XU Biweekly - Issue 19 - 27th November 2021 by XU Magazine

Saturday 27 November 2021 | No. 19

XU Biweekly

Accounting software with a purpose.

The independent news source for Xero users, by Xero users

By Glen Foster

’M EXCITED TO ANNOUNCE THAT XEROCON LONDON IS BACK, TAKING PLACE FROM 20 – 21 JULY 2022 AT A NEW VENUE – TOBACCO DOCK IN LONDON, FAMOUS FOR ITS CURVED BRICK VAULTS AND LISTED TIMBERS. WE HOPE YOU CAN JOIN US. There will be a lot to catch up on, whether it’s discussing enhancements to the Xero product, sharing achievements or learning more about the latest tools and features. But Xerocon is so much more than that.

What you can expect

THE “GLASTONBURY FOR ACCOUNTANTS” RETURNS...

Sarah Smith, Digital Services Manager at Jackson Stephen LLP said after she attended Xerocon in 2019: “Xerocon isn’t all about the product itself. It’s much more than that. It’s creating a community of advisers, bringing everyone together with common goals and inspiring us to make the changes we need internally to achieve those goals; from winning the war on talent,

to mental health awareness and everything in between. It’s all about reconnecting with friends, old and new and recharging.” This will certainly ring true in 2022. You’ve all played such a critical role in supporting small businesses, so we want to help you make a greater impact on the success of your clients. Sarah added: “The key message was clear. Clients need us more than ever, and we owe it to them to help.” Past Xerocon speakers have included Olympic cyclist Chris Hoy, astronaut Tim Peake and broadcaster Louise Minchin. We will share more about the speakers at next year’s Xerocon in the coming months. The famous Xerocon party will also be returning, so you’ve got eight months to dust off your dancing shoes.

Coming together Make no bones about it – the pandemic placed a distance between us and our...

Find out more

PRACTICE IGNITION RAISES $50M USD TO SUPERCHARGE GROWTH FOR CATEGORY-DEFINING CLIENT ENGAGEMENT AND COMMERCE PLATFORM

ECH SCALE-UP ON AMBITIOUS PATH TO TRANSFORM HOW PROFESSIONAL SERVICES BUSINESSES ENGAGE CLIENTS, AND GET PAID. Practice Ignition, the world’s first client engagement and commerce platform for professional services businesses, has raised $USD50M ($AUD65M) in a Series C funding round to fuel hyper growth and scale globally.

The funding round was led by US-based JMI Equity and marks JMI's first ever investment in Australia. Participating alongside JMI in this fundraise were existing investors Tiger Global, EVP and a number of other strategic angel investors and family office groups. The fast-growing scale-up was founded in 2013 by accounting entrepreneur Guy Pearson and product designer Dane Thomas...

Accounting software with a purpose. Saturday 27 November 2021

New Apps & Updates

2 XU Biweekly | No. 19

Reduce Payroll Stress with Xero Timesheets Updates

Help take the pain out of your Canadian tax season workflow

SHARESIES INVESTORS CAN SYNC THEIR TRADES DIRECTLY TO SHARESIGHT By Stephanie Stefanovic

By Faye Pang

ES, IT’S TRUE, TAX SEASON IS SLOWLY CREEPING UP ON US. THIS OFTEN CAN BE A BUSY AND STRESSFUL TIME OF YEAR FOR MANY ACCOUNTANTS AND BOOKKEEPING PROFESSIONALS, SO WE KNOW THAT EVERY OPPORTUNITY TO SAVE TIME AND MAKE YOUR WORKFLOW MORE EFFICIENT IS A WELCOMED ONE. There are numerous ways you can help make tax season go more smoothly when the time arrives. This can include staying...

E’RE EXCITED TO ANNOUNCE THAT SHARESIES IS NOW DIRECTLY INTEGRATED WITH SHARESIGHT USING THE SHARESIGHT API! This means that investors who use the Sharesies platform can have their trades automatically synced to their Sharesight portfolio—making it even easier to take advantage of Sharesight’s award-winning performance and tax reporting.

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 Director of Strategic Partnerships: Alex Newson Communications Manager: Bethany Fulks Creative Assistant: Hatty Morton

‘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 2014-2021. 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: 12 Jordan Street, Liverpool, L1 0BP, 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.

