XU Biweekly - Issue 75 - 9th March 2024

The independent user news source for accounting apps and their ecosystems

Introducing Mark Orttung: Projectworks' new CEO

WE’RE DELIGHTED TO SHARE THAT MARK ORTTUNG IS JOINING PROJECTWORKS AS OUR NEW CEO, TAKING THE REIGNS FROM OUR NOW PRESIDENT AND CHIEF PRODUCT OFFICER MATT HAYTER.

Welcome to the team Mark! It’s awesome to have you onboard.

Thank you. It really is a privilege and now that the news is out I’m really excited to be able to join the team and continue to build

the platform and product to help our clients achieve their missions more successfully. Consulting firms are such great businesses! I especially enjoy working with smaller mission-driven consultancies as they are really accelerating progress across a variety of industries through their unique viewpoints and experience.

You’ve spent a lot of your career in consulting firms –can you tell us some more about your background?

Sure thing. I started right out of college with Ander-

sen Consulting (which became Accenture). I started out as a programmer on a tool that helped implement Andersen’s methodology, so I learned a lot about creating a scalable, repeatable process for a global consulting firm.

I then had a lot of unusual roles including two years in a program studying AI at Northwestern and working on how to apply it to Andersen’s business, working with clients like Sun Microsystems, Intel, and Microsoft on how to apply their latest technology to

Xero unveils its AI vision to reimagine small business accounting

PREVIEWS GENAI POWERED BUSINESS COMPANION ‘JUST ASK XERO’

At its inaugural Investor Day today, global small business platform Xero unveiled its AI vision which the business says has the potential to reimagine accounting and improve the lives of small businesses.

This included previewing ‘Just Ask Xero’ — Xero’s new GenAI-powered smart business companion for small businesses and their advisors — that will help them complete accounting-related tasks and provide deep insights to enable them to

Saturday 9th March 2024

run their business better.

Xero outlined its approach to improve how small businesses and advisors can manage their accounting by integrating AI into business-facing tasks to automate them, help improve efficiency, and empower them with better insights to run their business. Xero is doing this by:

• Introducing conversational interfaces on the apps and surfaces (i.e. mobile, email and Whatsapp) where Xero customers need support

• Automating and streamlining important but re-

petitive and time-consuming accounting tasks

• Delivering the right insights at the right time

Diya Jolly, Chief Product Officer at Xero, said: “Technology has changed the lives of small businesses dramatically — first with cloud accounting, then automation, and now through GenAI. We’re embracing this new wave of tech innovation responsibly, with our customers at the heart of what we do, as we deliver on our vision to be the most trusted and insightful small business platform.”

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the enterprise, and later on I wrote a business plan with a colleague that led to an Andersen-funded startup. It was a software-as-a-service company for employee services, however at the time (this was 1995) the concept of SaaS didn’t even exist yet – fair to say we were ahead of the market!

I then held a variety of roles across a combination of SaaS and Consulting businesses which led to becoming Chief Operating Officer and President of Bill.com.

Read more

Introducing receipt management in Relay

TODAY WE’RE INTRODUCING RECEIPT MANAGEMENT TO RELAY, GIVING YOU THE TOOLS TO CAPTURE AND STORE RECEIPTS RIGHT WITHIN YOUR EXISTING BUSINESS BANKING PLATFORM.

Here’s how to save time, streamline your workflows, and stay audit-ready by centralizing receipt collection in Relay. Searching through empty pockets. Rummaging through overflowing drawers. Picking crumpled papers out of wastebaskets. Hoping that maybe, just maybe, you’ll find the receipt your bookkeeper has been emailing you about all week.

It’s not just you. Collect-

ing, organizing, and reconciling receipts is a pain. Add in a handful of employees charging business expenses to company cards (because let’s face it, the reimbursement rigmarole is no better), and staying on top of those receipts goes from painful to downright agonizing. You’d be forgiven for wanting to ignore the problem entirely—why save receipts when you can just convince yourself they’re not actually that important? But you can’t escape one undeniable fact: capturing receipts is one of the most important things you can do to protect the financial health of your business.

That’s why we’ve launched a suite of receipt management tools that will save you

time, put an end to chaotic and inefficient receipt “systems” (so long, shoebox!), and eliminate an expensive extra tool from your swelling list of subscriptions. It’s all part of our mission to keep you in control of your money with an unparalleled level of insight into your spending. Here’s what’s launching, and what it means for your business.

Set a receipt policy, and never lose a receipt again

Forget chasing down employees for receipts, or slogging through endless pages of transactions trying to match a receipt to the right purchase.

Find

XU

Superior Reporting and Data Extraction with G-Accon’s Google Sheets Workflow Automation

EXPERIENCE UP-TO-DATE INTEGRATED FINANCIAL REPORTING WITH G-ACCON’S LATEST ENHANCEMENTS.

Designed to boost your productivity, G-Accon for Xero and Quickbooks has released new functionalities to simplify data extraction and optimize reporting accuracy through customization and template design improvements.

Our standout automatic refresh feature keeps your financial reports and dashboards current without manual intervention.

