XU Biweekly - Issue 29 - 7 May 2022 by XU Magazine

Saturday 07 May 2022 | No. 29

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

JLL Spark leads Re-Leased’s $15M funding round Funding will enable the leading cloud-based commercial real estate platform to accelerate its global expansion

E-LEASED, THE CLOUD-BASED COMMERCIAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT PLATFORM IS RAISING USD$15M IN A FUNDING ROUND LED BY JLL SPARK, THE VENTURE CAPITAL ARM OF THE GLOBAL REAL ESTATE LEADER JLL.

NATWEST GROUP FIRST UK BANK TO SIGN AGREEMENTS WITH PAYMENT PROVIDERS TO CREATE NEW PAYMENT OPTION THROUGH VRP

N AN INDUSTRY FIRST, NATWEST GROUP HAS SIGNED AGREEMENTS WITH TRUELAYER, GOCARDLESS AND CREZCO TO OFFER VARIABLE RECURRING PAYMENTS (VRP) AS A NEW PAYMENT OPTION FOR BUSINESSES AND CONSUMERS. RETAIL CUSTOMERS OF NATWEST GROUP WILL BENEFIT FROM AN ADDITIONAL AND CONVENIENT WAY OF PAYING FOR A RANGE OF SERVICES, INCLUDING UTILITY BILLS AND SUBSCRIPTIONS. NatWest Group has signed agreements with three payment providers – TrueLayer, GoCardless and Crezco – to offer Variable Recurring Payments (VRP) as a new and convenient payment option for businesses and consumers. Today’s announcement, an industry first, means that NatWest Group will be the first UK bank to go beyond the requirement for banks to provide VRP in support of ‘sweeping’ – the automatic transfer of money between two accounts belonging to the same person.

Saturday 07 May 2022

NatWest Group’s VRP offering will enable payment providers to give businesses a new option for managing customer payments for a range of services, including utility bills and subscriptions – complementing existing payment options such as Direct Debits and online card payments. VRP will let businesses collect customer payments via the Faster Payments service, meaning payments can be received in near-real time. As VRPs are set up digitally, there’s no paperwork to complete either – saving time, plus reducing the risk of fraud and manual error. Customers will also benefit from more control over their finances as they’ll be able to set maximum payment amounts and make instant payment cancellations through VRP. What’s more, in a change to the Open Banking status quo – where customers can consent to single immediate payments...

The strategic investment will be used to drive Re-Leased’s growth in key

international markets, invest in its core software platform, and launch a series of new products and partnerships that will further solidify the company’s position as a leader in commercial property software. Re-Leased is used by thousands of commercial real estate companies around the world to manage their property portfolios. The platform has transformed a traditionally slow-mov-

ing industry with a modern, cloud-based product, which integrates with other leading platforms such as Xero, QuickBooks, Sage, Netsuite and Stripe. With a strong focus on workflow automation and user experience, Re-Leased saves its customers’ administration overheads by up to 75%. It is now used to manage over 50,000 properties...

By Brooke Kayira

T’S WITH GREAT PLEASURE THAT WE ANNOUNCE THE TOP 50 #WOMENINACCOUNTING FOR 2021! A CONTINUALLY GROWING AND SUCCESSFUL INITIATIVE TO RECOGNIZE WOMEN WHO ARE DRIVING CHANGE AND CREATING OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE NEXT GENERATION WITHIN THE ACCOUNTING AND BOOKKEEPING INDUSTRY. This year’s awards theme ‘Celebrating

Keep reading

Our Unique Differences’ set out to commemorate the diverse stories of women in our industry, striving towards personal and professional progress. The women who are providing a space for limitations, barriers, discrimination and inequality to be broken down. We are championing those different voices making intentional and...

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P4 P12

New Apps & Updates

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Xero and PKF unite to enable better outcomes for small businesses globally By David Bell

HERE IS A REAL BUZZ HAPPENING IN THE ACCOUNTING INDUSTRY RIGHT NOW WITH FIRMS LOOKING TO ENHANCE THEIR SERVICES AND CONNECT MORE WITH THEIR CLIENTS AND EACH OTHER.

The rapid pace of small businesses adopting cloud technology is opening up opportunities for advisors to drive proactive conversations with their clients, helping them make more informed decisions. To continue to help advisors and small businesses

embrace the benefits of cloud accounting, we’re delighted to have partnered with PKF International (PKF), in a multi-year global agreement, welcoming them as a Xero Global Partner...

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JOIIN'S NEW FEATURES FOR APRIL 2022 We’re delighted to bring you the latest updates and features from

Joiin this April, remember, you can find out more about all features in our Support Centre.

E’VE GIVEN OUR CSV COMPANY IMPORT FEATURE A MAJOR OVERHAUL – NOW, AS WELL AS UPLOADING DATA FILES, YOU CAN ENTER DATA DIRECTLY INTO JOIIN TO CREATE A SEPARATE ENTITY. WE EVEN CHECK YOUR ACCOUNTS BALANCE AND WARN YOU IF THEY’RE OUT. CREATING MANUAL ENTITIES HAS MANY USES INCLUDING: • importing data from other financial systems • creating elimination entities • adding any other account adjustments

Sales by Customer Report – Compact View XU BIWEEKLY - No. 29

COMPLEAT SOFTWARE LAUNCHES CARBON EMISSIONS TRACKER

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 Advertising: advertising@xumagazine.com www.xumagazine.com ‘Xero’ is a trademark of Xero Limited (New Zealand). XU Biweekly and XU Magazine is collaboratively produced by an independent group of Xero users and is not affiliated in any way with Xero. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. © XU Magazine Ltd 2014-2022. 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.

