XU Biweekly - Issue 21 - 15th January 2022

Saturday 15 January 2022 | No. 21

XU Biweekly The independent news source for Xero users, by Xero users

XEROCON SYDNEY X

2022

EROCON IS BACK AGAIN FOR 2022, AND THIS TIME IT'S IN SYDNEY! MAKE SURE YOU SAVE THE DATE FOR THE 7TH - 8TH SEPTEMBER.

The unmissable cloud accounting event is back, bringing together leaders from across Australia, New Zealand and Asia, all in one place. This is your chance to join thousands of accountants and bookkeepers to learn the latest and greatest in Xero, discover new apps and connect with others.

They'll have the best people and technology to help inspire, grow your business and have a greater impact on your clients' success.

Tickets will be on sale early this year, so make sure to keep an eye out. You don't miss the atmosphere and energy of Xerocon!

Find out more about Xerocon Sydney 2022

Novo Raises $90M to Reimagine Small Businesses Checking Accounts

By Aaftab Khan

N

OVO RECENTLY SURPASSED $5 BILLION IN LIFETIME TRANSACTIONS; WILL USE FUNDING TO DEVELOP A RANGE OF DIGITAL BANKING PRODUCTS THAT WILL HELP SMALL BUSINESSES GROW Novo, the powerfully simple small business banking platform, today announced that the company has raised $90 million in Series B funding at a $700 million valuation.

Stripes led the round, with continued participation from existing investors Valar Ventures, Crosslink Capital, Rainfall Ventures, and BoxGroup. This latest round brings Novo’s total funding to more than $135 million.

“After speaking with thousands of our more than 150,000 customers over the last few years, one theme keeps coming up: the more you can help a small business remove all red tape and friction around cash flow, the better off that business is,” said Michel Rangel, CEO and co-founder of Novo. “With this additional funding, Novo will take a huge leap forward in improving cash flow for small businesses. In the coming months and...

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Xero to acquire Canadian tax software provider, TaxCycle

By Tony Ward

A

T XERO, WE AIM TO DELIGHT OUR CUSTOMERS BY HELPING THEM SAVE TIME AND OPERATE MORE EFFICIENTLY. ONE CHALLENGE OUR ACCOUNTING AND BOOKKEEPING PARTNERS HAVE SHARED WITH US IS THAT MANAGING THEIR CLIENTS TAX COMPLIANCE CAN BE A PAINFUL AND COMPLEX PROCESS THAT LEADS TO A LOT OF ADDITIONAL STRESS AROUND THIS TIME OF

YEAR. We’re thrilled to announce that Xero is acquiring TaxCycle, a leading Canadian tax preparation software company for accountants and bookkeepers. Together with TaxCycle, Xero is striving to make year end tax simpler and more beautiful for our...

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VIRGIN MONEY ANNOUNCES NEW FINTECH PARTNERSHIP WITH EXPEND

V

IRGIN MONEY IS PROUD TO ANNOUNCE A NEW FINTECH PARTNERSHIP WITH EXPEND, ADDING AN EXPENSE MANAGEMENT SERVICE TO ITS NEW BUSINESS BANKING PROPOSITION. Expend simplifies the expense management ex-

perience for businesses. The service will form part of Virgin Money’s working capital health proposition.

The bank's offering to business current account customers is to be transformed with its improved digital-first proposition, offering services - such as Expend - to help customers run their businesses suc-

cessfully.

Expend has designed its service to be a one-stop shop to empower SMEs and employees to submit and manage their expenses.

This saves businesses time, boosts efficiency and increases transparency in its business spending process.

Find out more

Saturday 15 January 2022

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New Apps & Updates

2 XU Biweekly | No. 21

THE 5 BIGGEST UPDATES AND CHANGES OF THE YEAR

Release AllFetch Product Bundle 1.3: New & Flexible Bundle Options

W

HAT A YEAR IT’S BEEN! DURING LOCKDOWNS, BORDER CHANGES AND OLYMPIC CELEBRATIONS, THE WORKGURU.IO TEAM HAVE BEEN HARD AT WORK ADDING FEATURES AND IMPROVEMENTS TO THE PLATFORM TO HELP OUR USERS GET EVEN MORE VALUE.