OR MOST EMPLOYEES, THE PHRASE “IT’S PAY WEEK” SPARKS JOY. BUT FOR PAYROLL OFFICERS IN FIELD SERVICE BUSINESSES WITH TIMESHEETBASED WORKERS, IT CAN ALSO BE A SOURCE OF STRESS.

Who is Sharesies? Read more

Find out more

Looking to move your business online? Make it easy with the new Xero & Shopify integration

N THE DESIGN TEAM, WE SPEND OUR DAYS COLLABORATING WITH PRODUCT AND ENGINEERING TEAMS TO SOLVE PROBLEMS FOR THREE MILLION SUBSCRIBERS AROUND THE WORLD. This collaboration is critical, because design isn’t just about making something ‘look’ beautiful. It’s about creating an experience that helps you complete a task quicker or make a strenuous process easier. Since we’ve ramped up our investment in upgrading the technology that underpins our platform, there have been a number of design changes across Xero. We know...

WHAT’S NEW IN JIRAV: NOVEMBER 2021 By Blake Oliver CPA

By Nick Houldsworth

COMMERCE IS NO LONGER A TREND, IT HAS BECOME ESSENTIAL FOR MANY BUSINESSES ALL OVER THE WORLD. IT’S PERHAPS NOT SURPRISING THEN TO SEE AN INCREASING NUMBER OF CUSTOMERS LOOKING FOR APPS TO SUPPORT THEIR ECOMMERCE NEEDS. IN FACT, SHOPIFY TOOK OUT THE TOP SPOT AS THE MOST SEARCHED FOR APP ON THE XERO APP STORE BETWEEN APRIL AND NOVEMBER THIS YEAR. That’s why we’re pleased to announce a new integration with Shopify – one of the world’s leading ecommerce platforms. The new Xero & Shopify app, built in-house and with 24/7 Xero developer support, is available now in both the Xero App Store and the Shopify App Store.

eCommerce made easier What does this mean for you, our small business customers and advisors? • Faster, more accurate data. Know how much revenue and profit is being made each day. You’ll automatically see Shopify sales on a daily basis, along with a breakdown of costs – enabling you to clearly see how much profit you’ve made. • Shopify reconciliation in just a few clicks. No more manual data entry. The integration is designed to help save you time on admin by automatically sending Shopify sales transactions to Xero for easy reconciliation against bank data. • Easily track cash flow. Get an overview of...

HIS MONTH, THE R&D TEAM WORKED ON TWO OF THE MOST REQUESTED FEATURES FOR REPORTING AND DASHBOARDING, AS WELL AS OTHER ENHANCEMENTS TO BE RELEASED SOON IN THE NEXT FEW MONTHS. Here’s everything that’s new in November: • Ability to add notes column in reports • Stacked bar chart in dashboards Let’s dive in!

Ability to add notes column in reports You can now add notes in the last column of a table in reports to explain variances or financial trends and have them be part of the report package you send to your clients and stakeholders. When you clone report templates, the notes will be cloned as well, so that you can reuse some of the same language in the new report template if you want to.

Stacked bar chart in dashboards We are introducing a new chart type - stacked...

Find out more

NEW XERO CONNECTED APPS!

TIMEKEEPER

By Luis Sanchez

Advertising: advertising@xumagazine.com www.xumagazine.com

By Emily Henlein

Now, there’s good news for businesses using the simPRO Xero integration. Following the latest update, simPRO timesheets can now be posted directly to Xero to reduce manual data entry during pay runs*. (* Not available in the USA and Canada as Xero Payroll is not supported in these regions)

Find out more XU BIWEEKLY - No. 19

Saturday 27 November 2021

IKE ANY COMPANY OPERATING IN THE TECH INDUSTRY, WE EXIST IN A CONTINUOUS CYCLE OF IMPROVEMENT. CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT PROVIDES MOMENTS OF GENUINE OPPORTUNITY AND CREATES AN INNOVATION CHALLENGE. A huge part of this challenge is ensuring that what matters most to our community is embedded into our products. It’s the only way to ensure that your experience remains beautifully intuitive and becomes smarter and more feature-rich as our tools grow. It may sound obvious, but the most effective way to achieve this with our partners is to simply ask directly. So, here are two ways you can work with our product teams to share your feedback and insights.