Effortless Automation With Streamline Workflows for Google Sheets

Meet our new Automatic Refresh solution, where manual tasks vanish, replaced by a symphony of automated workflows to refine your operational rhythm.

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XU BIWEEKLY - No. 75

Newsdesk:

If you have any news or updates that you would like us to

email us at: newsdesk@xumagazine.com

CEO: David Hassall

Managing Editor: Wesley Cornell

Chief Revenue Officer: Alex Newson

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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

MyWorkpapers Unveils the “Assign a Worker” Feature to Make Your Work Life Easier!

HEY THERE! WE’VE JUST ROLLED OUT SOMETHING PRETTY COOL AT MYWORKPAPERS – OUR NEW “ASSIGN A WORKER” FEATURE, AND WE’RE BUZZING WITH EXCITEMENT ABOUT IT!

Imagine being able to point at a file and say, “You’ve got this!” and then actually keeping an eye on how things are going, all slick and smooth. That’s exactly what this feature lets you do. It’s all about making sure everyone knows what they’re handling, tracking progress without breaking a sweat, and moving things along without a hitch.

We designed “Assign a Worker” to make managing projects feel like a breeze and to foster a sense of ownership and pride in work. Now, your team leaders can see how projects are moving in real-time, making it easier to spot and sort out any hold-ups right away.

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Quoter Product Update: March 2024

FUN FACT: DID YOU KNOW QUOTER’S DEVELOPMENT TEAM WORKS IN SHAPE UP-STYLE SQUADS?

Since introducing this framework less than a year ago, we’ve seen gains in delivery speed, allowing us to move faster on improvements and driving our focus on optimizing quoting and contract management for Quoter Partners.

This month, we’re trying out squad collaboration, and I’m impressed by how two of our four squads are working together in a leader/supporter dynamic. Shout out to Squads A and B for blazing the trail for the rest of the team! Like true craftspeople, our squads are all about the details. Let’s look at some of the several fine-pointed improvements we released this month to help solve specific challenges for Quoter Partners.

Find out more

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Saturday 9th March 2024

Futrli's latest release

GTODAY'S RELEASE FROM FUTRLI WILL HELP YOU GET YOUR JOBS DONE!

And we've packed in a lot more, too. Watch the video below, or read down for the latest from our team.

A new home screen

• With your last 12 months' performance chart

• Insights area and email - turn on now!

• Quick links for reports, dashboards and forecasts you use frequently

• Last sync time and sync now option

• All users that have access to your business and inviting users trigger

Guided flows

• Creating reports and forecasts just got easier

• Step-by-step guides as you build reports, budgets or forecasts for the first time,

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Moula Welcomes New Business Development Manager for Victoria

MOULA HAS EXPANDED ITS VICTORIAN PARTNER SALES TEAM, APPOINTING A NEW BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER.

Moula is excited to announce the appointment of Vlasi Cheltsos as its new Business Development Manager (BDM) for Victoria. This strategic addition to the team underscores Moula’s commitment to providing dedicated support to the small business sector through its broker partner network.

With a decade of experience in financial services, Vlasi brings a wealth of expertise to his new role at Moula. With the advantage of experience as a BDM and broker in residential and business lending, he has honed his skills with a specific focus on unsecured business lending over the last three years.

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AIRWALLEX, A LEADING GLOBAL PAYMENTS AND FINANCIAL PLATFORM FOR MODERN BUSINESSES, TODAY ANNOUNCED THE EXPANSION OF ITS GLOBAL LEADERSHIP TEAM, WITH THREE NEW HIRES BASED OUT OF THE COMPANY’S AMERICAS HEADQUARTERS IN SAN FRANCISCO.

Jason Gottlieb joins as VP, Financial Partnerships, Hugo Buret as Global Head of Strategic Partnerships, and Ankur Goel as Global Head of Revenue Operations.

Following another year of rapid growth in the Americas – where revenue grew 460 percent and transaction volume leaped up more than 1,000 percent YoY– Airwallex intends to expand hiring in New York and Austin to nurture commercial demand.

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New: An Updated KPI Library Experience

GET UP TO SPEED WITH THE LATEST FATHOM PRODUCT NEWS. HERE’S A QUICK WRAP-UP OF THE FEATURES WE’VE RECENTLY RELEASED.

Enhanced KPI Library

Do you have a custom KPI you want to use across multiple companies? Would you like to sort through or organise your KPIs? Need to duplicate or delete multiple KPIs? The KPI Library is key in sharing custom KPIs between companies and using them in consolidated and benchmark groups. With our most recent update,

the Fathom Development Team has streamlined the KPI Library and enhanced its functionality. There is a new KPI creation workflow and several features have been added.

Bulk Actions

You can now select up to 50 KPIs and perform actions, such as:

• Duplicating KPIs

• Deleting KPIs

• Moving KPIs to another folder in the KPI Library to better organise your custom KPIs

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CXero partners with BILL to deliver industry-leading bill pay capabilities for small businesses

EMBEDDED FINANCE SOLUTION TO BRING A ROBUST ACCOUNTS PAYABLE EXPERIENCE TO XERO CUSTOMERS, POWERED BY BILL

Xero (ASX: XRO), the global small business platform, today announced a strategic partnership with BILL (NYSE: BILL), a leading financial operations platform for small and midsize businesses (SMBs), to extend accounts payable capabilities to Xero’s US customers.

