In early November 2025, VeeRa partner and CFO Helika Parts, together with Saku Rural Municipality CFO Randar Lohu, appeared on Äripäev Radio on the topic “The Future of Financial Management: From Excel to Meaningful Decisions”. Hosted by Tõnu Einasto. The show can be listened to here: LINK
VeeRa became a secure everyday tool
Saku Rural Municipality CFO Randar Lohu is a long-term VeeRa user who has seen both the Excel era and the digital revolution. When he started working at Saku six years ago, he said it was easier because VeeRa had already been introduced there. “Budget preparation became easier because cost managers have the opportunity to enter requests into the system themselves, along with the necessary additional materials, and they can be reviewed together. The budget is conveniently prepared in a common information system,” explains Lohu.
In the earlier Excel era, tables had to be distributed, which often contained errors and differences when returned when copying – but these have been eliminated in VeeRa.
Lohu also praises that the system makes cost managers more independent, because it is a daily tool for them – they can keep up to date with their area’s budget and its implementation. Everyone can handle the system equally well, because a person does not need to have a financial education to use the software.
No more piles of paper
In addition to convenience, VeeRa has simplified data archiving and increased transparency. According to Randar Lohu, he has not collected a single printout or folder during his years working in Saku Rural Municipality. Saku Rural Municipality is also transparent towards the public, displaying data from VeeRa on the Power BI platform on its website since the summer of 2021.
In the VeeRa environment, additional materials can be added to applications and budgets – such as Excel files, PDFs and quotes. This makes the numbers understandable and transparent during negotiations. In addition, the entire history of changes can be tracked. The system is web-based and accessible from any device using an ID card, Mobile ID or Smart ID.
Randar Lohu, CFO of Saku Rural Municipality, encourages all CFOs to try new solutions. Although all developments cost money, he says they are worth the investment: “Processes become faster, more transparent and better visualized – which is important for CFOs to make better decisions.”
Budget application can be up and running in two weeks
According to Helika Parts, fear of introducing new systems is common, but the VeeRa implementation process is fast and smooth. “In the case of VeeRa, it is important to emphasize that the customer is not buying endless development, but a ready-made and capable boxed product, which at the same time continues to develop on a daily basis. If the CFO is ready to come along, the budget application can be up and running in essentially two weeks, bringing both budget execution data and information from previous periods into VeeRa. The software is used in organizations of very different sizes,” explains Parts.
Artificial intelligence may come into play, but responsibility remains with humans
User feedback is very important to VeeRa developers, and they are in constant contact with customers. In addition to high-quality software, high-quality customer service is also considered important. In a survey among VeeRa users conducted by VeeRa employee Liisa Rahe as part of her master’s thesis, 90% of cost managers (about 100 respondents) said that the budget process has become more convenient and faster. The most important feedback, however, was that VeeRa helps cost managers make better and faster decisions by creating a cause-and-effect relationship between planning and actual budget execution.
According to Helika Parts, the software is being developed daily and artificial intelligence (AI) is definitely being looked at. “However, I don’t believe that AI should prepare the budget, because then it would be an AI budget, but the responsibility would still remain with the human,” Parts argues.
