organizations for the future so we can pivot and remain dynamic as the world around us changes day to day. 

Let’s be honest: 
Funding is tight. 
We’re being asked to do more with less—again and again. Every day, there’s a new reason or pressure point. 

If you're a June 30 year-end organization, you're probably deep into budgeting right now. If you're a December 31 entity, maybe you're reforecasting and trying to figure out how to stretch every single dollar. 

And we’ll get into this more in a bit, but it can feel a little ridiculous to talk about investing in fintech—asking for a new accounting system—while your program staff is figuring out how to stretch pennies. 

But here’s the reality: 
Your Executive Director might come to you tomorrow and ask: 

• “What are our numbers?” 

• “What’s our forecast?” 

• “What does our cash flow look like?” 

And if you don’t have real-time reporting, if you’re relying on outdated tools, you may not be able to answer those questions when it matters. 

Opportunities don’t wait. 
Yes, the sector is under pressure, but that pressure is also creating: 

• Consolidation 

• Mergers 

• New funding channels 

Being ready to seize those opportunities is key. 

If the last time you made a change to your finance systems or processes was during COVID—when everything was urgent—then it's time to re-evaluate. Back then, many of us were just trying to survive. We added check-writing services from our banks or started digitizing accounts payable in a hurry. 

But ask yourself: Have you reassessed those changes since that February 2020 panic? 

Now’s the time to look forward. Ask: 

• Where does the organization want to go? 

• How will our finance team evolve to support that direction? 

And when I talk to nonprofits, I often say that almost every challenge traces back to one of three areas: 
People, process, or systems. 

And I always joke—especially in finance departments—it’s almost never the people. I’ve never walked into a nonprofit finance team that’s overstaffed. These teams are usually small, stretched thin, and incredibly creative. 

Sure, sometimes we need to upskill folks, bring in automation, or introduce AI. But the real issues almost always lie in the processes and systems. 

And those systems? Often built 10 years ago—for a different organization. A different mission. Different revenue streams. Different scale. 

They just don’t fit anymore. 

Andrew: 
And then we come to systems—as Gary said earlier, sometimes they’re just outdated. 

The real question is: 

Does your system work for you, or are you working around your system all day? 

How much time do you spend in Excel instead of inside your actual accounting system? 

Now, don’t get me wrong—I know we accountants love Excel. But if you’re doing all your reporting in spreadsheets and not in your system, something isn’t working. 

And what does that lead to? 

• Burnout 

• Inefficiencies 

• Missed opportunities 

It holds your organization back—especially in uncertain times. 

If someone leaves because of burnout, or because they’re just tired of doing repetitive, manual tasks, you don’t just lose a person—you lose institutional knowledge. 

And if that knowledge isn’t systematized, it can walk right out the door. 

Right now, I think a lot of nonprofits are facing a core question: 
Is this a time to grow, contract, or sustain? 

It’s like the Goldilocks scenario—what’s the right “fit” for the moment? 

Most of the organizations I talk to aren’t focused on high growth right now. They’re asking: 

How do we sustain our current level of service over the next 18 months to 3 years? 

Maybe your strategic plan from a year or two ago was built around expansion. But the world has changed. Now the question is: 

• How do we make the most of what we have? 

• How do we stretch every dollar while still delivering on our mission? 

And in my experience, the answer usually starts with better systems and better processes—because those are what support your people and help them operate at their highest and best use. 

The easiest example I can give is accounts payable. Everyone has to pay bills. 

In many nonprofits—mine included—AP is still heavily paper-based. 
My AP person spends most of her day just entering invoices into the system and scanning paper. 

If we moved to an AP automation tool, it’s not like she’d be out of a job. 
Instead, she’d finally have time to do value-added work—reviewing invoices, talking to long-term vendors, negotiating discounts, identifying cost-saving opportunities. 