Xero will embed a bill pay solution from BILL into the Xero platform. Once available, the solution will deeply integrate BILL’s robust payments options, allowing customers to more efficiently pay their bills, without leaving the Xero Platform. BILL is a trusted partner of leading US financial institutions, accounting firms, and accounting software providers.

There are more than 33 million SMBs in the US. Paying bills and getting paid on time are critical requirements for small businesses to effectively manage cash flow. However, this is still a very manual process for many small businesses.

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Accounting Refigured: Shaping the Future of Accountancy in the UAE and MENA Region

ACCOUNTING REFIGURED, THE PREMIER EVENT SHAPING THE FUTURE OF ACCOUNTANCY IN THE UAE AND MENA REGION, IS SET TO TAKE PLACE ON 7TH MARCH 2024. WITH LESS THAN 14 DAYS TO GO, ANTICIPATION IS BUILDING AS INDUSTRY PROFESSIONALS GEAR UP FOR AN EVENT THAT PROMISES TO REVOLUTIONISE THE WAY ACCOUNTANTS APPROACH THEIR PRACTICE.

In an era defined by rapid technological advancements and evolving regulatory landscapes, accountants must move with the times to effectively serve their small business owners. Accounting Refigured aims to address this imperative by providing a platform for accountants to gain invaluable insights and tools to navigate these changes successfully.

The event is more than just a conference; it's an opportunity for attendees to shift their perspectives and assess their approaches to their firms. Drawing from a track record of reshaping markets in the UK, Australia, and South Africa, Accounting Refigured is poised to change the accounting landscape in the Middle East.

With technology playing an increasingly integral role in the accounting world, Ac-

counting Refigured will explore the exciting possibilities of digitalisation, AI, and automation. Attendees will have the chance to learn from industry experts and some of the brightest minds in the field, including Fazeela Gopalani, Ayman Kaouri, Andrew Van De Beek FCA, Ayoub Al Shamali, ACA (ICAEW), Carl Reader, Jeri Williams FCA, Joe David, Marium Hanif, Muhammad Kalim, Rashmi Rajkumar, Rayhan Aleem, Zubair Mohammad and more.

The event offers a unique opportunity to network with industry leaders and draw from their wealth of global experience in shaping the accounting industry. Additionally, attendees will have the chance to earn valuable CPD points while gaining actionable insights to propel their practices forward.

"Technology is not just changing the way we work; it's revolutionising the entire accounting landscape. We're excited to delve deep into the possibilities of digitalisation, automation, and AI empowering accountants to embrace these advancements and stay ahead of the curve."

says Ayman, Co-founder & Regional Director - Middle East of Scope Solutions

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Enhanced Etani Platform: Elevate Your Data Reporting with EVA at the Core

WE'RE EXCITED TO ANNOUNCE

SIGNIFICANT ENHANCEMENTS TO THE ETANI PLATFORM, WITH EVA, OUR AI-DRIVEN DATA ASSISTANT, AT THE CORE OF THESE UPDATES. THESE ENHANCEMENTS ARE DESIGNED TO MAKE YOUR DATA REPORTING PROCESS MORE INTUITIVE AND COLLABORATIVE.

INTRODUCING PIN TO DASHBOARD AND SHARE FUNCTIONS

Our latest update introduces two game-changing features: Pin to Dashboard and Share functions. These additions are set to redefine how you interact with your data and collaborate with your team.

Pin to Dashboard: Custom Reports at Your Fingertips

The Pin to Dashboard function allows you to create custom reports using EVA and pin them directly to your dashboard for quick access. This means that your most important insights are just a click away, ready to inform your decisions without navigating through multiple menus or screens.

Imagine having your team's efficiency metrics, billable hours, or client breakdowns readily available on your dashboard.

Keep reading

WWe understand that your time is precious, and digging into your data should be a seamless and intuitive experience. That’s why we’re excited to introduce this game-changing enhancement to AutoQL.

Streamlining Data Discovery

Imagine asking a question in our Data Messenger and instantly having the option to convert that query into a dynamic dashboard tile. With this new feature, you can explore your data in real-time, gaining insights on the fly without the need for complex processes or multiple steps.

Continuous Monitoring Made Easy

One of the key benefits of this update is the ability to add these dynamically generated tiles to your dashboard for continuous monitoring.

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Top 20 ASX trades by Sharesight users – February 2024

Followed by BHP (ASX: BHP), which also saw its half-year profit plummet by 86%.

Let’s look at the news behind some of the key stocks in this month’s snapshot:

Woodside Energy (ASX: WDS)

• Woodside share price rises despite 74% drop in FY23 profit

• Woodside not looking for another acquisition following failed Santos deal

• Awards a new contract for its ultra-deepwater Mexican development

which reported a 74% decrease in its FY23 profit.

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iwoca partners with business account provider Countingup to offer flexible loans

IWOCA ANNOUNCES A PARTNERSHIP WITH BUSINESS ACCOUNT PROVIDER COUNTINGUP TO MAKE BUSINESS FINANCE AVAILABLE TO ALMOST 10,000 OF COUNTINGUP'S USERS AT THE TOUCH OF A BUTTON.

