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Palace Cinemas case study

The team at Pacific Commerce really listened to our challenges and implemented a solution that specifically addressed and solved these issues. They proved to be flexible and were available at all times during the implementation to work with us on this important change management project.

Renato Fonti • Chief Financial Officer, Palace Cinemas
About Palace Cinemas:

At Palace Cinemas, we are passionate about sharing the best in cinema with our audience. Whether you are a fan of new releases, international and arthouse films, cinema retrospectives, or our renowned cultural film festivals, our cinemas are designed to offer a unique and indulgent movie-going experience. We have curated an eclectic mix of venues, from heritage-listed art-deco gems to sleek metropolitan theatres, each one carefully crafted with sophisticated comfort in mind. Our onsite bars and cafés feature curated wine lists and gourmet eats, making it easy to elevate your cinema experience with a glass of wine and our famous connoisseur choc-tops and award-winning olive oil popcorn.


The challenge:

We operate over 15 cinemas across Australia, each with their own suppliers and independent procurement processes. The accounting department (located in Melbourne) is responsible for reconciling each cinema’s accounts payables, a manual and demanding task due to seasonal fluctuations and growth in the number of cinemas. 

This in turn affected financial reporting to management, which was a key issue for us. The old process took us until the 14th of each month to circulate monthly figures and it was very time consuming. 

Our previous systems were limiting our growth and the longer to procure-to-pay cycle was preventing us from delivering better customer service.


The solution:

The solution we went for was a personalised accounts payable (AP) automation platform that removed all manual data handling from our team. 

All our incoming invoices are now put through this platform where it scrapes the data and runs them through a set of customised algorithms before being assigned to our general ledger accounts, based on pre-defined approval workflow.

The whole process is automated and our team will only step in to manage exceptions.


The result & benefits

Our monthly figures are now available to management by the 6th working day of the month and the team are working with Pacific Commerce to reduce this even further.

Our procure-to-pay cycle is also shorter due to quicker accounts reconciliation, greatly enhancing our relationships with our suppliers. 

Not to mention our team members are also happier now that they are no longer burdened with complicated manual data entry and reconciliation tasks.


What was your experience working with the team at Pacific Commerce?  

Pacific Commerce listened to Palace's issues, analysed our pain points and returned a solution that met our requirements. It was great working with their team.  


– Renato Fonti • Chief Financial Officer, Palace Cinemas