XU Biweekly - Issue 63 - 9 September 2023

XU XU

The independent user news source for accounting apps and their ecosystems

INTRODUCING FYI ELITE

The Evolution of Practice Management

OUR VISION IS TO EMPOWER PRACTICES WITH A SEAMLESS PLATFORM WHERE DOCUMENT AND PRACTICE MANAGEMENT UNITE, DRIVEN BY FYI’S ADVANCED PROCESS AUTOMATION AND

In the fast-paced world of professional services, the demands of practice management have grown exponentially. It’s no longer enough to merely manage; innovation and adaptability have become the new benchmarks. At FYI, we’ve been listening closely to your needs, and we’re thrilled to introduce a transformative solution that’s set to revolutionise the way you manage

your practice: FYI Elite.

This new tier in FYI has been designed to offer an integrated solution for document and practice management, driven by FYI’s process automation and workflow capabilities. Offering time & billing, reports, client maintenance, employee management, and more, Elite empowers your practice for greater efficiency and success.

Navigate chargeable hours with precision

Elite’s time and billing feature is your practice’s ultimate tool for precision and efficiency. It simplifies the way you handle chargeable hours, offering a host of benefits to make your practice run seamlessly:

• Flexible billing across multiple entities

• Advanced WIP management

• Customisable invoice approvals

But that’s not all! Elite also lets you create and manage multiple time rates effortlessly, tailor non-chargeable time categories, handle disbursements, and generate invoices that perfectly match your practice’s requirements.

Tailored insights at your fingertips

In the world of practice management, flexibility is paramount, and that’s precisely what Elite practice...

Find out more

Introducing our latest AI-powered solution: Aider’s Advisory Assistant

As accountants and advisors, your time is valuable, and staying ahead of the curve is essential for providing top-notch services to your clients.

That's why we're excited to announce the launch of Aider's new Advisory Assistant feature, developed with cutting-edge AI technology and a robust focus on data security, designed specifically to reduce your admin

Saturday 9th September 2023

time and allow you to add more value to your clients.

Key benefits of Aider’s Advisory Assistant feature include:

Enhanced efficiency to free up your time so you can focus on providing strategic advice and building stronger relationships with your clients. Using Generative AI, Aider's Advisory Assistant is a cutting-edge tool that helps you with a range

OUR BIGGEST ISSUE EVER

of tasks, including client meeting prep, writing sales scripts for selling advisory services, and conducting high-level analysis of data trends.

Improved Accuracy: With its preconfigured advisory context, the Assistant ensures that the answers and insights you receive are highly accurate and tailored to your specific needs...

Find out more

WE'RE PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE ISSUE 36 OF XU MAGAZINE IS NOW LIVE, AND IT'S OUR BIGGEST ISSUE YET WITH ALMOST 200 PAGES OF UPDATES, TUTORIALS, CASE STUDIES, EVENTS, INTERVIEWS, NEW APPS AND EXCITING RELEASES.

If you were lucky enough to attend Xerocon Sydney 2023, then you might've gotten a sneaky peak already. To celebrate one of the biggest accounting

events of the year, we decided to release the issue early for all attendees.

Our cover stars, Advancetrack Outsourcing, have also reached the massive milestone of 20 years helping clients, so it's celebrations all round! You can learn more about their achievements and brilliant India-based team on page 10 of the magazine (it's free to read in the XU Hub!).

Plus, we had the privilege of catching up with Xero's CEO, Sukhinder Singh Cassidy, to discuss how her new

role is going so far, what brought her to join Xero, and her vision for the future.

As well as our indepth tutorials and case studies, you'll find plenty of exciting news on the best accounting events coming up over the next year, from Accountex to the Accounting & Finance Show.

Now we might be biased... but it could be the best issue yet! You'll have to read it for yourself and let us know...

Read issue 36 for free on the XU Hub

New Apps & Updates

COMPANY UPDATE: ACCOUNTKIT'S PRICING

IS CHANGING THIS AUGUST

By Paul Murray

ON 22 AUGUST 2022

(OR SOON THEREAFTER), ACCOUNTKIT’S PRICING WILL BE CHANGING FOR ALL NEW SUBSCRIBERS AND ANY CURRENT SUBSCRIBERS WHO WISH TO SWITCH TO THE NEW MODEL.

This decision comes after a lot of consideration and conversations with customers wanting clearer and more consistent pricing. The new pricing structure will simplify the fee you pay for AccountKit and scale more evenly as your business grows.

We’ll also be rolling out an all-new Workflow tool

XU BIWEEKLY - No. 63

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

Chief Revenue Officer: Alex Newson

Design & Communications

Manager: Bethany Fulks

Creative Assistants: Hebe Vermeulen, Robyn Consterdine

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 2014-2023. 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.

and Knowledge Centre in the coming month, plus a refresh of the user interface to help you get more done faster, easier and more collaboratively.