By Trang Nguyen

2

021 HAS PASSED AND A NEW YEAR COMES WITH LOTS OF HOPE, JOY, AND EXCITEMENT. TO KICK OFF 2022 RESOLUTIONS, WE ARE SO GLAD TO ANNOUNCE TO YOU THE RELEASE OF ALLFETCH PRODUCT BUNDLE 1.3.

In this updated version, we bring to the table new and enjoyable bundle options that are most requested from our valued customers.

Without further ado, let’s explore how these bundle...

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By Joanna Bellis

O

VER THE NEXT 1218 MONTHS, EVERY TIME WE DO A FEATURE RELEASE, WE’LL ALSO BE UPDATING THE DESIGN OF THE PAGES YOU SEE AND FREQUENTLY USE IN WORKFLOWMAX. It’s a great opportunity for us to think about the improvements we can make for you. For example, can we make the page more accessible or the workflow easier?

Eventually, we want all WorkflowMax screens to have a cohesive look and

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

To round out the year, let’s recap the top five new features that were added in 2021 and what they mean for our customers.

Using the Xero User Interface (XUI) design system for a better experience Read more

WORKGURU.IO WRAP 2021

Brisbane, Queensland: FuseSign today announced a new integration with global small business platform Xero, bringing a new digital signing platform to integrate with Xero Practice Manager (XPM). This integration allows Xero customers worldwide to securely sync their contacts list from XPM with their FuseSign account to auto-populate the signee details into their documents.

“We acknowledge that accounting firms have data in all different places, so we’ve designed this integration to leverage the single source of truth—their practice management system," says Scott Barber, FuseWork's Co-Founder and...

LATE CHASER GLOBAL - An easy, automated way to add late fees and interest to your invoices in Xero. Fully customisable penalties are automatically issued to customers to save you time.

WORKNICE AU - A powerful HR software designed for remote teams in Australian small and medium businesses. Manage the entire employee lifecycle in one system, from onboarding, payroll, time off and performance reviews.

EPOS

By Blake Oliver CPA

T

O CLOSE OUT THE YEAR, WE ARE EXCITED TO INTRODUCE FEATURES THAT’LL MAKE IT MUCH EASIER TO MOVE AND RESIZE TILES IN DASHBOARDS, AS WELL AS OTHER ENHANCEMENTS TO DASHBOARDS AND REPORTING.

SG - Increase sales, improve operational efficiency, build customer loyalty and empower small businesses with EPOS. By connecting with Xero you can create financial statements with ease, without the need for manual data entry.

Before we dive in, I want to thank you for being with us this past year, and reading our product release blog posts.

Your continued support and feedback is what makes our product better every release. Please accept our deepest gratitude, and we wish you and your family happy holidays and a magnificent new year!

LEDGERSYNC

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MYPROSPERITY EXPAND ITS DIGITAL SIGNING CAPABILITY WITH HOT NEW INTEGRATION PARTNER FUSESIGN

Find out more

NEW XERO CONNECTED APPS!

What’s New in Jirav: December 2021

www.xumagazine.com

#1 Quote Sign-Off

EW INTEGRATION MEANS ADDED CONVENIENCE AND TIMESAVING BY AUTOMATICALLY PRE-POPULATING SIGNEE DETAILS IN FUSESIGN USING DATA FROM XERO PRACTICE MANAGER.

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Advertising: advertising@xumagazine.com

© XU Magazine Ltd 2014-2022.

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.

feel. But we need to take a step-by-step approach.

So in the short term, some parts of WorkflowMax will have the old design but in the long term, all new and improved features will have a similar look and feel, so you can work more efficiently and get some more time back in your day.

N

XU BIWEEKLY - No. 21

‘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.

Saturday 15 January 2022

By Vaishnavi Venkatakrishnan

M

YPROSPERITY TODAY ANNOUNCED A NEW DIGITAL SIGNING INTEGRATION WITH AUSTRALIAN OWNED AND OPERATED DIGITAL SIGNING PLATFORM FUSESIGN DELIVERED BY THE TEAM AT FUSEWORKS. The integration of both platforms is set to transform the industry as a cornerstone piece of technology for both accountants and financial planners.