Design research panel The design research panel is the main way that our researchers and designers involve Xero customers in the product development process. This panel is used for early stage discovery research, as well as getting feedback on concepts or ideas. It's a convenient process that opens...

IE, NZ & UK - Paperless time & attendance software that covers employee time clock, timesheets, time off, leave management, GPS clock ins, facial recognition, geofences, time spent on jobs and more.

REDSTOR GLOBAL - Gain peace of mind and protect your Xero data against human error and tech disasters with Redstor's third-party automated backups.

FINMARK GLOBAL - Take the gurssworkout of our building a customised financial model with Finmark's simple to use dashboard for creating & sharing financial plans, managing burn rate, forecast recenure and more - all without spreadsheets.

BOOKKEEP GLOBAL - The leading provider of summarized financial automation and deposit reconciliation for businesses. Simplify the time-consuming process of inputting finanicals from multiple sales channels to your accounting systems.

CALUMO GLOBAL - Automate the painful, manual finance processes to free up your teams time to do their real jobs. Enhance performance with fast integration, real-time reporting and sophisticated budgeting tools.

How to use technology to improve your practice profitability

News

4 XU Biweekly | No. 19

Saturday 27 November 2021

Pixie, the operating system for small accounting firms, raises £2.25 million from Triple Point Ventures, Seedcamp and MMC Ventures By Ashleigh Gibson

W B

GL CORPORATE SOLUTIONS, AUSTRALIA'S LEADING PROVIDER OF SMSF ADMINISTRATION AND ASIC CORPORATE COMPLIANCE SOLUTIONS, IS PROUD TO ANNOUNCE IT IS GREAT PLACE TO WORK-CERTIFIED.

HE FUNDING WILL ENABLE PIXIE TO ACCELERATE ITS VISION OF CREATING THE OPERATING SYSTEM FOR ACCOUNTING AND BOOKKEEPING FIRMS

E KNOW YOU, ACCOUNTANTS AND BOOKKEEPERS – YOU DO AMAZING THINGS EVERY DAY TO SUPPORT SMALL BUSINESSES, BUT YOU’RE ALSO A HUMBLE BUNCH. SURE, YOU’RE NOT PHYSICALLY SAVING LIVES, BUT YOU ARE SAVING PEOPLE’S LIVELIHOODS – AND CHANGING THEM FOR THE BETTER.

By Colin Timmis

VER THE LAST 18 MONTHS IT’S BEEN GREAT TO SEE SO MANY ACCOUNTING FIRMS IN SOUTH AFRICA INNOVATING AND EMBRACING CLOUD TECHNOLOGY – WHETHER THAT’S MOVING FROM DESKTOP OR FURTHER EXPANDING THE DIGITAL TOOLS THEY USE.

“We are honoured to receive Great Place to Work certification” said Ron Lesh, BGL’s ManagingDirector. “The assessment...

The raise was led by Triple Point Ventures, with participation from Seedcamp, MMC Ventures, and serial entrepreneurs and angel investors including leaders Duane Jackson (Kashflow, Staffology) and Will Neale.

So while you may not always want to make a song and dance about the work you do, we at Xero want to do just that for you. And you can give your clients the chance to celebrate you too with the People’s Choice Award, open for nominations now! The People's Choice category...

We’ve seen the transformational impact this can have on practices. It’s helping them to streamline processes, save time so they can step into more of an advisory role, and provide better support to the small business community. We speak with two firms about the...

Find out more

DiviPay launches holiday competition with $10,000 in prizes

simPRO, a Leading Global Provider of Field Service Management Software, Secures Growth Investment of Over $350 Million USD from K1

Holiday competition launched to help business owners reward their staff

S By Sarah Minns

HE FUTURE OF TAX IS CHANGING. NEW TOOLS ARE MAKING IT MORE STREAMLINED, SIMPLER AND FASTER FOR ACCOUNTANTS AND THEIR SMALL BUSINESS CLIENTS.

