Saturday 4th November 2023 | No. 67
XU Biweekly
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The independent user news source for accounting apps and their ecosystems
Expensify Unveils New to Fathom: Enhanced performance and a new Personal Payments & Bill Splitting For Everyone invite user workflow G
ET UP TO SPEED WITH THE LATEST FATHOM PRODUCT NEWS. HERE’S A QUICK WRAP-UP OF THE FEATURES WE’VE RECENTLY RELEASED.
Upgraded organisation settings & user management Fathom’s developers have been hard at work upgrading our front-end framework and design system, providing customers with a more streamlined experience, increased speeds, and better performance. The Analysis, Forecasting, and Reports areas of
Fathom were the first to be upgraded. The Organisation Settings and User Management are the latest to receive these performance enhancements. You’ll notice that both areas now have a sleeker look.
tailored beyond their role in Fathom.
New invite user workflow
Based on customer feedback, we've also streamlined the process for inviting a user into companies or groups in Fathom.
As part of the performance upgrades to User Management, we've created a new workflow for inviting users into your Fathom organisation. Every Fathom subscription allows for an unlimited number of users and each user’s permissions can be
With the new invite user workflow, we’ve included advanced permission tailoring as part of the invite process.
You can quickly toggle access on and off for specific entities or use ‘Select all’ to provide a user with access to every company on your account.
Find out more
ApprovalMax is getting a fresh new look #2
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UR TEAM IS MAKING VISUAL AND OPERATIONAL DESIGN UPDATES TO APPROVALMAX TO DELIVER A CONSISTENT AND BEAUTIFUL EXPERIENCE FOR YOU AND YOUR TEAM. ALONG WITH THIS FRESH NEW LOOK, WE’RE MAKING SOME CHANGES TO THE NAVIGATION AND LAYOUTS TO MAKE IT EASIER TO GET AROUND. Last but not least, we’ve increased the accessibility and usability of our platform to cater for a broader range
of user needs. During the roll-out, our primary focus remains on ensuring that our platform is user-friendly and contemporary. The enhancements will rollout via a staggered approach, starting later in 2023, continuing into 2024.
How our new design will advance your experience • Look & feel • Navigation • Contrast & interface • Systematic UI approach • App efficiency
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HE SPEND MANAGEMENT APP NOW LETS ANYONE SEND AND RECEIVE MONEY, SPLIT BILLS, AND CHAT ALL IN ONE PLACE. Expensify, Inc. (Nasdaq: EXFY) announced its foray into personal payments today, with functionality that allows anyone to send and receive money, split bills between individuals and groups, and chat, all within the New Expensify app. As an industry leader, the company has taken nearly 15 years of experience building market-leading business expense management technology and expanded it into the consumer payments space. The result: an app that transitions seamlessly between home and office. “Expensify is now the financial superapp for your work and personal life, all
based atop chat,” says David Barrett, founder and CEO of Expensify. “It’s a consumer-grade lovechild between WhatsApp, Venmo, and Splitwise, that scales seamlessly up to enterprise-grade receipt scanning, expense reports, and corporate cards. ”Groups of all types can now use Expensify for financial collaboration, including roommates, student orgs, church groups, neighborhood associations, professional societies, and of course, friends. “Let’s say you’re planning a trip with friends,” Barrett continues. “You start a group chat in New Expensify and decide to book an Airbnb. After it’s booked, you scan the receipt into the same chat, split it between
When will you see changes? All of these changes will be rolled out at the end of 2023 and into 2024. We hope you like what you see and that the design updates deliver an enhanced experience! It’s important to mention that while our design is updated, all existing ApprovalMax functionality will stay exactly the same.
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Saturday 4th November 2023
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everyone, and the money requests fire off automatically. Your friends pay you back in the app as well, so you’re all settled up in a few taps. Next is groceries, gas, and so on, maybe even scattered across multiple currencies, with everything converted back to a single currency and handled as part of the same conversation. ”Expensify is testing out an early version of bill splitting in New Expensify at the Money20/20 conference in Las Vegas this week. The company will reimburse groups of attendees who use the app to split their bill for dinner or drinks (up to a capped amount). Conference-goers can stop by booth 12013 at Money20/20 to chat with the Expensify team and activate the promotion.
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Updates
2 XU Biweekly | No. 67
Saturday 4th November 2023
Employment Hero Product Update
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T’S TIME FOR ANOTHER EDITION OF THE EMPLOYMENT HERO PRODUCT UPDATE, WHERE WE SHARE ALL OF THE LATEST AND GREATEST UPDATES OVER THE PAST MONTH.
applications and time-consuming screening. But what if it didn’t have to be? With SmartMatch, we’ve introduced a smarter way to recruit.
In October, we launched lots of brand new features, making this one of the biggest and most exciting months we’ve had all year.
Thanks to our continually evolving AI, SmartMatch matches you with top talent for every role in your business, so you’ll always have work-ready talent waiting in the wings.
From launching Hero AI and SmartMatch, right through to our brand new Compensation Management tool and more, it’s all in here and ready for you to use in-platform.
SmartMatch works by connecting you with relevant candidates for jobs that you’re hiring for, and roles that you may not have yet thought about.
Introducing SmartMatch
This means that you can be matched with candidates for your existing roles, helping to rapidly accelerate your ability to find and hire new employees.