"Given FuseSign's focus on the accounting industry, we believe this is a perfect

step forward in our integration stack, allowing our mutual clients and beyond the ability to collaborate seamlessly in myprosperity platform with the added power of a purpose-built digital signing tool delivered

by FuseSign," says Peter McCarthy, Founder & Executive Chairman at myprosperity.

McCarthy says, "And the best is yet to come. We'll be working with the FuseWorks team to expand on the capabilities of this integration and allow for lots of...

Find out more

CA & US - Take the hassle out of calling clients and automatically fetch client bank statements, check images from thousands of banks and push into Xero with Ledgersync Bank Fetching.

SOLOASSIST AU - A quoting and estimating job management platform, designed and built by an exerpeinced builder, for the building industry. Send job expense and sales invoices directly into Xero, and import your supplier contracts to SoloAssist.

EVIIVO GLOBAL - An all-in-one booking suite for convenient, affordable and perfectly synchronised accounts for your B&B, hotel and vacation rental.

News

4 XU Biweekly | No. 21

Float: Advanced business forecasting

By Nick Houldsworth

D

ECEMBER’S APP PARTNER OF THE MONTH IS FLOAT, AN APP THAT INTEGRATES WITH XERO TO GIVE SMALL BUSINESSES ACCESS TO ENTERPRISE-LEVEL FORECASTING TOOLS. Float plugs into Xero and pulls bank transactions, invoices, bills, journals together to build a picture of your cash flow. Float then uses this information to determine whether you’re under or over budget, and the impact that has on your future cash flow.

Instead of waiting for an accountant to send over a financial report, small...

Saturday 15 January 2022

By Sonia Dorais

By Judith F

O

UT OF THE MANY ZOHO CRM INTEGRATIONS AVAILABLE ON ZOHO MARKETPLACE, HERE’S THE TOP 15 THAT HAVE BEEN A HIT AMONGST ZOHO USERS IN 2021. AS THE YEAR COMES TO A WRAP, OUR WISH IS THIS—USE THESE AND MANY OTHER INTEGRATIONS TO POWER UP YOUR CRM GAME AND HEAD INTO 2022 STRONGER THAN EVER.

By John Gibson

W

HAT A YEAR 2021 HAS BEEN! IT’S BEEN ANOTHER YEAR FILLED WITH CHALLENGES, BUT AT FIGURED THEY’VE ONLY FUELLED OUR FIRE TO MOVE FASTER AND IMPROVE THE TOOLS OUR CUSTOMERS RELY ON.

#1 Zoho Sign for Zoho CRM

What we’ve done to improve the Figured experience this year

Send your Zoho CRM contacts documents to be signed, and get notified through SalesSignals every time a document is signed or rejected.

So here are some product updates we’ve launched in 2021, along with links to the Help Centre articles to support you in making the most of these new features on Figured...

#2 Zoho Bookings for Zoho CRM

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Find out more

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S

INCE 2014, CHASER HAS HELPED THOUSANDS OF SMALL BUSINESSES OVERCOME THE ISSUE OF PERSISTENT LATE PAYMENTS BY HELPING THEM CHASE OVER $10 BILLION IN LATE PAYMENTS. Today, Chaser is not only a great app for staying on top of your overdue invoices, but also a top-rated software that helps businesses get paid faster and easier than ever before.

Today, we'll be looking at how Chaser has helped users chase and recover $10 billion in late payments and how they can help your business do the same.

Accounts receivables software Chaser...

Find out more

OakNorth deepens support for SMEs with its first acquisition

O

AKNORTH HAS AGREED TO PURCHASE 100% OF FLUIDLY, SUBJECT TO REGULATORY APPROVAL;

I

By Sonia Dorais

AM PROUD TO ANNOUNCE THAT OUR CHIEF REVENUE OFFICER, MARK ROBERTSON, HAS WON EXECUTIVE OF THE YEAR AT THE GLOBAL BUSINESS EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2022.

