XU Biweekly - Issue 24 - 26 February 2022 by XU Magazine

Saturday 26 February 2022 | No. 24

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

EMPLOYMENT HERO IS AUSTRALIA'S LATEST UNICORN!

OR THE PAST 10 YEARS, THE INTERACTIVE DISCUSSIONS OF FEATURE REQUESTS HAS BEEN THE HOME FOR OUR CUSTOMER FEEDBACK AND THOUGHTS ON HOW WE CAN MAKE XERO AN EVEN BETTER EXPERIENCE. WE’RE EXCITED TO SHARE THAT WE’RE RELAUNCHING FEATURE REQUESTS AS XERO PRODUCT IDEAS ON 5 APRIL. Just like Feature Requests, Xero Product Ideas is our way of making sure we hear directly from you on what’s important. On Xero Product Ideas you can share your ideas on the changes you’d like to see in Xero, comment on the community’s thoughts and ideas, and vote for the ideas you’d most like to see delivered.

How your feedback informs Xero’s product strategy Your ideas and votes help inform our product teams on what’s important to you. Our product teams include your feedback

in their strategy and product leadership consider it in their prioritisation. This blog post explains how Xero prioritises product improvements and requests. Your voice truly makes an impact! As an example, last year, our product team completed changes to Xero’s General Ledger Reports. This was a popular idea from Feature Requests, with hundreds of votes from the community. Another in-demand idea completed is the ability to create a packing slip. This idea had almost 500 votes from the Feature Requests community. Our product team also completed changes to contact credit limits, giving customers the ability to assign limits to profiles and get alerted when these limits are reached. This idea had hundreds of comments from the Feature Requests community and we were pleased to be able to deliver this feature change in...

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FROM THE TRENCHES ANNOUNCES A NEW CEO

MASSIVE CONGRATULATION TO THE NEWLY APPOINTED CEO OF FROM THE TRENCHES, TRENT MCLAREN! "I'm excited to continue to represent the accounting industry in a new capacity. I've always been a big fan of David Boyar & Paul

Meissner and what they've been able to achieve in a short period of time. I take on this role with full support of my DiviPay crew & dream team. Don't worry you'll continue to see the best posts about life at DiviPay, and all the huge things coming to that platform and product. First things first on my

duties as CEO, we have the FTT Virtual Summit coming up in May and it's going to be our biggest and best one yet. A huge thank you to the accounting community for all your support. I look forward to serving you in a new capacity." - Trent Mclaren

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ODAY MARKS THE BIGGEST MILESTONE IN ALL-IN-ONE HR, PAYROLL AND BENEFITS PLATFORM, EMPLOYMENT HERO'S 8-YEAR HISTORY. THEY ARE OVER THE MOON TO OFFICIALLY ANNOUNCE THAT THEY ARE AUSTRALIA’S LATEST UNICORN, NOW WORTH A STAGGERING $1.25 BILLION.

It comes along side the acquisition of workforce management and payroll solution KeyPay, as Employment Hero continues to expand and carry out its goal

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The independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users

COVER STORY

The

steps to solid

financial foundations

INTERVIEW

Michael Ford, CEO PLUS LOADS MORE FROM

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Castaway Forecasting

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TUTORIALS CASE STUDIES INTERVIEWS NEW APPS NEW RELEASES

Need to make payroll profitable?

ISSUE

magazine

Saturday 26 February 2022 ISSN 2054-7234

of becomming a leading Employment as a Service provider.

The announcement came after the closure of a £96 million funding round lef by return investor SEEk Investments with participation from the likes of OneVentures, AirTreeVentures and other shareholders. The achievement of unicorn status reflects their continuous growth and future prospects.

OUT 1ST MARCH

By Nigel Piper

WHITE LABELLED PAYROLL

www.payrollbee.co.uk hello@payrollbee.co.uk

New Apps & Updates

2 XU Biweekly | No. 24

Saturday 26 February 2022

Increase your chances of payment with SMS invoice chasing in Chaser By Sonia Dorais

GL CORPORATE SOLUTIONS, AUSTRALIA'S LEADING PROVIDER OF SMSF ADMINISTRATION, PORTFOLIO ADMINISTRATION AND ASIC CORPORATE COMPLIANCE SOLUTIONS, IS PROUD TO ANNOUNCE SIMPLE FUND 360 AND SIMPLE INVEST 360 ARE NOW INTEGRATED WITH ADVISORY AND REPORTING SOFTWARE SOLUTION, AVA SYSTEMS "It’s great to add AVA Systems to the BGL Ecosystem" said Ron Lesh, BGL’s Managing Director. “The integration between Simple Fund 360, Simple Invest 360 and AVA Systems provides consolidated portfolio reporting for fund, trust, company and individual portfolios giving our clients and their clients a holistic portfolio view.”