She has deep relationships and great insight, but she’s buried in outdated workflows. 
We're stuck in data entry when what we need is data analysis. 

Now, when it comes to revamping processes— 
I always say: 

You don’t need a new system to start improving your processes. Process change is free. It just takes time. 

And yes, I know time feels scarce. But if budget is your biggest constraint right now, then start by asking: 

• What can we do to improve how we work within the system we already have? 

• Where are the pain points, and are they process-based or system-based? 

In many cases, process improvements will go hand-in-hand with a new system—especially if your current tools just can't support modern workflows. But ideally, your process and your system evolve together. 

When I think about process revamp, I usually start with reporting. 
Ask yourself: 

• What are we delivering to funders, management, and auditors? (Those are usually the big three.) 

• Is the data going into your system giving you the level of detail you need for that reporting? 

Sometimes the answer is yes—but other times, you may be going overboard. 

Here’s an example: 
I worked with a nonprofit that had grown from a $5 million organization to a $50 million one. 

When they were smaller, they budgeted down to the penny. They built huge spreadsheets for management with granular details on every planned expense. 

At the program level, this was amazing. Program staff knew their budgets, were protective of them, and didn't overspend. It created a really healthy relationship with finance. 

But by the time they grew to $50 million, finance wasn’t even using those spreadsheets anymore. 
They were just looking at the cover page to plug numbers into the organizational budget. 

The point is—your processes need to evolve as your organization evolves. What worked 10 years ago might not serve you now. 

Andrew: 
It turned out that while program teams were spending nights and weekends preparing these detailed spreadsheets, no one was actually using them. 

What changed was having someone—me, in this case—step back and say, 

"Let’s look at the entire budgeting process holistically. Are there steps we can eliminate?" 

And sure enough, we were able to cut weeks out of the budget cycle. 

Program teams kept their detail—because it was useful to them—but they didn’t need to prepare it the way they thought finance wanted it, or the way finance used to want it five years ago. 

Sometimes it’s just about taking a step back. Grab a big piece of paper and sketch out the process in a flowchart. 

Look at it from 10,000 feet. Are there steps that no longer serve you? 

A great example is AP. I’ve seen a lot of nonprofits with overly complicated approval processes. 

Let’s say a bill currently goes through five people. Can we reduce that to two? 
If we can streamline the queue, we pay faster, and we keep vendors happy. 

That’s really the key to process and system revamps: 

How do we move people away from data entry and toward data analysis? 

Because that’s where the value is—looking at how we're serving our communities, our missions, our students, our clients. 

It’s about giving the right information to program staff, management, and the board so they can make informed, strategic decisions about what’s next for your organization. 

We need to become forward-thinking finance departments. 

Ten years ago, I used to joke that: 

• Accounting was about what happened yesterday 

• Treasury was about today 

• Finance was about tomorrow 

But in the nonprofit world? 
Accounting does all three. 

Most nonprofits don’t have dedicated FP&A teams or treasury departments. 
Your CFO, controller, and staff accountant are often the same person. 

So the way we structure our processes really matters. 
You still need strong internal controls and checks and balances—but they should also give you space to analyze. 

If you’re just printing monthly reports and emailing them out—without looking for overspending or red flags—you’re missing the chance to actually guide the organization forward. 

Once you’ve looked at your processes holistically, the next question is: 

How can we improve our systems? 

And I get it—on paper, it might seem absurd. 

You’re in a leadership meeting saying: 

"We’re going to cut programs. We’re going to cut staff. Oh—and let’s invest in a new accounting system." 

It sounds ridiculous. But in reality, if your organization needs this change, then now is the time. 

Why? 
Because: 

• You may never have more funding than you do today 

• You may never have more staff capacity than you do over the next 12–24 months 

• And these transformations take time 

So if, after looking at your process, you realize your system has hit its limit—it simply can’t do what you need it to do—then don’t wait. 

The longer you delay, the more costly the consequences become. 