This award highlights Mark's outstanding ability to create innovative solutions to end-user problems whilst generating new revenue streams, his strategic thinking using pricing and commercial metrics, and his coaching and leadership. In just 16 months, Mark has proven to be an outstanding executive, providing exceptional value to the...

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By Jesse Harrison

W

E’RE PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE THE CONTINUED EXPANSION OF OUR TEAM IN THE USA WITH THE RECENT HIRE OF BROOKE OVERMYER, WHO WILL BE WORKING FOR EMERSION AS SENIOR SALES DEVELOPMENT REPRESENTATIVE. BROOKE JOINS JONI JANDAL, ELI SHORT AND CHIKE NWOKE AS PART OF EMERSION TEAM USA!

• Founded in 2016, Fluidly’s mission is to help small businesses sleep better at night via its cashflow forecasting tool – a product which c.1,300 UK accounting firms subscribe to; • This mission is highly synergistic with OakNorth’s mission to empower the ‘Missing Middle’ – high-growth, mid-sized businesses which are looking to scale – through its use of data and forward-looking analytics.

Brooke is an expert in sales and marketing for software solutions. She previously worked in a sales development role at cloud software provider Genesys, supporting all...

London, UK; 13 December, 2021: OakNorth has today announced the acquisition of Intelligent Cashflow business, Fluidly (subject to regulatory approval due to Fluidly's FCA registration).

Find out more

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By Shandel McAuliffe

D

IVIPAY, THE SYDNEY-BASED START-UP THAT OFFERS ALL-INONE SPEND MANAGEMENT FOR SMALL-TO-MEDIUM SIZED BUSINESSES, IS ADVANCING ITS ASPIRATIONS WITH A $20 MILLION SERIES A.

By Kendra Vant

S

MALL BUSINESS OWNERS ALREADY HAVE SO MUCH ON THEIR MINDS. USUALLY THIS REVOLVES AROUND GETTING THE BEST POSSIBLE PRODUCTS AND SERVICES TO THEIR CUSTOMERS. ENSURING THAT THEY’RE ALSO USING CUSTOMER DATA RESPONSIBLY – AND THAT THEIR OUTSIDE PARTNERS ARE DOING THE SAME – CAN OFTEN FALL TO THE BOTTOM OF THEIR LONG TO-DO LIST. The topic of responsible data use (RDU) and how small businesses can find the time and resources to prioritise it was one focus...

Matt Fox to join #TeamClarity in the New Year

W

E ARE EXCITED TO ANNOUNCE THAT MATT FOX IS THE LATEST EDITION TO THE CLARITY TEAM AS OUR NEW HEAD OF COMMUNITY.

The round was led by an undisclosed global fintech-focused growth equity investor, with participation from Global Founders Capital, and Rapyd Ventures – the new venture capital arm of Rapyd. The round also...

Matt is a friendly Australian who loves to chat. Forming business relationships and getting to know people is what Matt really enjoys. Matt has worked in the accounting industry for 10 years. 5 years as an accountant in Australia and 5 years in the app ecosystem working for Xero, Practice Ignition & Pixie (both in Australia and the UK). Matt joins Clarity...

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Events

6 XU Biweekly | No. 21

Saturday 15 January 2022

MANAGING EMPLOYEE LEAVE THE EASY WAY

XU MAGAZINE IS CPD CERTIFIED

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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!

Streamline Your Employee Time-Off Requests to make both Employees AND Managers Happier!

By Tony Ward - HR Partner

L

EARN HOW TO SIMPLIFY YOUR LEAVE MANAGEMENT PROCESSES TO MAKE THINGS EASIER FOR BOTH EMPLOYEES AND MANAGERS ALIKE. Like it or not, leave or holidays are an extremely important part of an employee’s perspective. The way leave is managed (or not managed) has a big impact on their satisfaction and engagement with the company. But at the same time, as companies get bigger, leave management can get complicated!

If you or your clients are finding leave management a chore, it might be time for an integrated HR system. A leave management system, which is normally included in an HR system, gives both you and your employees more visibility, less admin,

and better decision making.

