Bristol software firm Ledgerscope, which helps accountants analyse their clients’ data, is launching a new service to enable banks and financing firms make better lending decisions.
The cloud-based service uses an API (app programming interface) to extract financial data in minutes and present it to the lender in an easy to understand standardised format. 
Called Ledgerflow, it is the brainchild of professional accountant Adrian Pearson and his team at Ledgerscope. It extracts a prospective loanee’s financial data – with their express permission – to gain further insights into the financial health of a business.
Ledgerflow can be used by smaller lending firms or multinational banks that offer services such as factoring, asset finance and business loans.
The API, which is being launched in the UK and Ireland this month, will be available as a Software-as-a-Service.
A white label option, which can be re-branded, allows lenders to evaluate up-to-date business performance directly from SME’s accounting software without additional development.
Ledgerscope established Movemybooks, the preferred accounting data conversion service for Sage, QuickBooks and Xero in the UK and North America over the past 10 years.
The team at Ledgerscope has drawn on a decade of developing open accounting software to create Ledgerflow.
MD Adrian Pearson said: “The relationship between many financial firms and their clients continues to become more distant. High street business banking has more or less disappeared and so has the tradition of lenders getting to really know their clients and concerns.
“Yet the need to understand a business’s position and needs is as important as ever for lenders. Ledgerflow offers lenders up-to-date and reliable data on which to base critical decisions.”
Marketing director Rob Furness added: “The open finance tool is emerging as a way to bridge the knowledge gap. We see huge possibilities for financial professionals to gain valuable insights to support their clients more effectively and grow their own services.”
Pictured below: The Ledgerscope team, from left, CTO Matthew Steeples, senior developer Jonathan Percy, MD and founder Adrian Pearson, head of accounting support Nathan Travers and marketing director Rob Furness