Building on Countingup’s suite of built-in finance, accounting and tax management features, this new collaboration uses iwoca’s API to embed fast and flexible funding options into Countingup’s business account platform.

This now means users can access finance seamlessly within minutes.

The integration will see iwoca’s FlexiLoan for SMEs made available on the app, and uses Countingup’s data and interface to streamline the loan application process, in a move to empower small businesses to take better control of their finances.

Yusupha Fatty, a Countingup customer and an agency nurse providing general nursing services to various NHS hospitals across the country, emphasised the significance of access to loans for his small business, explaining, "I was having major issues with my car as I do a lot of mileage travelling to different hospitals. Therefore, I needed to purchase a new car to get to and from work."

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New Xero data shows US small business invoicing payment times improve

TIMELY PAYMENTS PROVIDE ESSENTIAL CASH FLOW RELIEF DURING PERSISTENT 8-MONTH PERIOD OF SLOW SALES.

Xero, the global small business platform, today released new data as part of its Xero Small Business Insights (XSBI) program, which aggregates and anonymizes data from tens of thousands of Xero small business subscribers in North America.

This iteration of the quarterly data, which has tracked performance metrics from January 2017 through September 2023, reveals that overall sales across small businesses have declined for eight consecutive months (measured on a year-over-year basis). XSBI data also shows that payment times improved for small businesses that invoice customers, providing some modest relief during times of slow sales growth.

The monthly September XSBI sales results marked the largest decline in sales since May 2020 and the longest run of consecutive declines in the history of this series.

• Sales fell an average of 4.9% y/y in the three months to September, similar to the average 4.8% y/y decline in the three months to June.

• The largest monthly decline in the most recent quarter was in September, where sales fell 7.0% y/y.

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New Xero data reveals largest decline in Australian small business performance since beginning of the pandemic

SOFTENING SALES AND WAGES GROWTH ARE DRIVING THE DOWNWARD TREND.

Xero, the global small business platform, today released its latest data on the health of Australia’s small business economy from Xero Small Business Insights (XSBI), covering October through to December 2023.

After coping reasonably well in 2023 despite challenging macroeconomic conditions, XSBI data reveals a slowdown in sales and wages growth is driving softer performance.

Average results for the three months to December

• Sales growth averaged 5.1% y/y for the December quarter (6.8% y/y for the September quarter)

• Wages growth averaged 3.0% y/y for the December quarter (2.8% y/y for the September quarter)

• Jobs growth averaged 3.5% y/y for the December quarter (2.7% y/y for the September quarter)

• Small businesses waited 22.7 days to be paid in the December quarter (22.7 days to be paid in the September quarter)

Small Business Index drops to pandemic-level low

The Xero Small Business Index averaged 115 points in the December quarter, down 10

Meet our new Head of Financial Controls – North America

HERE AT APPROVALMAX, WE’RE ON A MISSION TO SIMPLIFY FINANCIAL CONTROLS FOR BUSINESSES OF ALL SIZES. WHILE THESE EXTRA LAYERS OF CHECKS AND BALANCES ARE CRUCIAL TO KEEP FINANCIAL RECORDS IN LINE AND PROTECT COMPANY ASSETS, SMALLER BUSINESSES OFTEN MISS OUT ON THE BENEFITS DUE TO TEAM SIZE AND A LACK OF ACCESS TO ENTERPRISE-LEVEL RESOURCES.

That’s why we’re excited to introduce our first-ever Head of Financial Controls in North America, Angela Bierman CPA, CA. She joins the partner leadership team with a specific focus on helping more businesses and their partners build strong financial controls.

“Financial controls are at the heart of what we do and what we’re trying to achieve at ApprovalMax,” says Matt Lowry, Chief Revenue Officer at ApprovalMax. “We’re so excited to have Angela join the team and bring her wealth of experience using technology to build strong controls for our customers and partners.”

Growing the team

In the role, Angela will use her expertise on setting up and managing financial controls using technology to support our partner community as well as shape the ApprovalMax product to enable these controls.

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Championing Innovation: Unveiling the Beelievers Awards Winners

Cpoints from the September quarter. A significant shift was seen in December when the Index fell 37 points to 89 points, its lowest level since September 2020 and the first time in a year the Index has dropped below the 100 level. This is the largest single month decline since April 2020, when the economy was essentially closed down by the pandemic. Louise Southall, Xero Economist, said:

"Multiple interest rate rises and higher-than-usual inflation are impacting household budgets and we can see a shift in the December data, particularly in the retail sector. It's important to acknowledge that the soft December result happened when retailers and hospitality businesses, in particular, expect to be busy with heightened consumer activity. Looking ahead, conditions are likely to remain challenging as interest rates stay high and inflation is still above the central bank's target.”

Smallest rise in sales growth in three years

Sales growth continued its slowing trend in the December quarter, averaging 1.7 percentage points less than the September result (6.8% y/y). Sales only rose 0.9% y/y in December, the smallest rise in sales since January 2021. Across the industries, retail (+1.2% y/y), wholesale trade (-0.1% y/y) and agriculture (-4.0% y/y) were the softest during the December quarter.