At Employment Hero, we’re driven by one mission – to make employment easier and more valuable for everyone. And SmartMatch is the latest way we’re helping SMEs do just that. We all know that the hiring process can be a challenging road, filled with stacks of
XU BIWEEKLY - No. 67 Newsdesk: If you have any news or updates that you would like us to consider for inclusion in the next edition of the XU Biweekly, please email us at: newsdesk@xumagazine.com CEO: David Hassall Managing Editor: Wesley Cornell Chief Revenue Officer: Alex Newson Account & Partnership Assistant: Robyn Consterdine Creative Assistant: Aidan McGrath Advertising: advertising@xumagazine.com www.xumagazine.com ‘Xero’ is a trademark of Xero Limited (New Zealand). XU Biweekly and XU Magazine is collaboratively produced by an independent group of Xero users and is not affiliated in any way with Xero. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. © XU Magazine Ltd 2014-2023. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be used or reproduced without the written permission of the publisher. XU Biweekly is published by XU Magazine Ltd (08811842), registered in England and Wales. Registered office: Office 1, Brunswick House, Brunswick Way, Liverpool, L3 4BN, United Kingdom. All information contained in this publication is for information only and is, as far as we are aware, correct at the time of going to press. XU Magazine Ltd cannot accept any responsibility for errors or inaccuracies in such information. If you submit unsolicited material to us, you automatically grant XU Magazine Ltd a licence to publish your submission in whole or in part in all/any editions, including in any physical or digital format, throughout the world. Any material you submit is sent at your risk and, although every care is taken, neither XU Magazine Ltd nor its employees, agents or subcontractors shall be liable for loss or damage. The views expressed in this publication are not necessarily the views of XU Magazine Ltd, its editors or its contributors.
Whether you’re looking to expand on additional teams, create more depth to existing functions, or replace employees that are leaving, SmartMatch is the most efficient way to connect with candidates.
Hero AI is here! Your new workplace superpower
Every people leader knows the drill — the repetitive questions that pop up time and again. “What’s our leave policy?”, “what’s our flexible working policy?”. That’s where Hero AI steps in. Hero AI protects your time by deflecting repetitive questions and freeing you up to focus on the mission-critical work you do, so you can get back to working ON your business, not in it.
Ekos Continues to Elevate Its Craft Beverage Business Management Software with Yeast Management and Sales Forecasting
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EW PRODUCT FEATURES OFFER EFFORTLESS BREWING CONSISTENCY AND STRATEGIC PLANNING
Hero AI is a chatbot designed to streamline the access and understanding of policy documents for employees. Using state-ofthe-art Natural Language Processing (NLP) technologies, Hero AI offers a robust Q&A interface that transforms complex policy documents into easily searchable and understandable formats in the Swag app.
Ekos, the leading craft beverage business management software provider since 2014, announces two enhancements to its core product: Yeast Management and Sales Forecasting. These newest feature additions enhance Ekos’ full production-to–sales collaboration process and pair well with other key areas of Ekos for maximized efficiency and transparency across the entire beverage lifecycle. Ekos offers a simplified, end-to-end solution with real-time visibility, mobility, and key integrations
Find out more
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RAVE GENERAL UPDATE STACKGO PRODUCT ANNOUNCEMENT POST VERIFICATION FORMS H ERE'S SOME OF THE LATEST HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE 19TH OCTOBER UPDATE
also been added to view password. A timestamp will also be stored when a user’s password is updated.
Require Users to re-authenticate in the mobile app when a password is changed
Addition of ‘My Task’ sub-tab to Site Manager login
When a User’s password is changed, they are forced to sign in again using their password in the mobile app. Passwords are now required to be a minimum of 12 characters. A peek eyeball has
Site Managers now have a My Tasks sub-tab to view, when logged in to the web browser and mobile app. This addition allows Site Managers to see all tasks assigned to them.
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E’RE DELIGHTED TO SHARE A NEW FEATURE WE’VE BEEN WORKING HARD ON FOR THE PAST FEW MONTHS. Post-verification forms enable you to seamlessly onboard new customers alongside a verified ID.
Capturing all the required information from clients can be cumbersome and disjointed. Existing online form technology can lack the sophisticated features required, and businesses often resort to traditional methods like sending a PDF, Word document, or even
paper-based data collection.
That’s why we built the Post Verification form. After someone is verified, you can now collect Proof of Address, employment contracts, Tax File Numbers, Social Security, company registration numbers, certificates or insurance, and even basic e-signatures. You can preview the form on a variety of devices to ensure it’s perfectly legible, and don’t be afraid – you don’t need any coding skills to get a basic form up and running!
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SOLDO INTRODUCES WorkGuru Release Notes MILEAGE REIMBURSEMENT
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E'D LIKE TO KEEP YOU UPDATED ON OUR LATEST RELEASES. FOR DETAILED INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO USE THE FEATURES OF WORKGURU, PLEASE SEE OUR LIST OF SUPPORT ARTICLES. WE UPDATE THESE ARTICLES REGULARLY TO STAY UP TO DATE WITH THE FEATURES OF THE APPLICATION. We highly encourage users to review our feature requests forum and upvote any features you'd like to see on the platform. We filter these and review the requests with the most upvotes for possible implementation.
ject import Updates • Updated Product import to include a verification page • Phases now supported on project lines import • Updated Project completion to check changes on task statuses • Updates to lead details printing on quotes with lead • Added date validation to Production Jobs • Added additional validation to Asset import, users can select to match off name, serial number, or a combination. • Updated handling of invalid_grant exception when loading Xero page
Features
Bug Fixes
Project Templates • Included phases when creating a template from a quote Project Import • Included quotes on Pro-
Clients • Fixed date sorting on Invoice table within client details page
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I
N SPEAKING TO OUR CUSTOMERS, WE KNOW TWO THINGS TO BE TRUE:
1. Business mileage is one of the most common types of expense claims finance teams are managing day-to-day. 2. Claiming and reimbursing business mileage is a challenge for both finance teams and employees.. That’s why we’re excited to introduce Soldo’s new mileage reimbursement feature, designed to make mileage claims and reimbursement easy and accurate for everyone involved. With this new feature, our customers can simplify business spending even further, managing every type of expense in one platform.
What business mileage reimbursement challenges are we looking to solve? Here are some of the main challenges that have influenced our approach to mileage at Soldo: • Employees who use their own personal vehicles, don’t get receipts for miles done for work, and must manually capture odometer readings etc. This makes reconciliation tricky, time-consuming, and frustrating.
