Concinnity Genetics case study: a CFO's view of procurement and financial control in a lab
How Concinnity Genetics’ fractional CFO gained evidence behind every payment, board-ready spend reporting and peace of mind, without a procurement team or a full-time finance presence on site.
“When I present my numbers to the board, I can say for certain that everything included in our payments was something we ordered, that was delivered, and that the team was happy with from a quality and quantity perspective.”
Executive summary: financial control that starts before the invoice
Concinnity Genetics is a university spin-out, building a lab from the ground up in Glasgow. The company needed a way to buy well; ensure they’re getting the best prices and pay only for what had been delivered and accepted.
MyAmici filled what Priscila calls the “procurement-shaped hole”. Scientists order what they need, the MyAmici team negotiates and resolves supplier issues, and finance approves payment against a complete, auditable record.
Introduction
Concinnity Genetics is a seed-stage biotech spun out of the University of Edinburgh and based in Glasgow. The company is developing RNA-based control systems for gene therapies. Once a gene therapy has been administered, it cannot be removed. Concinnity’s controls aim to dial down a therapy’s effect for a period of time if a patient’s needs change or safety concerns arise.
Priscila Hancock joined as Fractional CFO, working two days a week and is based outside Glasgow. She brings 15 years’ experience in large corporate pharmaceuticals.
The goal
Set up a lab, a team and a way of working from nothing, with limited funds and little time for admin. For finance, that meant keeping proper control over spend without a full-time CFO on site or a dedicated procurement function.
“Having visibility of what’s happening through a platform has really enabled me to do this role. It would have been really difficult if I didn’t have MyAmici.”
Priscila Hancock
The challenges
A procurement-shaped hole
Priscila is clear that procurement and finance are separate functions. In her pharma career, procurement ran parallel to finance, with each leader reporting directly to the CEO. When finance is asked to choose suppliers, choose products and then pay for them, segregation of duties breaks down. That creates a risk in itself, more commonly, of losing sight of quality, need and delivery schedules.
At Concinnity, scientists know what they need and want it quickly. Finance approves and pays. Nobody is left to negotiate contracts and discounts, and a company of eight is not going to hire a procurement lead.
“My scientists know what they need and I’m going to pay for it, but then what about the procurement itself?”
No buying power
With a reasonably low monthly spend, Concinnity had little leverage to negotiate with large suppliers on its own.
Paying invoices without evidence
In other companies with other systems she works with, Priscila regularly receives invoices with no way of knowing whether the item was ordered, whether it arrived, or whether the quantity and quality were right. Her options are to chase the team and file the answers in email folders, or to make a judgment call and pay. Spreadsheet trackers get abandoned because nothing forces them to be completed.
“Sometimes you end up making payments you are 95% sure are okay, but you always have a nagging feeling. I don’t have any evidence. It’s not written down.”
Once a supplier has been paid, the leverage to resolve a faulty, short or missing delivery is gone. In a small company, nobody has time to chase it.
A complex lab build
Every piece of equipment had to be bought. Large, one-off purchases came with real delivery risk: whether items fitted in the lift, how they would travel from the road, where the lorry would park, and how validation, warranties and installation would be handled.
The solution
From skeptic to advocate
Concinnity’s COO introduced MyAmici. Priscila’s first reaction was the one most finance leaders would have: “To push back on cost is easy. As a finance person, the natural answer is always: why don’t we just use the Xero PO module?”.
The team persuaded her that the lab build was too risky to manage alone. MyAmici would provide project management, customer service and people helping the team make decisions on large equipment, including validation, warranties and installation.
How it works at Concinnity
Managed procurement. MyAmici negotiates discounts on Concinnity’s behalf and manages the end-to-end process, using the combined buying power of its customer base.
Self-service recording. If the team buys something elsewhere, for example on Amazon, they record it in MyAmici so there is still an audit trail.
Payment tied to delivery. If an item has not been marked as delivered, it does not appear in Priscila’s list to pay. The supplier chases, the team is prompted, and the record gets completed.
Financial controls. Priscila controls user access, spending limits, and who can order and approve.
Supplier support. When something goes wrong, the MyAmici team contacts the supplier, chases daily and reports back on progress and next steps.
Onboarding took one short training session. Priscila found the goods received not invoiced (GRNI) view on her own.
“I don’t even know if anybody showed it to me. I just went and found it because it’s so intuitive.”
The results
Board-ready spend, with evidence behind every payment
Outside payroll, the bulk of Concinnity’s spend is consumables, and all of it now runs through MyAmici. Priscila can report to the board knowing every payment matches something delivered and accepted by the team.
“I don’t spend a minute worrying about what we have spent. That’s something that has kept me awake at night in other places.”
A record finance can trust
Three months in, Priscila decided to keep MyAmici. The deciding factor was the reliability of the information. Each order carries notes from the MyAmici team telling the full story: the original delivery date, what went wrong, how it was resolved and the new date.