XU BIWEEKLY - No. 24

N AVERAGE EMAILS RECEIVE A 25% OPEN RATE, WHILST SMS MESSAGES HAVE AN AVERAGE OPEN RATE OF 98% (TYNTEC). WITH THE AVERAGE BUSINESS OWED $300,000 IN LATE PAYMENTS (QUICKBOOKS), BUSINESSES NEED TO DO WHAT THEY CAN TO ENSURE THAT THEIR PAYMENT REMINDERS GET NOTICED AND CUSTOMERS CAN PAY THEIR INVOICES EASILY. Chaser now provides SMS payment chasing functionality, so users can reach out to customers about payments in the most effective way possible and get invoices paid faster.

‘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 2014-2022. 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.

ELLEROO HAS TODAY ANNOUNCED AN INTEGRATION WITH XERO, THE GLOBAL SMALL BUSINESS PLATFORM TO SYNC PAYROLL PAYMENTS DIRECTLY FROM XERO PAYROLL INTO TELLEROO. As a result, businesses no longer need to worry about keying in payments or using complex file formats to pay their staff. Plus, Telleroo flags any high-risk changes to bank details, such as updated bank details or change of name. It’s predicted that 78% of small businesses already solely rely on cloud accounting but still many cannot sync payroll payments to their banks due to the lack of integrations and...

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CEO: David Hassall Managing Editor: Wesley Cornell Director of Strategic Partnerships: Alex Newson Communications Manager: Bethany Fulks Creative Assistant: Hatty Morton

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WITH THE ABILITY TO SYNC PAYMENTS DIRECTLY FROM XERO PAYROLL INTO THEIR PLATFORM.

PROJECTWORKS.IO RESOURCE BY DAY, WEEK OR MONTH

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

Advertising: advertising@xumagazine.com

TELLEROO ANNOUNCES A WORLD FIRST,

WHAT’S NEW IN APPROVALMAX: copying rules and workflows, and in-field calculations

Introducing Xero's latest enhancements to the Singapore GST F5 return experience

NTELLIGENT BUSINESS MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE, PROJECTWORKS.IO, HAS ANNOUNCED THE ABILITY TO RESOURCE BY DAY, WEEK OR MONTH ON THEIR PLATFORM.

T XERO, WE UNDERSTAND THE IMPORTANCE OF KEEPING THE GST PROCESS SIMPLE AND BEAUTIFUL.

The update comes in alongside a big rebuild of the way they handle resourcing under the hood, which will set them up for a whole host of further updates over the coming months!

Xero helps small businesses to stay IRAS compliant by allowing you to prepare your GST returns with automatic recording of GST and generation of GST F5 returns and IRAS Audit files. With a Premium business plan, you...

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XERO'S NEW APP LAUNCHER Clarity updates with love BRINGING APPS CLOSER TO XERO SMALL BUSINESSES AND THEIR ADVISORS

By Nick Houldsworth

ODAY WE RELEASED APP LAUNCHER, A NEW PRODUCT THAT INTEGRATES THE XERO APP STORE’S APPS DIRECTLY INTO THE MY XERO DASHBOARD VIA A SIMPLE DROPDOWN TAB WITH THE NAVIGATION BAR. This increases accessibility to all your favourite apps, while also making it easier to switch between your apps without closing Xero. If you have yet to connect any apps, and are curious – App Launcher also offers an easy...

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HE LATEST UPDATES FROM CLARITY WILL REMOVE THE FEAR FROM BUSINESS ADVISORY; NOT ONLY BY GIVING YOUR FIRM A SERVICE BLUEPRINT TO FOLLOW, BUT BY ALSO GIFT WRAPPING TOOLS TO DELIVER ON THAT BLUEPRINT. Happy Valentine’s Day! What a fitting day for us to start our relationship (this being my first blog post and all). My name is Sean and I’m the new Head of Member Success here at Clarity. As such I get the exciting opportunity to share with you some of the amazing work the team has been putting in behind the scenes to not only improve our...

EW FEATURES WE HAVE JUST INTRODUCED: HOW AND WHEN TO USE THEM.

1. Copying rules Setting up an approval workflow and adding new approvers or requesters is a lot faster when you copy the approval rules from one user to another. You can copy rules between requesters, approvers or reviewers within the same approval step and matrix. This action is only available to the organisation’s administrator. To copy rules, go to “Approval workflows” under “Workflows and settings” and select the respective workflow. Open the step whose rules you want to copy and...

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NEW XERO CONNECTED APPS! BUNDYPLUS LIVE AU & NZ - Save time and money with leading cloud, mobile and on-premise workforce tracking software. Accurately record employee timesheets with automatic time interpretation & employee authentication.

PEAKFLO AU, HK, ID, MY, PH & SG - Put your accounts receivable on autopilot and get paid 2x faster, improve team productivity and boost your cashflow by up to 33% with Peakflo!

News

4 XU Biweekly | No. 24

Saturday 26 February 2022

Why Xero is securing all accounts with Multi-Factor Authentication

THE WINNERS!