• It goes without saying that finance teams need to reimburse mileage claims accurately. However, being fair and correct isn’t always easy with so many different types of vehicles and manual approaches to calculating distance. • Many businesses use multiple disparate expense management processes and systems. This makes it impossible to centrally manage and stay on top of mileage – despite this being such a common business expense.
How does Soldo help with business mileage reimbursement? Claim business mileage with ease - Using the Soldo Mobile App, employees can now add business trips and vehicle details in just a few taps. Soldo then automatically works out the reimbursement amount. Take control of mileage reimbursement rates - As an Admin, you can set default mileage reimbursement rates for various types of vehicles in Soldo – without being limited to a one-size-fits-all approach. Customise your rates by country, vehicle category, or even specific vehicle.
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News & Updates
4 XU Biweekly | No. 67
OVERSUITE QUARTERLY COMPLIANCE REVIEW
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N THIS QUARTERLY UPDATE, WE WISH TO PROVIDE YOU WITH AN OVERVIEW OF CHANGES TO YOUR OVERSUITE ENGAGEMENT LETTERS AND INTRODUCE SOME VALUABLE NEW CONTENT. HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:
What did we review? • Changes to the professional body regulations to understand their impact on the terms and conditions in your engagement letters • The scopes of each policy to ensure no changes to legislation will impact these
What has changed? Legislation There are no changes due to legislation that directly impact your OverSuite engagement letters this quarter, July-September 2023. New Service Schedules The following Service Schedules are new in OverSuite. General Support: We’ve introduced a schedule that allows you to include ongoing client support as a service line and charge a fixed rate for this service if desired. Inheritance Tax: We now offer Inheritance Tax (IHT) planning and IHT calculation service schedules to support you in providing Inheritance Tax services.
Chargebee Release Tradify and BOMA Forge Roundup: Build the Strategic Content Partnership Foundations for Cost-Effective Growth T
C
REATING A GROWTH-ORIENTED COST-EFFECTIVE ORGANIZATION IS THE WAY FORWARD. AT CHARGEBEE, WE’VE BEEN BUSY ADDING NEW CAPABILITIES TO OUR PRODUCT SUITE THAT HELP BRING EFFICIENCY TO EXISTING WORKFLOWS, AUTOMATE PROCESSES END-TO-END, AND PROVIDE COMPLETE VISIBILITY INTO BUSINESS PERFORMANCE. With these features, you get 360-degree visibility into your subscriptions and revenue across channels, and the confidence to pursue your expansion goals while Chargebee takes care of the compliance heavy lifting.
Strengthen tax compliance while enhancing FinOps efficiency What? Multinational companies and subscription businesses that sell to geos outside of their home country get increased flexibility for tax automation and can now comply with reverse charge mandates. Why? Taxation complexities increase drastically when selling to businesses globally. This includes tax rate revisions at the country/state level, different tax payment liabilities for sellers and buyers, and other invoice-level mandates.
General Updates CGT Returns, Service Schedule: We’ve removed the 30-day reporting deadline for completion dates before October 2021, so you will now only see the 60day reporting threshold.
Manual tax management processes not only burden finance teams with calculations and compliance checks but are also highly error-prone. Automating these processes can save time, minimize errors, and make your finance teams more efficient.
Find out more
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New in Calxa: New Look to Report Template Select
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EW IN CALXA THIS MONTH YOU WILL FIND THAT WORKING WITH REPORTS IS GETTING A BIG MAKEOVER. ULTIMATELY, THE GOAL IS TO MAKE IT EASIER FOR YOU TO FIND AND USE THE TEMPLATES YOU NEED FOR EACH TASK. AND OTHER CHANGES THIS MONTH INCLUDE NEW REPORTS FOR FX CURRENCY RECONCILIATIONS AS WELL AS THE OPTION TO ADD EXTRA CONTACTS TO RECEIVE INVOICES.
Improved Way of Finding Report Templates is New in Calxa Here is what we’ve improved: • More methodical template search • Making switching templates easier • Added bulk editing to report bundles.
Saturday 4th November 2023
With over 180 different report templates, it’s sometimes challenging to find the right one for the job. Essentially, we have addressed that with improved search and filtering and pop-up previews so you can see what a report will be like before generating it. In addition, to the searchability improvements we have enhanced this area with extra capabilities:
RADIFY, A LEADING PROVIDER OF JOB MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE FOR TRADESPEOPLE, AND BOMA, THE DIGITAL CONTENT LIBRARY AND MARKETING PLATFORM FOR ACCOUNTANTS, ANNOUNCED TODAY THEIR STRATEGIC CONTENT PARTNERSHIP. THIS COLLABORATION WILL SEE TRADIFY’S INVALUABLE TRADE FOCUSED CONTENT SEAMLESSLY INTEGRATED INTO BOMA, PROVIDING ACCOUNTANTS WITH REGION-SPECIFIC EXPERTISE AND INSIGHTS APPLICABLE TO TRADESPEOPLE ACROSS THE US, UK, AU AND NZ.
BOMA that is specifically created to appeal and deliver value to their tradie clients and leads. Accountants can easily customise and share this content through various channels, including email, social media, and their website as blog posts.
Tradify’s content is designed to empower accountants with resources to assist their tradie clients in optimising their businesses. It encompasses a wealth of tips and industry specific advice, ensuring that accountants have access to a library of content in
This partnership aims to enhance the capabilities of accountants and empower them to become trusted advisors in the dynamic and ever-evolving world of trades.
BOMA believes that the addition of Tradify’s content to its library will be a game-changer for accountants in the trades. With the incorporation of Tradify’s high-quality, region-specific content, accountants can now deliver even more valuable and expert advice to their clients.
