Breaking the Legacy Lock: ASC’s Finance Revolution

The Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) is a global non-profit committed to improving the sustainability of seafood farming. With consumers in over 115 countries, payroll spanning 19 countries, and a turnover of approximately £14 million, ASC ensures traceability and transparency throughout the supply chain. The organisation has grown rapidly in size and complexity while staying focused on its mission to create a more sustainable seafood industry.

The challenge

When Chief Financial Officer Helga Edwards joined ASC, the finance function was struggling under an outdated, disconnected system, misaligned with the cloud-based tools used across the rest of the organisation. This left finance siloed, both technically and culturally.

"The finance system was no longer fit for purpose," Edwards explains. "We were working on a completely different platform from the rest of the organisation, and that made the team feel quite isolated."

Key limitations included:

• Lack of a purchase ordering system
• Poor reporting and analytical capabilities
• Heavy reliance on manual data entry and reconciliation
• Inability to consolidate across multiple entities
• Security and compliance risks due to obsolete infrastructure

These issues slowed daily operations and blocked ASC's collaborative decision-making culture. Managers couldn't access the data they needed to make informed, timely decisions.

The solution

ASC recognised that replacing its finance system required more than a technology upgrade, it demanded a strategic rethink. Hart Square was engaged as an independent advisor to guide the project from vision to partner selection.

Working closely with stakeholders across the global organisation, Hart Square helped ASC:

• Define future-focused requirements, aligned to both current pain points and growth plans
• Clarify the level of system sophistication required to support international operations
• Engage and align internal teams around the case for change
• Run a robust partner selection process with clear evaluation criteria

After a comprehensive options analysis, ASC selected Xledger as its cloud-based finance solution. Xledger’s combination of scalability, multi-entity functionality, and automation tools made it an ideal fit for a global non-profit with complex needs.

“It wasn’t just about choosing software,” Edwards adds. “We needed a partner we could grow with, not just someone to fix a short-term problem.”

Implementation

ASC adopted a pragmatic, phased implementation strategy to reduce risk and manage change effectively.

The first stage focused on deploying core functionality to stabilise operations and simplify processes. This included:

• Implementing a global purchase order workflow
• Streamlining expense management through a mobile, multi-currency app
• Automating reconciliations and reporting workflows
• Integrating basic ledger data with opening balances only—avoiding unnecessary historic data migration

This approach allowed the team to focus on delivering immediate impact while laying the groundwork for future development. Change management was embedded throughout, with structured communications and support processes in place to guide staff through the transition.