New 3-step pricing

Our flexible new pricing allows you to build your AccountKit subscription in three steps:

1. Begin with the basics

For $50 AUD per month, your basic subscription gives you access to AccountKit’s core suite of tools, including:

• Equipment Finance Tool

• Inter-Entity Loan Recon-

Viberent New Functions August 2023

By Tegan Marron

POST INVOICE WITH PDF TO XERO

Quote/Rental

screen layout

changes for quick data entry

ciliation Tool

• Division 7A Tool

• Client Map Tool

• Fuel Tax Credit Calculator

• Amortisation Scheduler

• Franking Account Register

• Important Item Register

• Professional Development Register

• Other Calculators

What else does the basic subscription include?

• Unlimited users (for the above tools)

• Up to 10 Xero connections

• Access to our suite of integrations

Find out more

When you post invoices to Xero, you can now include the PDF from Viberent. To do this, in Company Configuration screen, tick box titled “Post invoice PDF attachment”

Going forward, any invoice posted to Xero will include the invoice PDF as attachment. This feature is only for Xero and not for MYOB or QBO.

Inventory Tracking – No invoice

For not-for-profit companies and other such companies that wish to use Viberent only for inventory tracking purposes and not for any invoicing, this can be enabled by ticking on box titled “I use Viberent for Inventory Control”.

Going forward, Viberent will not show any entries in invoice history tab in rentals.

Employment Hero Product Update August 2023

WELCOME BACK TO ANOTHER EDITION OF THE EMPLOYMENT HERO PRODUCT UPDATE, WHERE WE SHARE ALL OF THE LATEST AND GREATEST UPDATES OVER THE PAST MONTH.

This month, we’ll be sharing changes to our AI enhancements, new employee benefits in Swag and lots more.

Let’s get to it.

We’ve added more AI

enhancements in-platform

We all know that staying up to date and investing in technology can help improve efficiency and productivity. That’s why we’re so excited to announce additions to our artificial intelligence (AI) enhancements.

These enhancements help recruiters and hiring managers communicate faster and more effectively, ultimately saving time on admin. Now you can find your AI helping hand in:

• Evaluation templates

• Pre-screening questions

• Pre-screening question templates

• SEEK pre-screening questions

Platinum customers can look for a sparkle within the recruitment module to generate well-crafted copy in a flash.

Australia

New Employee Benefits...

Keep reading

Expensify Releases Enhanced Insights and Custom Reporting Functionality

THE SPEND MANAGEMENT APP’S LATEST PRODUCT UPDATE PUTS VISUAL ANALYSIS AND REALTIME REPORTING FRONT AND CENTER FOR MILLIONS OF MEMBERS.

In order to make data entry quicker and easier, the quote and rental entry screens have been further simplified. The following fields have been brought together as user processes each line.

Mark Pending collection of rentals on calendar

In addition to RED entries in Transaction

Calendar that show rental returns, users can indicate that the rentals are pending... Keep reading

The End of Bank Feed Screen Scraping:

ALANDMARK ERA IN THE ACCOUNTING INDUSTRY BEGINS AS SISS DATA SERVICES UNVEILS ITS LATEST PRODUCT: ACSISS ADVISER, AN OPEN BANKING SOLUTION SPECIFICALLY DESIGNED FOR BOOKKEEPERS AND ACCOUNTANTS.

This innovative platform is now in open beta, allowing the accounting community to experience an industry-defining improvement in efficiency, security, and convenience for client bank data extraction.

FIRMCHECK, A LEADING INNOVATOR IN ANTI-MONEY LAUNDERING (AML) SOFTWARE, IS EXCITED TO UNVEIL ITS IMMINENT LAUNCH IN THE UK MARKET THIS COMING SEPTEMBER. DESIGNED SPECIFICALLY FOR ACCOUNTANTS, FIRMCHECK'S COMPREHENSIVE AML SOLUTION IS SET TO REVOLUTIONISE THE WAY ACCOUNTING FIRMS MANAGE AML COMPLIANCE ACROSS THE ENTIRE CLIENT LIFECYCLE.

In conjunction with this exciting launch, Firmcheck is proud to announce the appointment of Kevin Lord as General Manager of Firmcheck’s UK operation.. With a wealth of experience in the financial technology sector, Kevin will play a pivotal role in driving Firmcheck's growth and success in the UK.

Find out more

Expensify, Inc. (Nasdaq: EXFY), the financial management super app for expenses and corporate cards, today announced the release of enhanced insights and custom reporting functionality, built with expert input from top accounting leaders.

The Insights feature allows

any Expensify member to easily monitor all aspects of company spend across categories such as employees, projects, departments, and subsidiaries. In addition to a visual reporting dashboard, Expensify introduced a Custom Reports feature, where trained admins can take a consultative approach and build the reports they need to understand, analyze, and summarize their companies’ spend.

“Running an efficient business means being able to see the numbers you need...

Keep reading

ACSISS Adviser revolutionises the process of downloading client bank feed data. With this seamless online portal, bookkeeping and accounting professionals no longer need to share passwords or screen scrape information. This new innovation represents the most significant leap in efficiency and accuracy since the introduction of bank feeds when cloud accounting first launched.

Benefits of ACSISS Adviser:

• Bank Grade Data Security, No More Shared

Passwords: Through secure APIs and authentication protocols, the platform guarantees protection of sensitive information.