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HARGEBEE’S ANNUAL USER CONFERENCE, BEELIEVE, BUZZED WITH EXCITEMENT AS IT BROUGHT TOGETHER TRAILBLAZERS AND INNOVATORS FROM THE SUBSCRIPTION AND REVENUE GROWTH INDUSTRY.

One of the highlights of the event was the Beelievers Awards, a prestigious recognition celebrating visionary leaders and organizations that are shaping the future of the subscription landscape.

Let’s dive into the winners of each category, showcasing their outstanding contributions to efficiency, transformation, retention, revenue growth, and overall leadership.

Efficiency at Scale: Typeform

In the Efficiency at Scale category, Typeform emerged as the winner for its exceptional ability to streamline operations, optimize resources, and scale seamlessly.

Typeform’s big efficiency wins included consolidating duplicative reporting tools, decreasing engineering, customer care, and finance hours needed, cost savings from collecting taxes, reducing month-end closing to days instead of weeks, and much more!

Typeform’s innovative approaches to managing complexity and ensuring smooth processes have set a benchmark in the industry.

Subscription Transformer: Gitkraken Find out more

LSmall firms continue to face a challenging macroeconomic environment, as sales growth in the December festive period hit a three-year low, according to the latest Xero Small Business Insights (XSBI) data from global small business platform Xero - which covers the three months to December 2023. The current trading conditions are being added to by the growing cost of late payments for small businesses. According to new separate findings, this cost hit an estimated £1.6bn in 2023*, more than double the cost observed in 2021.

Stagnant sales cap off difficult 2023

Xero’s data revealed that small business sales revenue fell 1% year-on-year (y/y) in December - the first month of negative y/y growth since February 2021 - at a time when small businesses usually expect bumper sales. Across the final quarter of the year, sales grew just 1.6% y/y compared to a 9.7% increase in 2022, showing how weak festive trading was.

The weakest results were seen in the retail sector, where sales fell 1.7% y/y in November and 5.3% y/y in December (-2.2% y/y for the full quarter), when small retailers usually expect buoyant figures.

and digital services by providing global invoice financing and revenue-based financing.

By enabling businesses to access the capital needed to expand their business, products, and customer reach, Stenn aligns perfectly with Kolleno’s commitment to helping businesses grow by optimising their finances. Kolleno tackles this aim through a different angle, namely through features such as their customisable financial workflows, automated reconciliation, and payments portal. With Kolleno, finance teams can gain full visibility of their financial position and automate and optimise every part of their operations, increasing collections, saving time, minimising errors, and reducing costs.

Through this collaboration, Stenn and Kolleno offer a mutual value proposition, enabling customers access to more comprehensive support for their AR processes and financing.

Find out more

Fishbowl Unwraps Success for Boxes R Us: A Tale of Inventory Mastery

By Craig Scarr, Marketing Director, APAC, Fishbowl

BOXES R US, A PROMINENT PROVIDER OF GIFT AND PROMOTIONAL PACKAGING SOLUTIONS FOR SMALL BUSINESSES, HAS RECENTLY DEMONSTRATED AN OUTSTANDING LEAP IN EFFICIENCY AND OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE THROUGH THE ADOPTION OF INVENTORY MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE SOLUTION FISHBOWL INVENTORY.

Their exceptional transformation from completely manual processes to automation, made possible by the innovative capabilities of Fishbowl, serves as a beacon of inspiration for emerging businesses within the manufacturing sector.

According to industry experts, the absence of a robust inventory management system can pose serious challenges for developing businesses, leading to financial losses and operational setbacks.

Amidst a multitude of outdated practices handed down from the previous owner of Boxes R Us, one particularly antiquated process involved the manual recording of stocktakes on

a whiteboard within the factory.

When husband and wife team, Kirsty & Scott Buckley took the reins of Boxes R Us, they quickly recognized the imperative to modernize their inventory processes.

Acknowledging the critical need for streamlined operations and heightened accuracy, the entrepreneurial duo decisively shifted away from outdated, manual methods to embrace the innovative capabilities offered by Fishbowl Inventory.

Mr. Buckley emphasized the simplicity of their choice, stating, “We undertook a comprehensive search, but implementing Fishbowl was an easy choice for us. The software did all of the things we needed it to do, and the service was exceptional right from the very beginning.”

Mrs. Buckley echoed the sentiment, noting, “Fishbowl has undoubtedly made our daily life incredibly easier. A thousand fold. From the day that we launched with Fishbowl, our life has been easier. Even with the little mix ups and learning the program and all that stuff, that

was all easier than the way we ran prior to it.”

According to Simon Jupe, Fishbowl APAC Managing Director, “Fishbowl enables you to monitor inventory levels in real time, manage inventory in multiple warehouses and drive operational efficiency by training team members in best practice inventory management. For most businesses, inventory is the largest asset they carry. All of these software features combine to help businesses carry the most efficient stock levels, ensure they are managing cashflow and meeting customer expectations of providing “In Full, On Time order fulfillment.”