IMPRO, THE GLOBAL LEADER IN FIELD SERVICE MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE, ANNOUNCED TODAY THAT IT HAS SECURED AN INVESTMENT OF OVER $350 MILLION FROM K1 INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT, WITH PARTICIPATION FROM EXISTING INVESTOR LEVEL EQUITY.

The campaign aims to help Australian business owners reward their hardworking employees this holiday season, with 6 DiviPay gift cards to be won. Every business is unique, with different ideas on how to reward employees at the...

One firm that is making changes and preparing for the future of digital tax is BDO Business Services (BSO) in South Africa. They were our very first Platinum accounting partner in South Africa, and have been pioneers in cloud accounting since the beginning. BDO powered by BSO has been dedicated to helping SMEs digitise, streamline and...

Additionally, simPRO announced the acquisitions of ClockShark, a US-based time-sheeting and scheduling platform, as well as AroFlo, an Australia-based job management software provider. Together, the companies support the full lifecycle of a field service organization from sole operator or small business to larger, more complex businesses and franchises. simPRO helps field service business owners grow revenue and profitability by reducing their reliance on paper-based workflows.

Find out more

IVIPAY HAS KICKED OFF THEIR ENDOF-YEAR COMPETITION, A GIVEAWAY WITH $10,000 IN PRIZES.

AND CALIBRE OF APPLICATIONS FOR THIS YEAR’S AWARDS, AND HUMBLED BY THE GREAT CONTRIBUTIONS OUR PARTNERS HAVE MADE TO THE SMALL BUSINESS COMMUNITY AND ACCOUNTING INDUSTRY OVER A CHALLENGING YEAR.

By Ferdy Nandes

IRST AND FOREMOST, A HUGE THANK YOU TO ALL OUR XERO PARTNERS WHO SUBMITTED THEIR NOMINATIONS FOR THE XERO AWARDS ASIA 2021. WE WERE BLOWN AWAY BY THE VOLUME

We want to take this opportunity to celebrate the hard work and resilience that our nominees have shown through this year’s many ups and downs. We are thankful for your continued partnership and support, and for sharing your stories with us.

Find out more

The psychology behind small businesses adopting or delaying technology By Rachael Powell

CCOUNTANTS AND BOOKKEEPERS KNOW ALL TOO WELL THAT SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS WHO EMBRACE TECHNOLOGY ENJOY MORE EFFICIENCY, FLEXIBILITY AND EVEN PROFITABILITY THAN THOSE WHO DON’T. DESPITE KNOWING THE BENEFITS, MANY SMALL BUSINESSES ARE STILL SLOW TO ADOPT TECHNOLOGY. At Xero, we sought to dive deeper into what’s truly holding them back. We’ve conducted a behavioural insights study that uncovers the human factors stopping small businesses from adopting more technology. The One step report surveyed more than 4,200 small business owners across...

Find out more

Another positive step forward in Q3 for Joiin

E’VE SEEN A VERY POSITIVE Q3 IN 2021, NOT JUST IN TERMS OF GROWTH BUT ALSO WITHIN THE JOIIN COMMUNITY. HERE ARE THE NUMBERS FOR THIS QUARTER.

Our Q3 2021, in numbers: • This quarter, over 13,000+ companies, from 39 different countries, across 6 continents, connected and created over...

Find out more

Want to increase your client satisfaction? Board our spacecraft and work with AdvanceTrack by booking your call with our team

01 ENGAGE 02 ONBOARD 03 DATA 04 AUTOMATE 05 CHECKS 06 LEARN 07 COMMUNICATE

Book a Zoom meeting with our team advancetrack.com/start-here/ www.advancetrack.com Where Quality and Security comes as standard

Events/Features

6 XU Biweekly | No. 19

Saturday 27 November 2021

LET’S TALK ABOUT CUSTOMER SERVICE

XU MAGAZINE IS CPD CERTIFIED

E HAVE BEEN W O R K I N G CLOSELY WITH THE CPD CERTIFICATION SERVICE TO HAVE OUR ARTICLES CPD CERTIFIED.

ISSUE 29 OUT NOW!