• On-demand, Accurate Bank Feed Data

Access: ACSISS Adviser offers ease of unprecedented access to bank data than ever before.

• Streamlined Client Onboarding and Verification: A single platform that streamlines the client bank data with automated...

Keep reading

PRODUCT UPDATE: ALL THE LATEST NEWS FROM FATHOM

WIN THIS UPDATE, YOU CAN LEARN ABOUT FATHOM'S NEW DIVISIONAL BUDGET FEATURE; THE ULTIMATE TOOL TO ENSURE YOUR DIVISIONS ARE ON TRACK. PLUS, WE PUT A SPOTLIGHT ON THE FIRST VIDEO INTERVIEW IN OUR BRAND NEW 'EXPERT SERIES' AND FEATURE WAYS FOR YOU TO LEARN FROM YOUR PEERS AND FATHOM PRODUCT EXPERTS. READ MORE BELOW.

Track Budgets for Your Classes, Locations and Categories

Say hello to Fathom’s divisional budget’s feature; the ultimate tool to ensure your business divisions are on track. Divisional budgets are available now for Xero and QuickBooks Online users. With this feature, you can:

• Compare divisional financials to budget in reports, and view side-by-side

• Use divisional budget data to track the performance of KPIs

• Analyse divisional budget data in the Breakdown tool...and more!

Rave General Update25th

August 2023

Make an Impact: Practical Tips for High Value Engagement

"Fathom helps bridge an accountant’s way of thinking about financial information with a business's way of thinking."

Geni Whitehouse CPA, Accounting Today Top 100 Accountant, and founder of The Impactful Advisor, explains, “When we translate information like this, it empowers business owners to make sense of financial information and apply it. When we can achieve this, that's when everybody wins."

Click below to watch the 45-minute interview, which includes tips on how Geni uses Fathom’s Goalseek tool to engage with stakeholders.

Get Financial Insights

Delivered to Your LinkedIn Feed

Elevate your financial insights, hear from your peers, and stay ahead of the curve – follow Fathom on LinkedIn. Each week, we feature...

Keep reading

Get Paid Faster with GuruPayNo More Chasing Payments

GET PAID FASTER - IMPROVE CASHFLOWDECREASE STRESS

Chasing payments on your invoices is one of the most painful, time-consuming and necessary parts of being in small business.

Australia, sadly, has some of the slowest invoice payment rates in the world, meaning that SMBs are acting as a defacto lender for their customers, and that impacts your cashflow, stress levels, and ability to work on your business.

Introducing GuruPay

To help our small business customers get paid faster, WorkGuru is pleased to announce GuruPay - a collaboration between WorkGuru, and our friends at Pinch Payments.

GuruPay will allow you to take Payments by Debit and Credit Card (and eventually by Direct Debit straight from

By Corey Te Moananui

APPROVE’ AND ‘BULK APPROVE’ UPDATES – RAVE FINANCIAL UPDATE

We’ve added an ‘Approve’ state into the RAVE’s FMS Bill and Credit Note action buttons, this means a draft bill or credit note will now go from a draft to an approved status – and that when a document is approved, an audit entry is written.

Additionally, a ‘Bulk Approve’ option has also been added to the ‘Bills In’ page. Multi-bill payments now work on both project and branch levels with a slight change in the user interface.

Bulk Payment option added to the NEW ‘Bills

In’ sub-tab – RAVE Financial NEW Feature

Following on from the bulk payment update for invoices, we’ve now implemented this for bills via RAVE FMS’s new ‘Bills In’ page. Multi-bill payments now work on both project and branch levels with a slight change in the user interface.

Invoices and Credit Notes ‘Xero Syncing’ update – RAVE Financial

With RAVE FMS’s Xero Syncing option turned on, any invoices and credits that were originally created by converting invoiceables in RAVE, will now auto-sync updates between RAVE and Xero.

NEW ‘Xero Status’ update – RAVE Financial NEW Feature

We have added a ‘Xero Status’ display to the bottom left corner of many RAVE FMS screens. This ‘Xero Status’ display lets RAVE FMS users know whether the branch is connected to Xero, and whether payment syncing is enabled or disabled.

Refinements

‘Remind Assignee’ label change on the Schedule

Task Details pop-up –RAVE Update

Keep reading

WorkGuru Release Notes30/08/2023

Australian bank accounts) by including a payment link right in your WorkGuru invoice email. This means that you can get paid faster, and stop chasing people for cash!

You can even choose to on-charge the processing Fees.

Is it Safe?

Absolutely! None of your Client's credit card details are ever stored in WorkGuru or on our servers. We use Pinch's World Class API and Payments backbone, and integrate it right into WorkGuru so there's no need for messy integrations, or trying to linking separate systems together.

How Do I Get It?

To sign up - go to the Guru Pay section of your WorkGuru account (in the left...

Read more

WE'D LIKE TO KEEP YOU UPDATED ON OUR LATEST RELEASES. FOR DETAILED INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO USE THE FEATURES OF WORKGURU, PLEASE SEE OUR LIST OF SUPPORT ARTICLES (HTTPS://SUPPORT. WORKGURU.IO/SUPPORT/ SOLUTIONS). WE UPDATE THESE ARTICLES REGULARLY TO STAY UP TO DATE WITH THE FEATURES OF THE APPLICATION.

