The Challenge
Rise Accounting is a premium accounting firm supporting over 750 venture-backed startups, from incorporation through Seed, Series A and beyond. Their clients operate globally across the UK, US and UAE, often with multi-entity structures, multiple bank accounts, and growing operational complexity.
Rise Accounting acts as an outsourced finance function for these companies, managing bookkeeping, accounts payable, payroll, and financial operations. As their client base grew rapidly, their internal workflows needed to scale without increasing operational overhead.
The treasury problem:
- Client cash spread across multiple bank accounts and entities
- No centralised system for managing treasury across clients
- Limited ability to keep client cash productive until needed
- Fragmented visibility across financial systems
The AP problem:
- Reliance on multiple tools including Xero, Apron, Dext, and bank portals
- Constant coordination required between systems
- Manual validation of financial data and bank balances
- Invoice processing and reconciliation spread across multiple platforms
The quote:
“There are just so many different softwares involved - Xero, Dext, Apron, banking portals. While great individually, we needed a complete system end-to-end.”
— Matt, Rise Accounting team
Alternatives Considered
Before working with Round, Rise Accounting relied on a multi-tool finance stack.
For Treasury:
- Bank portals (Barclays, Wise) - Fragmented visibility across accounts
- Manual treasury processes - Required validation across systems
- Existing finance stack - Lacked centralised treasury management
For AP:
- Xero, Apron, Dext - Solved individual workflow steps but required coordination
- Manual reconciliation processes - Required ongoing validation and checks
Core issue: Managing financial operations across multiple tools created operational friction and limited scalability.
The Solution
Rise Accounting began working with Round to explore a more consolidated approach to managing accounts payable and financial operations.
Treasury Module
- Ability to consolidate financial operations into a single platform
- Integration with Xero for accounting workflows
- Automated invoice ingestion using OCR
- Suggested account and tax codes based on client configuration
“The platform feels familiar in terms of workflow, which is important for our team. But the ability to consolidate multiple steps into one place is where it becomes really valuable from an efficiency and accuracy perspective.”
The Results
Time saved:
- Reduced time spent coordinating across multiple systems
- Reduced manual validation of financial data
- Improved efficiency in invoice processing workflows
Money earned:
- Client cash remains productive until payments are due
- Treasury capabilities introduced without additional operational effort
Risk eliminated (or any other relevant result):
- Reduced reliance on multiple disconnected tools
- Improved accuracy in financial data validation
- More structured and scalable financial operations
Key Features They Love
Unified workflow:
“The ability to consolidate multiple steps into one place is where it becomes really valuable from an efficiency and accuracy perspective.”
Familiar interface:
“The platform feels familiar in terms of workflow, which is important for our team.”
Client cash productivity:
“The ability for client cash to remain productive until payments are due is a meaningful improvement.”
Scalable infrastructure:
“Round helps by making our internal workflows more efficient and delivers additional value directly to our clients.”
The Setup
Round was introduced alongside existing tools with direct Xero integration, automated invoice ingestion, and no disruption to existing workflows, allowing Rise Accounting to adopt the platform across clients in a structured and scalable way.
Looking Ahead
Rise Accounting plans to expand the use of Round across its client base to build a more unified and scalable financial infrastructure while improving efficiency and delivering additional value to clients.
About Rise Accounting
Rise Accounting is a premium accounting and advisory firm supporting over 750 venture-backed startups globally, providing outsourced finance functions including bookkeeping, accounts payable, payroll, fundraising support and financial operations.
About Round
Round builds AI-powered financial infrastructure that automates treasury, AP, and payroll operations for European companies and VC funds. Backed by Alstin Capital, Round helps finance teams earn more on idle cash while spending less time on operational busywork.