“By using Fishbowl, it has saved us a lot of downtime and has basically paid for itself in the first 12 months, as with keeping everything streamlined and making things a whole lot more efficient,”

Mr. Buckley emphasized, highlighting the tangible benefits reaped from their successful integration with Fishbowl.The transformative journey continued as Mr. Buckley highlighted,

“We started using Fishbowl and doing complete stock takes and entering everything into the system and actually then started seeing how much stock we had sitting on the shelf. We had like $100,000 worth that wasn’t even moving. Now with Fishbowl we avoid these costly kind of mistakes!”

Fishbowl’s seamless integration with accounting solutions like Xero and QuickBooks provided Boxes R Us with a comprehensive view of their inventory levels, purchase orders, and sales activities. This enhanced visibility empowered the business to make informed decisions, optimize cash flow, and drive sustainable growth.

“Fishbowl integrates with accounting solutions, like Xero and QuickBooks, as well as other core business platforms, which allow you to get a 360-degree view of how your inventory levels, purchase orders, and sales activities impact your cashflow. When inventory is ordered, received, sold, and shipped, Fishbowl automatically updates the relevant portions of your tech stack,

which gives you a real-time view of quantities enroute, on hand, in production, and more. This level of visibility is a real game changer for businesses that may have previously done everything manually,” affirmed Mr. Jupe.

Inventory Management software can assist significantly with inventory prediction accuracy. By examining trends from high-performing products,

inventory management systems can assist businesses with enhancing demand predictions. In addition, inventory management software reduces storing and handling expenses, increases sales, and can improve cash flow. Records from the past and peak seasons may also be used to determine significant sales trends that need stock modifications throughout the year.

Mrs. Buckley shared the impact on her daily routine, stating, “Before Fishbowl, I had to constantly leave my desk, keep someone on hold on the phone, and physically go to the factory to check our stock levels. Now I can access all the information I need with the click of a but-

ton. It obviously saves me a huge amount of time and effort.”

She added, “Previously, I would find myself rushing from my desk to the factory floor probably 50-60 times a day just to check stock. With Fishbowl in place, I’m able to tell my customers on the phone right there and then if we have the stock. It’s saved us approximately $60,000 in just inventory alone.”

The resounding success of Boxes R Us’s transformative journey stands as a testament to the paramount significance of leveraging advanced inventory management solutions.

By embracing the power of technology, Boxes R Us has achieved operational efficiencies which have enabled them to reaffirm their commitment to delivering unparalleled customer service and tailored solutions for small and medium businesses. Their remarkable achievement underscores the pivotal role of innovation in driving sustainable growth and operational excellence.

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Elevating Efficiency: Tidy and TimeDock Lead the Way!

By Brian Carolan, Product Owner, AutoEntry by Sage

AS XERO’S COUNTDOWN TO THEIR JUNE “SWITCH OFF” (FOREVER) OF WORKFLOWMAX, TIDY CONTINUES TO WORK WITH WFM USERS WHO HAVE DECIDED THAT TIDYWORK IS THE PROVEN, TRUSTED, REPLACEMENT.

To create even more capability for those WFM converts, Tidy has teamed up with TimeDock to offer even more streamlined workflow capability. This dynamic duo is helping redefine efficiency in project and time management. Tidy, with its 14-year track record in job and project management decided late last year to team up with TimeDock- also a long-standing trailblazer in cloud with their real-time employee time tracking hardware-software solution. Together, these solid companies and official Xero marketplace partners, form a powerhouse partnership that redefines efficiency and productivity in the modern workplace.

TimeDock's story is one of ingenuity and foresight, led by its founder, Le-roy Staines. Drawing from his experience in the construction industry, Le-roy identified a need for simplified time tracking solutions and set out to fill the gap. What started as a modest QR-

code check-in app blossomed into a sophisticated-yet simple time tracking system, driven by a passion for a better user experience and global impact.

Statistics Speak Volumes

According to recent studies by Deloitte and EY, businesses that prioritise data efficiency are 67% more likely to experience significant revenue growth compared to their less efficient counterparts. Moreover, companies that invest in innovative solutions, such as integrated project and time management platforms, report an average increase in productivity of up to 20%.

The Power of Partnership

The collaboration between Tidy and TimeDock represents more than just a business venture - it's a meeting of minds dedicated to unlocking the full potential of modern technology. Le-roy emphasises the benefits of this integration, stating, "The key benefit for organizations using Tidy and TimeDock is enhanced efficiency and productivity, through systems compatibility".

This sentiment is echoed by Tidy's team, who see the partnership as an opportu-

Stop overlooking Payroll, it’s about time!

By Jonathan Mifsud, Co-Founder, Buddy

EXPLORING THE POTENTIAL OF PAYROLL SERVICES IN ENHANCING CLIENT SATISFACTION AND DRIVING PROFITABILITY IN ACCOUNTING PRACTICES.

It’s time we stopped overlooking payroll, and truly understand the value that we can give to clients by ensuring that not only this service is done well, but also running a payroll division profitably.

Payroll as a Service

Over the past three years, I’ve spent countless hours attending accounting conferences around the world, with very little mention of payroll. Payroll, many of you would say is not within an accountant’s remit.