Read more
Exploring Etani's New Announcing More G-Accon’s Goodness: Xero Power BI Templates,
E
LEVATING YOUR FINANCIAL DATA WITH BUSINESS OVERVIEW REPORTS
et’s imagine this scenario. Having your financial tasks streamlined with insights into your company’s performance and seamless team collaboration and accessibility. Too good to be true? Then keep reading. Whether you’re a business owner or a finance professional, don’t ignore this feature. G-Accon’s latest software release, featuring Business Overview Reports, is an essential tool for your business’s overall financial well-being. In this express guide, we’ll explore what Business Overview Reports are, how to generate them, and how to design reports using the Report Style feature. By the end of this blog, you’ll be well-equipped to reap the benefits of our latest release. Join us to find out more about why mastering this game-changing feature is crucial for your financial success.
Unlocking Your Financial Insights With Business Overview Reports Business Overview Reports offer a high-level view of your business’s key financial metrics. They cover major aspects such as revenue, expenses, profitability, and cash flow. With these reports, you’ll make well-informed decisions based on real-time dashboards and customized reports.
Supercharged by EVA, Your AI Data Assistant
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E'RE THRILLED TO PRESENT THE LATEST UPDATES TO OUR SUITE OF SOLUTIONS: ETANI’S NEW XERO POWER BI TEMPLATES, FULLY ENHANCED WITH EVA, OUR AI DATA ASSISTANT. THESE ARE TAILORED TO SIMPLIFY COMPLEX TASKS SUCH AS GENERAL LEDGER MOVEMENT, AGED DEBTORS AND CREDITORS, CASH TRANSACTIONS, AND CONSOLIDATION REPORTING. WITH EVA BY YOUR SIDE, THE ENTIRE PROCESS BECOMES MORE STREAMLINED, EFFICIENT, AND INSIGHTFUL.
What's New? General Ledger Movement Our General Ledger Movement template aims to make your reporting tasks more efficient. No need to manually gather data; this template integrates effortlessly with your accounting system. From there, EVA steps in to provide timely data analytics for accounting. Aged Debtors and Creditors Managing payments and credit just got easier. Our templates help you categorise and visualise your aged debtors and creditors, simplifying your management tasks. EVA's AI analytics capabilities also offer timely insights for better strategic planning. Cash Transactions
Favourites: You will be able to save your favourites. If there are templates you use regularly, click the star at the top right and it will be saved to the Favourites list on the left.
It also means time saved on manual data entry, better accuracy in financial records, and up-to-the-minute bank reconciliations. These reporting tools provide personalized insights into your financial metrics, which elevates the value you’ll offer to your clients.
Get an accurate view of your cash flow with our Cash Transactions template. Enhanced with Power BI finance dashboard features, you'll have all the information you need at a glance.
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News
6 XU Biweekly | No. 67
Saturday 4th November 2023
Lightyear Feature bluesheets Earns Featured App Status on Global Hindsight: Time Spotlight: Metrics, Xero App Store with Seamless Two-way Integration To Say Goodbye analyst ratings, price and Suite of Xero-specific Features ratings & company news
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LUESHEETS IS PROUD TO ANNOUNCE ITS NEWLY MINTED FEATURED APP STATUS ON THE XERO APP STORE ACROSS ALL GEOGRAPHIES WORLDWIDE. SINCE DAY ONE, BLUESHEETS WAS DESIGNED IN COLLABORATION WITH ACCOUNTANTS, BOOKKEEPERS AND FINANCE TEAMS, BUILT TOWARDS A SEAMLESS INTEGRATION WITH XERO THAT PROVIDES USERS WITH A WEALTH OF POWERFUL AND SOPHISTICATED XERO-SPECIFIC FEATURES AT THEIR FINGERTIPS. AS SUCH, ITS RECENT APPOINTMENT AS A FEATURED APP IS TESTAMENT TO THE VALUE THAT BLUESHEETS’ PLUG-AND-PLAY SOLUTION BRINGS TO XERO USERS EVERYWHERE. Xero, with its user-friendly interface and comprehensive capabilities has proven to be a game-changer for accountants and bookkeepers. By connecting their Xero accounts to bluesheets, users can now utilize the power of automation with just two clicks, saving them time and costs, and empowering them to grow their businesses, gather real-time data, and drive exponential business growth. To kickstart your automation journey, here is
a sampling of Xero-specific bluesheets features that can help you supercharge your Xero experience: 1. Seamless Mapping of Line Items
With bluesheets, Xero users can effortlessly map individual line items to specific account codes, tracking categories, tax rates, and Xero inventory item codes. Such a level of precision, ease, efficiency and accuracy driven by bluesheets’ proprietary intelligent document processing (IDP) technology, is virtually unattainable through manual data entry. This thus ensures your financial data is categorized and exported effectively and efficiently directly to your Xero ledger. 2. Flexible Document Export bluesheets also offers market-leading flexibility in document export options. Xero users can choose to export documents as a single header value, multiple line items, or even split them into multiple bills or sales invoices.
I
T HAS BEEN A BLAST BUT FOR NOW IT IS TIME TO MOVE ON.
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OUR FAVOURITE INSTRUMENT RESEARCH TOOLS ARE NOW AVAILABLE ON LIGHTYEAR WEB! JUST LIKE ON YOUR MOBILE APP, YOU CAN CHECK OUT METRICS, ANALYST RATINGS & PRICE TARGETS AND COMPANY NEWS ON YOUR PC. We said it then, and we’ll say it again: knowledge is power. We believe that retail investors should have the same friction-free access to tools professional investors have to make informed investment decisions. That’s why we’ve extended our free tools and analysis to our web app for investors that prefer investing on the big screen.
Thank You It has been a pleasure to work with you.