ONGRATULATIONS TO THE WINNERS OF THE XERO AWARDS NEW ZEALAND 2021, AND A MASSIVE WELL DONE TO ALL OF THE FINALISTS FROM US HERE AT XU!

Small Accounting Partner Crux Advice & Accounting

Medium Accounting Partner

GL CORPORATE SOLUTIONS, AUSTRALIA'S LEADING PROVIDER OF SMSF ADMINISTRATION, PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT AND ASIC CORPORATE COMPLIANCE SOLUTIONS, IS PROUD TO CONGRATULATE DANIEL TRAMONTANA, OUR CHIEF OPERATIONS OFFICER, WHO RECENTLY CELEBRATED 25 YEARS AT BGL.. "It’s not something that happens often these days” said Ron Lesh, BGL’s Managing...

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WE Accounting

Large Accounting Partner Malloch McClean

BDO in New Zealand

Bookkeeping Partner Vertical Partner WE Acciybtubg

Advisory Partner WE Accounting

Emerging App Partner Upstock

App Partner

It is formed from a group of people all with the common desire to make Dext a better place for people to work.

VER THE NEXT FEW MONTHS YOU’LL NOTICE SOMETHING A LITTLE DIFFERENT WHEN YOU LOG INTO DEVELOPER.XERO. COM — MULTI-FACTOR AUTHENTICATION (MFA). THAT’S BECAUSE OVER THE NEXT YEAR XERO IS MAKING MFA MANDATORY FOR ALL XERO ACCOUNTS GLOBALLY

3 APPROVALMAX FEATURES YOU MIGHT NOT HAVE HEARD OF What’s coming up for Single RE YOU NEW TO APPROVALMAX,

OR AN EXPERT USER? EITHER WAY, OUR PRODUCT HAS A LOT OF HIDDEN GEMS AND MAYBE YOU DON’T YET KNOW ABOUT THESE THREE SMALL BUT CAPABLE FEATURES

Syft Analytics

1. Approving and commenting from an email

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The ApprovalMax notifications are more than just a note, approvers can actually use...

Touch Payroll (STP) Phase 2 in Xero

By Steve Moss

SPOTTED ON LINKEDIN

EXT, THE DATA AND INSIGHT DRIVEN PLATFORM FOR ACCOUNTANTS, HAS ANNOUNCED THE INTRODUCTION OF THEIR SHADOW LEADERSHIP TEAM.

As more people around the world embrace digital technologies, the number of cyber attacks continues to increase. One of the most common types of cybercrime is phishing, designed to...

National Partner

ClockworX

DEXT INTRODUCES SHADOW LEADERSHIP TEAM

THE LATEST EINVOICING QUESTIONS FROM ADVISORS, ANSWERED

By Simon Foster

By Erin Adams

HANGES ARE COMING ABOUT HOW YOU MANAGE PAYROLL WITH SINGLE TOUCH PAYROLL (STP) PHASE 2. WE’VE BEEN BUSY WORKING IN THE BACKGROUND TO GET XERO PAYROLL UPDATED AND READY TO HELP YOU TRANSITION AHEAD OF OUR COMPLIANCE DATE LATER THIS YEAR

INVOICING, A NEW WAY TO EXCHANGE INVOICES DIRECTLY BETWEEN ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE, IS THE NEXT STOP ON THE SMALL BUSINESS DIGITISATION JOURNEY.

So if you’re wondering when you’ll need to make changes (or have noticed some updates in Xero already), here’s the latest on our STP Phase 2 rollout. As always, we’ll continue to make sure you have all the information and tools you need to guide you through this process.

It holds the promise of a way to send and receive invoices and bills that is...

Remind me – what is STP Phase 2 again?

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Read on to find out

HE WORKFLOWMAX ONLINE SUPPORT CENTRE PROVIDES CRITICAL INFORMATION FOR NEW USERS OR BUSINESSES EVALUATING THE SOFTWARE. It gets over 30,000 page views per month from customers accessing helpful content to build their knowledge and confidence using the product.

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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

News

6 XU Biweekly | No. 24

JIRAV NAMED LEADER IN THE G2 CROWD WINTER 2022 GRID® REPORT

OR GROWTH COMPANIES, ACCOUNTING FIRMS, AND FINANCIAL PROFESSIONALS LOOKING TO ACCELERATE GROWTH, INCREASE EFFICIENCIES, OR EXPAND THEIR SERVICES WITH HIGHER-VALUE, STRATEGIC ADVISORY SERVICES, THEY CAN LOOK NO FURTHER THAN JIRAV Jirav is the fastest-growing financial planning and analysis (FP&A) solution provider, and has been recognized as a rising Leader in G2 Crowd’s Winter 2022 Grid®...