We highly encourage users to review our feature requests forum and upvote any features you'd like to see on the platform. We filter these and review the requests with the most upvotes for possible implementation. Please have a look through the forum here to vote.

Features: Timesheets

Added a tenant setting to show client on timesheet dropdown.

Projects

Added button to delete empty task and product lines when editing Projects

Purchase Orders

Added the ability to assign received/ non-stock PO's to a Project Quotes

Added the ability to save leads against quotes regardless of the quotes status - on quotes details page

Production Jobs

Added ability to assign staff hours against tasks on Production Jobs

Kiosk

Latest update on the Kiosk includes PO's/ PO receipt, and stock sale dispatching

Keep reading

BGL CORPORATE SOLUTIONS (BGL), AUSTRALIA'S LEADING PROVIDER OF COMPANY COMPLIANCE, SELF-MANAGED SUPERANNUATION FUND (SMSF), INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT AND AI-POWERED PAPER-TO-DATA SOLUTIONS, IS PROUD TO ANNOUNCE THE RELEASE OF ANNUAL TAX STATEMENT AUTOMATION USING BGL SMARTDOCS IN SIMPLE FUND 360 AND SIMPLE INVEST 360.

BGL SmartDocs is a multi-award-winning, AI-powered paper-to-data solution fully integrated with BGL’s SMSF administration and investment management software, Simple Fund 360 and Simple Invest 360.

"This release is a huge achievement by our Big Data, Simple Fund 360 and Simple Invest 360 Product Teams and I’m extremely proud of everyone involved," said Ron Lesh, BGL's Managing Director. "This amazing new feature will free up valuable time for our Simple Fund 360 and Simple Invest 360 clients by eliminating the need for manual data input or the hassle of deciphering tax statements from Managed Funds, ETFs and Trusts."

“BGL clients can simply upload or email Annual Tax Statements (image or PDF files) directly to their

Simple Fund 360 or Simple Invest 360 software,” continued Lesh. “The built-in BGL SmartDocs feature will read the statement, extract the data and calculate the distribution tax components pre-filling the relevant fields in Simple Fund 360 or Simple Invest 360. The BGL SmartDocs feature displays the statement alongside the calculations providing a simple reconciliation process.”

Jeevan Tokhi, Head of Simple Fund 360 at BGL, said: "BGL continues to innovate and remove manual data entry for clients.

In 2019, we released a tool that automated tax data processing by calculating the amount of each tax component and applying this to distributions received during the year. We extended in 2021 by automatically creating yearend accrual transactions and warnings in our builtin workpapers. Now, we have the incredible feature of extracting the tax components from the Annual Tax Statement PDF. This release is yet another step forward in the evolution of our zero-touch technology."

BGL SmartDocs is currently reading two million pages per month and loading the extracted data into Simple Fund 360 and Simple Invest 360.

Read more

Expensify selected as SaaStr Annual Conference Chat and Networking Tool

SAASTR ANNUAL, ONE OF THE WORLD’S LARGEST TECH CONFERENCES, HAS SELECTED EXPENSIFY FOR CONFERENCE NETWORKING FOR ITS 10,000 ATTENDEES.

Expensify, Inc. (Nasdaq: EXFY), the financial management super app for expenses and corporate cards, today announced that its chat-based platform, New Expensify, has been selected by SaaStr as the featured conference networking tool for 10,000+ attendees.

SaaStr Annual, taking place from September 6-8 in San Mateo, is one of the

Mogul have moved to eInvoicing

world’s largest tech conferences, and with it comes a number of speaking sessions, sponsors, and events. The SaaStr team has chosen to use New Expensify as its preferred chat and networking tool for its powerful community-building platform and ability to connect its 10,000+ attendees with each other, event speakers, and organizers, all through the Chat feature of the New Expensify app.

New Expensify’s Chat feature enables attendees to:

• Chat with each other one-on-one before SaaStr starts to make early intros or plan meetings

• Share fun updates, pictures, or post-conference plans in a central #social room

• Get a realtime feed of conference announcements in a central #announce room

• Ask questions and engage with speakers directly in keynote and session-specific chat rooms

• Stay connected long after the conference is over to nurture industry-centric communities built during the event

“In the past, our SaaStr Events...

Read more

We WON! 2023 Gold Awards –Technology Gold Winner – Arlo

By Melanie Hall

FEW WEEKS AGO WE ANNOUNCED THAT ARLO WAS A FINALIST IN THE TECHNOLOGY GOLD CATEGORY FOR THE WELLINGTON GOLD AWARDS.

We’re ecstatic to say… WE WON!!

It’s a great feeling to be recognized for these achievements, and the mana that comes with winning an award like this is felt company-wide. We’re proud to say we had a huge 12 staff in attendance at the Gold Awards, from all over the business – engineering, marketing, leadership and business support. A reflection of Arlo’s diverse workplace and inclusive company culture.

The Wellington Gold

Awards celebrate the excellence and enterprise of businesses in the Greater Wellington Region and Horowhenua. A showcase of our region’s business talent and capability and a way of paying tribute to those who are building our community.