I trust this message finds you in good health and high spirits. If I were to turn back the clock to 2018, I was struggling emotionally and financially. I knew I had to steer my life towards something meaningful, and that’s how I journeyed into building Hindsight. I envisioned a world where accountants and bookkeepers would be empowered to serve their clients with data-driven insights. I believed that our product would serve as a catalyst for transformative change in the accounting industry.
Here’s a quick overview: Metrics: A sleek overview of the main metrics to look at when making an investment decision - market cap, EPS, P/E ratio, Beta and dividend rate & yield. We have a detailed rundown on all the main metrics here.
That vision hasn’t materialised. It’s been a humbling experience. Despite our collective best efforts, Hindsight didn’t become the revolution I anticipated. This journey has forced me to revisit some fundamental truths and make some tough calls.
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Chaser: SMEs will now Building Bridges: How 20:20 Innovation to run Buildxact named to Build Your Network at 25th Annual Conference Software Advice get automated reminders Business Expos FrontRunner and Gala Dinner at for Construction Birmingham’s Hilton Scheduling Software Metropole
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HASER, THE GLOBAL ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE PLATFORM AND CREDIT CONTROL SERVICE PROVIDER, HAS LAUNCHED CALL REMINDERS.
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UNDREDS OF ACCOUNTING PROFESSIONALS ARE SET FOR EXPERT TALKS AND HIGH-QUALITY ENTERTAINMENT, EXAMINING THE CHANGING FACE OF UK ACCOUNTANCY. UK accountancy training provider, 20:20 Innovation, will run the 25th-anniversary edition of their Annual Conference and Gala Dinner on 9th November 2023. Hundreds ofdelegates from around the UK and Europe will convene at the annual event which mixes high-qualityseminars, networking, and entertainment. The event will see big names in the accounting industry such as Dext, Futrli and TaxCalc amongst arange of exhibitors. In a major coup, 20:20 Innovation has secured global time reduction expert JoeO’Connor and Research Associate at the Institute of AI at Oxford University, Dr Daniel Susskind, as keynote speakers.
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UILDXACT, THE LEADING PROVIDER OF SIMPLE CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE FOR CUSTOM HOME BUILDERS AND REMODELERS, HAS ONCE AGAIN RECEIVED HIGH PRAISE FROM ITS CUSTOMERS, ACCORDING TO SOFTWARE ADVICE, A PRIME SOURCE FOR ONLINE CUSTOMER REVIEWS. FrontRunners is designed to help small business owners evaluate the software products that may be right for them. Software Advice named Buildxact a 2023 FrontRunner for Construction Scheduling Software, marking the second consecutive year that Buildxact has earned the prestigious recognition. In a challenging economy, Buildxact empowers its pro builders and remodelers to maximize every opportunity, said Chris Rennie, Executive Vice President of Product.
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Deputy Champions Global Hourly Workforce in Second Annual International Shift Worker Sunday
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IMS TO COLLECT ONE MILLION MESSAGES OF THANKS BY NOV. 26
Deputy, a leading global software platform for managing hourly workers, launched its #ASimpleThanks campaign today in recognition of the second annual International Shift Worker Sunday, celebrated on Sunday, Nov. 26. Established by Deputy, Shift Worker Sunday is a global holiday celebrated on the last Sunday of November to honor and support the invaluable contributions of shift – or hourly – workers. These workers are the backbone of our society – whether by
serving our morning coffee, delivering our packages, caring for us when we're ill, or brightening our day with a smile as we walk through the door of our favorite shop. Shift workers create the everyday moments that matter. Pandemic or not, they are always essential and working around the clock to power our communities. However, according to Deputy data, one in every two shift workers feels undervalued for their work.
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With call reminders in Chaser, users can seamlessly schedule and manage their reminders for important credit control and debt collection calls. This functionality automates and streamlines the receivables follow-up process, ensuring that every call is accounted for, ultimately optimising chances of timely payments.
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USINESS EXPOS ARE NOT JUST ABOUT SHOWCASING PRODUCTS AND SERVICES; THEY'RE ALSO PRIME OPPORTUNITIES TO EXPAND YOUR PROFESSIONAL NETWORK. Building a robust and diverse network can open doors to new clients, partners, and valuable industry connections. In this article, we'll explore effective strategies for networking at business expos and making the most of these valuable connections.
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Fathom: Introducing Custom Terminology and Nonprofit Financial Statements
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ATHOM’S NEW CUSTOM TERMINOLOGY REPORTING FEATURE ALLOWS YOU TO CREATE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS USING THE TERMS THAT BEST SUIT THE REPORTING REQUIREMENTS AND PREFERENCES FOR YOUR UNIQUE REGION, INDUSTRY, OR ORGANISATION. At Fathom, our customers are the core of our growth. We serve over 75,000 businesses worldwide and the feedback and insights they provide help guide our product development. Thanks to our customers for the input you've had on this latest feature release, Custom Terminology. Custom Terminology is particularly useful for not-for-profits (NFPs), charities, and other unique organisations, allowing them to replace for-profit financial statement terms with nomenclature that makes the most sense for their specific non-profit reporting requirements.
Improve your reporting with custom terminology A financial report can tell the story of an organisation’s performance, aims, challeng-
es, and even plans and projections for the future. Depending on your audience, a report can secure funding, align the team around common goals, or provide important stakeholders with a clear understanding of performance. Custom Terminology can be leveraged for the following scenarios: • To present financial statements that reflect your organisation or stakeholder’s financial terminology preferences. • To create financial statements more closely aligned to accounting body standards (e.g. GAAP or IFRS) in your region. • To reflect industry-specific terminology, whether it’s manufacturing, real estate, hospitality, or another industry. For example, you might wish to use the term 'sales' instead of 'revenue'. • To report in different English language variations (US or UK). Want to customise or customize? No problem; now you can choose your preferred spelling!
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Lorem ipsum Increase accuracy by up to 99%. No contract, plus fair and reasonable monthly pricing. Integrates seamlessly with Xero and others. Automate everything: create rules for even more time saving. Get all features from day #1 at no extra cost—including unlimited companies* & users.