Saturday 26 February 2022

Seven steps to a successful payroll year end in New Zealand

Announcing Check’s $75M Series C led by Stripe

XU Hub

By Andrew Brown

E’RE THRILLED TO ANNOUNCE THAT CHECK HAS RAISED A $75M SERIES C. THE ROUND WAS LED BY STRIPE, WITH PARTICIPATION FROM BOTH EXISTING AND NEW INVESTORS INCLUDING BEDROCK, THRIVE, AND INDEX We started Check for a simple reason: most business owners spend way too much time and energy dealing with payroll. This used to be unavoidable. Running payroll required merging data from many different systems spanning time and at...

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The home of XU Magazine and XU Biweekly

By Joel Castner

T’S THAT TIME OF YEAR AGAIN. AS SUMMER WINDS TO A CLOSE, THE DAYS WILL START GETTING SHORTER AS THE WORKLOAD RAMPS UP. FOR THOSE WORKING IN PAYROLL, THAT CAN ONLY MEAN ONE THING: YEAR END IS APPROACHING

is now live on Apple News!

There are three key changes in New Zealand payroll calculations for the new financial year: • The annual ACC earner levy rate is increasing from 1.39% to 1.46%

SPOTTED ON LINKEDIN QX Acquires Management Consulting & Advisory Services Firm Chazey Partners

OGETHER QX GLOBAL GROUP AND CHAZEY PARTNERSWILL PROVIDE END-TO-END BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION, DIGITAL SERVICES & INTELLIGENT AUTOMATION, AND BUSINESS PROCESS OUTSOURCING (BPO) FOR FORTUNE 1000 COMPANIES AND PUBLIC SECTOR ORGANIZATIONS, INCLUDING HIGHER EDUCATION, ACROSS THE GLOBE.

QX Global Group, a Top 100 Business Process Outsourcing company, announced the acquisition of an 80% stake in Austin, Texas based Chazey Partners, a world-class management consulting and advisory firm specializing in business and digital transformation. The Chazey Partners team brings decades of experience in implementing and operating world-class business support and shared services organizations around the globe, with expertise in Robotic Process Automation (RPA) and Artificial Intelligence (AI). Together, QX and Chazey Partners will work to deliver innovative solutions that cover transformative consulting, digital services, and business process outsourcing, customized to meet each client’s specific needs.

ERO HAS ANNOUNCED THE FINALISTS FOR THE UK & EMEA XERO AWARDS 2022, VIA A LINKEDIN LIVE EVENT. The finalists will be announced on Wednesday, 27 April 2022 at Troxy in London. It's set to be the accounting industry’s most glam event of the year!

UK Accountant and Bookkeeper Awards Sole Practitioner of the Year: Isle Book-keep, LJM Bookkeeping Ltd & Spur Support Services Ltd Small Firm of the Year: de Jong Phillips, Full Stop, Kinder Pocock Digital Accountants, Pink Pig Financials Ltd & Raedan Mid-Size Firm of the Year: Blu Sky Chartered Accountants, DL ACCOUNTS LTD & Inform Accounting Large Firm of the Year: Ad Valorem Group, LHP Chartered Accountants &

SHORTS Total Xero Award: Kinder Pocock, Full Stop & Pink Pig Financials Community Impact Award: Kreston Reeves, Providence Financial Limited & Simpkins Edwards LLP People’s Choice Award: Normans Bookkeeping & Payroll, Northern Accountants Ltd & rixgreen limited

Ireland and South Africa Accountant and Bookkeeper Awards Ireland: Emerging Firm of the Year: Amesto Global, Office Pal & Numeric Technology Ireland: Xero Partner of the Year: Accountant Online, Lalor O'Shea McQuillan Chartered Accountants & Moran and Partners South Africa: Emerging Firm of the Year: Corné Diederiks Ouditeure...

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Saturday 26 February 2022

Start your FREE trial: workflowmax.com/xero

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

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

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Issue 28 / 1

TUTORIALS CASE STUDIES INTERVIEWS NEW APPS NEW RELEASES

Time Tracking Australia

cloudpayroll.com.au Powerful Software Delightfully Simple

STOCK MANAGEMENT

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CATCH-UP: ISSUE 29

News/Events

8 XU Biweekly | No. 24

Saturday 26 February 2022

SPOTTED ON LINKEDIN

By Vladka Kazda

E-LEASED, TODAY ANNOUNCED IT HAS BEEN NAMED TO G2’S 2022 BEST SOFTWARE AWARDS, NAMED AS ONE OF THE TOP 25 BEST ANZ SOFTWARE SELLERS Operating a software marketplace used by more than 60 million software buyers annually, G2 is the definitive online destination to discover, review and manage the technology that businesses need to reach their potential. Its annual Best Software List ranks the world’s best software companies and products based on authentic, timely reviews from real users. This is Re-Leased’s first time appearing on one of G2’s Best Software lists, earning its place this year thanks to their mission to reimagining commercial real...

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XERO XPERIENCE WITH FUTURE LEADERS

AST YEAR, XERO WORKED ALONGSIDE THE INSPIRING STORIES TEAM AS AN IMPACT PARTNER. THIS PARTNERSHIP CAME ABOUT FROM OUR SHARED VALUES AND PURPOSE.