Making those improvements will better position your organization to: 

• Expand
• Merge
• Serve your mission more effectively 

Funding is always going to be tight—especially in finance. 
We’re used to being at the end of the funding tree, so to speak. 

But you have to think about how better systems serve the rest of your organization. 

Imagine if: 

• Your financial system could integrate non-financial data 

• You could create reports that were actually useful to program managers 

• You could offer insights that made sense to non-accountants 

Many systems are great for accountants. But not everyone at your nonprofit is an accountant. 

Ask yourself: 

How can a new system help the entire organization—not just the finance team? 

Because if you delay, you're not just putting off a tech decision. 
You're putting off better reporting, better insight, and better outcomes for the people you serve. 

Andrew: 
As Gary mentioned, many systems are being sunset. If you're currently on one of those platforms, the cost and pressure to switch only increase the longer you wait. Not only will the financial investment be higher, but the internal resource strain on your team will be greater as well. 

When I speak with nonprofits today—program leaders, executive directors—I often hear: 

“I have 16 logins, and I can’t keep track of them all.” 

I get it. Even in my day job, I have two accounting systems, and it’s a struggle just to remember those passwords—let alone ones for HR, payroll, credit cards, AP, etc. 

So the real question becomes: 

Can we bring these systems together into a single source of truth? 

Imagine if your HR and payroll systems automatically integrated with your finance system. Imagine if your chart of accounts updates once and flows everywhere—without worrying about connectors breaking. 

If you’ve ever caught yourself saying, 

“There has to be a better way…” 
There probably is. 

Modern tools today are easier to use and make day-to-day work dramatically more efficient. 

A quick word on talent retention before I hand it back to the Sparkrock team. 
Technology matters—especially to the next generation of nonprofit professionals. 

If someone walks into your office for an interview and sees paper everywhere? That’s a red flag. 

They might think: 

“This place isn’t digital. They’re stuck in the past. There’s no hybrid work model here.” 

Modernizing your tools isn’t just about operations—it’s about culture and recruitment. 

Younger staff entering the workforce have experience with digital tools from school or previous roles. If your accounting system looks like it’s from Windows 3.1 or MS-DOS, they’re not going to be inspired. 

No one wants to boot up software that looks like the old AS400 green screens. People want systems that are: 

• Visually modern 

• Easy to navigate 

• Able to translate financial data into plain English 

And the impact of these systems? 
They empower your people to work at their highest and best use. They create opportunities for growth—for your team and for your mission. 

So we’ve talked about why you should invest. 
Now let’s talk about where to invest. 

With that, I’ll hand it back to Gary. 

Gary: 
Thank you, Andrew. As Andrew mentioned, this is about being forward-thinking and proactive—making sure you have the right tools in place to support your people and your processes. 

And one of those tools is Sparkrock 365. 

I know many of you are eager to see the demo. But before we dive into that, I’d like to share a bit more about who we are, especially for those of you who may not be familiar with Sparkrock. 

A little over 20 years ago, we identified a clear gap in the nonprofit market. At the time, nonprofits were largely underserved—with access to very few software products, and most of them were… let’s be honest… pretty unsophisticated. 

So in 2003, Sparkrock was born—with a goal to provide budget-friendly, purpose-built solutions for nonprofit organizations. 

And to accomplish that, we partnered with the strongest technology foundation we could find: Microsoft. 

Now, when most people think of Microsoft, they think of Office or Teams—not ERP. But Microsoft has actually been a major player in the ERP space for more than 30 years. 

Over the decades, their solutions have evolved through constant innovation. And as Microsoft grew, so did we. 

Today, Sparkrock 365 is built on top of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central—a powerful cloud-based platform. 

Some of you may already be familiar with it. And if you’re not, you’ll see how we’ve extended it specifically for nonprofits during the demo. 

Gary: 
As you can see on the screen, our solution—Sparkrock 365—lives within the Microsoft Dynamics 365 environment. 

