Coastline Housing: Providing strategic finance expertise alongside a major ERP transformation
Coastline Housing is one of Cornwall’s leading housing associations, delivering affordable homes and community services across the region. With an established finance function and a growing need for more efficient processes, the organisation embarked on a major finance transformation programme to replace a legacy financial system that had been in place for over a decade.
As the organisation continued to grow, Coastline Housing’s recognised its long-standing finance system no longer supported its future ambitions. Increasing reporting and evolving operational demands meant the finance team was spending too much time on manual administration and transaction processing, limiting their ability to focus on financial analysis and strategic decision-making.
Coastline Housing set out to modernise its finance function by introducing real-time reporting, stronger financial controls and streamlined processes that would support the long-term growth and operational efficiency.
Throughout the transformation, it was essential that the project remained aligned with operational priorities, including statutory reporting deadlines and key financial milestones. A carefully phased implementation approach ensured the transition was delivered with minimal disruption to day-to-day operations.
Recognising that a successful ERP project involves far more than just simply implementing new software, Coastline Housing partnered with 4PointZero to provide independent finance consultancy alongside the Xledger implementation team. Acting as an independent finance advisor throughout the project, we worked closely with key stakeholders to review existing finance operations, identify opportunities for efficiency improvements. Our focus was to ensure the new finance platform was built around modern best practice, delivering a more streamlined, scalable and future-ready finance function rather than simply replicating legacy.
A key part of the engagement involved redesigning the chart of accounts to create an intuitive reporting structure that would support future growth while simplifying day-to-day financial management. We also advised on the migration of historic financial data, ensuring reporting continuity, audit compliance and the retention of critical financial information
Rather than simply replacing technology, the project focused on creating a modern finance function that would deliver long-term value across the organisation. By introducing more efficient financial structures, enhancing reporting capabilities and embedding best practice into every day processes, Coastline Housing has established a stronger foundation for financial management. With routine administration significantly reduced, the finance team is now able to spend more time analysing financial performance, support operational teams and provide the strategic insight that helps drive informed decisions.
"4PointZero understood that this project was about much more than implementing new software. They worked closely with our team to understand our goals, challenged our existing processes and helped us build a finance platform that is far better aligned to the way our organisation operates today."
"We’ve gained far more visibility into our financial position since the new system was implemented. Real-time reporting and improved tracking have helped us make more informed decisions. 4PointZero’s experience and support made the process much easier to manage, even with our small team."