First stop: PE Accounting!

Aaaand I’m off!

First leg: Sveavägen 65 to Torsgatan 2 – 1.2 km. Nailed it!

Olle Rydqvist, CEO at PE Accounting, greets me at the door and helps me carry the already now heavy bike up the stairs to the office. But it’s going to be even heavier…

– We’d like to help you out a little. You need somewhere to sleep, right?

He’s right, and he gives me a tent, sleeping bag and a mat. I thank him, and we start walking around the office, where 25 people currently sit in four different rooms. The rooms are very different from each other: In one room, there is party mood – loud music and people are almost dancing behind their screens. In another, it is absolutely silent and people do not even look at us as we are entering the room.

– We transformed the office into an activity-based workplace before the summer. People sit in different rooms every day, depending on what they have to do that particular day. The first room we went into, we call Copacabana, and this is Mariana Trench – the probably most silent place on earth.

PE has connected all their different systems to a screen with Settlers characters. A little pet project for the company's developers, but also a great way of getting an overview of the current status of the company.

PE was founded 2010 by Andreas Granstedt. He was frustrated by the different accounting solutions that existed for entrepreneurs and he felt like something was missing. Being a serial entrepreneur himself, of course he seized the opportunity. The business plan was written in the base camp during a Himalaya expedition, and the first critical text message was sent at the first contact with the telephone network.

– Andreas knew nothing about accounting, so he needed my help. I was working as a consultant at one of the bit accounting firms. Back then I wasn’t really the same risk-taking person as Andreas, so he really had to convince me to quit my job and step out of my comfort zone. But boy, it was worth it!

The idea behind PE came up during an expedition in Himalaya

If you ever have studied accounting, you might remember some rule about saving verifications in numerous binders for a couple of years? Forget that! PE’s idea is to offer paper free accounting to its customers.

– We have built our own system, and it makes it possible to upload everything digitally into the system. Because of this, our customers can have instantly updated figures on the company’s financials, which is perfect for entrepreneurs that want to have control over their businesses.

In addition to the system, PE also employs a number of accounting consultants, making them a complete solution for outsourced economy. Most of the company’s customers have between 10 and 100 employees.

– We love entrepreneurs – both because we are entrepreneurs ourselves, but also because we know almost all our customer’s founders. Therefore, your trip is extra exciting to us. And also because of our recent partnership…

Last week, it was announced that PE steps in as a sponsor to SSE Business Lab. Business Lab is also one of the reasons to why the fundraiser Rally for SSE was initiated.

I realize that it is almost lunchtime and decide to grab some food before starting the journey for real. Thank you PE and Olle for all the help, and auf Wiedersehen!