In fact, other professional bodies take care of payroll, such as the CIPP in the UK, and Payroll Org in the US. The Bookkeeping Institute also covers payroll for its members.

nity to empower businesses with the tools they need to thrive in today's competition.

So an alternative to Workflowmax huh?

Nope, much more than that!

The benefits of the Tidy and TimeDock partnership extend far beyond mere convenience. With real-time data at their fingertips, businesses can make informed decisions, optimize workflows, and stay ahead. Integrated time tracking adds another level of efficiency, providing leaders with quality insights into how employees spend their time without resorting to micromanagement. By seamlessly integrating time tracking with Tidy’s project and job management application, end-user companies get a comprehensive suite of features that streamline operations and drive growth.

This not only enhances transparency and accountability but also enables businesses to rapidly identify and resolve issues, optimize productivity, and motivate employees effectively, ultimately leading to improved project outcomes and sustained business success.

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Yet, a client’s first point of contact for payroll will likely be their accountant. After all, our accountant deals with numbers and taxes, payroll is also numbers and taxes hence it must be in their remit.

Faced with this challenge many accountants take on payroll, to maintain a client with their firm.

Payroll Complexity

Payroll was once a simple process of paying employees. At one point it may have well been that, however, today this has very much changed.

Payroll teams can easily highlight numerous legislations that have made their job harder. Bringing some examples from the UK, the simple notion of paying time taken off, known as Holiday Pay, is nothing but simple.

Most accountants I know have been trying to shift this responsibility back to the business, simply because they do not have the necessary underlying data to be able to do this accurately.

For those of you not familiar with the legislation, it requires someone to collect 52 representative weeks where the employee was working, in which there were no days

off, or sick. Someone may have to look back up to 2 years, to identify these, then work out an average weekly pay, based on which holiday is then calculated.

Based on conversations with leading influencers in the bureau space, what seems to have happened is that as these legislations came through, your payroll teams have kept providing their service, with added complexity, without raising prices, putting payroll under duress.

It’s not all lost

In the 5 years I’ve been involved in payroll, I’ve been noticing a shift. Payrollers are starting to talk about these challenges more frequently. As a result, we are seeing change, that is aligning with a technological shift within payroll. However, the biggest change that we can see is recognition.

Maria Mason, is a prime example, being made a Partner at BDO. Being one of the very few partners at accounting and audit firms, that are not an accountant or an auditor. Speaking at ACE23, the annual event organised by CIPP, she reiterated that her payroll division is one of the most profitable within BDO.

In a piece published by Alternative Insights, she shared how leveraging technology they were able to go from 500 to 1,000 payslips per person and shifted the extra resources towards advisory around payroll. One would say a key strategy in order to drive profitability

Cloud Payroll; round two.

Cloud accounting has over the past decade taken the industry by storm, and shifted plenty of firms from traditional accounting giants and ERP systems into the likes of Xero and other accounting players.

Payroll software, at least in the UK has somewhat lagged behind. The biggest players in the space have in so far been legacy desktop products. A few years ago the first wave of cloud payroll solutions hit the market.

Maybe the market wasn’t ripe; maybe they didn’t understand the customer base

or simply ran out of cash. Most of these solutions, have, been acquired by larger businesses.

Sometimes to augment a pre-existing HR solution that’s meant for larger businesses, and at times to simply knock out competition and add to a collection of shelved payroll systems.

Hence a big question that comes up for any new payroll product in the UK, is what’s your exit strategy?

This caution and need for longevity from this second wave of cloud payroll products is understood.

Choosing a sustainable business that doesn’t need to sell out, is critical given the risks, costs and efforts that come with a payroll migration.

The Future of Payroll is Profitable

With employers ever-keener to retain existing staff to avoid hiring and re-training costs payroll should be a key strategic partner in driving retention, especially when you consider that 79% of payroll errors are found by employees.

A key challenge many accounting firms encounter when looking at investing in cloud payroll is the sheer price jump.

Cloud Accounting solutions, come with a fixed per-entity cost, whereas payroll tends to be charged on a per-employee basis, easily ballooning costs for larger clients.

With margins on payroll traditionally low; moving to the cloud means a re-pricing conversation. Something many are not yet attuned to.

Based on our previous experience in Malta we found that decoupling the payroll license, from people related per-employee services that employers value achieves the best balance to ensure that your relationship with the client and their employees prospers.

Embrace the future of payroll – where strategic insight and technology meet to elevate your practice and client satisfaction.

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New interactive product tour, plus big new Merchant Portal updates

KRIYA PRODUCT PULSE IS BACK AND WE’VE GOT SOME GREAT UPDATES IN STORE THIS MONTH! BE SURE TO CHECK OUT OUR SLICK NEW INTERACTIVE PRODUCT TOUR, PLUS READ ON FOR SOME GREAT NEW CAPABILITIES THAT WENT LIVE ON MERCHANT PORTAL THIS MONTH.

Buyer authentication goes multichannel

Now you can launch buyer onboarding from Merchant Portal.

Buyer authentication brings credit checks and anti-fraud into a single flow. This functionality, previously only available in our eCommerce checkout products, is now available in Merchant Portal too.