By Elaine Kirk

IFE HAS BECOME SO BUSY THAT WE ARE TRYING TO SQUEEZE MORE INTO OUR WORKING DAY AND WAITING FOR A RESPONSE TO AN EMAIL QUERY CAN ADD EXTRA STRESS. SOMETIMES WITH EMAIL RESPONSES IT IS NOT UNCOMMON TO FIND THERE IS NO ANSWER TO YOUR SPECIFIC QUESTION BUT INSTEAD YOU HAVE BEEN DIRECTED TO A HELP ARTICLE OR THE COMPANY’S FAQ PAGE TO SIFT THROUGH FOR AN ANSWER TO YOUR QUERY ADDING EVEN MORE STRESS, FRUSTRATION AND TAKING UP VALUABLE TIME. Customers expect to be treated with respect by a knowledgeable subject expert who understands and meets their needs and requirements at all stages of their transaction. Over time ‘good customer service’ has become a buzz phrase used by companies to emotionally connect with their customer base. What does that really mean, is it hard to achieve and should we be aiming for just good customer service or raise the bar to excellent? Many of us feel more compelled to share an unsatisfactory customer service experience we have experienced rather than share our excellent customer service ones. A bad service experience from a company can be long remembered and the good service you once

received easily forgotten. At CloudPayroll and iPayroll we understand our customers are individuals with varying requirements and we pride ourselves on adding value by helping all customers effectively and efficiently in the manner that best suits them i.e. over the phone or via email. With payroll queries, often there is a high level of urgency for answers. We understand the need for urgency as you may need to close the pay run the same day the question arises. We will never direct you to our FAQ or help pages to find an answer, although we do have both if this is your preferred research method. Our dedicated support teams are subject matter experts, who are a phone call or an email away, for your questions – frequent or otherwise. When CloudPayroll and iPayroll receive a request for a free demo, we set up a personalised one to ensure it matches your business requirements. We also set a convenient time over the phone, zoom or in person for the demo giving you the opportunity to ask questions on the spot. CloudPayroll and iPayroll take customer service seriously as we value our relationship. We pride ourselves on delivering an excellent customer service experience throughout all interactions from the Implementation...

As you read through our sister publication, XU Magazine, any article that shows the CPD Certified logo has been approved to count towards your CPD points.

Find out more

How to test for skills AND values in your hiring process By Karen Reyburn

HILE HIRING IS EXCITING AND MOTIVATING, IT IS ALSO A PHYSICALLY, EMOTIONALLY TAXING PROCESS. AND IT CAN COST YOU FINANCIALLY IN A BIG WAY IF YOU HIRE SOMEONE YOU THINK IS AMAZING, AND DISCOVER LATER THEY WEREN’T A FIT. Yes, they need to have the right skills: but hiring on skills alone is not enough to build the right team. It’s not merely worker bees you need: it’s human beings who fit your firm, who have their own personalities and perspectives and creativity, and truly care about your clients. You need a hiring process to test for both skills AND values. Let’s presume you’ve identified your firm values. Putting nice-sounding words on your website is not enough: values must be lived and breathed by your team and clients. If “val-

ues” are words like integrity, respect, passion, excellence… what do they MEAN? What does it look like to serve clients with passion? How do your team members show respect to each other and to everyone they meet? You won’t be able to hire people based on vague words like ‘excellence’. You, and the potential team member, need to know what you expect and how they will be evaluated based on this. You literally need to hire and fire on these values: so everyone needs to be clear about what they actually mean in real life. In real work. It’s also tempting to “trust your gut” when it comes to hiring: but that doesn’t help you build a process which runs without you. Yes, listen to your gut: and also investigate your gut to determine what it’s telling you. What exactly feels right, and what doesn’t? What little things seem too small to make a fuss over, and yet give that niggling feeling? Every win, and every fail, helps you build your hiring process. What didn’t you check for? What did you discover later? How might you have tested for this during the hiring process? Hiring is not the time to give candidates the benefit of the doubt. This is the time for them to prove themselves to you. And reviewing an online resume and talking to them for an hour is not nearly enough to determine if this person will fit with your team and clients day in and day out, month after month, year after year. Below are some ways to test for skills and values in your next hire. As you go through this process, look for these flags: • Red flag: Big problem. A fail on the skills, anger or defensiveness or blame, unwillingness to honour your process. If there’s a red flag, they’re out. • Pink flag: Slight thing which gives you a little niggle, but it’s not fully investigated and there may be reasons for it. File this away, and if there are no more pink flags...