The carbon tracking tool provides detailed information on the environmental impact of each supplier so that businesses can select preferred suppliers based on carbon as well as financial cost. Large and public listed companies must report on their carbon emissions every year, while up to 90% of a

general company’s environmental impact lies in its value and supply chain. By using a carbon tracking tool, businesses can create Streamlined Energy & Carbon Reporting (SECR) & Net Zero reports to simplify the legislation process and increase organisational compliance. Compleat’s carbon tracker adds to its Advanced Spend Analytics (ASA) tool which shows businesses how to save money just by analysing purchase orders, invoice data, spend categories, and suppliers to discover spend savings.

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ODAY WE’RE RELEASING THE NEW ‘FOLDERS ON INVOICES’ FUNCTIONALITY, WHICH LETS YOU INVOICE BASED ON THE FOLDERS YOU’VE CREATED ON YOUR QUOTES OR JOBS IN WORKFLOWMAX. THIS FEATURE HAS BEEN REQUESTED BY MANY CUSTOMERS SO WE'RE SUPER EXCITED TO SHARE IT WITH YOU! You’ll remember back in February we updated invoices. We rebuilt the invoice information page and made some important changes which included time-saving enhancements like drag and drop, autosave, improved date picker and tax rate drop-downs to speed up your workflows. This work has paved the way for the next part of the release which is to make the ‘folders’ functionality available within WorkflowMax’s invoicing feature. Please note: You will need to be using the new invoicing...

LIGHTYEAR TO REVEAL NEW ADVANCED BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE REPORTING TOOL AT ACCOUNTEX, LONDON By Nicola McAdam

IGHTYEAR, THE AWARD-WINNING PURCHASING AND ACCOUNTS PAYABLE SOFTWARE, IS COMING TO LONDON FOR ITS FIRST SHOW OF 2022. OUR TEAM WILL BE AT THE EXCEL ARENA FROM THE 11TH - 12TH MAY. The countdown is on for AccountEx! Europe’s No.1 Accountancy & Finance Expo promises two jam-packed days of educational seminars led by industry thought-leaders. This includes unlimited networking opportunities and over 250 global brands (including us) exhibiting new cutting-edge technologies to help transform the way you do business. For those of you who don’t know, last year, Lightyear released an astounding 50+ new features. Among these were our Purchasing Module, Bank Details Checker, and the World’s only Auto-

We’ve added our compact view to the Sales by Customer Report. Compact View reduces the number of columns being displayed allowing you to fit more on the screen while retaining all the key information.

Custom Reports – Group Selection We’ve made a small improvement when editing custom reports – when selecting a group or formula from a dropdown, you now see the nested structure. This is handy when moving groups or creating formulas.

Custom Reports – Zero Value Formulas We’ve added a new setting to Formulas...

By Joanna Bellis

New service allows businesses to view and take action against their carbon footprint U R C H A S E -T O - P AY (P2P) SOFTWARE HOUSE, COMPLEAT SOFTWARE, HAS TODAY LAUNCHED A NEW CARBON TRACKING TOOL TO HELP BUSINESSES REDUCE THEIR CARBON EMISSIONS.

Saturday 07 May 2022

mated 3-Way Matching of POs, Goods Received Notes and Supplier Bills on a line-item level. This year, our development team will be working on some incredible features (some of which have been released already). Visitors to stand 500 will be treated to a preview of our NEW Business Intelligence Reporting feature. Bringing unparalleled line item detail to the Accounts Payable automation market, Lightyear’s BI feature includes; • Line item reports, allowing users to access lineby-line breakdown analysis across Purchase Orders, Bills, Credits and Goods Received records. • Grouped spend analysis by supplier, General ledger code, tracking category and Goods purchased. • A new suite of Purchase Order and Goods...

By Anna Curzon

UR LATEST FEATURES ARE ALL ABOUT ENHANCING OUR PRODUCT SUITE – FROM ALGORITHMS THAT SAVE YOU MORE TIME ON BANK RECONCILIATION, TO GREATER FLEXIBILITY IN NEW REPORTS. TAKE A LOOK AND LET US KNOW WHAT YOU THINK – WE’RE ALWAYS LISTENING. If you’re a Xero partner, don’t forget to register for our upcoming quarterly product update, where our education team will walk you through a demo of all the latest releases, so you can maintain your advisor certification.

New features: Enjoy more flexibility in new reports — Global Our vision is to provide you with a custom suite of reports that will help...

NEW XERO CONNECTED APPS! 1099SMARTFILE US - An IRS approved 1099 eFile provider with print and email options for the recipient. Secure, easy to use, with no minimum fee that integrates with Xero 1099 report.

ATTO AU & UK - A simple all-in-one solution to track your employees' time and automate timesheet reports. Streamline the entire payroll process and save hours of admin every payday by integrating with Xero.

