How Red Fish Accountancy improved payroll confidentiality and payment efficiency with Telleroo

Red Fish Accountancy is a progressive, technology-led outsourced finance provider. Working with tech startups and cloud-first businesses, the firm has been fully cloud based for many years, giving clients the kind of modern, connected finance function they expect.

Jennie Gillam, owner of Red Fish Accountancy, runs a team of bookkeepers and payroll specialists who manage payments on behalf of their client base. She shares how moving away from logging into client bank accounts to using Telleroo freed up her time, and made client payments simpler, safer, and more scalable.

The operational headaches of making payments through bank portals

Before Telleroo, Jennie made payments the hard way, by being added to each client's bank account and processing everything manually. Direct access to multiple client bank accounts also created an exposure the firm wanted to avoid.

"Alongside the security risk, it was very reliant on me doing everything," Jennie explains. "I had to log into all the different bank accounts, and every bank portal is slightly different. Some of them were easier than others. And of course they all had individual company limits. It was a palaver."

Those limits caused real headaches, especially for larger clients. "NatWest used to have every single company at £10,000 a day, no matter how big your company was."

The firm needed a solution that could handle clients of all sizes. A software that would save time, reduce risk, and remove the dependence on Jennie.

Finding flexible approvals and confidentiality in the payments process

When Jennie looked for a software solution, the priorities were clear: visibility for clients, easy approvals, and a process that didn't depend on one person. Telleroo delivered on all three.

"It was important that we could have different people inputting pay runs, and different approvers," Jennie says. "Now with Telleroo, our bookkeepers create and review pay runs. Then the management team approves pay runs as well as me."

Some clients give management access to Red Fish so the firm can approve pay runs, whilst others prefer to handle approvals themselves. Either way, clients can log into their Telleroo account and have full visibility over pay runs at any time.

Clients can also add multiple authorised users to their account, giving the right people access to payroll payments without exposing salary information on the main company bank account. No more worrying about team members seeing each other's wages.

"I think payroll payments are my favourite thing about Telleroo. Payroll effectively goes out of the client's bank in one payment. For salaries especially, there's a lot more confidentiality around it. That was one of the huge benefits of moving to Telleroo."

Using the QuickBooks and Telleroo integration for easy supplier payments

For the firm's clients that use QuickBooks, the integration with Telleroo has become a core part of how the firm manages supplier payments day to day.

Here's how it works in practice:

1. Invoices awaiting payment flow straight from QuickBooks into Telleroo, so there's no manual re-keying.
2. Bank details are scanned automatically from invoices, giving the team an added layer of accuracy before anything moves.
3. Bookkeepers upload and review each run, viewing the bank account checks that flag anything unusual before it progresses.
4. Payments are approved, then scheduled or sent out for immediate payment.

For Jennie, the impact on the firm has been significant. "It's definitely had a big impact on the firm's processes," she says. "It makes it much easier. It's brilliant. It makes payments really low risk. When you use Telleroo with one of the integrations like QuickBooks, there's no human error in the payment information."

A valuable add-on service that clients love

For Jennie, offering payments through Telleroo isn't just about efficiency. It's a business opportunity that strengthens client relationships.

She regularly recommends it to other firms. "Use it," she says plainly. "Doing these payments for your clients is a really valuable add-on for them. They love the fact that we handle payments. It makes their lives much easier, and it's a great revenue stream for us."

"With Telleroo, you have great visibility, the clients have great visibility, and it's easy and simple," Jennie explains. "It helps you become even more of a trusted advisor and partner, because you're providing a service that really helps them. Telleroo is one of our favourite pieces of software."

If your firm is still logging into client bank accounts to make payments, Telleroo can help you cut the risk, share the workload, and turn payments into a valuable, scalable service. Get started with Telleroo today.