Find out more

HR Software for Small & Medium Businesses Streamline your HR processes and free up your time

Start a free trial now to get

Loved by thousands of companies worldwide

50%

for 6 months

Classifieds

XU Biweekly | No. 19

Invoices & Jobs

Accountant Tools Commerce with Greenback

Simplify, standardise and streamline your digital sales accounting and bookkeeping

JOB MANAGEMENT Detailed reporting and tight project controls enable your business to maximise efficiency and profitability.

JOB MANAGEMENT

www.cloudsolve.com.au rhys@cloudsolve.com.au 02 8188 9030

CRM

FOR BUILDERS www.nextminute.com

tidyinternational com

Point of Sale

Sublime practice management software for accountants and bookkeepers.

Connect Xero and Sapaad Cloud POS for a total business solution.

Try Sapaad for FREE www.sapaad.com

Reporting

Training

Training, Products & Services for Practicing Accountants the2020group.com

Year End

Powerful Management Software for Charities, Churches & Community groups

Start a free, no obligation trial to find out how.

www.xbert.io Bills & Expenses

Debtor Tracking

XU Hub Subscribe to our mailing list and never miss an issue!

It’s a match made in heaven.

Free up billable hours and increase revenue potential.

Powerful Software Delightfully Simple

Experts in Cloud-based apps & technology integrations.

Cloud based solutions for growing inventory businesses

Saturday 27 November 2021

Start your FREE trial: workflowmax.com/xero

If the only update your software gets each year is price, it could be time to switch

Outsourcing

wolterskluwer.co.uk/switch

9 Daily The latest news from all your favourite Xero connected apps 9 Every fortnight XU Biweekly 9 Quarterly XU Magazine

BOOST YOUR PRODUCTIVITY

Real-time cash flow confidence

The independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users

TRY FOR FREE TODAY!

AutoEntry.com

Payments Future-proofing SMEs with Prediction

BUSINESS FINANCE MADE EASY marketfinance.com

magazine

Automated Data Entry for Accountants, Bookkeepers and Business Owners

Financial Services

ISSUE

A smarter way to collect, convert and manage payments globally.

futrli.com

Making the magic happen PAGE 8

Find out more at worldfirst.com PLUS LOADS MORE FROM

Inventory

Payroll & HR

Simplifying the way everyone buys & pays.

#1 Reporting & Forecasting app in the Xero Ecosystem

Connected Apps

ISSN 2054-7226

New Zealand

ipayroll.co.nz

www.compleatsoftware.com

spotlightreporting.com

9 772054 722009

Visit the XU Hub: Go to www.xumagazine.com

Issue 28 / 1

TUTORIALS CASE STUDIES INTERVIEWS NEW APPS NEW RELEASES

Time Tracking Australia

cloudpayroll.com.au Powerful Software Delightfully Simple

STOCK MANAGEMENT

Cloud Integrators

Xero

Powerful software enables your business to grow through end-toend process control and reporting.

tidyinternational com

ISSUE 29 OUT NOW!

Features

8 XU Biweekly | No. 19

Saturday 27 November 2021

SURVIVING THE STRESS-TEST: HOW TO ENSURE YOUR BUSINESS THRIVES THROUGH ADVERSITY

By Troy Brown

T’S BEEN A ROUGH TWO YEARS RIGHT ACROSS THE GLOBE - AND BOOKKEEPERS AND ACCOUNTANTS HAVE BEEN AT THE COAL-FACE, HELPING SMALL BUSINESS STAY AFLOAT. BUT WHO’S LOOKING AFTER YOU? The past two years have been a long and drawn out stress-test for many business owners. For their finance teams, they face challenges on both fronts: helping clients navigate, survive and thrive, while attending to their own business operations. Like any pain-point in business, this double-header pressure on accountants and bookkeepers, has either confirmed their current systems are on point; or made it glaringly obvious some things need to change. When looking at firms and businesses of all sizes that have come through this the strongest and continued to drive efficiency, there is one common denominator: they have embraced artificial intelligence and automation. The industry has moved well past the notion that artificial intelligence and automa-

tion would make accounting and bookkeeping roles obsolete. What we’ve seen develop over recent years is that humans will always have a place in the workflow process. And that if you’re not embracing these smart tech tools in your business, you’re not just falling behind - you’re doing yourself a disservice.

ing, using 5 different accounting platforms, was buried in paper and saw no way out,” Michele said. “When introduced to automation, there was a light at the end of the tunnel and I started planning my way out. Within 6

months I had moved all of my one-day a week clients to cloud apps and was ready to take on more.” Using Xero, AI audit and workflow...