The Technology Gold category celebrates the success of hi-tech creators, recognising the power of innovation and the productivity gains that come with harnessing technology, both existing and emerging.

Every year the awards draw in entries from an incredibly high calibre of businesses, making for some stiff competition. 2023 finalists in this category included ourselves, Global Seismic Data, Medicly and Upstock.

You often hear about the success of Wellington tech companies, but Arlo is one of the more under-reported ones. We’ve hit some incredible milestones in the last year alone:

• Over $500m in courses sold via Arlo in the last 12 months

• Over 7m people trained

• Offices in NZ, UK and North America

• Doubled our engineering team this year (about to hit 60 staff in total)

• Round the clock customer support

• Solid growth rate, with big goals ahead!

On top of that, 2023 is a very fitting year for Arlo...

Read more

WE PREFER TO SEND (AND RECEIVE) EINVOICES. CHECK OUT THE NZ GOVERNMENT’S EINVOICING WEBSITE (WWW.EINVOICING. GOVT.NZ) IF YOU WANT TO FIND OUT MORE.

For our valued clients:

We’d like you to consider receiving eInvoices from us instead of PDF invoices in an email. eInvoices are received directly into your accounting software, so you save time on manual data entry and processing.

Please email accounts@mogul.co.nz with your NZBN and confirm if you’re connected to the eInvoicing network. Then we’ll start sending you eInvoices instead of PDFs.

If you would prefer to receive our invoices through the Xero to Xero network, please send your Xero key to accounts@mogul. co.nz.

For our awesome suppliers:

Please consider sending us eInvoices instead of PDFs – it’ll help us process your invoice faster.

You’ll need your finance or accounting system to be able to send eInvoices and include our New Zealand Business Number (NZBN) with the other invoice information...

Keep reading

Xero wins Canstar’s Most Satisfied Customer Award in New Zealand

By Bridget Snelling

FOR THE FIFTH YEAR IN A ROW, XERO HAS TAKEN OUT CANSTAR’S MOST SATISFIED CUSTOMER AWARD FOR SMALL BUSINESS ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE.

This is an incredible achievement, showcasing our value to small businesses across Aotearoa New Zealand.

Canstar Blue is a customer satisfaction research and ratings business aimed at helping consumers make better purchasing decisions. Canstar’s annual survey engages hundreds of small business owners across New Zealand to provide a benchmark of quality for accounting software.

Xero received perfect results across all categories, which shows just how much our customers value both our services and software.

Jose George, General Manager of Canstar, says Xero’s repeat win of the award showed how important the software is to customers, and how our focus on simplifying business made us a firm favourite.

“Xero is an absolute word leader in accounting software, and continues to deliver for its customers, year after year. Its performance is truly impressive, and the team should be very proud.”

Find out more

IN THE EVER-EVOLVING LANDSCAPE OF ACCOUNTING AND BOOKKEEPING, EMBRACING INNOVATION IS KEY TO MAINTAINING A COMPETITIVE EDGE.

XBERT, ONCE KNOWN FOR ITS AI DATA QUALITY MONITORING AND WORKFLOW AUTOMATION, HAS NOW BLOSSOMED INTO A HOLISTIC PRACTICE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM THAT REDEFINES HOW YOU APPROACH YOUR WORK.

AI Data Quality

Monitoring: The Foundation of Precision

XBert's roots lie in its exceptional AI Data Quality

Monitoring, where over 76 AI Audit algorithms tire-

lessly safeguard your accounting files. This foundation ensures data integrity, spotting risks, trends, and non-compliance issues while promptly notifying you. But now, XBert's scope has broadened.

Real-Time Oversight and Anomaly Detection

XBert's advanced machine learning algorithms detect anomalies, discrepancies, and potential fraud in real-time. This ensures that your operations are running smoothly, accurately, and efficiently. You can even customise and schedule AI audits and alerts to replace manual... Read more

Small Business Expo Brings Expensify to Thousands of Attendees

SMALL BUSINESS EXPO HAS SELECTED EXPENSIFY TO BRING CONFERENCE NETWORKING AND SMB BEST PRACTICES TO 5,000+ ATTENDEES AT THEIR LOS ANGELES CONFERENCE ON WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 6, 2023.

Expensify, Inc. (Nasdaq: EXFY), the financial management super app for expenses and corporate cards, today announced that its chat-based platform, New Expensify, has been selected by Small Business Expo as the featured conference networking tool for the 5,000+

attendees of its Los Angeles event on Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2023. Small Business Expo, renowned as one of America's largest business networking and educational events, is tailored to business owners, start-ups, and entrepreneurs. It attracts tens of thousands of enthusiasts who want to explore, build, and discuss best practices in the world of small business.

This year, Expensify and Small Business Expo have joined forces to elevate attendee engagement by bringing in New Expensify as the primary communication tool for the Los Angeles

UPCOMING EVENTS

event. New Expensify’s Chat feature enables attendees to:

Initiate one-on-one conversations prior to the expo in order to facilitate early introductions and meeting planning.

Receive real-time updates on conference announcements in a dedicated #announce room.