By Joel Castner

N THE UK, AS THE WEATHER (SLIGHTLY) WARMS UP WITH SPRING APPROACHING, SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS CAN LOOK AHEAD TO THE COMING MONTHS WITH A SENSE OF OPTIMISM THAT MAY HAVE BEEN MISSING OVER THE PAST TWO YEARS. THE FUTURE LOOKS BRIGHTER AS LOCKDOWNS END AND RESTRICTIONS EASE Some

small

however, may be less enthusiastic, with trepidation around the upcoming Making Tax Digital (MTD) for VAT deadline, which comes into force from April 2022. It means that VAT-registered businesses with taxable turnover under £85,000 that are submitting VAT via the HMRC portal or through the post will have to maintain records digitally and file through MTD-compatible....

businesses,

BY THE NUMBERS By Ashleigh Gibson

Aligned to our company purpose ‘to make life better for people in small business, their advisors and communities around the world’, Xero seeks to maximise our positive impact across everything we do. For Xero, building a...

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E KNOW YOU LOVE NUMBERS. WE DO TOO. SO WE COLLATED SOME OF THE KEY NUMBERS FROM OUR LAST XEROCON BACK IN 2019 TO GET YOU EXCITED ABOUT WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT AT XEROCON LONDON 2022.

@xumagazine @xumagazine @XU Magazine

E-LEASED HAS BEEN SHORTLISTED AT THE ANNUAL XERO AWARDS FOR INDUSTRY-SPECIFIC APP OF THE YEAR, WHICH RECOGNISES THE ACHIEVEMENTS MADE BY THOSE LEADING THE WAY IN THE ACCOUNTING AND APP INDUSTRIES.

The 2019 event had more than 1,500 minutes of content, with 57 speakers across our keynote stage and breakout sessions. From Xero’s CEO Steve Vamos and Chief Customer Officer Rachael Powell to astronaut Major Tim Peake CMG and founder of 4 Networking Brad Burton.

Being at the forefront of the real estate industries digital transformation is something Re-Leased has always prided itself on, having previously won the award in 2020. At its core, Re-Leased’s cloud-based platform is designed to drive success for property professionals by bringing them into the modern age. We are innovative and are tirelessly looking at new ways we can further increase value for our customers. That is why we are delighted to be...

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57 speakers and 1,500+ minutes of content

FOLLOW OUR SISTER PUBLICATION...

RE-LEASED FINALIST AT XERO AWARDS 2022

SPOTTED ON LINKEDIN Making bold moves: Hear from Xero customers in our new series By Rachael Powell

TARTING YOUR OWN BUSINESS CAN BE REALLY EXCITING – WHETHER YOU’RE FULFILLING A LIFELONG DREAM OR LOOKING FOR BETTER WORK-LIFE BALANCE. IT CAN ALSO BE DAUNTING,

AND CALLS FOR COURAGE, COMMITMENT AND BOLD DECISION-MAKING If you own your own business, or you are thinking about taking the...

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Features

10 XU Biweekly | No. 24

Saturday 26 February 2022

BE ESG COMPLIANT BY DITCHING THE PAPER WITH AUTOENTRY By Val O'Sullivan FCA

U S I N E S S E S WORLDWIDE ARE ENACTING ENVIRONMENTAL, SOCIAL, AND GOVERNANCE (ESG) POLICIES. IN PARTICULAR, SOLUTIONS TO ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES CAUSED BY BUSINESS ARE A PRIORITY. THE WORLD JUST CAN’T WAIT. A gold-standard solution is remarkably close to home: reducing or even eradicating paper use within businesses. Around 85 million metric tonnes of paper are used worldwide each year. If all that were sheets

of printer paper in a stack, it would be over a million miles high. If you sat on top of the pile of paper and shone a laser pointer, it would take six seconds until the light reached the other end! And paper manufacturing is a big environmental polluter. The UK’s paper manufacturing industry alone was responsible for 2.23 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions in 2019, prior to the COVID disruption. It’s not just environmental cost. As supply chain prices rise as the world recovers from COVID, stationery’s draining fiscal cost is impacting businesses.

Almost £150 million is spent on envelopes in the UK each year, according to the Office for National Statistics. Around £53 million is spent on business forms, and £36 million is spent on notebooks. Surely there’s a better way of doing business for both you and your clients?

