Questions CFOs ask before
committing to a migration

For most construction businesses, a full implementation takes 14 weeks from kick-off to go-live. The exact timeline depends on the complexity of your entity structure, the number of integrations required, and how quickly your team can engage during discovery and testing phases.

We use a structured methodology, Discovery, Design, Configuration, Testing, and Go-Live, with clear milestones at each stage so you always know where the project stands. We use AI tools throughout configuration, data mapping and testing to accelerate delivery, and we'll agree on a fixed timeline before we start.

Disruption is the number one concern we hear, and it's a legitimate one. Our approach is designed to minimise it. Your team runs parallel to the existing system during configuration and testing, and we schedule go-live at a point in your financial calendar that causes the least disruption, typically after a month-end close.

We also provide dedicated hypercare support in the first few weeks after go-live, so your team has immediate access to our consultants while they find their feet in the new system.

Our implementation follows five phases:

• Discovery (weeks 1-2): We map your current processes, chart of accounts, entities, integrations and reporting requirements.
• Design (weeks 3-4): We design the future-state system, structure, workflows, approvals and reporting, and get your sign-off before building anything.
• Configuration (weeks 5-9): We configure Sage Intacct and migrate your data.
• Testing (weeks 10-12): User acceptance testing with your team, followed by any refinements.
• Go-Live & Hypercare (weeks 13-14): Structured go-live with intensive support in the first two weeks.

Every LimeLedger engagement is led by Justus directly. Your lead consultant manages discovery, commercial decisions, training and go-live. You have a direct contact, a clear escalation path, and someone who understands both your business and the platform throughout the project.

Technical configuration, data migration and QA is handled by our specialist delivery team. Senior oversight on every decision, specialist execution on every task.

The 14 weeks is based on a recommended best practices configuration that we have deployed many times. For most construction businesses, it is the right scope and the right timeline.

We also know it does not suit every business. You may have additional requirements outside that scope, key stakeholders who are not available for the full duration, or a finance team that needs more time for testing and training. That is not a problem. As part of project kick-off, we work with you to define a go-live schedule that fits your business. We aim to get the system set up properly, not just quickly.

In practice, the most common cause of timeline slippage is client-side availability during testing and go-live preparation. Where a delay is on our side, the fixed fee holds. We do not charge you extra for that.

Data migration is a dedicated workstream within the project. We migrate three core data sets: GL monthly movements for historical reporting continuity, open transactions including outstanding invoices, bills and purchase orders, and project balances covering WIP, retentions and committed costs.

Master data - your chart of accounts, customers, suppliers, projects and cost codes - is cleaned and mapped as part of the same process. The migration scope is agreed upfront, validated by your team before cut-over, and does not affect your existing system until go-live.

We redesign your chart of accounts as part of the implementation, not simply copy it across. This is an opportunity most businesses don't take advantage of: the chance to build a financial structure that actually reflects how you operate today, rather than carrying over years of legacy complexity.

We benchmark your new chart of accounts against construction industry best practice and ensure your existing reports can be reproduced in the new system, while also delivering the improved visibility you're investing in the migration to achieve.

Yes. Sage Intacct is hosted in Australian data centres, so your financial data stays in-country at all times - during the implementation and after go-live. There is no requirement for data to be processed or stored offshore.

Sage operates enterprise-grade infrastructure in Australia with role-based access controls, full audit trails, and SOC 1 and SOC 2 compliance. You control who has access to your Sage Intacct environment throughout the project and beyond.

The total investment has three components:

• Sage Intacct licence fees: Charged annually by Sage, based on the modules and number of users in your environment. Fees vary depending on the size of your entity structure and the modules you activate. We scope this precisely as part of our initial assessment so you have a clear number before committing.
• LimeLedger implementation fee: Fixed-scope, fixed-fee. We agree the full scope and price before we start - no hourly billing, no scope creep surprises. Implementation fees are set based on the complexity of your entity structure, your data migration requirements, and your reporting needs.
• Ongoing support: An optional managed support arrangement covering system optimisation, new staff training, and advisory. We offer Essential and Premium support tiers depending on how much ongoing access to the LimeLedger team you need.

We provide a fully itemised cost breakdown before any engagement begins, so you can present a complete business case to your board or finance committee.