Now, some of you might be wondering: 

“Okay, you’re part of the Microsoft ecosystem—what exactly do you add to it? What makes Sparkrock unique?” 

Let me just pause a moment—are the slides moving for everyone? 
Yes? Great. Let’s go back one slide, since I think we skipped it earlier. 

So again, Sparkrock 365 is embedded in the Microsoft environment. But here’s what we’ve found from years of working with nonprofit organizations: 

Business Central—like most ERP platforms originally built for for-profit organizations—doesn’t come with the core features that nonprofits truly need. 

Let me explain. 

Business Central is a great solution for businesses. It focuses on things like: 

• Sales 

• Margins 

• Inventory 

• Revenue growth 

But nonprofits operate very differently. You typically have: 

• Fewer sources of revenue (mainly grants and donations) 

• A much higher focus on expense management 

You need to be laser-focused on how money is spent, not just how it comes in. You need to track every dollar, ensure it’s compliant with funder requirements, and report back with full transparency. 

This includes: 

• Requisition workflows 

• Invoice approvals 

• Commitments and encumbrances 

• Grant and project accounting 

• Regulatory and funder-specific reports 

These are things a typical business ERP just isn’t built for. And if you try to adapt a for-profit system, you end up with: 

• Tons of manual processes 

• Time-consuming workarounds 

• Risk of error and compliance issues 

So here’s what we did. 

We took the robust architecture and sophistication of Business Central—and extended it to match the unique needs of nonprofits. We brought the same level of control and intelligence you’d find on the revenue side of the house and applied it to the expense side. 

Let me give you a quick view of how this evolved historically: 

Before Sparkrock, nonprofits typically had two ERP options: 

• Generic ERP systems (built for businesses) – robust, yes, but missing critical nonprofit features 

• Niche nonprofit ERPs – more tailored, but often less stable, less scalable, and lacking the full support of a global infrastructure 

We created Sparkrock to give you the best of both worlds: 

• The security, scalability, and performance of Microsoft’s cloud infrastructure 

• The sector-specific capabilities needed for nonprofit finance, HR, and operations 

That means you benefit from: 

• Microsoft’s massive investment in Dynamics 365 (millions of dollars every year) 

• Microsoft’s cloud infrastructure (secure, compliant, accessible anywhere, anytime)

• Built-in connectivity to tools like Office 365, Microsoft Teams, Power Apps, and now even Microsoft Copilot(AI) 

When you combine all of that with Sparkrock’s nonprofit-specific functionality, that’s where Sparkrock 365 shines. 

What’s Included in Sparkrock 365? 
What you’re seeing on the screen now are the core modules in our solution. It’s a fully integrated, cloud-based system. That means: 

• All modules live within a single application 

• Data flows seamlessly across finance, HR, payroll, purchasing, and more 

For example: 

• If you use the Purchasing module to acquire a fixed asset, it automatically updates your asset records and depreciation schedule 

• If you run Payroll, results post directly to the general ledger—no extra steps or reconciliation needed 

I hope this gives you a good sense of what Sparkrock 365 is and how we support nonprofits. 

But before I hand it over to Jennifer for a live demo, let me say this: 

Out of all the challenges we hear from nonprofits—the pain points Andrew mentioned earlier—the #1 issue that consistently comes up is: 

Corporate credit card and expense claim management 

It’s a universal challenge. Manual processes around expense claims slow teams down, introduce risk, and eat up valuable time. 

That’s why, for today’s demo, we’re going to focus on that module—and show you exactly how Sparkrock 365 solves it. 

With that, over to you, Jennifer. 

Jennifer: 
Thanks, Gary! I’ll go ahead and share my screen now. 

I can absolutely agree with what Gary said—employee expenses and corporate credit cards are one of the biggest time drains for many finance departments. So I’m really excited to show you what Sparkrock can do to help make life easier. 

