Customer Success Story
Functional Genetics
Small Research Firm uses GCS Premier® to bring Project Accounting and Contract Management up to speed
The Challenge
Founded on venture capital in December 2000, Rockville, Maryland-based Functional Genetics is a small but highly motivated biotech company working to develop antiviral treatments that have the potential to save millions of lives. The 19-employee firm works primarily with the U.S. Army and related subcontractors studying the deadly Ebola virus, influenza and various biochemical agents in the hopes of identifying means for a cure.
Functional Genetics started government contracting three years after they were founded. Soon after entering this realm, faced with the unique requirements of both Cost Share and fixed price contracts from its government-based clients, the company realized that it was not equipped with accounting and management software that could adequately address these needs.
In the beginning, Suzanne DeLuca, the Director of Finance for Functional Genetics in charge of all accounting as well as the administrative management of the contracts, simply continued using the Peachtree software that the company had since its inception. She soon found out that this more simplistic accounting software lacked complex government job costing functionality, creating the need to calculate revenue, billings and overhead rates for the contracts manually using Microsoft Excel spreadsheets.
“I was unable to be 100 percent certain of accuracy using this method,” DeLuca said. “Also, I was never quite as comfortable with our revenue figures as I wanted to be.”
Without the right software, work began to take a personal toll on DeLuca as well. “Personally, having had no prior experience with government contracting at the time, it was a struggle,” she recalled. “I was literally living in the office, even sleeping over a couple of times. I felt like I was up against a huge mountain and that I wasn't equipped with the right tools to navigate it.”
The Solution
In late 2004, Functional Genetics decided to take the plunge and look into purchasing government-specific accounting software to address these issues. For DeLuca, the choice was an easy one.
“I'd heard of Deltek before, through government contracting classes and accounting classes I'd taken both through ESI, affiliated with George Washington University and George Mason University (GMU),” she said. “Deltek was frequently referred to as the gold standard in government accounting software by both the instructors and the students.”
The company turned to its local auditing firm Watkins, Meegan, Drury & Company (WMD&Co.) to implement Deltek GCS Premier, an accounting solution specifically designed for small to mid-size government contractors. Functional Genetics opted to lease the software from the firm, becoming one of a growing number of small businesses to outsource accounting software — a trend identified by the AICPA as among the hottest for companies such as Functional Genetics.
WMD&Co., one of 11 firms authorized to outsource GCS Premier, provided hands-on training and education on the software during its implementation process. “Through this model, our accounting firm was able to offer much more of a personalized experience, through hands-on training and instruction for a longer period of time than the one-week implementation period,” DeLuca said.
Just two months later, Functional Genetics had implemented GCS Premier and was already using the system for project/cost accounting and its core accounting processes.
The Benefits
Since November 2004, Functional Genetics has been using GCS Premier for all of its accounting functions: processing income statements, balance sheets and indirect costs, as well as billing, payroll and material management. The system also helps DeLuca figure out overhead rates, including fringe benefits, research overhead and G&A by a percentage breakdown each month. This helps to monitor company spending and also ensures compliance with the firm's government contracts.
DeLuca believes GCS Premier has improved the accuracy of the company's financial accounting and project management data. In addition, previously time-consuming tasks such as calculating effective rates for salaries have been eliminated, saving Functional Genetics countless hours of man labor each month.
“We've gone from something very simplistic to something so robust,” DeLuca said. “With Peachtree, I was never completely comfortable with our data, because there was so much manual effort required. Now with GCS Premier, many of our accounting processes are fully automated and I am much more secure with the numbers. It's a relief to stop second-guessing my work.”
Other benefits include improved revenue recognition, more streamlined contract management processes and an improvement in the bid and proposal process. According to DeLuca, having all pertinent contract information recorded in the system and embedded in each project has been helpful.
“Now, we have an enormous amount of information right at our fingertips,” she said. “We can track the full extent of our projects — what costs have been incurred, what amounts we have remaining on each contract as well as what we have committed in terms of purchase orders. Also, when we go to bid on new projects, we now have a better idea of our rates which allows us estimate our costs more effectively.”
| The Challange | The Solution | The Deltek Advantage |
| Functional Genetics needed accounting software specifically designed for small to mid-size government contractors. | Functional Genetics opted to lease the software from the firm, becoming one of a growing number of small businesses to outsource accounting software — a trend identified by the AICPA as among the hottest for companies such as Functional Genetics. |
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DeLuca is feeling more secure and content with the overall accounting process at Functional Genetics — something that has not gone unnoticed by upper management.
“Let's put it this way — I'm not sleeping at the office anymore,” DeLuca joked. “In fact, our CEO recently told me that it was nice to see me smiling again.” Now that Functional Genetics has its accounting and contract information in one single, fully integrated database, it is better able to budget, forecast and plan for future growth. Yet the small biotech firm does not envision growing without GCS Premier.
“It's a challenge for any small business to get into an industry as competitive as government contracting,” she said. “The more help you get from government accounting software, the more you will continue to grow with the system and take advantage of the full breadth of functionality the software offers.”
To fully take advantage of this functionality, DeLuca plans to take part in additional Deltek training classes to further her own growth. In the meantime, though, DeLuca can't help but reflect on how far she and her company have come since implementing the software just months ago.
“I'm just so relieved, to not only be using such robust software but also a government-approved, highly-regarded system,” she said. “People recognize the Deltek name, and they also recognize GCS Premier as the leading government contracting software. I'm proud to be a part of it.”