# How Midwest CPA saves 15 hours a month with Retriever

Financial Reporting with the Flexibility of a Spreadsheet and the Freshness of an App

## Challenge

Chris Barrett, the owner of Midwest CPA – an accounting firm with an emphasis on serving business buyers and owners – faced a common challenge: creating customized financial reports that met each of his client's unique needs while avoiding creating a burden on his team's efficiency.
- Tedious exports from QuickBooks Online to Excel
- Formatting and customization for each client
- Manual "rollforwards" each month
- Difficulty refreshing data without repeating the entire process
- Balancing the need for customization with practical time constraints

## Solution

Chris and the team at Midwest CPA partnered with Retriever to build custom reports that were simple to refresh:
- Direct data synchronization between QuickBooks and Google Sheets
- One-click and zero-click refresh capability for updated financial data
- Custom report building flexibility within the familiar Google Sheets environment
- Cost-effective reporting solution compared to alternatives

## Results

Since implementing Retriever, Midwest CPA has experienced:

- **Simplified Workflow:** "It feels so simple. I can export everything from QuickBooks into a Google Sheet quickly now versus downloading to Excel."
- **Enhanced Customization:** "All of our clients want to see their EBITDA or custom metrics mapped out in specific ways that aren't readily available in QuickBooks. A spreadsheet ultimately is what you need, and Retriever makes this possible by syncing with Google Sheets."
- **Time Savings:** "Once it's built, it's built, and then I just want to be able to refresh it."
- **Cost Efficiency:** "It's such a fundamental problem that needed to be solved, and at not $10,000 a year per client."