News & Updates

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ZAHARA X COMMA: THE PURCHASE-TO-PAY SOLUTION TO HELP YOU GAIN CONTROL OF BUSINESS SPEND By Bethan Clothier

Australia’s new small business boom

UR LATEST REPORT, WHERE OPPORTUNITY LIES: AUSTRALIA’S NEW SMALL BUSINESS BOOM, ARRIVES AT A HOPEFUL CHAPTER IN OUR NATION’S PANDEMIC JOURNEY. One that sees a surge in small business creation as Australians continue to adapt to uncertainty, and wish for greater stability in years to come. More than ever, entrepreneurs (both existing and emerging) are charting a new path in search of meaningful careers. From those who experienced redundancies to the burned out workers ditching the corporate grind; the next generation of resilient change-makers are leading our economy forward – and they’re not looking back.

HE SIGNIFICANT BENEFITS OF ACCOUNTS PAYABLE AUTOMATION ARE NOTHING NEW, BUT THEY ARE CHANGING AND ADAPTING TO THE LATEST INNOVATIONS IN FINANCIAL TECHNOLOGY. AP automation and purchase to pay solutions are bringing your finance team even faster and more secure processes. Businesses who desire to remain competitive have already shifted from manual, paper processes that became tedious and outdated. The pandemic accelerated a shift into digital transformation that was needed for businesses to adapt to modern trends and meet the needs of their clients. For many companies...

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OANQ, THE LARGEST ASSET FINANCE AND PERSONAL LOAN BROKER PLATFORM IN AUSTRALIA - HAS SIGNED WITH ANNATURE AS ITS EXCLUSIVE ESIGNING PROVIDER. Built for the digital age, it was Annature’s feature rich platform for eSigning, Identity Verification (ID), Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) capabilities that made sense for LoanQ to switch from its existing international provider. With more than 4,000 mortgage and finance brokers, LoanQ moved to the Australian-owned Annature eSigning platform to deliver a more fully featured, digitised, data secured, customised and flexible eSigning product. Built on a highly secure blockchain model, trusting Annature made sense for its growing customer base – ensuring the confidence of 100 per cent of its eSigned documents at a cost considerably less than overseas providers.

Unleashed joins the SPOTTED ON LINKEDIN new Xero App Store By Greg Roughan

NLEASHED HAS JOINED THE NEW XERO APP STORE, ALLOWING XERO CUSTOMERS TO START A TRIAL OF UNLEASHED’S INVENTORY MANAGEMENT TOOLS FOR FREE – AND BEGIN A SUBSCRIPTION – FROM WITHIN THE XERO APP STORE ENVIRONMENT. "We’ve been a long-time Xero app partner and this step brings our two companies even closer,” says Unleashed CEO Gareth Berry. “For over twelve years Unleashed has brought inventory management to businesses in the cloud on the Xero platform. Committing to the new Xero App Store is a huge step for us as we look to bring even more opportunity and innovation to our global customers.” Xero’s EGM of Ecosystem, Nick Houldsworth, welcomed Unleashed to the new Xero App Store. “Our mission at Xero is to be the most insightful and trusted small business platform, which means...

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LoanQ recognises Annature as more than an exclusive eSigning provider LoanQ's sophisticated algorithms are designed for mortgage and finance brokers, plus dealership business managers and act as a complete solution for finance and loan origination. LoanQ Head of Distribution, Scott Juda said a critical deciding factor in implementing Annature is its easily scalable cloud-based architecture. LoanQ is already growing at 30% per cent a year; he expects that trend to continue. "We're cloud-first because that is what logic and technology-enabled solutions thrive and scale on. And as we all saw with COVID, people globally adapted to digital working. Do the maths: the savings in terms of time and money for business and customers going digital are enormous," said Scott. Because LoanQ found the digital signing systems of previous providers didn't work as fluently as expected, they decided to make the move to integrate with Annature...

Saturday 07 May 2022

Clarity: Making business advisory services effortless By Nick Houldsworth

ERO CONNECTS WITH OVER 1,000 APPS THAT HELP SMALL BUSINESSES AND THEIR ADVISORS SUCCEED, WITH MOST AVAILABLE IN THE XERO APP STORE. EACH MONTH WE CELEBRATE AN APP PARTNER WHO STANDS OUT FOR HELPING SMALL BUSINESSES THRIVE. FIND OUT MORE ABOUT BECOMING A XERO APP PARTNER HERE. We’re back in 2022 with our April app partner of the month, Clarity – a powerful accounting and advisory platform that helps practices provide effortless business advisory services, realising the true potential of both accounting firms and their clients. Traditionally, accounting advisory...

New Ultimate plan offers most comprehensive Xero package for small businesses By Rachael Powell

ITH MORE SMALL BUSINESSES NOW USING DIGITAL TOOLS TO RUN THEIR BUSINESS, MANY ARE LOOKING FOR WAYS TO BECOME MORE EFFICIENT AS THEY GROW. A FANTASTIC TRAIT OF SMALL BUSINESSES IS THAT THEY CAN BE VERY AGILE IN ADAPTING AND RESPONDING TO CHANGE. We’ve seen so many small businesses implement digital tools and grow their confidence, and we’re hearing from our customers that they’d like to be able to do even more with Xero. More complex businesses in particular are wanting to make managing their employees easier and get deeper insights into their business performance. I’m excited to share that customers in Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom will soon be able to purchase a new comprehensive Xero plan to better suit their business needs. The Ultimate plan truly is the full Xero package. It gives small business owners access to Xero’s suite of tools to help manage their business and their people processes in one plan. The Ultimate plan includes all Xero’s core accounting...