* relevant for accountants and bookkeepers
8 XU Biweekly | No. 67
UPCOMING EVENTS
Events & Webinars
Saturday 4th November 2023
UPCOMING UK WEBINARS
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XU Biweekly | No. 67 Accountant Tools
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10 XU Biweekly | No. 67
Features
Saturday 4th November 2023
How To Modernise Your Expense Management By Sidd Nigam, Director, Expense On Demand
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CCORDING TO A RECENT STUDY, 64% OF SMALL BUSINESSES FACE FINANCIAL CHALLENGES WHICH LIMIT THEIR SUCCESS. EFFECTIVE EXPENSE MANAGEMENT IS KEY TO IMPROVING THEIR FINANCIAL SITUATION IN THESE SCENARIOS. After all, expense management enables business owners to make smarter financial decisions, especially when looking to cut costs and increase revenue. Given the current economic climate, effective expense management is more crucial than ever. Despite this, many businesses rely on outdated practices.
Why is expense management important for small businesses? An accurate and modernised expense management policy is crucial because it often reflects in a business's bottom line. When expenses are mishandled, vital cost-cutting
opportunities are missed out on, money doesn’t stretch quite as far, and compliance is put at risk. This can lead to a series of issues.
Why do businesses struggle to manage their expenses? There are many reasons why businesses may struggle to effectively manage their expenses. Firstly, the rising cost of living is often reflected in business expenses, with everything from travel to office supplies increasing. As such, businesses that were previously performing well financially may be feeling the pinch. However, a lack of clear policy is often the biggest culprit behind mismanaged finances, so too is failing to use time-saving automation technology. This means human error plays a huge role in how expenses are recorded and managed, often leading to avoidable mistakes. The truth is the majority of employees are not trained in financial management, which means they are less
likely to be able to handle this work independently. Fortunately, there are many ways in which businesses can modernise this practice, ensuring that they are handling their finances correctly moving forward, including using technology such as Expense On Demand, pioneered by global director Sidd Nigam.
How to modernise your expense management. 1. Have a clear policy in place. The first step towards modernising expense management processes is having a clear policy in place. For example, this document should clearly outline what does (and does) not qualify as a work expense to avoid confusion. Otherwise, companies may face an onslaught of expense bills for unrelated costs. Guidance should also be provided on how to reclaim expenses and what supporting documents must be
presented during this stage. Again, this will help to ensure compliance across the board. This will also serve to manage employee's expectations relating to reimbursements, avoiding potential conflict. In any case, it's best to keep the policy as simple and straightforward as possible and free from complicated legal or financial jargon. This document should be easily accessible to all employees so they can refer back to it as necessary. 2. Split expenses into different categories. Splitting expenses into different categories can also help to modernise your expense management policy instead of using “business expenses” as a blanket term for numerous different costs. Typical business expense categories could include: • Operating Expenses • Travel Expenses • Marketing & Advertising
Expenses • Client Entertainment Expenses • Administrative Expenses In addition to categorising expenses, business owners must also dictate how much money can be spent on each expense. 3. Discuss payment methods. Many businesses give their employees business credit cards. Not only is there a cost to this, but even controls in many instances are lax, because the accounting & compliance is done post the expenditure. Instead, businesses should consider giving employees a cash advance, paid directly into their bank account. Here they use their personal credit card to pay for expenses. The upside of this approach is that the employee must spend within the expense policy, and can also collect points on their card, and use it for holiday, etc. ExpenseOnDemand, manages the risk, where
the advance given can be a percentage of salary or another amount. The spend is tracked in real time, against the advance. Most importantly, the employee cannot request more than the policy limit. Our AI displays their spending pattern v/s others, which can then be used to increase or decrease their advance amount. This gives employees a greater opportunity to be in charge of financial decisions, when they have to account for them. This makes it easier for owners to track spending and enforce policy, and also deliver a perk which all employees love - at no cost!. 4. Use Software. Working to track expenses manually can be time-consuming and often leads to mistakes. Something as simple as a data-input typo can lead to problems and confusion. Companies should look to automate this process by using the latest expense management tools and software.
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Features
XU Biweekly | No. 67
Saturday 4th November 2023 11
3 Easy Ways to Show Parlez-vous français? Employees You Care By Amanda Rivera, Communications Champion, HR Partner
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OU MIGHT SPEND A LARGE PORTION OF YOUR TIME THINKING ABOUT YOUR EMPLOYEES, BUT DO THEY EVEN KNOW YOU CARE? As most successful business operators know, the real game-changers behind successful companies, are the people. The old playbook of merely meeting basic employee needs is outdated and the modern workforce demands flexibility, inclusivity, and a genuine emphasis on well-being. In other words, employees need to know you care! To ensure a business’s competitive edge, we need to ensure teams feel valued and cared for, so they can do their best work and allow the company to thrive. But how exactly do you show your employees that they are vital parts of the organisation? Let’s explore three simple ways to show your team they’re truly valued.
1. Recognise Employees with Easy Performance Reviews Holding regular and valuable performance reviews is a great start to helping your employees grow. Although you might think that employees would prefer to skip their review, the reality is that a lack of review process can indicate a lack of commitment and care towards employees. After all, performance reviews aren’t just about ticking boxes; they are opportunities to foster development, align goals, and strengthen relationships. Consider implementing the following practices: • Regular and Consistent Feedback - Don’t wait for annual reviews; create a continuous feedback loop, enabling real-time adjustments and improvements. This goes for employees
too – if your employer isn’t implementing regular reviews, implement them yourself and make time on the calendar. • Two-Way Communication - Encourage employees to share their perspectives, ensuring that reviews are not just a top-down process but a collaborative effort to drive everyone’s career growth and thrive together. • Objective Assessments - Use clear metrics and guidelines to ensure fairness, eliminating biases. These should be discussed at the beginning of the year to set your team up for success. Objectives and goals can always (and should always) be regularly tracked, updated, and refined throughout the year.
