Retail-ready finance, runway-worthy results
Streamlining retail finance operations with Sage Intacct and Baker Tilly helped Francesca’s cut costs and boost visibility. Read the full story.
Client background
Francesca’s is a national women’s fashion boutique brand known for its curated, trend-right apparel, jewelry, accessories and gifts. Over the past 25 years, the company has proven its ability to evolve — adapting to shifting trends, customer expectations and market dynamics while staying true to its free-spirited roots. Today, with over 400 stores across 46 states and a vibrant ecommerce presence, Francesca’s is navigating a fast-paced industry, continually realigning with customer preferences and rebuilding momentum. The finance team supports this transformation with a lean, agile mindset —and a renewed tech stack that includes Sage Intacct.
The business challenge
Legacy limitations, fragmented processes and a finance team under pressure
Francesca’s was running its corporate financials on a legacy onpremises version of Sage 100, accessing the system through VPNs and remote desktops. Reporting was labor-intensive. Journal entries lacked approval controls. Fixed asset and prepaid tracking lived in spreadsheets. Finance had to juggle four separate systems for core functions like reporting, purchasing and invoice processing.
“There were too many disparate systems,” says Megan Reta, CPA, Corporate Controller. “And the tools we did have weren’t intuitive. Everything took too long — and nothing talked to each other.”
With five legal entities, 430 stores and a national footprint spanning dozens of taxing jurisdictions, the complexity was mounting. The team struggled to get timely insights. Reporting required time consuming reconciliations, manual data manipulation and rework.
“It was a constant grind just to get the basics done,” Megan recalls. “And if someone left the team, it slowed us down even more.”
Strategy and solution
A unified platform, a skilled alliance and a vision for scalable finance
Francesca’s evaluated multiple ERP solutions and implementation partners before selecting Sage Intacct for its modern architecture, robust reporting and ability to scale across multiple entities. To guide the implementation and provide ongoing support, they teamed up with Baker Tilly — a team that immediately earned their trust.
From the start, Baker Tilly just got us. They understood retail. They brought calm, clear leadership and a solid process. And they've been with us every step of the way.KRISTI PIERCE, SENIOR MANAGER, PROJECT MANAGEMENT OFFICE, FRANCESCA'S
The implementation replaced four legacy systems — Sage 100, Square9, BizInsights and eRequester — with a single platform that automates processes, improves visibility and delivers insights quickly. Within weeks, the finance team was closing the books 30% faster and saved a full day on the monthly close by streamlining reconciliations. The accounts payable team now handles a higher volume with fewer staff, down from four to three employees after automation eliminated an entire full-time equivalent’s workload. With tools like bulk invoice uploads and optical character recognition (OCR), transaction processing time is shortened by minutes, saving 40 hours each month. They also recently linked their operating bank accounts directly to Sage Intacct — an upgrade expected to cut another full day from the monthly close.
Baker Tilly configured Sage Intacct to support Francesca’s five legal entities and 430 stores using dimensions, lines of business and entity-specific views. As a result, the organization gained the ability to run P&Ls at the store level, track spending by department and analyze performance in near real-time. With dashboards and KPIs updating automatically, the team is closer to a continual close — spotting variances early and taking action before month-end.
Tasks that used to take hours now take minutes. We're thoughtful. We're agile. People can take PTO during the close without stress. The real value is that we've moved beyond manual tasks to more meaningful, impactful work.KRISTI PIERCE, SENIOR MANAGER, PROJECT MANAGEMENT OFFICE, FRANCESCA'S
The new purchasing workflows and approval structures are also delivering big wins. Previously, purchasing required manual interventions and long email chains. Now, requisitions flow seamlessly through approvals, with full transparency and context. Finance team members can annotate records using Sage Intacct Collaborate, keeping all communications tied to the transaction.
“Our VP of HR told me she has visibility she’s never had before,” Kristi says. “People feel empowered to manage their budgets and move forward. That access has changed the dynamic.”
The team also eliminated most overtime, saving over $52,000 in staffing costs within the first year — freeing up time and resources to focus on more strategic work.
And with Baker Tilly continuing to provide hands-on support, the finance team has confidence they can keep building. “We’re already looking at financial planning and analysis, more automation, new integrations,” Kristi concludes. “With this platform and this partnership, we know we’re ready.”