Read the full article

Why should bookkeepers care about AI and automation? Technology helps eliminate the need to spend time on tedious, non-income producing tasks such as manual data entry and review, document collection, and even reporting. And it’s absolutely key to helping scale your business in a sustainable way. If the intense nature of the last 18 months has taught us anything, it’s that embracing AI and automation are the best ways for bookkeepers to free up billable hours and increase revenue potential. This is true for Michele Grisdale of Rainforest Bookkeeping, who tripled her client base in just 12 months by implementing smart automation tools in her business. “I was working in desktop bookkeep-

The home of XU Magazine and XU Biweekly

Cloudsolve: Time is running out on the TradeGecko/QBC retirement By Rhys Roberts

XU Hub is now live on Apple News!

FOLLOW OUR SISTER PUBLICATION... @xumagazine @xumagazine @XU Magazine

BC IS RETIRING AND YOUR CLIENTS WILL BE FORCED TO MIGRATE TO NEW SOFTWARE. CLOUDSOLVE CAN HELP YOU LEAD THE WAY...

Are your clients feeling left in the lurch by the impending retirement of TradeGecko? They are not alone. After only 2 years under the banner of QuickBooks Commerce (QBC), at a reported purchase price of $80m, TradeGecko is being retired from the QuickBooks portfolio, effective July 1, 2022. The indisputable facts in the matter for anyone outside of the US are: • If you are a TradeGecko/QBC customer, even if you want to stay you can’t. • This is irrespective of whether you integrate with Xero or with QuickBooks Online. Yes, even if you’re a QBO customer - you are done! So, given there’s no say in the matter, how do you, as a trusted Advisor, turn that frown upside down for your clients? How is this an opportunity for you, and how do you help them see this forced transition as an opportunity for them? You don’t have to be expert in systems and processes...

Find out more Cloudsolve's full CPD Certified Article

FinTech News

10 XU Biweekly | No. 19

COUPONS

Airwallex raises additional US$100 million in Series E1 led by Lone Pine Capital; valuation reaches US$5.5b

Start a

FREE trial & get

3 months for only $300!

Payhawk raises $112 million in the second largest Series B in Central and Eastern Europe By Trish Toovey

50% off for the first 6 months & start a free trial

30 day FREE trial Best-in-class approval automation for Xero

Saturday 27 November 2021

AYHAWK, THE PAYMENTS AND EXPENSE SOLUTION WITH OFFICES IN LONDON, SOFIA, BERLIN AND BARCELONA, HAS RAISED $112 MILLION JUST 3 YEARS AFTER ITS INCEPTION, VALUING THE COMPANY AT $570M.

vesting in high-growth technology companies such as Gorillas, Robinhood, Stripe, Checkout.com and Brex. All existing investors, including QED Investors, Earlybird Digital East and Eleven Ventures are participating in the round.

The Series B round is led by the San Francisco-based investor Greenoaks, who has a strong track record of in-

Revolut teams up with the RTÉ Toy Show Appeal

IRWALLEX, ONE OF THE FASTEST-GROWING GLOBAL FINTECH PLATFORMS, TODAY ANNOUNCED IT HAS RAISED AN ADDITIONAL US$100 MILLION IN A SERIES E1 FINANCING ROUND.

HILDREN, TEENS, AND YOUNG ADULTS HAVE ALWAYS BEEN CENTRAL TO OUR MISSION OF EMPOWERING FINANCIAL FREEDOM. AFTER ALL, IT’S NOT JUST ADULTS WHO NEED FINANCIAL LITERACY TO HELP THEM MANAGE THEIR MONEY. IF ANYTHING, IT’S MORE IMPORTANT THAT THESE SKILLS ARE LEARNED AT A YOUNG AGE.

