Counterculture partner backs Aqilla for not-for-profits

Counterculture Partner Shelley Twitchin has endorsed Aqilla's accounting software for not-for-profit organisations, drawing on more than a decade of experience using the system in finance leadership and advisory roles.

As a consultant and outsourced Finance Director at Counterculture, she advises charities, social enterprises, schools, museums and heritage organisations on finance, governance, strategy and business planning. Her work often spans multiple entities, funding streams and currencies, a common feature of larger and more complex not-for-profit structures.

Her experience with the software began while she was Finance Director at King's Place Music Foundation and has continued in her consulting work since then. "I have worked with Aqilla's accounting software for over ten years," said Shelley Twitchin, Partner at Counterculture. "My experience with the software began when I was Finance Director at King's Place Music Foundation and has continued into my current consulting work."

Sector pressure

Her comments reflect a wider issue facing charities and other mission-led organisations as they try to meet rising demands on tight budgets. Finance teams are often expected to improve reporting and oversight while working with limited staff and outdated systems.

Affordability is a central concern for many of the organisations she supports. "The industries that I'm working in are primarily rooted in the not-for-profit sector, where everyone is looking to be more efficient with less resources, so affordability is key," she said.

She also pointed to the burden of routine processing and historical reporting, which can leave finance staff with too little time for planning and analysis. That, in turn, limits leadership teams' ability to use financial information in a timely and practical way.

"Finance consists of dwelling in the past, the present, and the future," Twitchin said. "You have to be able to dwell in the past, analysing your historic information and answering questions about why things happened the way they did - but then that informs your future decision-making."

Data access

Aqilla is presented as a cloud accounting system for organisations that need detailed reporting and flexibility, without the administrative burden associated with more complex software. One of its main strengths, Twitchin said, is reducing manual work, particularly data entry and spreadsheet use, and helping finance teams move more quickly from processing to interpretation.

That matters in organisations where finance departments are under pressure not only to keep records up to date but also to support trustees, executive teams and boards with clearer insight into performance and risk. Faster access to information can shape budget decisions, funding allocations and longer-term sustainability planning.

On that point, she said the software frees up time within finance teams.

"Aqilla makes the inputting of data so efficient, saving a huge amount of time within the finance function," Twitchin said. "It also helps you get the data out quickly and allows people to spend more time thinking about the future."

Wider use

Another theme in her assessment is the role of finance systems in broadening access beyond specialist staff. In many charities and cultural bodies, financial processes remain concentrated within a small team, leaving operational managers and senior colleagues dependent on periodic reports rather than direct involvement.

Twitchin said Aqilla's design helps bring more people into those processes. "The way the platform itself is constructed creates buy-in from the wider team and allows people to be involved in finance processes where previously they might have just allowed the finance function to be quite siloed," she said.

That wider engagement can have governance implications, particularly in organisations where trustees and non-financial leaders must oversee performance across several programmes or entities. Better access to information can help boards and leadership teams ask more precise questions about spending, reserves, restricted funds and financial resilience.

She said the software is well-suited to organisations that want to make fuller use of the information they already hold. "It's the right choice for curious leadership teams," Twitchin said. "If you have data, but don't know how to use it to answer your questions, Aqilla helps you get that data out quickly in the format you need it to be in to answer those questions."

Her endorsement adds to evidence of demand in the not-for-profit sector for accounting systems that can handle multi-entity reporting and support stronger decision-making without pushing costs beyond the reach of charities and social enterprises.