Pose questions and directly engage with speakers through keynote and session-specific chat rooms.

Share exciting updates, photos, and post-conference plans within a...

Read more

UPCOMING EVENTS

By Vipul Sheth ACA CTA, Founder & Managing Director, Advancetrack Outsourcing

THE ADVANCETRACK TEAM IN INDIA STEPPED UP DURING COVID, WHEN IT REALLY MATTERED. AND MD VIPUL SHETH KNEW THAT HIS LONGSTANDING TEAM NEEDED A SPECIAL REWARD. A REWARD THAT WAS CONCEIVED BEFORE COVID, BUT MADE ALL THE MORE IMPORTANT BECAUSE OF IT. THIS IS THE STORY OF THEIR LIFE-CHANGING TRIP ABROAD.

They say that professional services firms are nothing without their people. It makes sense that, for us at AdvanceTrack, the same saying rings true.

Quite rightly, we spend a lot of time talking about our operational excellence, and focus on processes, security and scalability. But these are underpinned by the technical expertise and work ethic of our people – without whom we wouldn’t be here.

With that in mind, MD Vipul Sheth discussed with managers in India about a plan to reward and recognise some of our longstanding team members. A fiveday trip to Dubai was then organised for 2021.

Covid got in the way of that plan, while Dubai’s global expo during 2022 meant that we had to hold off the holiday until 2023.

“The team never bugged me about whether the trip would actually happen, but there was no way it was going be off the cards,” explains Vipul. “We just had to be patient.”

First-time travel

And so, in April, some 37 of the AdvanceTrack team went on holiday together. And for 32 of these people, it was their first time abroad.

“When it was announced we were all very excited – a great treat,” says AdvanceTrack’s Mohit Soni. “It wasn’t in our hands so we couldn’t assume anything about it. But it was fun, and no – I didn’t think I would have to work while we were away!”

The itinerary was a full one. There was a desert safari, cruises and city tours, along with free time for them to go shopping.

“They didn’t want me to have them in a conference room,” adds Vipul. “They chose to go to the waterpark instead!”

Team support

Aanal Shah has a young daughter, and was therefore reticent to travel. “But my colleagues said: ‘You must come. Don’t stop yourself.’ Everyone supported me on the holiday with her, and she enjoyed it too.”

“I would say that this is how it is working at AdvanceTrack. All the small things are taken care of for us – we don’t have to ask,” adds Mohit Soni.

Rajni Patel is one of AdvanceTrack’s longest-serving team members. The manager says there were “just a few of us here”. “It’s amazing to see how we’ve grown.”

“I’ve been here eight years and it feels like family,” Aanal Shah adds.

Vipul explains that he wanted to do something that “made us stand out as an organisation”.

“Part of that comes down to us giving opportunities that individually they might otherwise not have done,” says Vipul.

“The fact that we were able to offer that life-changing experience is really what it’s all about. It was an important thing to do.”

Ultimately, without good people, AdvanceTrack doesn’t have a good business – and that is the same for all businesses. “Sometimes that gets forgotten in the world we live in,” explains Vipul. “Profits are one thing and, of course, we operate ‘as a business’, but the long-term wellbeing of our people is a great investment.”

So, what next? “Hopefully something similar for the next group,” replies Vipul. “And then we’ll speak to the long-serving team about what they want!”

AI, outsourcing, automation, the future of accountants… and everything else in between

This article isn’t about technology… no, really. OK, I will talk about technology, but more as a scene-setter than anything else.

Instead, this blog is about you and me. Humans. Or to be more precise, humans that undertake accounting and tax work (and the subset that provide broader business advice). But the tech first.

The world’s largest tech-

nology players have invested in proprietary AI – or are looking to implement versions into their offering. Whereas a lot of the chatter around automation has been focused on easing the burden of rudimentary tasks that accountants undertake, discussions around AI have been around replacing accountants. ‘If the data crunching can be automated, and then next steps of the conversation handled by AI, then why accountants?’

So, is that it for the accountancy profession? Certainly not. Is it the end for it in its current iteration? Perhaps yes.

AI works by aggregating data and making a ‘best fit’ case for a request from us, humans, to provide us with an ‘answer’. This data is quantitative or qualitative. We have seen AI tools produce some very clever ‘scripts’ upon request though, in truth, most of these don’t quite fit the bill – and require us humans to further interpret and edit.

Perhaps the ‘clear-cut’ nature of numbers will be a different story then? Well, we’ve had computational equipment for decades, and the profession is still alive

and well.

Technicians and advisers

It could be argued that the profession is evolving –that as tax and accounting becomes more complex, and businesses require more hand-holding and advice, that we will see a greater distinction between ‘technicians’ and advisers’. This is true, but there is a tension –that relationships have often been borne from initial compliance work. In other words, for the technician/adviser distinction to be made, there will have to be changes in practices’ structure and approach.

The other thing to consider is: micro and small businesses are messy. They’re driven by people with skills and ambition, for whom the numbers, marketing and ‘rules’ get in the way of what they really want to do. They also operate in subtly different ways to each. That’s a lot of lifting and transactional automation for AI to comprehend.

Finally, and back to us as humans doing business. It can be very lonely. And...