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WATCH AN ON-DEMAND WEBINAR

PROVIDE YOUR CLIENTS WITH ENDTO-END CLOUD ACCOUNTANCY & JOB COSTING SOFTWARE JANUARY 27TH, 11AM GMT

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IMPLEMENTING NEW TECHNOLOGY IN 2022 JANUARY 20TH 12AM GMT

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Using the right technology solution to support your business with Flagship Reporting

Empower Employees with an HR Portal By allowing employees to submit their time-off requests via an employee portal, you give the power back to them. They can easily see their leave balances and the leave calendar to know how much leave they have and also, when colleagues are taking leave. This puts an end to the back-and-forth emails asking questions when they have all the information they need at their fingertips.

Plus, an employee portal also allows them to update their profile information, view certain files, see the company library, submit forms and more.

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.

There is no denying that any business looking to successfully scale up must implement the right technology solution.

By Searle Goott -

W

E ALL KNOW THAT IN BUSINESS TIME IS MONEY. IT IS SO IMPORTANT TO HAVE THE RIGHT TECHNOLOGY IN PLACE TO AUTOMATE AND IMPROVE PROCESSES. XERO HAS SOME 900 APP PARTNERS SO YOU CAN BE ASSURED THERE IS SOMETHING THERE TO BOLT ON TO YOUR TECH STACK. Accountants are more than ever moving to advisory roles these days. This is where the value is added, not in crunching the numbers.

Choosing the right management reporting tool like Flagship reporting will not only reduce your admin time and enhance data insights to highlight what really matters to your business.

Case Study Several months ago, Tinka Consultancy trialled our app as they were looking for a reporting software solution for their clients.

Tinka Consulting is an outsourced accounting team specialising in bookkeeping, consulting, and reporting. The business is headed up by entrepreneurs, Trent Todd and Ryan Pinkerton, both experts in implementing the right reporting and advisory processes to help growing businesses expand

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

and increase their productivity.

What obstacles or difficulties were you having before using Flagship Reporting We had tried a number of different reporting tools that were out there in the market.

Our experience with these tools is that they try to deliver “too much” in one report and were more template driven. We found most financial visualizations would create more questions than answers. In the end, we ended up automating our reporting with google sheets.

This worked but the google sheet visualisations were not perfect and still required time to ensure everything properly reconciled back to Xero.

How has using the app for your reporting helped you so far?

In TINKA we provide finance system implementations and bookkeeping services, and we strive to provide an automated and accurate set of accounts at the end of the month.

We deliver this through our finance tech stack which strives to automate the data entry and approvals to ensure coding...

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XU Biweekly | No. 21

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8 XU Biweekly | No. 21

Saturday 15 January 2022

MY FINANCE JOURNEY: FROM PRINT AND PROCESS TO FULL AUTOMATION My finance journey starts with the GFC, probably the worst time to be hunting down a career.

By George Gramnea - Compleat Software

H

AVING COMPLETED A DIPLOMA IN BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION, I FOUND THAT SECURING ANY JOB WAS EXTREMELY DIFFICULT, SO I DOUBLED DOWN ON MY SELF-INVESTMENT, ENROLLING IN A BUSINESS COMMERCE DEGREE MAJORING IN ACCOUNTING. LITTLE DID I KNOW THAT THE FALLOUT OF THE GFC WOULD STILL PLAGUE THE JOBS MARKET AND THE ONLY ACCOUNTING ROLES MY EXPERIENCE WOULD ALLOW FOR WOULD BE ENTRY LEVEL BOOKKEEPING AND ACCOUNTS PAYABLE. My first role was with a small family-owned business that managed their books through Excel. I made it my mission to modernise the business and implement a current accounting package. This was a step in the right direction, but still required manual processing of faded receipts and half torn invoices in a filing cabinet... The role of a bookkeeper is extremely laborious and far from the analytical aspirations that I had af-

ter my degree. However, it shone a light on how many businesses operate and the challenges they faced.

After a few years in the job, it was time to aim higher, so I landed a job with a multinational organisation. This was surely going to help me get my foot in the door for something bigger, and that’s how the role was advertised. However, I found myself back in a data entry position with little analytical requirements aside from the few additional tasks including bank reconciliation and cash flow reporting. The same scenario played out for my next 3 roles, even though I would go on to be a part of teams that implemented paperless processes and update accounting software packages. In some of these positions I was working with individuals that had master’s degrees in accounting, leading me to believe that I would require a PHD in accounting just to have access to a balance sheet and profit/loss.

