Journeys by Design gains multi-year financial visibility with QuickBooks Advanced

Journeys by Design creates bespoke travel experiences across Africa, combining deep conservation knowledge with carefully designed journeys for travellers around the world.

Founded in 1999 by wildlife guide and environmental scientist Will Jones, the company has grown from a small operation into an international business with a team working across the UK and several African countries. Its clients – largely based in the United States and Europe – travel to destinations across the continent on carefully curated trips that are often planned years in advance.

Behind the scenes, this creates a financial model that is unusually complex. Unlike many businesses where revenue is recognised shortly after a sale, Journeys by Design sells experiences that may take place two or even three years after the original booking.

Managing that timeline requires the finance team to understand how today’s bookings translate into revenue across multiple future financial periods.

For in-house accountant Sandiso Sibanda, gaining visibility across those timelines is essential.

“Our business operates on a sort of three-year cycle. Our clients book their travel far in advance — up to two or three years ahead of time.”

To support that complexity, the finance team uses QuickBooks Advanced to bring financial data, reporting and planning into one connected system, giving leadership a clearer view of the business as bookings, revenue and delivery move across multiple years. This has reduced manual reporting work, while giving leadership clearer, faster insight into the company’s financial performance. 

Challenge

Managing revenue across multiple financial years

Journeys by Design’s booking model means the business is constantly managing several layers of revenue at once. Trips sold today may not take place until one or two years later, while trips delivered this year may have been booked several years earlier.

Without clear reporting across those timelines, it becomes difficult to understand how current sales translate into future financial performance. Sandiso explains how the finance team tracks this cycle. “Through QuickBooks Advanced, we’re able to invoice by the date of travel, which means we can view our profit and loss across those three years.”

This visibility allows the team to understand the business’s financial position across the entire booking cycle. “We can see profit and loss across three years: past, present and future. That’s what this visibility provides — the ability to make informed decisions before issues become problems.”

For leadership, this multi-year perspective is critical when planning growth and managing cash flow.

Manual reporting slowed insight

As the business expanded, reporting processes became more time-consuming.

Budget comparisons and financial analysis often relied on spreadsheets, meaning the finance team had to manually combine data before meaningful insights could be produced. This slowed down reporting cycles and increased the risk of human error.

For a finance function supporting board-level decision-making, delayed reporting made it harder to respond quickly to changes in performance. Sandiso describes why reliability in financial data is essential. “In finance, you never want to present speculative numbers. You need to have complete confidence that the figures you’re giving are correct.”

The team needed a system that could deliver accurate financial information quickly and consistently.

Solution

With bookings, suppliers and customers spanning multiple countries and currencies, the finance team needed a financial system capable of supporting international operations while still providing accurate reporting and financial visibility.

As Sandiso explains: “We deal in multiple currencies and across multiple jurisdictions, so we have to keep a close eye on exchange rates, payment timings, and supplier terms.”

To support that complexity, the finance team uses QuickBooks Advanced to bring financial data, reporting and planning into one connected system.

Custom reporting and live dashboards tailored to the business 

QuickBooks Advanced enabled the finance team to build reports that reflect the company’s operating model. Using custom reporting, the team can analyse performance across different booking periods and revenue cycles. “The custom reporting functionality is definitely up there — being able to tailor reports to our exact needs is huge.”

These tailored reports—and the live dashboards that support them—allow the finance team to see how current bookings, upcoming trips and historical performance interact across the business.

For Sandiso, the dashboard acts as a proactive tool for accuracy. “The live dashboard can show that last year, this time, we earned X amount, but this year we’re showing a different figure. It prompts us to ask: ‘Why is that?’ It could be a legitimate variance or a simple input error, but that visibility helps us find and fix it quickly.”

Refreshable reporting synced with Excel

To extend their analysis, the team also connects QuickBooks reports directly to Excel.

Once reports are created, they can be refreshed instantly with the latest financial data rather than rebuilt manually. “Once reports are set up, we don’t rebuild anything. We hit refresh and trust the data.”

Because the reports are connected directly to live financial data, the team avoids manual data transfers that previously introduced errors. Sandiso notes how this integration improves both efficiency and reliability. “One of the biggest benefits is the ability to create reports and sync them directly into Excel. It saves so much time and reduces the possibility of human error because the data is coming directly from the source.”

With reporting connected to live financial data, the team can update insights quickly without duplicating work.

Budget management linked to real-time financial data

QuickBooks Advanced also allows the finance team to upload budgets directly into the system and compare them against live financial performance.

“Now, we can input and upload budgets easily, run budget overviews quickly, and link them directly to the live financial data. This enables the team to monitor performance continuously throughout the year. We can quickly identify if we’re meeting our targets, falling short, or even overperforming,” he recalls. 

When performance diverges from expectations, leadership can respond immediately. “When we notice that the budget-to-actual variance is off, we can immediately decide whether to implement spending restraints such as delaying projects, postponing expenses, or shifting initiatives into the next financial year.”

Impact

Faster reporting cycles

By centralising financial data and using refreshable reports in QuickBooks Advanced, the finance team has significantly reduced the time required to prepare monthly reports.

According to Sandiso, the reporting process has changed. “Before, we might have spent two to three days pulling together everything—reports, reconciliations, summaries. Now, we can do most of that within a day.” 

With less time spent compiling data, the team can focus more on analysing performance and supporting leadership decisions.

Strategic visibility for leadership

With reliable reporting and centralised financial data in QuickBooks Advanced, the leadership team now has a clearer view of the business’s financial position. Instead of debating whether the numbers are accurate, discussions can focus on strategic decisions. 

“The board makes strategic decisions based on this data. If we’re spending more this year, we can dig into why. Maybe increased supplier costs or an operational change is needed and we can justify it with evidence. That kind of real-time awareness provides real peace of mind.”

Proactive financial management

By linking budgets directly with live financial data in QuickBooks Advanced, the finance team can monitor performance continuously throughout the year.

This makes it easier to identify budget variance earlier and respond before issues escalate.

Sandiso highlights: “We’re not reacting after the fact; we’re adjusting in real time. When we notice that the budget-to-actual variance is off, we can immediately decide whether to implement spending restraints — delaying projects, postponing expenses, or shifting initiatives into the next financial year.” 

This shift enables the company to manage performance proactively rather than retrospectively. “Instead of reaching the end of the year and saying, ‘If only we’d known this earlier,’ we can act proactively.”

Greater resilience during disruption

The system’s visibility proved particularly valuable during the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Many trips were postponed rather than cancelled, creating complex revenue implications.

Sandiso describes how the team used the system to understand the business’s true position. “Having that visibility made it possible to see exactly what had rolled over and what new revenue was coming in.”

This allowed the company to separate deferred bookings from new sales and maintain a clearer picture of financial performance.

Looking forward

As Journeys by Design continues to grow, the finance team is using QuickBooks Advanced to support scenario planning and financial forecasting.

Sandiso points out how quickly the team can model potential changes in the market. “We can say, ‘Okay, what if bookings slow down by X per cent?’ or ‘What if the pound weakens against the dollar by Y?’ and we can see the impact on revenue and cash flow instantly.”

Automation has also changed how the finance team contributes to the business. “Automation has given us more time to focus on the why behind the numbers, not just the what.”

By reducing manual reporting work and improving financial visibility, the team can focus on analysing trends and helping leadership make better decisions as the business grows.