Most clients begin realising measurable value within the first quarter after go-live, primarily through time saved in reporting and reduced manual processing. The most significant returns tend to come from:

• Faster month-end close, typically reduced by 50-70%
• Finance headcount redeployed from data entry to analysis
• Improved job margin visibility that directly influences better commercial decisions
• Reduced errors and rework in subcontractor and billing processes

We work with you to quantify expected ROI as part of the scoping process, so you have a clear picture before committing.

For most construction and real estate businesses with $10M+ in turnover, yes, and making this move is exactly what we specialise in. Entry-level accounting systems are well-designed for simpler businesses, but they have real limitations once you're running multiple projects, multiple entities, complex job costing, or need board-level financial reporting on demand.

Sage Intacct is a best-of-breed financial management platform, not another entry-level tool, but a genuine step up in capability. The businesses we work with typically find that the efficiency gains from better reporting, automation and real-time visibility deliver a clear return within the first year. We'll help you build the business case before you commit.

Sage Intacct is purpose-built for construction and real estate businesses and is consistently rated as the leading cloud financial management platform for mid-market companies. For construction and real estate businesses specifically, its strengths are real-time project accounting, multi-entity consolidation, and a highly configurable reporting engine.

That said, it isn't right for every business. Our discovery process is designed to be honest about fit, if Sage Intacct isn't the right solution for your situation, we'll tell you. We'd rather lose a deal than implement the wrong system.

Yes. Sage Intacct has native AI built into the core platform. For construction and real estate businesses, the most relevant capabilities are: automated GL coding that learns from your posting patterns and reduces manual categorisation; intelligent outlier detection that flags unusual transactions before they become a problem; and AI-assisted cash flow analysis that gives your finance team earlier visibility of variances.

LimeLedger also applies AI throughout the implementation - for data mapping, configuration, testing and documentation. This is a significant part of how we deliver consistently inside a fixed timeline without cutting corners.

Yes, multi-entity management is one of Sage Intacct's strongest capabilities and one of the primary reasons construction groups choose it. You can maintain separate books for each entity while producing consolidated financial statements in real time, without any manual spreadsheet work.

Intercompany transactions, eliminations and currency conversions (for any international entities) are all handled natively. We've implemented multi-entity structures ranging from 3 entities to over 20.

Training is delivered in role-based sessions, so your AP team, project managers and CFO each receive training relevant to how they'll use the system, rather than a generic walkthrough. Sessions can be delivered on-site or remotely.

We also produce a tailored user guide for your specific configuration, and provide a recorded video library your team can refer back to. For larger teams, we can train internal champions who then support their colleagues day-to-day.

Sage Intacct is designed to scale, adding entities, users, modules or integrations doesn't require a new implementation. Our ongoing advisory model means we work with you continuously to optimise and extend your system as your business evolves.

Clients typically engage us for periodic system reviews, new module activations, additional integrations and training for new finance staff. You're never locked into a fixed configuration, the system grows with you.

Yes, and you're not choosing between staying put and an enterprise system that costs a million dollars. Sage Intacct sits in between: purpose-built for construction, cloud-native, and implementable in 14 weeks.

Cheops and Jobpac serve construction businesses well up to a point, but they weren't built for real-time multi-entity reporting, cloud-native integrations, or the level of financial visibility that growing businesses need. The migration path is well-understood and we've mapped it in detail.

The signals are usually the same: month-end close taking too long, project-level reporting done in spreadsheets, no real visibility across multiple entities, and a finance team spending more time reconciling data than analysing it. If any of those resonate, it's worth a conversation.

Sage Intacct is configured for the specific compliance requirements of Australian construction businesses, including:

• TPAR (Taxable Payments Annual Report) for subcontractor payments
• Retentions accounting, tracking and releasing retention amounts across projects and contracts
• Progress claim management aligned with Security of Payment Act (SOPA) obligations - track claim schedules, payment terms and outstanding amounts across all active contracts
• WIP schedules, automated work-in-progress reporting with overbilling and underbilling GL entries
• BAS and GST reporting with ATO-compliant tax codes and outputs

Our implementation configures all of this before go-live, not as an afterthought.

Your data is hosted in Australia. Sage Intacct operates on Australian data centre infrastructure, so your financial data never leaves the country.