Read the full article

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By Stacey Cooper - Wolters Kluwer Asia-Pacific

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CCORDING TO MCKINSEY, COVID-19 HAS PUSHED COMPANIES OVER THE DIGITAL TIPPING POINT AND TRANSFORMED BUSINESSES FOREVER. WE ACCELERATED OUR ADOPTION FOR DIGITAL CUSTOMER INTERACTION IN THE ASIA PACIFIC BY A WHOPPING 10% LAST YEAR ALONE. BUT THE BIG QUESTION IS – IS YOUR FIRM PART OF THAT SHIFT? For some time now, we have watched as our industry regulators have moved online to transform their services for accounting professionals and taxpayers. Driving this shift is the goal to provide industry and taxpayers with a more self-sufficient, streamlined, and transparent experience.

Of course, building a website and having your own digital footprint isn’t as simple as logging on and completing a generic template. Accounting professionals are at the coal face of industry every day, acting as the most trusted advisor to businesses and individuals. This means you need an effective website that works across any device, one that can attract clients and be part of your business development strategy.

And just like your clients rely on paying for professional accounting advice to keep them on the right track, it makes sense to consider utilising the expertise and experience of website experts to get you online and keep you there.

Without a trusted partner to develop your website, you may be wasting valuable time and end up with a website that won’t grab people’s attention.

Here are the top 5 benefits of partnering with Wolters Kluwer CCH Web Manager: 1. Manage your digital strategy with ease Your firm will benefit from Wolters Kluwer’s deep domain expertise in website strategy and operation. Our specialist website team can design, build, maintain and provide content, tailored for accounting firms. Benefit from our user-friendly website management with the CCH Web Manager Content Management System interface. It means your website will always look great, stay up-to-date, and give you the content your website visitors will value.

And we are here to support you once you go live. Our friendly support team is just an email or phone call away.

Our CCH Web Manager Client Resource Hub will share easy to follow Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) tips and guides designed to maximise your website’s performance and engage a wider audience.

2. Cost-effective professional design The goal of CCH Web Manager is to create and add value

to your website within your budget.

When we talk about our pre-designed templates and websites, your firm isn’t going to have to sacrifice its identity for a quick start option.

For firms looking for custom designs, our in-house web design team will invest time in understanding your brand, budget, and expectations. Plus, they will learn more about who your audience is now and into the future, your goals and uncover the unique differentiators that will keep you ahead of the competition. This means asking plenty of questions to make sure you build a valuable presence online. We will work with you to tailor a fully branded customised website layout to grab those eyeballs – and keep them there.

3. Access curated content and tools Websites are all about having a digital customer interaction. A vital component of this is understanding the...

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FinTech News

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Saturday 15 January 2022

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Klarna partners with GoCardless to accelerate expansion in the US

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LARNA, A LEADING GLOBAL RETAIL BANK, PAYMENTS, AND SHOPPING SERVICE, TODAY ANNOUNCED THAT IT HAS CHOSEN GOCARDLESS, A GLOBAL LEADER IN ACCOUNT-TO-ACCOUNT PAYMENTS, TO OFFER BANK DEBIT PAYMENTS TO ITS OVER 21 MILLION US CUSTOMERS. Klarna will use GoCardless for its popular Pay in 4 offering and its financing solution, creating a more convenient shopping experience for consumers. Klarna users can pay in four interest-free installments when choosing Pay in 4, as well as across monthly payments with Klarna financing. These alternatives for purchases reduce the risk of failed or late payments and remove the hassle of entering and updating card details.

This new way of paying taps into the growing trend of US shoppers moving away

from traditional forms of credit, with high-interest rates and revolving debt, towards smarter and more sustainable payment methods. Younger consumers in particular have lower adoption rates for credit cards: In the US, Gen Z consumers have an average of two credit cards compared to the national average of three, according to Motley Fool.

Koen Köppen, CTO at Klarna, says: “The US is a key market for Klarna and we continue to see strong growth, doubling our customer base to over 21 million from last year.

