Managing a complex cash situation with the varied cash flows of a football club: the experience of Hertha BSC
Sven Gebhardt, Hertha BSC’s Senior Controller, explains how he was able to get a grip on the multi-channel business of a world famous German football club thanks to Agicap.
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Key takeaways
In financial terms, Hertha BSC is much more than a football club. It is a company with numerous and diverse payment streams.
Before Agicap, Hertha BSC’s finance team had to have a close communication with the accounting department. Controller Sven Gebhardt was forced to repeatedly ask accounting for the bank data so that he could manually update his Excel spreadsheet.
If a bank balance did not match, Gebhardt and his colleagues from the accounting department spent a lot of time trying to find the error. In the end, Gebhardt often sat in front of three or four very long Excel lists and compared figures.
Through the direct connection to the banks, Agicap was able to provide the desired data to the controller without having to take detours via the accounting department.
I not only have the bank balances every day, but I can also see every turnover myself and assign it myself. I now have the possibility to automatically include my open items in both the debit and credit areas, which I didn't have in Excel before.
Hertha BSC
Customer’s history
Hertha BSC refers to Hertha, Berliner Sport-Club, e.V., one of the oldest German football clubs, founded in 1892. It was one of the founding members of the German Football Association back in 1900. The business of Hertha BSC is not only limited to football matches, but also includes an e-commerce wing, ticketing business, membership programs, player transfers, additional sports activities and so on. This causes numerous and diverse cash inflows and outflows, which over time become hard to keep track of and plan the liquidity accordingly.
Coordinating all this with limited resources necessitates a very tight management to make sure that you are liquid at all times and that you can make your upcoming payments.
The multitude of parallel actions leads to a complexity in the management of the cash situation that can only be brought under control through digitalisation and real-time data. Here, the cash management software Agicap proved to be a tailor-made solution.
Customer’s needs
Real-time data and reporting at any time to the decision makers
Consolidated overview of all business activities and cashflows
Have an eye on the cash situation to make payments in due time
Solution
For football clubs such as Hertha BSC, the management of multiple cash inflows and outflows is only possible through a cash flow management software which provides a direct connection to the bank accounts and real-time and forecasting data to better plan for the future.
Before Agicap, Hertha BSC managed cash flow on Excel by retrieving financial data from the accounting department and double-checking it with their own spreadsheets and bank account data. However, this manual management caused a lot of mistakes and was a waste of time for all involved with a lot of unnecessary communication which slowed down the analysis.
With Agicap the Hertha BSC controller now has all the data in his own hands and no longer has to ask the colleagues for the company's financial information. This means that he can also use the time to use the information he needs to make quick and data-based decisions.
Sven Gebhardt also finds it much easier to report to his superiors and to provide real-time and planned data at the desired time - directly in the dashboards of the Agicap mobile app. This is also much clearer than an Excel spreadsheet which often requires a lot of explanation.
About his experience with Agicap as cash flow management software in a modern football club, Senior Controller Sven Gebhardt says: "Digital, flexible and intuitive."
Conclusion
Football clubs need to have a better overview of their cash situation to make informed decisions on their future business
A lot of time can be saved by automating the data communication
Mistakes can be avoided by reducing the manual work
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Other testimonials of interest
Hertha BSC
Business Sector:
Professional sports
Where:
Berlin, Germany
Cashflow Problem:
Coordinating payment flows is a challenging process that involves communicating with accounting and manually updating Excel tables, which can be very tedious.
Hornberger Consulting
Business Sector:
Business services
Where:
Hamburg, Germany
Cashflow Problem:
Anticipate cash flow shortages beforehand, craft scenarios that are based on actual financial data, extend ERP-systems with cash flow management capabilities
M2A Media
Business Sector:
Media Agency
Where:
London, United Kingdom
Cashflow Problem:
Manage multiple entities during internalization, managing different currencies and different banking providers