2. Celebrate Employee Milestones Recognising and celebrating milestones, whether birthdays, work anniversaries, or significant achievements, sends a strong message that you value your employees as individuals. Here’s how to make these celebrations meaningful:
wards - From personalised gifts to extra time off, ensure that rewards resonate with employees’ preferences and values. Tangible rewards still hold a special place. Track and manage these tokens of appreciation, ensuring that your gratitude doesn’t just get spoken; it gets shown. A tool like HR Partner makes it easy to keep on top of milestones like employee birthdays and anniversaries.
3. Invest in an HR System for Your People Just as financial systems are critical for managing a company’s monetary resources, a robust HR system is essential for managing your employees. Imagine having a centralised hub that can handle everything from recruitment and onboarding to employee development and well-being – Your business might thrive! Here’s what you can do when you have an organised HR management system:
• Create a Culture of Recognition - Foster a community where peers celebrate each other, enhancing camaraderie. Make sure to implement a system where employees can easily praise each other for good work, enhancing the sense of team unity and shared success.
• Personalise Employee Experiences - Tailor programs or benefits to meet individual needs, showing that you recognise and value their uniqueness. What could this look like? Here are a few examples: » Customised Learning and Development: Not everyone learns the same way. Some might prefer online courses, while others thrive in hands-on workshops or in-person conferences. By offering a variety of training formats and pathways, employees can choose what suits them best. » Flexible Work Arrangements: Recognise that employees have different needs due to personal commitments, family dynamics etc.
• Invest in Meaningful Re-
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• Acknowledge Individuality - Personalise celebrations to reflect what’s meaningful to each employee. Make birthdays, work anniversaries, or project completions shine with individualised messages and rewards.
MANAGING TIME OFF IN LIEU (TOIL) By Joanna Cruickshank, National Sales Manager, CloudPayroll
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ANAGING TOIL OR LIEU LEAVE ENABLES EMPLOYEES, IF ALLOWED BY THEIR EMPLOYER AND THE AWARD CONDITIONS IN AUSTRALIA, TO ACCUMULATE PAID TIME OFF IN LIEU INSTEAD OF RECEIVING OVERTIME PAY, FOR WORKING EXTRA HOURS BEYOND THEIR REGULAR HOURS. Organisations should develop a clear policy that outlines how TOIL/Lieu Leave is recorded as a credit and then taken as leave. Rules on when it can be taken should be communicated to employees, as some organisations allow flexibility, while others may have restrictions regarding when it can be taken and how much advance notice is required. Many organisations still use manual spreadsheets to track TOIL/Lieu Leave which could cause the organisation to have a range of issues
such as incorrect records, loss of data and not paying correctly on termination. In CloudPayroll/iPayroll there is the ability to set up specific leave types that employees can apply for. Through their employee kiosk app employees can seek approval of working additional hours to go into TOIL/ Lieu Leave credit before they work them. This can avoid any misunderstandings if the employee works additional hours which may not have been approved by their manager. If approved by the manager, the employee will receive an automatic email notification that the credit time has been approved. This will then be added to the TOIL/Lieu Leave balance in the appropriate pay period. By automatically adding hours worked to the balance, leave approvers will have full visibility of the bal-
ance enabling them to make appropriate decisions when leave is requested to take time off as TOIL/Lieu Leave. When employees apply to take their TOIL/Lieu leave via their Kiosk app, they select the to and from date/ period. If a work profile has been set up for employees CloudPayroll/iPayroll will automatically apply normal hours worked for that day/ period, although this can be changed by employees, if for instance they wish to take a few hours off for their manager to approve. TOIL/Lieu Leave can be seen to reward employees for their extra effort while maintaining work-life balance and flexibility without costing organisations extra dollars on their payroll. CloudPayroll/iPayroll makes keeping track of employees balances an easy one.
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FinTech News
12 XU Biweekly | No. 67
Moula expands PayPal Names Jamie Miller national coverage as Chief Financial Officer with dedicated WA BDM
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OULA HAS EXPANDED ITS NATIONAL COVERAGE, APPOINTING A NEW BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA TO ITS PARTNER SALES TEAM. Gillian Paton has been appointed to work with brokers across Western Australia. Gillian started her career in Scotland with Lloyds Bank and moved to Australia in 2006, working as a broker and BDM. ‘The team’s expansion signifies Moula’s commitment to its partners in Western Australia’. Sam Sfeir, Head of Sales at Moula, said of this significant development.
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PayPal Reports Third Quarter 2023 Results
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AYPAL HOLDINGS, INC. (NASDAQ: PYPL) TODAY ANNOUNCED ITS THIRD QUARTER 2023 RESULTS FOR THE PERIOD ENDED SEPTEMBER 30, 2023. THE EARNINGS RELEASE AND RELATED MATERIALS DISCUSSING THESE RESULTS CAN BE FOUND ON PAYPAL'S INVESTOR RELATIONS WEBSITE AT HTTPS://INVESTOR.PYPL.COM/FINANC I A L S /Q UA R T E R LY- R E SULTS/DEFAULT.ASPX. PayPal Holdings, Inc. will host a conference call to discuss these results at 2:00 p.m. Pacific time November 2nd. A live webcast of the conference call will be available, an archive of the webcast will be accessible for 90 days through the same link.
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AYPAL HOLDINGS, INC. (NASDAQ: PYPL) TODAY ANNOUNCED THE APPOINTMENT OF JAMIE MILLER AS EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT AND CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER (CFO) OF PAYPAL, EFFECTIVE NOV. 6, 2023. SHE WILL BE RESPONSIBLE FOR PAYPAL'S FINANCIAL STRATEGIES AND WILL LEAD THE GLOBAL FINANCE ORGANIZATION, INCLUDING PLANNING, TREASURY, TAX, REPORTING, AND INVESTOR RELATIONS. MILLER WILL SUCCEED GABRIELLE RABINOVITCH, WHO IS CURRENTLY ACTING CFO.