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6 XU Biweekly | No. 29

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Saturday 07 May 2022

BUILD A SUCCESSFUL KIWI BUSINESS WITH XERO EDUCATION MONTH By Mitchell Davie-Martin

EADY TO DIVE INTO A STACK OF FREE WEBINARS COVERING EVERYTHING FROM GROWING YOUR BUSINESS TO IMPROVING YOUR FINANCIAL WELLBEING? Xero Education Month is your chance to jump into a month-long learning experience brought to you by experts from around the world. Throughout Education Month we have content schedules for the whole month. You’ll hear from the Xero team, as well as from members of our wider community and external professionals who are ready to help you do beautiful business. You’ll have access to a range of education webinars covering: • Xero tips and tricks to drive efficiency in your business • Thought leadership to challenge your thinking • Wellbeing advice to help you support...

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By Jen Surtees

E'RE SO EXCITED TO BE RECOGNISED AS ONE OF THE UK’S BEST WORKPLACES 2022, IN THE LARGE COMPANIES CATEGORY. This is part of the prestigious Great Place to Work rankings in the UK, a really exciting milestone! This was based on a comprehensive review of things like our culture, benefits, approach to leadership and development, alongside responses from our employees. But being recognised as one of the top UK workplaces isn’t just about the award, it’s about all of the work that has gone into building a culture that we can all be proud of. All of the responses that led to this recognition came directly from our employees, so it was great to hear what our 560+ strong team love about coming to work, but also the areas we need to work on. That’s what creating an inclusive and...

I’ve been working in the Xero Partner consulting team since October last year. Prior to landing my dream job with Xero I worked with a few different accountancy practices, from those just starting out with Xero to those much further along on their cloud accountancy journey. This has given me a huge passion to ensure the process for migrating to Xero for payroll is as smooth as possible. Here I share three of my key tips to help you get started with converting a client’s payroll over to Xero Payroll. 1. To start the best payroll migration journey we would highly recommend that you complete the Xero payroll...

By Jyoti Patel

ETAILERS ARE GOING THROUGH A RAPID TRANSFORMATION. NEW TECHNOLOGY, PANDEMIC RESTRICTIONS, AND A DIGITAL TAX SYSTEM HAVE BEEN CATALYSTS FOR CHANGE OVER THE PAST FEW YEARS. It’s therefore no surprise that Making Tax Digital (MTD) may feel like yet another big hurdle for your retail or ecommerce business. However, with the right tools and guidance, retailers and ecommerce owners can see MTD as a chance to build a healthier, more sustainable business.

From April 2022, all VAT-registered retail businesses (including ecommerce retailers and side hustlers) need to follow MTD for VAT rules. MTD for VAT rules require that you keep digital records and submit VAT returns via MTD-compatible software. You can also use bridging software, but this has some limitations. For example, with bridging software, you won’t have access to all the helpful retail integrations cloud-based software has to offer. This guide provides more insight into the pros and cons of MTD bridging software for business owners.

What about MTD for ITSA? If you’re not VAT-registered, you won’t need to follow MTD rules until Making Tax Digital for Income Tax Self Assessment (MTD for ITSA) comes into effect in 2024. MTD for ITSA will impact sole traders (and landlords) with total business or property income above £10,000 per year. You can...

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

NDREW VAN DE BEEK MAY DREAM OF RUNNING HIS OWN WHISKY BAR, BUT AT THE MOMENT HE’S AN ACCOUNTANT, FOUNDER OF ILLUMIN8, PODCAST HOST, COORDINATOR OF RETREATS AND MENTOR OF ACCOUNTANTS. GET TO KNOW ANDREW BELOW BEFORE SEEING HIS SPEAKER SESSION AT ACCOUNTEX ON 11-12 MAY 2022 AT EXCEL LONDON.

1. What are you most looking forward to at Accountex? Re-connecting some the other side of the world. I love spending time with the UK Community and this year it’s going to be great, I know it!

2. What can visitors look forward to in your session? Something unlike what they will hear anywhere else. I’m going to bust some myths, break down some barriers and paint a picture of what the future might just look like.

3. Who has inspired you most in the industry?

What is MTD for VAT and how will it impact your business?

HAT IF I TOLD YOU THAT MIGRATING TO XERO PAYROLL HAS JUST BEEN MADE EASIER WITH THE SUPPORT OF A NEW GUIDE INCLUDING MANY ADDITIONAL KEY TIPS FROM OUR AMAZING UK PAYROLL TEAM.

SPEAKER Q&A: ANDREW VAN DE BEEK, FOUNDER & HEAD OF PURPOSE AT ILLUMIN8

Why being recognised as one of the UK’s ‘Best Workplaces’ is so important to us

I’m inspired by the everyday people. people who quietly go about their craft, with a desire to impact more. Has it been one person – no – but it’s the combination of interactions I’ve had around the world that remind me that there is so much potential within our industry.

4. What’s the best advice you’ve ever been given? You’re not defined by what you go through, but how you go through it.

5. What do you see as key trends for the accounting sector in the coming year? Workplace Wellness and knowing our role – It’s nothing new, but in light of recent events, our role as business leaders, as well as team members has changed forever. Understanding what role we all play to create a beautiful workplace that delivers exceptional work to help our clients is key to future growth and sustainability.