Now that my screen is ready, we’re going to start with employee expenses. 

When I jump into the system, I’ll show you a few different types of expenses that employees can enter: 

1. Corporate credit card expenses 

1. Credit card reconciliation 

1. Reimbursable expenses 

1. Mileage expenses (two ways to enter) 

To start, I’m navigating into Employee Self-Service, which is powered by a web application called MySparkrock. 

MySparkrock is designed to give employees a modern, responsive experience—whether they’re using a desktop, tablet, or mobile device. 

Here’s what employees can do in MySparkrock: 

• Enter and code their expenses 

• Upload receipts 

• Submit claims 

• Track the status of submitted claims 

One feature that’s unique to Sparkrock is budget checking. 
Employees and managers can verify whether an expense is within budget before submitting or approving it. That helps prevent surprises and ensures proper approvals. 

Let’s look at credit card expenses first. 

The credit card process begins on the AP side, where you import all of your credit card transactions. (I’ll go into more detail on that later when we cover P-Cards and corporate cards.) 

But for now, I want to focus on the employee experience—specifically how they code and manage their credit card expenses. 

You’ll see here that I have a corporate purchase card expense. This has been pushed from Sparkrock 365 based on our credit card statement import. 

When I click into the expense, I can: 

• Choose an expense type 

• Based on how you configure expense types, you can link them directly to GL accounts. You can even lock down GL account editing so employees can't make changes. That ensures consistent and correct coding. 

Expense types also let you: 

• Set minimum/maximum allowable amounts 

• Require receipts over certain thresholds 

• Add links to policy documents 

• Enable line-splitting for multiple cost centers 

Here’s where I upload the receipt: with Sparkrock, it’s as easy as drag and drop. 
If I’m on my phone, I can use the camera to snap a picture of the receipt—done. 

Once the GL account and cost center are filled in, I hit Save. The expense is now ready to be added to a claim. But I want to show you a few more things before we get to that step. 

The next feature I’m going to show you actually came from a customer request. 

They had many P-Cards and corporate cards and asked for a way to allow employees to enter and code expenses on the fly, then do a reconciliation at the end of the statement period. 

So here’s what we built: 

In this example, the expense on the right was imported via credit card feed. 
The expense on the left was entered manually by the employee when the purchase occurred—in this case, a gas purchase. It’s already coded, and the receipt is attached. 

Now, when the employee goes to reconcile their monthly statement, instead of entering a new expense type, they can simply select: 

Move from Expense 

That lets them pull in the expense they previously entered and apply it directly to their imported credit card record. 

This makes reconciliation fast, accurate, and painless—for both the employee and the finance team. 

Jennifer: 
So now that I’ve moved the expense over from the employee-entered version into the official credit card record, it’s automatically pulled in all the coding and the receipt. That saves a ton of time. 

I’ll go ahead and save this. Now when I go back to my expense list, you’ll see those two records have been collapsed into one—the reconciled credit card expense. 

Reimbursable Expense Example 

Next, let’s look at a reimbursable expense. 
I’m going to create this one from scratch. 

• Expense type: Office Supplies 

• Details: Bought a mouse for $25.50 

• I attach my receipt (just drag and drop) 

• I select my GL account and cost center 

• Then hit Save 

Everything I’m showing you here is in the desktop view—but all of this can be done just as easily from a mobile device. 

Mileage Reimbursement – Two Ways 

Mileage expenses can be entered two ways in Sparkrock: 

• Predefined Location-to-Location 

• Manual entry by employee 

Let’s look at the location-to-location method first: 

• Select start and end locations (e.g. Office to Superstore) 

• Mileage is auto-filled (e.g. 55 miles) 

• Enable round trip to double the distance 

• Add a cost center and save 

Now the manual entry method: 

• Enter total miles traveled (e.g. 25 miles) 

• The system calculates reimbursement automatically 

• Optional: link to mileage policy 

• Add cost center and save 

Submitting an Expense Claim 

When it’s time to submit an expense claim, the employee just: 

• Selects all relevant expenses 

• Creates a new claim 

• Example: “May Claim” 

• Total: $459.40 

• Reimbursable to employee: $130.56 
  (the rest are corporate card charges—so no reimbursement) 

Once the claim is submitted and approved, it clears out the internal clearing account and updates accounting records. 

