In the evolving world of accounting, teams are inundated with transactional data, compliance demands, and the pressure to deliver real-time insights. At Lavoie CPA, we’ve turned these challenges into opportunities by harnessing Ramp, a spend management platform that automates workflows, enhances accuracy, and empowers strategic decision-making. In this detailed guide, we explore how our team maximizes Ramp’s capabilities, sharing actionable strategies, lessons learned, and best practices to help your organization achieve similar success.
1. Automating Data Syncs: The Backbone of Efficiency
Modern finance hinges on seamless integration between systems. Ramp’s ability to sync with accounting platforms like Sage Intacct eliminates manual data entry and ensures consistency across platforms.
How It Works:
- Two-Way Sync for Precision: Ramp pulls critical data dimensions (e.g., departments, projects, vendors) directly from Sage Intacct. This two-way flow prevents overwrites and ensures that coding rules, and location tags remain aligned.
- Tailored Data Views: With 15+ dimensions available, a team can easily drown in data noise. Our solution? Customizable dashboards. By filtering out non-essential information (e.g., focusing on core dimensions like department, project, and employee), we’ve reduced clutter and accelerated review cycles and transaction processing.
Real-World Impact:
For a client managing multi-location operations, syncing location codes from Sage Intacct to Ramp automated expense allocation across sites. This eliminates hours of manual tagging and reduces coding errors.
Implementation Tips:
- Start with a pilot: Sync only essential dimensions (e.g., department and project) before expanding.
- Use Ramp’s “Saved Views” feature to create role-specific dashboards (e.g., accounts payable team members should have a different view than department heads).
2. Ensuring Data Consistency Through Dimension Syncing
When managing financial systems like Sage Intacct and Ramp, data consistency and mapping are critical to ensuring visibility of expenses. We find that ensuring synchronization between key data points, such as departments, projects, and general ledger codes, can streamline and reporting and reconciliation processes.
Are Your Data Dimensions in Sync?
Proper dimension syncing between platforms ensures that critical data points flow effortlessly across systems.
Specifically, finance teams should ensure department and project codes are timely syncing from Sage Intacct to Ramp. This allows accurate coding in Ramp in order to achieve at least weekly loading of transactions from Ramp into Sage Intacct. By breaking down this sync process into weekly increments, companies can complete their month-end closes more timely and accurately.
Key Benefits of Timely Syncing:
- Accurate Reporting: Dimension syncing ensures that data across all reports remains consistent, providing real-time insights without second-guessing.
- Error Reduction: Proper synchronization reduces errors caused by missing or incorrect codes, minimizing delays during month-end close.
- Increased Efficiency: Teams can spend less time on repetitive tasks and more on high-value analysis.
3. Daily Financial Hygiene: Proactive Oversight Saves Month-End Headaches
Waiting until month-end to review transactions is a recipe for chaos. At Lavoie CPA, we advocate for daily financial check-ins, a practice that transforms reactive firefighting into proactive control.
Why Daily Reviews Matter:
- Catch Syncing Delays: Adding a vendor or employee in Sage Intacct can take up to an hour to reflect in Ramp. Daily checks ensure discrepancies (e.g., a missing vendor code) are flagged and resolved before they cascade.
- Rule-Driven Automation: While Ramp applies rules at the department level (e.g., auto-coding all finance team meals as “Travel & Entertainment”), employee-specific cases still require manual input. Daily reviews keep these exceptions manageable.
Case in Point:
A client’s finance team accidentally charged a software subscription to the wrong project code. Because the error was caught within 24 hours (thanks to daily review of Ramp transactions), the correction took minutes, not days.
Best Practices:
Assign a team member to spend 10–15 minutes daily reviewing:
- New vendors, employees, and other data dimensions are synced from Sage Intacct
- Transactions lacking rules or requiring manual coding
- Ramp’s AI-generated coding suggestions
- Use Ramp’s “Notes” feature to document unresolved items for follow-up.
4. Decoding Ambiguity: Strategies for “Mystery Transactions”
Even with automation, some transactions defy easy categorization. Here’s how we tackle ambiguity:
- Leverage Ramp’s AI Suggestions: Ramp analyzes vendor names, amounts, and historical patterns to propose categories.
- Proactive Research: A 30-second Google search for the vendor name often reveals the nature of the expense.
- Client Follow-Up: For recurring ambiguities, we collaborate with clients to establish biweekly check-ins. This ensures expenses like client dinners or event costs are clarified before coding.
- Refine Rules Over Time: When a previously ambiguous vendor becomes a recurring expense, we create a new Ramp rule to auto-code future transactions.
Fraud Prevention in Action:
Ramp’s outlier detection flagged a $748 restaurant charge for a client with a $100 per-meal policy. The transaction was traced to a hotel stay during a conference and was approved after proper documentation. Without automation, this could have easily slipped through unnoticed.
5. Streamlining Month-End: From Chaos to Calm
Month-end close is often synonymous with stress, but Ramp’s tools transform it into a structured and scalable process.
Our Month-End Playbook:
Finalize Transactions (Weekly):
- Sync all fully coded, approved transactions to Sage Intacct throughout the month. We use weekly checkpoints to identify unapproved or unknown transactions and reach out to our clients.
- Leading up to month end, ensure all transactions are accounted for within 2-3 days prior to the last day of the month.
Address Exceptions (Day 1 of month end close):
- Immaterial unresolved items are moved to a “Pending” ledger for next month.
- Any material unresolved items are immediately followed up with our clients.
Final month end reconciliation (Day 2 of month end close):
- Ensure all transactions are synced from Ramp into the accounting system.
- Complete month-end reconciliation of the Ramp balance to the balance sheet.
6. Ramp’s Strengths and Strategic Workarounds
Where Ramp Excels:
- Real-Time Fraud Detection: Customizable thresholds flag outliers (e.g., expenses exceeding department budgets).
- Scalable Rule Engine: Rules adapt as teams grow, new departments inherit coding logic without manual setup.
Areas to Optimize:
- Employee-Level Rules: Currently, rules apply to departments, not individuals. For now, we use manual entries for employee-specific cases (e.g., a new hire with unique expense needs).
- Vendor Sync Speed: While most data syncs instantly, vendor additions can take up to an hour. We mitigate this by batching new vendor setups midday.
Why Ramp is a Game-Changer for Modern Finance Teams
Ramp isn’t just about automation, it’s about elevating the accounting team from a cost center to a strategic partner. By implementing the strategies above, Lavoie CPA clients have:
- Reduced manual reconciliation time
- Eliminating coding errors through rule-driven workflows
- Improved compliance with real-time fraud alerts
Unlock the Full Potential of Ramp
Whether you’re new to Ramp or seeking to optimize its use, Lavoie CPA’s professionals can help you design a tailored integration strategy. Start the Conversation and discover how to turn financial complexity into clarity.
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