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Events & Webinars

Saturday 07 May 2022

WATCH A FREE WEBINAR

By Jo Copestake

HERE’S WHY YOU SHOULD JOIN US AT THE SOUTH AFRICAN ROADSHOW THIS MAY By Colin Timmis

NE OF THE THINGS I’VE MISSED THE MOST OVER THE LAST FEW YEARS IS BEING ABLE TO BRING OUR ACCOUNTING AND APP COMMUNITIES TOGETHER FOR OUR ANNUAL ROADSHOW EVENTS. IT’S SUCH AN IMPORTANT OPPORTUNITY TO NETWORK, LEARN MORE ABOUT NEW TECHNOLOGY DRIVING THE INDUSTRY FORWARDS, SHARE IDEAS AND COLLABORATE. Well this year, I’m really excited we’re bringing back our Roadshows with two physical events later this month themed around being ‘together’. The first in Cape Town on 24th May, followed by Johannesburg on 26th May – we can’t wait to see you there. Nearly 2,000 of you are signed up across the two days already. We’ll be sharing more on what Xero has planned this year, as well as hearing from some exciting guest speakers. Here are four reasons to come and see us at the Roadshows this year.

Get inspired As well as hearing from me and the team about what we’re doing to support you and some of the trends driving the industry, we also have some great guest speakers. This includes speakers from apps in our ecosystem like Capitalise, Payfast, Simple Pay and Syft, and our 2022 Accounting Partner of the Year – PKF Ignite. We also have some amazing speakers from outside the industry lined up including; John Sanei, author and leading ‘futures strategist’, and Saray Khumalo, the award winning mountaineer and Guinness world record holder.

Explore the exhibition hall We have the Xero App Store with over 1,000 apps that can help your practice to scale, reach new customers and expand your services amongst small businesses. We have over 20 app partners (Friends of Xero) exhibiting throughout the day. Many of these apps are leading the way in making life easier for accountants and small businesses. Whether it’s giving you strong business insights instantly, helping clients better manage staff pay or rotas, to providing more seamless payments. Come and chat to the apps leading innovation in the industry.

CCOUNTEX 2022 IS ALMOST HERE, AND WE CAN’T WAIT TO SEE YOU THERE. AFTER TWO LONG YEARS, THIS IS A SPECIAL MOMENT FOR SO MANY ACROSS THE INDUSTRY TO ALL COME TOGETHER. This is Xero’s ninth year exhibiting at Accountex, but it’s my first time experiencing this legendary accounting event. I’m really looking forward to meeting many of you in person and hearing more about your businesses, especially after such a tough few years. We’ll have lots of the Xero team at our stand for a chat, but here are four other reasons to come and see us at Accountex this year.

Speak to our Making Tax Digital experts It’s a critical time for the government’s Making Tax Digital (MTD) legislation. We’ve just passed the MTD for VAT phase two deadline, and we know many of you are supporting small business clients with this transition. We’re also getting closer to MTD for Income Self Assessment (ITSA) in 2024. MTD is one of the largest ever changes to the tax

system, and we’ll be sharing more on how we’re supporting the industry with this drive to digitise. Through product demos, talks or by approaching our team on the ground, we’ll aim to tackle any questions you may have about digital tax in your practice.

ON-DEMAND NOW

Tips for running a healthy business at the Xero theatre Our education and product experts have a great line up of masterclasses on our Xero stage (stand 450). It’s an opportunity to learn more about our products and ask any questions. Sessions across the two days include: • Streamline accounts production with Xero Tax • How the cloud can help you run a healthier practice • Supercharging payroll for your clients • Solutions for MTD for VAT, Income Self Assessment and personal tax • How technology can help you streamline processes for construction and landlord clients

ON-DEMAND NOW

And lots more! You can...

UPCOMING EVENTS

IS THE WAY YOU GET PAID IMPACTING YOUR GROWTH? WATCH

Hear from the product experts We’re always busy innovating at Xero to make sure we’re supporting the industry with the best products and tools. You’ll hear more from our team about what we’re doing to support accountants. We know it’s a critical time for you. In our recent State of Small Business research, 55% of small businesses said cloud technology helped them survive the last year. We know they are increasingly turning to you for advice on streamlining processes and moving to the cloud. We’ll be talking about ways you and your small business clients can digitise and take the pain away from processes like tax, bank reconciliation and payroll – and much more.

Enjoy some downtime Find out more

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Features

10 XU Biweekly | No. 29

CLOUDPAY- P ROLL'S QUESTIONS TO ASK WHEN CHOOSING AN ONLINE PAYROLL PROVIDER

Saturday 07 May 2022

By Joanna Cruickshank

AYROLL CAN BE THE LARGEST EXPENSE ITEM ON YOUR CLIENTS’ PROFIT AND LOSS STATEMENT WITH MISTAKES POTENTIALLY COSTING YOUR CLIENTS CONSIDERABLE SUMS OF MONEY. It is extremely important your clients are equipped with the payroll service best suited to their needs, an online cloudbased payroll could be hugely beneficial to your clients. There are many cloud-based Connected App payroll partners to choose from in Australia and New Zealand and as your clients trusted adviser you can advise on the one to best suit their spe-

cific needs. Below are some helpful questions to ask when evaluating cloud-based payroll solutions to determine the strongest fit for your client(s).