Key Features in the Submission Process 

• You can view all included expenses in a claim 

• Problem expenses are flagged in red 

• You can edit or detach them for a future claim 

• Detached expenses stay in the system—they’ll never get lost 

Unique Budget Checking Feature 

One standout feature in Sparkrock is budget checking: 

• You can give managers and supervisors the ability to check budget status before approving 

• This helps avoid overages 

• Especially important in the nonprofit world, where every dollar counts 

Expense Claim Status Tracking 

Employees can also track the status of their claims: 

• Completed and paid 

• Approved but pending payment 

• Waiting for approval 

Everything is centralized and easy to access. 

Even detached expenses (like the one I just pulled out) remain visible in employee self-service, waiting to be completed. 

Up Next: PCards & Corporate Credit Cards 

Now we’re going to switch gears and look at PCards and corporate card management. 

For this next part of the demo, I’m going to navigate directly into Sparkrock 365. 
And just for variety—today I’m using the Accounts Payable Coordinator Role Center, rather than the typical Accounting Manager view we often use in webinars. 

PCards and Credit Card Statement Workflow 

Jennifer: 
Now I’m logged into the Accounts Payable Coordinator Role Center. This view is slightly different—more focused on vendors, outstanding payments, vendor certifications, and the day-to-day needs of an AP team. 

1. Vendor & Credit Card Setup

Let’s look at how a corporate credit card is configured. 

• I’m opening the Corporate Visa vendor card. 

• The Invoice Type is set to Purchasing Card so the system knows how to handle the entries. 

• This field here is important: it defines the default GL account, which in this case is our PCard and corporate credit card clearing account. 

This ensures that every invoice generated for this card hits the proper GL account until the expense is coded by the employee. 

2. Purchasing Card Setup

Now let’s look at Purchasing Card configuration: 

• You can have multiple PCards for different credit cards or programs. 

• Each card is tied to a unique card number (e.g., I have cards for myself, James, and Sherry). 

• The system uses that card number to match the employee (via username) with the right expenses. 

3. Importing the Bank Statement

Next, we’ll import the credit card statement: 

• Go to the Purchase Card Journal 

• Drag-and-drop the file (just like everywhere else in Sparkrock) 

• It pulls in all card charges, who they're for, and the transaction details 

• There’s even a Warnings column to catch any issues during import 

Everything looks good, so I’ll process the journal and generate the invoice. 

4. Review the Invoice

Now let’s look at the invoice Sparkrock just created: 

• The entire invoice is charged to the clearing account (from the vendor setup) 

• Once the employee codes their transactions and the claim is approved, Sparkrock clears out the holding account automatically 

• No more emailing PDFs or chasing coding sheets—everything stays in-system 

You simply post the invoice, and it flows into your regular AP run (check or ACH). 

5. Employee Self-Service View

Back in My Sparkrock, let’s refresh and take a look: 

• You’ll see the three credit card entries that were just imported and pushed to employees 

• Now, let’s look at the AP side for when claims are submitted and approved 

Accounts Payable Review Process 

Here’s the claim I submitted earlier. As the AP person, I can see: 

• Warnings and flags—like whether mileage is verified 

• For example, one entry shows “Distance Verified” (auto-calculated from a location-based claim) 

• Another shows “Unverified Amount” (typed manually) 

These help the AP team ensure compliance with internal policies. 

This is exactly what Andrew meant when he said: “Move from data entry to data analysis.” 

