The House of Nobility outsourced and digitalized its finances with successful results

From having to copy invoices and manually insert endless amounts of documents into binders, the House of Nobility in Stockholm finally chose to digitize its finances in 2017. Thanks to good previous experiences, the choice fell on Accountor.

A history that stretches back 400 years

The House of Nobility is an ancient institution that has been active for almost 400 years. They work with many different initiatives, but above all with caring for and managing the Royal House in Stockholm, caring for the pedigrees of the noble families, and managing 330 foundations.

Erik Drakenberg has been the secretary of the House of Nobility for eight years, and was involved when Accountor was tasked with taking over their accounting in 2017. It was when their former chamberlain who handled the accounts retired that the discussion about the plan ahead began. At that point, the choice was between hiring a new half-time finance manager, or outsourcing the bookkeeping to an external party. After discussing the pros and cons, they came to the conclusion that outsourcing the finances weighed more heavily in that they would not be so dependent on people, and could get greater continuity in accounting and financial monitoring.

"It was our financial manager on the board of the House of Nobility who suggested Accountor. He was the CFO of a company that already used Accountor, so he thought we should try it as they had a good collaboration. He emphasized how well it worked to cooperate with the office in Karlstad, so we chose the same office", says Erik Drakenberg.

From a manual approach to a fully digitalized solution

When the House of Nobility hired Accountor, their financial management was manual. This involved invoices needed to be copied, inserted into binders and so on. Today, their ongoing accounting, monthly accounts including reporting as well as annual accounts, payroll management, certification, and preparation of tax returns are handled completely digitally in systems such as Xledger, Hogia Lön, and Hogia MyPayslip.

Going through a full digitalization of business finances can involve a technically tricky transition period and internal resistance, but Erik describes it as a smooth process:

"It went well and the digitalization process was quite well received internally. But of course, we were introduced to Xledger, which Accountor uses, and it's really too complicated for us. But it works fine and it is compensated by the high level of service from Accountor."

Availability and high service level are highly valued

The House of Nobility and Accountor have daily email contact and are in touch by phone a few times a month. The work has looked more or less the same over the years, with day-to-day bookkeeping currently handled by Tony Lundqvist and payroll handled by Rigmor Nordqvist for the approx. 15 employees. Erik Drakenberg is pleased with the digital arrangement, which means that he is not as tied to the office and can, for example, certify on his mobile phone while travelling. But what he appreciates most is their contact persons and how service-minded they are.

"Tony and Rigmor are very easy to deal with and their availability and level of service is very high. You want to get to know each other so we usually invite them here when we organize festivities, it's very nice."