1) What payroll services do you provide? A list of requirements could include: • Single Touch Payroll enabled (AU): STP report automatically sent to ATO after each pay event. • Employee App: can employees see their payslips, payment summaries, apply for leave, update personal details etc? • Leave management: can employees apply for leave online and calculate their

THE 5 STEPS TO SOLID FINANCIAL FOUNDATIONS

Every great business is built on rock-solid financial foundations. Without the right financial disciplines, a business will never fulfil its true potential. By Michael Ford - Castaway Forecasting

HERE ARE FIVE FINANCIAL DISCIPLINES THAT UNDERPIN THE MOST SUCCESSFUL BUSINESSES AND BUILDING DEPTH IN THESE IS WHAT REALLY MAKES A DIFFERENCE... It should come as no surprise that I’m a fan of forecasting. You’d hope so, given I’ve devoted close to 25 years of my life to the field. But even now, after all this time, I’m still enthralled by the transformative power of a great forecasting process. Every great business, no matter the size, the geography or the industry is built on rock-solid financial foundations. Without the right financial disciplines, a business will never fulfil its true potential. And given the SME sector employs over half of the world’s working population, that matters. That matters a huge amount. The global economy needs the SME sector to be robust, vibrant and, ultimately, successful. And as we’ve all seen time and time again, solid financial foundations give these SMEs the freedom, the clarity and the cashflow to be robust, vibrant and successful. It’s a simple equation, but I think it makes

sense. And it means we as a community of accountants, advisers and entrepreneurs are perfectly placed to make a difference. So what do solid financial foundations look like? There are 5 big pieces to the puzzle: • Commercial literacy • Performance visibility • Rolling forecasting • Aligned KPIs & metrics • Insightful analysis There’s no right order to these pieces. They’re more virtuously circular than logically linear. And while there’s no doubt being strong in any one of these areas is a positive, building depth in all 5 is what really makes a difference. It might be helpful here to dig a little deeper into each of these pieces, because there’s more to them than simple slogans.

Commercial literacy Think of this as the next step beyond...

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leave balances for a future date? • Leave approval: is there access to all information needed to make an informed decision when approving leave i.e. leave calendar, total leave balances, calculated projected leave balances for future dates ensuring enough leave to cover the request. • Top-up Tool (NZ): to ensure employer obligations under the minimum wage requirements are met, especially relevant for the rural sector. • HR Document storage: is there an ability to upload and securely store employee or company documents?

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Find out why more businesses are moving to QicWorks Faster and easier than ERP and more scalable than field management software

By Karen Parker

ICWORKS HAS CHANGED HOW CONSTRUCTION, FABRICATION AND INSTALLATION BUSINESSES OPERATE. WE HAVE REMOVED THE NEED FOR COSTLY WORK AROUNDS CAUSED BY ‘BOLT ON’ APPLICATIONS AND SPREADSHEETS, BY ALLOWING USERS (AND THEIR FINANCIAL PARTNERS) TO ACCESS ALL THEIR BUSINESS MANAGEMENT DATA FROM WITHIN THE ONE APPLICATION. QicWorks is the ultimate construction software for job, payroll, scheduling, safety, training, stock, asset management and much more. QicWorks uses single source data to seamlessly flow from estimate, right through to accountant. Another reason businesses are moving to

QicWorks is our flexible subscription model, whereby you only pay for the modules you use. Team members can also be deactivated at any time, (which will remove them from your subscription costs) without removing their data. Payroll personnel love our Xero integration, which allows them to effortlessly push their timekeeping data (including allowances and leave) direct into their Xero pay run, regardless of if they operate across multiple calendars from within a single pay run or reconcile weekly, fortnightly or monthly pay periods. Remote workers love just how easy our industry leading mobile app is. Available for use on Android and iOs smart devices, users can access their information from anywhere - at anytime. Key features include:

• Online and Offline functionality • Collect time 4 ways (Task timer, Kiosk/Timeclock, Timesheets – individual or group & Shift Reports) • Access job documents and complete forms from the work front • Capture images, materials used, expenses and purchase orders • View Rosters and access Job lists to find where others are working • Submit leave requests • Undertake stocktakes • Conduct Asset Audits or transfer plant to others (and jobs) • Capture Safety events • Stay connected with our inbuilt chat feature The QicWorks mobile app incorporates the latest digital technologies...

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PayPal Releases 2021 Global Impact Report

AYPAL HOLDINGS, INC. (NASDAQ: PYPL) TODAY ANNOUNCED THE RELEASE OF ITS 2021 GLOBAL IMPACT REPORT. THE FIFTH ANNUAL REPORT HIGHLIGHTS HOW THE COMPANY CONTINUED TO CREATE POSITIVE IMPACT AMONG THE GLOBAL COMMUNITY DURING THE LAST YEAR. As communities around the world continue to endure unprecedented challenges, PayPal is committed to doing its part in ensuring a more inclusive, affordable, and efficient financial system for all. “Our annual Global Impact Report...