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Help Your Clients Select the Right Job Management Software

By Tony Harcourt, CEO & Co-Founder, WorkGuru

WORKGURU’S CO-FOUNDER AND CEO, TONY HARCOURT, SHARES HIS TIPS ON HELPING YOUR CLIENTS SELECT THE RIGHT JOB MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE.

There’s a huge amount of upheaval in the Job Management Software space at the moment. With Xero retiring their WorkflowMax product, thousands of customers around the world are evaluating what the next step is for them.

While many clients will make a decision on their own, many will turn to their accountants and bookkeepers for advice, and it can sometimes be tough to know how to go about recommending a software to your client.

Stop and Assess

Before your clients jump into a new system, there’s a few questions to ask about what the optimum outcome for the client is. If they were using a bunch of spreadsheets and workarounds, you should help them analyse the shortfall in what they have, and get a system that meets their real-world requirements.

Focus on the Problem to be Solved

A lot of the time, people focus on the industry, or the features of a program that they want for their clientsand that’s a good starting point, but the real key is to step back and ask, “What is the problem we’re trying to solve here.”

The whole point of the software is to solve problems for you, and not necessarily to solve them the way that you do now - particularly if that way is inefficient, or outdated.

Know What you Love About What You’ve Got

It sounds silly, but you’ve got your current software for a reason. You like something about it enough to keep it around, so if everything it currently did for you was taken away, it’s really important to know what it is that you’d miss about it.

Don’t assume that every piece of software in the same category has the same features or achieves the same outcomes.

Know What Your extra Must Haves, and Nice to Haves are

Once you know what

Parlez-vous français?

you’d hate to lose about your current software, think about the things that you just WISH it did better. If you’re moving to a new platform, categorise that list into MUST haves, and Nice to Haves.

Do you want Stock Control? Calendar Scheduling? Easy Variation handling? Progress Claims? What is it that’s going to make a real difference to your business?

Remember that a Must Have is “I won’t buy the software at all if it doesn’t solve X.” Nice to have, is “I’ll still consider the software if it has all my Must Haves, but doesn’t solve this thing.”

Get A DEMO - not Just a Trial

Getting a custom demo is the no 1 most important thing that you can do. Free trials are awesome (and you should get one of those too!) but the thing about Job Management Software, is that it can take a heck of setting up to see it work to its true potential.

A demo, customised to your client by the software company, shows you how THEY (the expert) would solve the business problem using their software...

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MAKING THE RIGHT CHOICE

By Lu Jakubac, Customer Success Lead, Datamolino

THE TOP 5 PRIORITIES FOR SELECTING YOUR NEXT COMPANY TOOL

Are you considering adopting a new automation tool or thinking about switching from your current one?

Recently, we dived into user feedback on bookkeeping automation tools like Datamolino.

By going through hundreds of reviews, we gained lots of valuable insights into what matters most to accountants and bookkeepers seeking products that help them reduce manual data entry time and automate invoice processing.

The following findings can guide and inspire your next decision.

1. Transparent pricing

Users seek automation with straightforward and flexible pricing models so they know how much they will be paying for the service each month. Understanding monthly expenses ahead of time isn’t just about budgeting; it’s about trust.

When evaluating a tool,

these are the key things users value in relation to pricing:

• Published and readily accessible pricing (eliminating the need to request quotes)

• Consistent and clear pricing structure that’s easy to understand (no hidden fees)

• The ability to calculate monthly service costs with ease

2. Accessible customer support

An astonishing number of user reviews mentioned the quality of customer service, rapid response times, and personalized 1:1 assistance in addressing issues or challenges.

The initial onboarding experience often shapes a user’s impression, potentially turning technology into either a curse or a blessing. We understand the frustration when technology becomes cumbersome, or when service providers don’t respond effectively.

Having access to quality human support for swift issue resolution not only saves time but also offers a safety

net. Customer support isn’t just about fixing problems; it’s about building relationships.

This aspect of a product or service is often underestimated, yet it can ultimately determine whether the application holds value for users.

3. Ease of use & simplicity of the product

The pre-accounting phase is where bookkeepers and accountants deal with dozens of small tasks from document collection, data entry, to invoice coding and processing.

This is why an efficient accounting tool is one that’s simple and user-friendly enough to enable users to get used to the software quickly and integrate it smoothly into their workflow.

Complexity often leads to errors and frustration, while simplicity boosts productivity. The feedback speaks volumes. Users appreciate:

• Clear, easy-to-navigate interfaces.

• Tools that save time... Find out more

IN THE FIELD OF FINANCIAL TECHNOLOGY, XERO HAS LONG BEEN RECOGNISED AS A TRAILBLAZER, REVOLUTIONISING THE WAY BUSINESSES MANAGE THEIR FINANCES THROUGH ITS INNOVATIVE CLOUD-BASED ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE. WITH THE RECENT APPOINTMENT OF A NEW CEO SUKHINDER SINGH CASSIDY, XERO IS SET TO EMBARK ON AN EXCITING CHAPTER OF GROWTH. IN THIS EXCLUSIVE MAGAZINE INTERVIEW, WE HAVE THE PRIVILEGE OF DELVING INTO THE MIND OF SUKHINDER SINGH CASSIDY, A VISIONARY LEADER WHO BRINGS A FRESH PERSPECTIVE AND A WEALTH OF EXPERTISE TO THIS INFLUENTIAL ROLE.