JB: It is an exciting time as this appointment demonstrates our commitment to developing the business and our ambition to continue growing. XU: Tell us a little about your background - where were you before AM? KM: I spent the last 11 years at FreeAgent, in the role of Chief Commercial Officer. In that time I was responsible for a number of different aspects of the business including setting up and managing the team supporting accountants using the FreeAgent platform, as well as the relationship with NatWest both sides of their acquisition of FreeAgent in 2018. I first moved into the technology space in 2001 when I joined Pegasus Software having worked in business banking with Bank of Scotland for a few years. XU: What experiences do you think will help in your new position as CEO? KM: I’ve spent the last 20 years working within the accounting software industry, and over that time, I’ve seen the industry develop at such a pace that it’s almost unrecognisable to 2001. The advent of cloud, mobile and overall drive towards digitisation have all had a tremendous impact on the way accountants work and the services they deliv-

Are you sending paper invoices? Do you print every receipt? Move as much of your data entry and accounts to the cloud as possible (all, if you can).

How to go paperless Like everything else in working life, the more preparation you take, the easier the process. Here are five real world tips for reducing or even eradicating paper from your business.

er to their clients, and it’s clear there’s more change yet to come. . Technology is the future, and with my experience to date, I think I can help AccountancyManager continue to do what they have been doing but with just a few tweaks, do it in a more effective way. XU: Why did you choose to join AccountancyManager? What drew you to them as a company? KM: The passion from the team and the enthusiasm from our users. From the outside, you look at AM and you think it sounds like a good idea. It sounds like software that people might benefit from using. But when you’re in the business and you talk to the team, their passion for the product comes through so strongly. The team are inspired by the users and hear the impact the system has on their practices and their own daily lives. For the users, AM is more than an online tool they log into every day, it’s a tool that is integral to their business, a tool that enables them to work more efficiently and to be more productive but possibly most importantly, it’s a tool that gives them back time. XU: Is there anything you’re particularly excited for in the new position? KM: Fulfilling the potential that AM has. The company has done a fantastic job in developing the software and building a large loyal user base in the last 4 years, but there’s still so much more we could do. XU: Are there any changes or new things you would like to bring to AM? KM: Wherever there’s news of this...

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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. 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.

1 - Use accounting

Q&A: What’s next for Accountancy Manager? U: WE WERE EXCITED TO HEAR THE NEWS OF ACCOUNTANCYMANAGER’S LEADERSHIP TEAM EXPANDING! THE APPOINTMENT OF KEVIN MCCALLUM AS THE NEW CEO IS ESPECIALLY EXCITING AND WE’RE SURE OUR READERS WOULD LOVE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT HIM.

software Accounting software and cloud-based documents are a huge part of the paperless puzzle. But you really need to proactively make use of all the features on offer to reduce paper usage.

XU MAGAZINE IS CPD CERTIFIED

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WHY DO SMALL BUSINESSES USE FLOAT? Cash flow forecasting without the pain of spreadsheets

By Mattea McClean

LOUD-BASED APP FLOAT IS HELPING BUSINESS OWNERS AND THEIR ACCOUNTANTS HARNESS THE POWER OF AN ACCURATE CASH FLOW FORECAST. Most business owners understand the importance of cash flow forecasting. Yet many view the process of creating and keeping a forecast up-to-date as painful and time-consuming. The frustration of woefully out of date spreadsheets is all too real. And let’s not even talk about version control. Step in Float. Float is a cash flow forecasting add on for Xero that integrates seamlessly with your clients’ accounting software. Visual, easy to use and always upto-date, Float makes it easy to highlight the value of cash flow forecasting with your clients. This cloud-based app has helped thousands of businesses and their accountants keep track of cash flow. Whether used in times

of crisis, or for the scenario planning feature to make big business decisions, many of Float’s loyal users simply cannot imagine running their business without the software. “Float helps me escape spreadsheets and helps me understand my cash flow instantly. Before it was all pretty manually updated. The problem that any spreadsheet really has, is that it’s out of date as soon as you’ve built it. A forecast needs to have all the right historical data in it, which a spreadsheet typically doesn’t. “I think the things that Float has helped me achieve in my business is largely from the confidence that it’s given me in the numbers. I’ve found that I can map out different scenarios which are probably a bit more ambitious than I might have done before. Along with knowing what the downside risks are - losing a client or any sort of negative impact - Float leaves me very reas-

sured that my business is in a healthy state.” Nick Boyce, MD and founder of Pollenary digital advertising agency Let’s look at a typical example of how an accountant might use Float with a client: what if your client wanted to hire someone new? In Float, you can map out the scenario of what adding a new employee looks like on your cash flow graph, so together you can decide which outcome is best for their business. You can run as many different scenarios as you like, such as looking at different start dates or what salaries they could potentially afford to offer until you find the one that works best for you - this means you’re basing your hiring decision on your own, real-time data and getting an accurate picture of what’s going to happen with your future cash. Float also has exportable reports for you to easily share these forecasts and...

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Fintech Seamless integration for a speedier and simpler life Saturday 26 February 2022 11

In an increasingly digital workplace, Leigh Wright from Senta looks at how harnessing the power of integration can help you work smarter and make your life easier. By Leigh Wright

C XU Hub is now live on Apple News!