THINK DEEPER: WE INTERVIEW JAMES TAYLOR ABOUT OUR APPROACH TO DIVERSITY & INCLUSION AND THE ROAD Expanding global payouts with crypto & Stripe C AHEAD FOR REVOLUT Read more

By Karolina Gruszczyk

OUR MISSION AT REVOLUT IS TO MAKE ALL THINGS MONEY EASIER, MORE USEFUL, AND MORE REWARDING FOR EVERYONE, EVERYDAY. TO ACHIEVE THIS, WE KNOW THAT OUR WORKFORCE MUST BE REPRESENTATIVE OF OUR DIVERSE CUSTOMER BASE.

parent to our stakeholders - whether it be employees, customers, regulators, candidates - about our progress on D&I. Hopefully later in the year we’ll be able to share some of this with you.

So, we spoke to newly appointed D&I Specialist James Taylor on our successes and challenges around the topic.

In November 2021, we launched our inaugural D&I Framework, aimed at accelerating our progress on the topic. The framework is made up of eight strategic pillars which will help us focus our work on D&I, and include 'Tone from the Top’ and ‘Inclusive Workplace’. The framework is delivered by myself and my colleague Hannah Francis (Head of People Experience), with the support of our recently appointed ExCo D&I Sponsors. It’s really important to own where we are. Importantly, we’ve acknowledged we have work to do, but we are committed to doing more. It’s also refreshing that we have the full support of our Board and ExCo on the topic, as in many organisations, this isn’t the case. We discuss our work on D&I with them every month, and they regularly get involved in our activities.

Diversity & inclusion are the latest buzzwords that everyone is throwing around, but what does it mean to you? In its simplest form, D&I is all about enabling everyone to thrive, which undoubtedly is the right thing to do. Aside from that, there’s also a really robust business case which suggests companies that value D&I are more likely to outperform their competitors. Importantly, it allows us to attract the best talent to join our dream team. Only by seeking out diverse talent around the globe and by creating an inclusive workplace can we access the breadth of skills, abilities and creativity that we need to create exceptional and innovative products and services for our customers.

Is Revolut a diverse and inclusive workplace? The honest answer is, aside from on the basis of gender and nationality, we don’t fully know. To better understand whether we are diverse and inclusive, in January 2022, we relaunched our diversity data collection campaign, known as #CountMeIn. We’ve had a great response and within the first few months, over 46% of Revoluters have shared their diversity with us. We hope to encourage more Revoluters to share their diversity data with us over the next few weeks and months, and this will then help us to better understand where we need to focus our efforts in relation to D&I. It will also enable us to be more trans-

What is Revolut's approach towards D&I?

REATORS, FREELANCERS, SELLERS, AND SOLOPRENEURS ARE BUILDING AND CREATING ALL OVER THE WORLD. WHILE IT’S EASIER THAN EVER BEFORE TO FIND CUSTOMERS AND FANS, GETTING PAID CAN STILL BE DIFFICULT, ESPECIALLY OUTSIDE OF MAJOR MARKETS.

We built Stripe Connect in part to solve this problem. Today, businesses around the world use Connect to programmatically send payouts to over 70 countries in local currencies. While we are continuously expanding our geographic coverage, many countries remain out of reach in part due to the intrinsic complexity involved

in supporting heterogeneous local payments systems. Unfortunately, this makes participation in the online economy harder for many of those who stand to benefit most. While the “store of value” aspects of cryptocurrencies typically receive the most attention, we view the prospect of “open-access global financial rails” as being at least equally compelling. As a result, we’ve been exploring ways to use cryptocurrency-based platforms to unlock broader access. Today, we’re introducing crypto payouts for Connect. With crypto payouts, a select group of creators on Twitter—our first partner— will be able to use cryptocurrency-based rails to

receive their earnings from Twitter.

Piloting crypto payouts with Twitter

Twitter already uses Connect to pay creators their earnings from Twitter’s monetization products, including Ticketed Spaces and Super Follows. With crypto payouts for Connect, Twitter will make it possible for creators who opt in to have their earnings paid out to a cryptocurrency wallet. Stripe will handle all crypto-related complexity and operations. No code changes are required, and platforms can avoid taking on the challenges of acquiring, storing, or transferring...

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Does Revolut support D&I at the workplace? What are the initiatives you’ve put in place so far? We’ve done a fair bit in the first quarter of the year. We ran focus groups with colleagues from across Revolut to better understand their experience in relation to D&I, and help inform our areas of focus moving forwards. Also, over 100 female colleagues participated in speed mentoring events aimed at supporting their career development, and we’ve released our second gender pay gap report to publicly hold ourselves to account for progress on gender equality. Now I have my feet firmly under the table, there’ll be even more happening in Q2.