To continue along that trajectory we need partners that not only provide our consumers and retailers more choice and control but also offer us cutting-edge technology and best-in-class service. We’re excited to work with GoCardless and leverage its...

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Starling Bank inspires small business owners to switch in new campaign

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TARLING, THE LEADING DIGITAL BANK, HAS LAUNCHED A NEW ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN THAT ENCOURAGES SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS TO BREAK FREE FROM THEIR INCUMBENT BANK. The campaign, created for Starling Bank by Wonderhood Studios, is the second under Starling’s new platform ‘Here to Change’ - this time with a focus on business banking. Spanning TV and video on demand, the campaign sets out to

deliver on Starling’s mission to expand its 7% share of the UK SME market. The new adverts reinforce Starling’s leading business banking proposition and key product benefits. These include zero monthly fees, no charges for UK transfers, mobile app receipt capture for expenses and easy integration with accounting software.

The four 30-second TV spots - “Set Your Business Free” - which focus on...

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C TAKING FLIGHT ON A NEW STAGE OF THE STARLING JOURNEY

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TARLING BANK STEPS INTO 2022 WITH A YEAR OF STRONG GROWTH, INVESTOR SUPPORT AND INNOVATION BEHIND IT. WE’VE OPENED OVER 2.7 MILLION ACCOUNTS TO DATE, INCLUDING 475,000 ACCOUNTS FOR SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED ENTERPRISES. OUR UK SME MARKET SHARE NOW TOPS SEVEN

PER CENT, ALMOST HALF OF BARCLAYS’ SHARE. Our deposit base now stands at £8.4 billion, up from £4.8 billion this time last year, while we’ve expanded our lending from £1.9 billion to £3.1 billion.

Key milestones in 2021 include our purchase in July of Fleet Mortgages, a specialist buy-to-let lend-

er that, like Starling, began life in 2014 with the aim of running a business its employees could be “proud to work for”. We made a commitment to offset our own carbon emissions, excluding lending and investments. We raised a further £322 million from some of the world’s biggest financial heavy...

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GOCARDLESS' END OF THE YEAR TOP 10

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021 HAS BEEN AN EXCITING (AND BUSY) YEAR FOR GOCARDLESS AND THE WORLD OF PAYMENTS.

We launched our first open banking powered feature, Instant Bank Pay, and created a live demo that lets people try open banking whilst donating directly to The Trussell Trust. Our CEO, Hiroki Takeuchi, spoke at Web Summit and shared his thoughts on open banking's progress with a global audience. We've also explained what Amazon's stand against Visa's fees means for business and the alternative payments methods that SMEs can utilise.

As the year draws to a close, we wanted to help you keep up to date with all that's happened in 2021 by sharing a round-up of

the top 10 most popular articles, webinars and reports, as well as some of the most commonly asked questions that we've received.

GoCardless 2021 Top 10 1. Most popular article globally: Invoicing at scale: A guide for financial services 2. Most popular on-demand webinar: Mastering Payments: Insights from Epson on a customer-centric approach to payments 3. Webinar that generated the most chatter: Open Banking 101 4. Most popular report that we published: Consumer Payment Preferences in 2021

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AN YOU BELIEVE IT? 2021 IS (ALMOST) DONE! MAYBE IT’S THE DOZENS OF NEW PRODUCTS WE DROPPED THIS YEAR, OR MAYBE WE’RE JUST GETTING OLDER, BUT THIS YEAR ABSOLUTELY FLEW BY. And what a whirlwind of a year it’s been. We’d like to thank you, our awesome global community, for being here.

We know it’s a terribly overused cliché, but we really wouldn’t be here without you. Anyway, enough of that mushy stuff!

Let’s get to the good bit: your 2021 RevReview is here!

RevReview 2021 has landed!

For those of you who haven’t had a RevReview before, you’re in for a treat. We’ve grabbed all the data we could find on what you’ve done with your money this year and packaged it up into easily-digestible personalised stories. So you can find out all kinds of cool stuff. Which person did you make the the most payments to? What was your top food delivery company? All this and more is waiting for you in your app (make sure you’ve got the latest version!).

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