Merchant Portal is our product for creating offline PayLater orders and is ide-

Geoff Seeley Joins PayPal as Chief Marketing Officer

Sal for buyers that purchase over the phone or email.

Why this is cool:

• You can now send an onboarding link to offline buyers from within Merchant Portal that allows them to complete Director KYC.

• This means once authenticated, your buyers can pay for orders with Kriya both through eCommerce checkout and offline with you using Merchant Portal.

Bulk upload orders to Merchant Portal

Save a bunch of time uploading your invoice orders into Merchant Portal. Now you can copy and paste order details directly from a spreadsheet into Merchant Portal to create multiple orders at once (up to a maximum of 50

TrustCommerce Adds

PayPal and Venmo to

Give Healthcare Providers Greater Payment Choice for Patients

COLLABORATION WITH PAYPAL AND TRUSTCOMMERCE ENABLES PATIENTS TO PAY USING THEIR PAYPAL DIGITAL WALLET.

TrustCommerce, announced today that it is adding PayPal and Venmo, in the U.S., to its healthcare-focused payments platform.

Through this collaboration with PayPal, patients will have the ability to use PayPal and Venmo to make payments to healthcare providers online, seamlessly within the existing payment experience they are already familiar with.

“In conversations with

healthcare providers, we have heard loud and clear that they would like to maximize payment flexibility for their patients by offering new, user-friendly payment options,”

said

John Welch,

Chief Product Officer, TrustCommerce.

“We are excited to integrate with PayPal and Venmo to give our clients the ability to further simplify the checkout experience for patients and allow them to use a convenient and familiar payment method while maximizing on collections.”

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PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: PYPL) today announced Geoff Seeley has joined the company as Chief Marketing Officer (CMO), reporting to Diego Scotti, Executive Vice President (EVP) and General Manager (GM) of Consumer Group and Global Marketing & Communications. Seeley brings over 25 years in global brand, digital, and performance marketing while building teams to drive transformative marketing models. Seeley was most recently the Global CMO and Communications Officer at CashApp and Afterpay.

Seeley will be responsible for overseeing the Global Marketing team across PayPal's family of brands, including Venmo.

At PayPal, Seeley will be focused on making sure the PayPal and Venmo value propositions are clear, compelling, and simple for customers. He will also focus on bringing new energy to the PayPal and Venmo brands by leveraging the company's innovative history, powerful product portfolio, and continuing to build on customer trust.

"Geoff has a rich and impressive background leading marketing teams and building brands across some of the biggest global companies," said Diego Scotti, EVP and GM, Consumer Group and Global Marketing & Communications, PayPal. "Geoff brings over 25 years of expertise in transforming global consumer and B2B brands by leveraging cutting-edge digital and performance marketing and building strong teams focused on enhancing brand awareness and engagement with customers."

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FEATURE: THE

ITY TO SEND AND RECEIVE EURO PAYMENTS VIA YOUR TIDE ACCOUNT. IT’S A GAME-CHANGER, ESPECIALLY IF YOU’RE EYEING EXPANSION INTO THE EUROPEAN MARKET!

With EUR SEPA, managing euro payments is now easier, right within the Tide app. All it takes is a few steps from your end: simply share your details with the payer or request a payment into your Tide account.

We’ll handle all the heavy lifting, from currency conversion to preparing your EUR SEPA statement. This way, you can channel your energy into growing your business, while we take care of the technicalities, saving you both time and money.

What is SEPA?

SEPA, or the Single Euro Payments Area, is a European Union (EU) initiative that allows fast and secure

euro transactions between individuals and businesses across borders within the eurozone. Even though the UK has parted ways with the EU, it continues to be a member of the SEPA zone. UK Finance asked the European Payments Council (EPC) for permission to remain part of SEPA, and the application was approved in March 2019.

Suppose you wish to purchase goods from France. Thanks to SEPA, we take care of converting the amount from GBP to EUR and crediting it to your payee’s account. And if you’re selling goods, we convert the funds you receive in EUR and credit them to your primary GBP Tide account in pounds, minus a 0.50% FX markup.

Which countries are in the SEPA zone?

The SEPA region consists of 36 European countries.

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PayPal Names Amy Bonitatibus as Chief Corporate Affairs and Communications Officer

AMY BRINGS A WEALTH OF EXPERIENCE IN LEADING COMMUNICATIONS IN THE FINANCIAL SERVICES INDUSTRY AND DEEP EXPERTISE IN REPUTATION MANAGEMENT

PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: PYPL) today announced that Amy Bonitatibus has been named Chief Corporate Affairs and Communications Officer, effective May 28, 2024. Bonitatibus will report to Diego Scotti, Executive Vice President, Consumer Group & Global Marketing and Communications.

Bonitatibus will be responsible for leading the Global Communications team and

social impact and sustainability efforts across PayPal's family of brands, including Venmo.

"Amy is an exceptional corporate affairs leader with a diversity of experience leading high-performing communications teams and shaping reputation for some of the most well-known brands," said Scotti.

"I look forward to working closely with Amy to continue writing our new PayPal story. She will be a wonderful addition to my leadership team, and we are thrilled she is joining us to help advance our work to revolutionize commerce globally."

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