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Saturday 07 May 2022

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Stripe announces new partnerships and major expansion of global partner program

TRIPE, A FINANCIAL INFRASTRUCTURE PLATFORM FOR BUSINESSES, TODAY LAUNCHED THE STRIPE PARTNER ECOSYSTEM, A NEW PARTNER PROGRAM WITH LEADING FIRMS WHOSE SERVICES ENABLE STRIPE USERS TO THRIVE IN THE INTERNET ECONOMY. The Stripe Partner Ecosystem comes as companies are accelerating their digital modernization, and increasingly looking for support outside their own organizations. Surging de-

mand for third-party technology and payments expertise has followed, along with growing adoption of SaaS tools, cloud infrastructure, and ecommerce platforms. The program makes it easier for companies to connect with the right partners for their specific objectives. Longtime Stripe partners taking part include thousands of companies powering the internet economy, like BigCommerce, Lightspeed Commerce, Shopify, Squarespace, Wix, WooCommerce, and Xero. New Stripe partners include many leading consult-

GoCardless welcomes Paul Stoddart as President Newly minted unicorn strengthens leadership team with ex Vocalink and Mastercard executive to accelerate strategy execution By Linda Yang

OCARDLESS, A LEADER IN DIRECT BANK PAYMENT SOLUTIONS, TODAY ANNOUNCED THE APPOINTMENT OF PAUL STODDART AS PRESIDENT. STODDART JOINS FROM MASTERCARD WHERE HE WAS PRESIDENT OF ITS NEW PAYMENT PLATFORMS, EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN OF VOCALINK AND A MEMBER OF THE MASTERCARD MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE. In his new role at GoCardless he will have global responsibility for the Go-To-Market organisation including the Strategy, Sales, Product, Marketing and Customer teams, with a view to accelerating growth and achieving the company’s ambition to become the world’s bank payment network. Stoddart brings a wealth of experience to GoCardless. He was named as Chief Executive Officer of Vocalink after its acquisition by Mastercard and subsequently promoted to President of Mastercard’s New Payment Platforms where he led the establishment and growth of a business unit that expanded Mastercard’s role in payments beyond cards to account-to-account payments. Prior to Vocalink he was Co-Head of Corporate Finance at Barclaycard. He also spent 10 years at NatWest where he held a number of senior roles including in their merchant acquiring and e-commerce business, Worldpay. His appointment comes as the company broadens its offering of direct bank payment solutions for both oneoff and recurring payments and builds out its suite of payment intelligence products to help businesses manage their payments more effectively. GoCardless will benefit from Stoddart’s expertise as it doubles down on account-to-account payments,with plans to release its Variable Recurring Payment feature shortly in the UK and expand Instant Bank Pay, its solution for one-off payments, across Europe.

ing and technology firms. All partners will benefit from a comprehensive package of resources that will allow them to collaborate more effectively with Stripe users. “By expanding our partnerships and introducing a comprehensive set of partner resources, companies around the world will be able to accelerate their move to online commerce,” said Dorothy Copeland, vice president of global partnerships and alliances at Stripe. “The Stripe Partner Ecosystem will empower more partners to deliver modernized financial infrastructure and digital

experiences to their customers, while generating new opportunities for partners to grow with Stripe.”

New partners supporting a diverse set of customers The Stripe Partner Ecosystem launches with the support of industry-leading consulting firms like Accen-

ture, Endava, EPAM, IBM, Slalom, SoftServe, Merkle, Myers-Holum Inc., Palo IT, SIOS Technologies, Vertic, and WPP. They bring expertise at integrating modern economic infrastructure into complex IT...

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Tandem Bank launches new green product feature as first phase of new plans UPCOMING CHANGES TO PAYPAL AND VENMO INSTANT TRANSFER PRICING to support customers with greener living, through its I business Oplo N THE COMING WEEKS, WE WILL BE MAKING CHANGES TO OUR INSTANT TRANSFER PRICING STRUCTURE FOR U.S. CONSUMERS AND MERCHANTS, ON BOTH PAYPAL AND VENMO.

We continue to understand how important it is for PayPal and Venmo customers to have flexibility when accessing their money. That’s why we offer options like Instant Transfer, so customers can choose to transfer their money instantly to a bank account or debit card for a fee, as well as Standard Bank Transfers, so customers who can wait a few days can transfer their money for no fee, which will typically arrive within 1-3 business days. Instant Transfer is a benefit we provide customers outside of Standard Bank Transfers, and we’re making some changes to be more in line with the value we provide. For personal accounts on PayPal and consumer and business profiles on Venmo, users will pay 1.75% of the transfer amount, with a minimum fee of $0.25 USD and a maximum fee of $25 USD. For PayPal merchant accounts, we will maintain the existing rate of 1.5% of the transfer amount, change the minimum fee to $0.50 USD, and remove the existing $15 USD cap in place of a new, no-maximum-fee cap structure. These pricing changes will be effective for Venmo customers on May 23, 2022. The pricing changes will be effective for PayPal customers on June 17, 2022.

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EADING DIGITAL BANK TANDEM LAUNCHES NEW GREEN PRODUCT FEATURE AS FIRST INITIATIVE IN THE SECOND CHARGE MORTGAGE MARKET AS IT CONTINUES ITS MISSION TO BECOMING THE UK’S FAIRER, GREENER DIGITAL BANK. New second charge mortgage feature offers rate reductions of up to 0.5% based on EPC rating

Tandem plans to launch further products and initiatives as part of its mission to becoming the UK’s fairer, greener digital bank Leading digital bank Tandem launches new green product feature as first initiative in the second charge mortgage market as it continues its mission to becoming the UK’s fairer, greener digital bank. Tandem’s new second charge mortgage feature will offer a ‘green discount’ on new second charge mortgages, operated under its Oplo brand, offering a rate reduction of up to 0.5% for new customers with an EPC rating of A, B or C. Tandem believes strongly that banks can play a big part in supporting consumers to reduce their home’s carbon footprint. And with the UK Government estimating that on average every home in the UK will have to...