IRCUMSTANCES THRUST UPON US ALL OVER THE LAST COUPLE OF YEARS MEANT WE QUICKLY LEARNED OUR TEAMS FROM OUR ZOOM, OUR SLACK FROM OUR TRELLO, AND NOT LONG AFTER WE LEARNED TO SIFT OUT OUR TIMESAVER TECH FROM OUR TIMEWASTERS. THE ADOPTION OF APPS AND SOFTWARE HAS BEEN RAPID, AND WHILE ADMITTEDLY IT TOOK A GLOBAL PANDEMIC TO REVOLUTIONISE HOW WE LIVE AND WORK, WE’RE HERE NOW AND THERE’S NO GOING BACK. SO HOW CAN YOU HARNESS THE BEST BITS FOR YOUR BUSINESS?

get them to work as one to deliver tangible and timesaving benefits. The services you use need to play nicely together and need fewer clicks to make the good stuff happen. We think one of the most important aspects of any cloud platform is the ability to integrate with other apps in your tech arsenal.

Not just jargon When we talk about integration, it’s far from just another bit of jargon; it’s a simple idea with a big impact. Integration across our practice management software sees the best apps for running your business talk together on one platform. They draw and share information, so you can control all aspects...

The next step in this evolution is to curate and control the services you use, and

DOES CREDIT MANAGEMENT IMPROVE CASH FLOW? INCREASING REVENUES IS NOT THE ONLY WAY TO IMPROVE CASH FLOW. By Sonia Dorais

HIS ARTICLE EXAMINES THE IMPORTANCE OF CREDIT MANAGEMENT, HOW IT CAN IMPROVE CASH FLOW, AND HOW IT MAKES MANAGING ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE EASIER.. Every day, we talk to business owners who are struggling to make ends meet. They wonder how they’ll break out of the never-ending cycle of debt and return to prosperity. We recognise this isn’t easy, which is why we’re passionate about credit management. Credit management isn’t just about collecting money from customers or making timely payments; it’s also about lowering risk. Unfortunately, many business owners don’t think about credit management until they’re burdened with bad debt.

What is credit management? Credit management involves reviewing and controlling a company’s customers, suppliers, and debtors to maximise income while avoiding bad debts. It’s about understanding how much credit you can offer your customers and

ensuring they’re able to meet their repayments.

Why does your business need credit management? In a perfect world, businesses would only sell to customers who could pay right away. In reality, it’s common for companies to face situations in which credit terms aren’t honoured. Recent research shows that the average small business spends at least seven and a half hours each week chasing late invoices. Companies adopt credit management techniques to manage these circumstances. The most important reason for implementing a credit management program is to protect your company from financial damages. Poor credit control promotes bad debt and causes financial strain, which again can have detrimental effects on your company. Bad debt is any money not paid back to the company. It's an important metric...

The Business Advisory Iceberg: How much revenue is under the surface? The one or two clients asking for advisory services may be an indicator of greater potential amongst your client base. By Chris Allen

ITH GOVERNMENT-BACKED COVID FINANCIAL SUPPORT ALL BUT OVER, AND THE RECOVERY LOAN SCHEME, DUE TO END ON 31 DECEMBER 2021, THE UK’S BUSINESSES FACE A FUNDING DILEMMA. When I first started at Spotlight Reporting as a Sales Development Representative, my primary responsibility was to contact people trialling our software. I would engage with them, discuss their requirements and objectives, and from there connect them with the people and resources they needed to succeed. Very early on, I noticed that there were two distinct patterns among our trialists. Occasionally, I would come across the ideal boutique advisory firm: an accountant who had just opened their own practice and

had 20-30 clients all on fixed-rate monthly packages that included a report, a forecast, and an advisory meeting. These accountants typically had a high average revenue per client, far fewer headaches, and a deep understanding of their clients and their clients’ businesses. Conversely, I would also meet with senior accountants or directors from well-established firms, who tell me they’ve been approached by one of their clients with a request for some reports, maybe a forecast. After further discussion, it usually becomes clear that these accountants want to provide more advisory services, but don’t see any potential in their current client base that would justify anything more than ad-hoc sessions. Yet, unline the small boutiques...

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CATCH-UP: ISSUE 29

FinTech News

12 XU Biweekly | No. 24

Saturday 26 February 2022

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Airwallex Partners with Qantas Loyalty toexpand its financial services with ‘Business Money’

USTRALIA-FOUNDED GLOBAL FINTECH AIRWALLEX HAS BEEN CHOSEN BY QANTAS LOYALTY AS THE TECHNOLOGY PARTNER FOR ITS NEW FINANCIAL SERVICES OFFERING, QANTAS BUSINESS MONEY, AIMED AT MAKING IT EASIER FOR AUSTRALIAN COMPANIES TO DO BUSINESS OVERSEAS WHILE ALSO ALLOWING THEM TO EARN QANTAS POINTS. Qantas Business Money will be available in the second quarter of the year to more than 350,000 small and medium size businesses (SMEs) who are Qantas Business Rewards members. The technology will be

Pleo's going global. Next stop: Finland

powered by Airwallex. Airwallex Co-founder and CEO Jack Zhang said: “We are proud to be Qantas Business Rewards’ technology partner of choice for its new and innovative offering, Qantas Business Money. “This partnership is testament to the strength of our competitive global financial infrastructure that we’ve built over the last six years. Our platform empowers small businesses to operate globally without complexities and remove barriers to international expansion – it also enables larger...