“You can audit the whole story of how an item came to be and the challenges along the way.”
She contrasts this with a PO module inside accounting software: “lots of PO numbers, but nothing connects. It feels like a glorified spreadsheet rather than a proper end-to-end system.”
Why approval-only tools fall short
Priscila trialed ApprovalMax across companies she advises and found it could not do what she needed. Despite raising support tickets and getting help, she concluded it was simply not built for the same job. In her view, the fundamental question for any finance leader evaluating alternatives is simple: does this tool do procurement end to end, or does it primarily manage the approval step? For Priscila, only MyAmici answered that question.
Reporting in minutes, not days
When Concinnity applied for a grant, it had to break down its supplies by geography and type. Priscila built the report in MyAmici in a couple of minutes.
Money recovered, time saved
When orders were overpaid or short-delivered, the MyAmici team took on the supplier conversations. Priscila recently resolved a difficult open-items reconciliation this way and recovered the amount she believed Concinnity was owed. Without that support, it would have sat at the bottom of a two-day-a-week priority list.
Benefits across the organization
| Team | What changed |
|---|---|
| Scientists | Order what they need, with purchases outside the platform still recorded in one place |
| Operations | A procurement partner for the lab build, covering delivery logistics, validation, warranties and installation |
| Finance | Pays only for delivered, accepted items, with controls over access, limits and approvals, and a remote view of all spend |
| Leadership and board | Confident, evidenced reporting on where investor money has gone |
The biggest gain, in Priscila’s words, is head space: time to add value to the financial and scientific plan instead of asking “should I pay this?”
Advice for other CFOs
Priscila describes herself as very reluctant to add anything that increases cost unless the benefit is obvious. Her advice to finance leaders who think Excel and their accounting software are enough is simple: try it.
“Use the platform for a few months. It’s not difficult to implement, it’s not difficult to roll out. Once you have used it, you’ll see for yourself the amount of time and peace of mind you’re going to get.”
She also recommends asking peers in the finance community. Priscila has recommended MyAmici within her network of finance directors, heads of finance and CFOs. Those who had heard of or used MyAmici had only positive things to say.
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Book a demoFAQs for finance leaders in labs
Why shouldn’t finance run procurement in a small biotech?
When the same person chooses the supplier, chooses the product and pays for it, there is no segregation of duties. That raises risk and makes it harder to judge quality, need and delivery. At Concinnity, scientists decide what they need, MyAmici handles sourcing and negotiation, and finance approves payment.
Our accounting software has a PO module. Why add a procurement platform?
A PO module records purchase order numbers. A procurement platform connects the order, the delivery, the team’s acceptance and the invoice in one record. Priscila found this connected record was what made the information trustworthy enough to pay against.
How does a procurement platform stop us paying for things we didn’t receive?
In MyAmici, an item that has not been marked as delivered does not appear in finance’s payment list. Holding payment until delivery is confirmed also keeps leverage with the supplier if something arrives faulty, short or broken.
We already use ApprovalMax. Why would we need MyAmici?
Approval workflow tools are built to manage the sign-off process. MyAmici is built around the full procurement cycle: raising the PO, managing approval, tracking delivery, and holding payment until goods are confirmed received. For teams buying bespoke or high-value items from specialist suppliers, that end-to-end record is what gives finance the confidence to pay. If your current tool gives you that complete picture, you may not need MyAmici. If it does not, that is the gap worth looking at.
What is GRNI and why does it matter?
Goods received not invoiced (GRNI) covers items that have arrived but not yet been billed. It is a key accrual for month-end close. MyAmici’s platform is so intuitive, Priscila found the GRNI view without any training.
What controls can finance set?
At Concinnity, finance controls user access, spending limits, and who can place and approve orders.
What about purchases made outside the platform?
The team can record off-platform purchases, such as items bought on Amazon, in MyAmici. Finance keeps an audit trail and a complete view of spend by supplier.
Can it help with grant and board reporting?
Yes. Priscila produced a breakdown of Concinnity’s supplies by geography and type for a grant application in a couple of minutes. She also uses the record to give the board evidenced assurance on spend.
Is a company our size too small for a procurement platform?
Concinnity has around eight people with fairly low consumable spend. Pooled buying through MyAmici gives it negotiating leverage it would not have alone. Priscila’s advice is to trial the platform and judge the time and money saved.
How does a lab get better prices from suppliers?
MyAmici negotiates on the lab’s behalf using group buying power to deliver savings of 20–30% from suppliers.
Does MyAmici integrate with our accounting software?
Yes. MyAmici integrates with finance systems including NetSuite and Xero. It works alongside your accounting software rather than replacing it. Your accounting system stays the ledger, and MyAmici provides the connected purchasing record behind each transaction.
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