From the press release

This new funding raises Airwallex’s valuation to US$5.5 billion and comes just a month after Airwallex announced an oversubscribed Series E round as the company looks to accelerate its global expansion plans. This latest round takes Airwallex’s total Series E fundraising to US$300 million...

That’s why we created Revolut Junior, a digital account that helps youngsters aged 7 to 17 learn how to save and spend safely and securely. All under the watchful eye of their parent or guardian, of course. Junior also offers children their own prepaid debit card...

Find out more

Atom is moving to a four-day working week — here’s why

OPEN BANKING BULK PAYMENTS COME TO XERO AND SAGE ACCOUNTING PLATFORMS

Try FREE for 30 days & get

50% off your first 3 months

Grow your business with a little help from Fiverr

HETHER YOU’RE JUST GETTING STARTED WITH A NEW BUSINESS OR THINKING ABOUT INTERNATIONAL EXPANSION, REVOLUT BUSINESS AND FIVERR HAVE PARTNERED TO HELP YOU OUT.

Save up to $2000! Offer ends 30/06/21

What is Revolut Business? Revolut Business is a business account with powerful tools that give you total control over your finances. Spend less time on admin and more time on what’s important – your business. Join the community of 500k+ global business customers who’ve already signed up.

Hub Subscribe to our mailing list and never miss an issue!

Subscribe 9 Daily The latest news from all your favourite Xero connected apps 9 Every fortnight XU Biweekly 9 Quarterly XU Magazine

TARLING BANK IS INTRODUCING BILLS MANAGER, TO HELP CUSTOMERS PAY THEIR BILLS ON TIME AND BETTER MANAGE THEIR MONEY.

Fiverr users can now get three months free Grow (for Businesses) or Professional (for Freelancers) with Revolut Business, giving them access to the world’s premier business finance super app. Way beyond a simple business account, Revolut Business will save you precious time and money through:

We’re excited to announce that, starting from 1st November, we began a trial of a four-day working week. We’ll be testing our work practices over the next few months, as well as continually evaluating our new ways of working into 2022. Our team will be working a shortened 34-hour week over four days, with no impact on their salary. This is optional, and anyone can choose to opt out and continue to work a five-day week if they wish. We believe this will bring great benefit to our business, our people and, ultimately, our customers. As the largest company to introduce a four...

Find out more

How Revolut Business can help Fiverr Business customers

By Anne-Marie Lister

Future of payments Q&A with Accenture and GoCardless

T THE START OF OCTOBER, WE HOSTED A LIVELY PANEL DISCUSSION ON THE ‘FUTURE OF PAYMENTS’ WITH PAYMENT EXPERTS AMIT MALLICK, GLOBAL OPEN BANKING AND APIS LEAD AT ACCENTURE, AND SIAMAC REZAIEZADEH, DIRECTOR OF PRODUCT MARKETING AT GOCARDLESS. The discussion (which you can still watch on-demand here) delved into the growth of open banking and its profound impact on

businesses, why the future lies with account-to-account payments, and how businesses are already benefiting from adapting their payment strategies. Whilst we answered a lot of audience questions live, there were a few that we ran out of time to discuss. However, Siamac and Amit have taken the time to go through them all and we’ve put together their insights for you in the Q&A below. So if you're interested to know what’s on the minds of payments experts at some of the world's largest corpo-

rates, read on!

Does open banking have payment restrictions that could make it off-limits for certain sectors? Amit: No specific restrictions as long as your account is set up to do a particular type of payment (e.g.: the account can only transfer £10,000 in a day). The bigger challenge is that with pure open banking there is no reversal of payments – you cannot do charge...

Find out more

PEN BANKING ISN’T NEW. IN FACT, YOU PROBABLY HAVE AN APP, A BUDGETING OR SAVINGS TOOL THAT USES OPEN BANKING TO GIVE YOU AN OVERVIEW OF THE MULTIPLE BANK ACCOUNTS YOU OWN IN ONE PLACE. BUT THIS IS ONLY ONE PART OF WHAT OPEN BANKING HAS TO OFFER. THERE IS A SIDE THAT IS NEW TO MANY, AND THAT SIDE IS BULK PAYMENTS. This brings us to Comma, the UK’s first...

Find out more