Duplicate Detection & Validation 

Let’s look at another claim submitted by James:

• The system has triggered a duplicate expense warning. 

• Maybe James bought two identical headsets on different days—totally valid. 

• But this gives the AP reviewer a moment to double-check. 

• The AP person can also open attachments for further verification. 

Adjustments & Approvals 

From here, the AP team can: 

• Edit coding or cost centers 

• Reject or reopen a claim for correction 

• Approve and generate the purchase document, which creates the AP invoice and clears the PCard account 

Recap Slide Summary 

Let’s quickly review what we covered today: 

• Import the PCard statement into Sparkrock 365 

• Push expenses to employees via My Sparkrock 

• Employees code and submit both reimbursable and credit card transactions

• Budget checks ensure compliance before approval 

• Clearing account holds charges until claims are approved 

• Posting clears the GL and generates the payment 

That’s the complete flow—from statement to reconciliation—and how Sparkrock helps finance teams spend less time on manual entry and more time analyzing and improving outcomes. 

"I think I landed within one extra minute… not too bad on timing!" 

Q&A and Closing Remarks 

Jennifer: 
I’m going to go ahead and move us into the Q&A section now, and hand it back over to Bri. 

Bri (Moderator): 
Thanks, Jen. I always love seeing your demos—it's fun to peek into the system, especially from the marketing side! 

We had two pre-submitted questions. Feel free to add any new ones in the Q&A box. 

Question 1: Where to Start With Evaluation? 

Q (for Andrew): 
How would you go about starting this evaluation process with limited time and resources? 

Andrew: 
It’s a tough one, because there are so many places you could start—and I meet a lot of financial leaders who get overwhelmed by that. 

Here’s my suggestion: 

Ask yourself: If I had unlimited resources and unlimited time, what’s the first thing I would change? 

That question usually reveals the biggest pain point in your current process. 
Once you identify that, start your evaluation there. From that point, you can peel back the layers and figure out: 

• Is it a people issue? 

• A process issue? 

• A system issue? 

That’s how you find the true starting point. 

Question 2: Does Sparkrock Work With Google Ecosystem Users? 

Q (for Gary): 
We know Sparkrock is built on Microsoft—but what if someone is already in the Google ecosystem? 

Gary: 
Great question! People often assume that because we’re a Microsoft-based solution, you need Microsoft to use us. 

But here’s the reality: 

We don’t discriminate. You don’t need Microsoft licenses to use Sparkrock. 

We work with many organizations that are “Google shops.” You can absolutely use Sparkrock even if you’re not using other Microsoft products. Of course, we’re fully integrated with Microsoft, but it’s not a requirement. 

Live Chat Wrap-Up 

Bri: 
I don’t see any additional questions coming in right now. Let’s give it another minute in case anyone is typing. 

(Short pause) 

If there’s nothing else, we’ll wrap up with one last reflection from Andrew. 

Andrew (Final Thought): 
Everything we showed today really comes down to one big question: 

Where is this going to save me time? 

That’s how I’d encourage you to look at it. Think about: 

• How will this affect other teams in your organization? 

• How will this simplify real-world tasks? 

For example, imagine a staff member who buys a case of water at Costco for an event. Instead of taping the receipt to a sheet of paper, scanning it, and emailing it to finance—they just snap a photo and upload it via mobile. Done. 

It’s all in the system. And because it’s built on Microsoft, it feels intuitive. Everyone knows Excel—even if they don’t love it. 

That’s what makes Sparkrock powerful: 

It doesn’t feel like accounting software. It feels like software people can actually use. 

Bri (Closing): 
Thank you, Andrew. It’s always a pleasure chatting with you. 

And thanks to our entire team—and to everyone who joined us today or registered. 
If you have more questions, feel free to reach out: 

📧 connect@sparkrock.com 

📹 A recording of this webinar will be sent to all registrants within the next week. 

Thanks again—and have a great day!