Street Child, an international charity supporting children into education, has transformed its ability to manage multi‑currency funds, meet donor reporting demands and get real‑time financial visibility with Aqilla cloud accounting software. The finance team has simplified global reporting, accelerated month‑end close, and strengthened transparency in an increasingly challenging funding environment.

Dave Smeath, Senior Manager, Programmes Finance & Operations at Street Child, says:

"Aqilla gives us the detail and flexibility we need to track every pound raised and show donors exactly where their money goes."

The challenge

Headquartered in the UK with 15 offices around the world, Street Child aims to see all children safe, in school and learning. The charity delivers education programmes in some of the world’s lowest-income and most disaster-affected countries, including Afghanistan, Ukraine and Somalia. Following several mergers in 2018, the organisation’s financial processes and information were fragmented. Using only spreadsheets, Street Child found it difficult to get visibility over local operations. It was also time-consuming and complicated to create donor, statutory and management reports. 

As the charity expanded, the need for responsive support and tailored functionality grew. Off‑the‑shelf accounting tools couldn’t offer the flexibility Street Child needed for project and fund accounting. 

Working with Aqilla to create the solution

Street Child implemented Aqilla in 2018 to create a unified, cloud‑native accounting platform that could meet their complex reporting and FX requirements. Working closely with Aqilla’s consultants, the finance team tailored the system to suit the charity’s specific needs: 

Flexible, donor-specific project reporting

Every transaction is tagged with donor, project and budget‑line codes, allowing Street Child to automate tailored reports that account for every penny. For example, when building a school, they use donor budget lines for each element such as transportation, contractor fees or materials, including the expected timeline. Reports are generated for donors, management, the board and for compliance purposes in granular detail. With Aqilla, Street Child can also keep track of both restricted (donations given for a specific purpose) and unrestricted funds (donations that can be used for any of the charity’s purposes).
 

"We can slice reporting any way we need, from project-based reports to management information” explained Dave. “It’s all coming from one system. Because Aqilla is in the cloud, we can track the purchase of a box of pens in South Sudan from anywhere in the world."

Multi-currency clarity and audit readiness

Operating mainly in Africa and Asia, Aqilla enables Street Child’s local finance teams to post in local currency, e.g. Ugandan Shillings. Aqilla automatically converts local transactions to GBP using approved monthly exchange rates, making variances easy to explain.

"All FX conversions use a donor-accepted rate provider, so variances are easy to evidence in donor, local and base currencies,” Dave said. “In Aqilla, auditors can trace every transaction back to the source."

Faster month-end and real-time visibility

Through Aqilla’s Excel add‑in and cloud dashboards, the finance team at global HQ can monitor progress daily rather than waiting for month‑end. Teams attach receipts and invoices directly to transactions, simplifying audits and reducing reconciliation admin.

"I can check Cameroon’s data in the morning and coach the team through any changes we need to make on the same day. Aqilla allows us to spot issues before they become problems."

Rapid support from the same, dedicated team

Dave values the close relationship he has with Aqilla’s support team and the same, experienced system experts who offer a personal, fast response.

"We needed some technical support yesterday. I emailed Rayyan at Aqilla and he responded with a solution before midday. Being able to reach someone who knows your set up really well and get a quick resolution is invaluable. It’s this kind of support that bigger software providers can’t provide."

Working in partnership to improve charity finance

In response to Street Child’s requirements, Aqilla works with Dave and his team to continually develop the software, to the benefit of the sector as a whole. Development projects that Street Child has collaborated on include refinements to rounding variances in high‑denomination currencies, and enhancements to control rough postings and prevent miscoding.  

Dave is also working with Aqilla to explore the opportunities that AI and automation technologies offer. He explained, “We’re exploring AI-driven business rules to prevent miscoding at source, so our teams spend less time fixing entries and more time advising programme leads.” 

Describing the partnership, Aqilla’s CEO Hugh Scantlebury said, “Street Child is the best kind of customer. They’re proactive and ready to work with us on developing new features for the benefit of the sector as a whole. We are in the privileged position of being able to tap into Street Child’s expertise in charity finance and make life easier for other charities.”  

Dave added, “Incorporating our ideas into the software development roadmap benefits not just us but every charity using Aqilla.” 

The results

• A smooth and error-free month-end close

• Simplified donor and statutory reporting from one system

• Confidence in FX and audit compliance

• Responsive, partnership-led support driving continual improvement

• Full visibility across 15 countries through a single cloud platform

Describing the advantages of working with cloud native software, Dave explained:

"I live in Spain, but it doesn’t matter where I am — I can log in and work with our teams, see their finances, and check accounting in South Sudan if I need to. If we were relying on desk-based services and monthly reports, we’d only see our finances once a month. With Aqilla, we see everything live. It’s like all our offices are in the same room.”

Why visibility matters more than ever for charities

Following successive cuts to overseas aid by some of the world’s leading nations, dependence on international charities is greater than ever. Organisations also face shrinking grants and tougher donor scrutiny. To survive, they must prove expenditure against every fund, find efficiencies and recover overheads.  

“We monitor staff-cost recovery and 7–10% overheads at project level—vital for sustainability in today’s funding climate”, Dave explained. 

With Aqilla, Street Child can operate efficiently as a unified, transparent organisation and fulfil its goal to see all children safe, in school and learning.  

You can donate to Street Child here.