"Jamie is an accomplished CFO and business executive who has worked across many industries and guided both public and private companies through dynamic environments and meaningful transformation during her
impressive 33-year career. She brings a proven track record of driving strong financial results, instilling financial and operational discipline, and demonstrating inspirational leadership," said Alex Chriss, President and CEO of PayPal. "Jamie enters this role from a position of strength, and her insights and experience will be extremely valuable in helping PayPal to deliver profitable growth, operate with efficiency at scale, and create value for our shareholders. I am thrilled to welcome Jamie to the PayPal team." Miller most recently served as Global CFO of EY, having joined to lead the separation and IPO of its strategy, tax, and consulting business.
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Saturday 4th November 2023
Tide x BT: a partnership small businesses can rely on
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EADING BUSINESS FINANCIAL PLATFORM AND DISRUPTOR IN THE BUSINESS BANKING DOMAIN, TIDE, HAS EMBARKED ON AN EXCITING NEW PARTNERSHIP WITH TELECOM GIANT, BT. With a shared vision to empower small businesses, this alliance aims to streamline business operations and accelerate growth like never before.
products, solutions and services. Providing managed telecommunications, security and network and IT infrastructure services to customers across 180 countries.
Whilst small businesses are facing rising business costs, they also rely heavily on superfast broadband and mobile connectivity to run their business successfully.
EE is part of BT Group – together with BT, they provide great mobile, fixed and cloud products and services that can keep your business connected, and help you become even more agile, productive and efficient.
A recent survey conducted by BT found that 73% of those already running a business or side hustle feel they couldn’t do so without reliable broadband and mobile connectivity.
In this article, we’ll delve deeper into the unique benefits this partnership will bring, exploring how it can reshape your business. Learn how you can save valuable time and resources, whilst getting your business up to speed.
BT and EE have had a huge impact on small businesses – offering them streamlined solutions, support and growth, whilst remaining cost-effective.
Who are BT and EE?
In an exciting move that will revolutionise the landscape for small businesses, Tide’s collaboration with BT will unlock even more opportunities for SMEs.
Why Tide and BT are joining forces
Juggling finance admin with digital communications can be stressful for small businesses, which led Tide and BT to join forces. Tide is a pioneer in financial services for small business owners, offering digital solutions to make business banking and finance admin hassle-free. While BT aims to connect people and businesses using cutting-edge technology and dynamic communication services.
Hedgeflows Join PayPal Announces Investments to Advance The Barclays RGA Economic Empowerment for Women and Girls BT Group is the UK’s leading provider of fixed and mobile telecommunications and related secure digital
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HE HEDGEFLOWS TEAM HAS NOW OFFICIALLY JOINED THE BARCLAYS’ RISE GROWTH ACADEMY 2023 COHORT! THE PARTNERSHIP RECOGNISES OUR IMPACT AND INNOVATION, AS ONE OF ONLY 16 HIGH-ASPIRATION FINTECH COMPANIES SELECTED GLOBALLY. THE TEN WEEK, DIGITAL-FIRST PROGRAMME WILL BE A TRANSFORMATIVE EDUCATIONAL STEP IN THE SCALING OF HEDGEFLOWS.
Scaling up with Barclays: On the 19th of October, we joined the Barclays Rise class of 2023, a virtual community of world class Fintech innovators. By partaking in this partnership opportunity and ten-week course, we hope to develop the impact that our unique treasury man-
agement solution can have for SMEs and mid-market companies and support other budding founders in the Fintech space.
Whilst enrolled in The Barclays Academy, HedgeFlows and the other cohort members will receive exclusive, educational modules and 1:1 sessions with industry leaders. Rise 2023 mentors include Ilias Sarris, the Senior Strategy Manager at Accenture, and Joel Perlman, founder of OakNorth Credit Intelligence. We are excited by the prospect of scaling HedgeFlows with the exclusive skillset modules, which range from foundership mentoring to Fintech-specific networking and marketing.
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AYPAL HOLDINGS, INC. (NASDAQ: PYPL) TODAY ANNOUNCED THAT IT HAS INVESTED IN SWEEF CAPITAL'S SOUTHEAST ASIA WOMEN'S ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT FUND (SWEEF) AND QUONA OPPORTUNITY FUND TO SUPPORT THEIR SHARED MISSION TO ADVANCE WOMEN'S INCLUSION IN THE GLOBAL ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL SYSTEM. The investments are part of PayPal's 2021 $108 million commitment under the UN Generation Equality Forum to advance financial inclusion and economic empowerment for women and girls. They are the first of the company's forthcoming $100 million in capital in-
vestments into funds and other initiatives that are led by women or focused on serving women. "When women are economically empowered, they not only elevate themselves – they also enrich their families and communities, and propel the global economy forward," said Gabrielle Rabinovitch, PayPal's Acting Chief Financial Officer. "Through our strategic investments in Sweef Capital and Quona Opportunity Fund, which are committed to catalyzing enduring change across vital global markets, we will forge new pathways of opportunity and help advance women in the global economy." Singapore-based
Sweef
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Capital is dedicated to enhancing lives and highlighting women's potential across Southeast Asia. Sweef Capital is a woman-led fund which focuses on opportunities that respond to underserved markets and challenges in Southeast Asia. The fund's industry leading approach is aimed at leveraging investments that create a multiplier effect, improving sustainable livelihoods, promoting quality education, creating decent work, fostering good health, and increasing economic growth. They seek opportunities in women-led enterprises, those primarily staffed by women, and organizations exemplifying gender equality and diversity.
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