Revolut acquires Indian forex business as it advances multi-million dollar India expansion plan

M Y

OU MIGHT HAVE HEARD ALREADY: WE’RE ON A MISSION TO BE THE GO-TO SPENDING SOLUTION FOR FORWARD-THINKING TEAMS EVERYWHERE. YOU CAN FIND US IN DENMARK (WHERE WE’RE HEADQUARTERED!), SWEDEN, GERMANY, SPAIN, UK AND IRELAND. AND WE’VE JUST ADDED A NEW COUNTRY TO THE LIST… FINLAND! (ALSO KNOWN AS THE WORLD'S HAPPIEST COUNTRY). Despite being the world’s happiest country, there are still companies in Finland manually dealing with company spending. But we can fix that. We caught up with Miia, our very own Product Manager to find out what designing a spending solution for forward-thinking teams is all about, and how Finns can benefit from Pleo.

Tell us a little bit about yourself… I’m Miia! I’m a Product Manager for the Bookkeeping Experience at Pleo. And I’m Finnish. I’ve been at Pleo for over two and half years now. I mainly work from the London office, even though my team is always trying to get me to Copenhagen, I’m sticking with London. The city and the office really suit my life. There’s a lot of flexibility at Pleo, which means I can live in London and actually enjoy London.

What’s life like being a Product Manager for the Bookkeeping Experience? Our team functions like its own company, which is super fun. We own a certain area of Pleo, which is the bookkeeping experience. The first thing we need to understand as a team is: what are the problems that bookkeepers and accountants face? And what do these people do on a daily basis? Everything starts from there. Then we need to understand: what are the big problems? What are the need-to-haves? And what are the nice-to-haves?

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UMBAI - REVOLUT, GLOBAL FINANCIAL SUPERAPP WITH MORE THAN 18 MILLION CUSTOMERS, TODAY ANNOUNCED THE ACQUISITION OF ARVOG FOREX AS PART OF ITS MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR INVESTMENT INTO INDIA.

As an initial step in its journey in India, Revolut has made a strategic acquisition of international money transfers and currency exchange company Arvog Forex Private Limited. The acquisition will strengthen Revolut’s foundation in India and accelerate its plans to offer a best-in-class remittance service and multi-currency accounts to Indian customers, building on the strengths of its core business around the world. Arvog has a wide presence across India and provides services including currency exchange, cross-border remittances (sending money abroad) and multi-currency cards. Arvog served over 15,000 customers last year, a number that is expected to grow significantly following its acquisition by Revolut India. Revolut empowers consumers and businesses around the world to improve their financial wellbeing, by offering them more

control, and data-driven insights that enable users to make informed choices about how to spend, save or grow their money. Revolut established a presence in India in April 2021, following successful launches in Singapore and Australia in 2019; and the US and Japan in 2020. Revolut India is led by Paroma Chatterjee, who has close to two decades of experience of leading and scaling up high growth late stage fintech companies. Under her leadership the company plans to launch bespoke financial products, many of which would be new to the country, reflecting the unique needs of Indian consumers. Paroma Chatterjee, CEO Revolut India said: “This is the first step towards our aspiration to usher in a digital financial revolution in India. We are on the path to building best-in-class financial solutions that are unique to the needs of the citizens here and are designed to help them gain more out of their money. Our significant investment plans, this acquisition and the quality of the team we are putting together reflect our intention to rapidly roll out these innovative products and services. India is a key...

IT'S MONZO'S 7TH BIRTHDAY!

O CELEBRATE, WE'RE TAKING A LOOK BACK OVER SEVEN OF OUR TOP MOMENTS FROM THE PAST SEVEN YEARS. IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER, THEY'RE...

7. The Monzo Bus! Last Autumn, we took our Hot Coral card out on the road - in bus form. Alongside brightening up the streets of London, we also created a Twitter account for the bus itself, sharing its own thoughts on life as a bus. Beep beep! 6. The time a member of the public interrupted a company All Hands meeting by waving their Monzo card at us through a window. Whoever you were, anonymous Monzo customer, we remember you fondly. 5. Reading about the impact our gambling block has had on the lives of our customers. 4. When we raised £1m in 96 seconds, in our 2016 crowdfunding round. 3. Our "You make Monzo, Monzo" TV campaign in 2019. Our "look mum, we're on telly!" moment. It was a great time to step back and recognise how far we'd come. 2. When the whole company pitched in to help with customer service At the end of 2018, we'd ended up with a bit of a back...

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