XU: As the new CEO of Xero, what attracted you to this role and what do you hope to achieve during your tenure?

SSC: What attracted me to Xero was the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of those running small businesses and their advisors around the world. Growing up I helped my mother and father run their own business - a medical practice

Q&A with Sukhinder Singh Cassidy, CEO of Xero

in St Catharines, Ontario, Canada. When I wasn’t at school, I was helping them complete their general ledger and file taxes, all by hand and from the dining room table. During the summers, I was working the reception and looking after our customers, so I really began to understand how important small businesses are to the communities they serve.

So as you can see, helping small businesses succeed is a deeply personal motivation and passion for me, and why I’m so excited to help drive the next stage of Xero together with our customers and partners.

XU: What are your plans for the company’s future growth and innovation?

What are the key areas you believe will drive Xero’s success in the coming years?

SSC: Xero has been operating for more than 17 years and we now have more than 3.7 million subscribers globally. Our long term opportunity is still really significant. The total addressable market for small businesses in the regions we operate in is estimated at 45 million - and that’s just the English speaking markets. We’ve still got so much space to help drive

cloud accounting adoption, which we know has huge benefits for small businesses of all kinds especially in navigating challenging or changing economic environments.

We’re really positive about the multiple levers Xero has to deliver growth - including driving further adoption of cloud accounting with new customers and deepening customer engagement with our existing customers.

One of my top priorities is to be more customer-centric - to be responsive to and guided by our small business customers’ evolving needs. That’s a really exciting challenge for us as a global company and a huge opportunity to get closer to small business communities around the world.

Longer term, there are three important areas that are front of mind for me. First, we’re focused on unlocking the full potential of our platform, which will set us up for the future as we scale and help us to be more responsive to our customers’ evolving needs.

Second, it’s about supporting our accounting and bookkeeping community to respond to this changing environment so they can continue to be the trusted

advisor to small business. This includes being more customer centric, and focusing on how we can continually add value for them - like getting new features and product enhancements to areas that are most important - serve them better and faster, and increase their engagement with Xero. And finally, we’re enabling and driving innovation across our ecosystem app partners and payments attach. Xero data shows that Xero customers who use online invoice payments, like Stripe or GoCardless, get paid up to twice as fast than those who don’t use online invoice payments.

XU: Can you share your vision for the expansion of Xero’s events globally and the reason for only hosting events in Xero’s big countries every 2 years?

SSC: Our global communities are growing quickly, so we’re evolving our approach to Xerocon to ensure we stay connected not just with communities in our existing regions, but also with those in our emerging regions across the globe. The new format means that Xerocon will be held in different cities across Xero’s key regions

each year. There will be a focus on destination locations for partners to build their plans around to connect, collaborate and network with each other. We’re excited to be back in London and the US next year, so stay tuned for more. Xero Roadshows also continue to be a crucial part of how we can stay connected with our partners and small businesses at a country level.

XU: To help our audience get to know you better, could you please share some insights about your background and experience? We’d love to hear about the key milestones in your career that have led you to this role and what motivates you to drive success?

SSC: As mentioned before, I come from a background of small business through my parents’ medical practice. It really had a long lasting effect on me, and helped inspire me to take a step into entrepreneurship. I started three companies, took one public, served as CEO of two others, served as president of StubHub, and advised some of the largest tech companies (Google, Amazon, and others).

I’ve now come full circle to run a global small business platform that helps improve the lives of small businesses and their advisors. Another thing I was attracted to at Xero was the opportunity to lead a global organisation whose passion for supporting small business aligns with mine. There’s so much potential when you look at our total addressable market for small business and early adoption rates of cloud accounting around the world, and I’m so excited to lead Xero into its next chapter. I have long believed that in navigating their careers, people tend to look at risk and reward in the wrong way. People should stop over-weighting the first choice they make. As long as you are willing to keep choosing, there are a thousand choices between you and success. Keep aiming for impact in every single choice. As long as you keep working for what you want and without being afraid to fail, success will eventually come. Learning how to be agile and continually trying to succeed will lead you there vs trying to avoid risks overall.

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Russell Innovation Center for Entrepreneurs Announces $1 Million Grant from PayPal

THE RUSSELL INNOVATION CENTER FOR ENTREPRENEURS (RICE) TODAY ANNOUNCED A $1 MILLION GRANT FROM PAYPAL HOLDINGS, INC.

TO LAUNCH THE PAYPAL RETAIL ACADEMY, WHICH WILL PROVIDE A ROBUST CURRICULUM OF INNOVATIVE COACHING, SPECIALIZED TOOLS, AND VALUABLE RESOURCES TO HELP ENTREPRENEURS BASED IN ATLANTA GROW THEIR BUSINESSES.

As an extension of PayPal and RICE’s shared missions to empower underrepresented entrepreneurs, the PayPal Retail Academy will educate participants on every aspect of successfully starting and scaling a retail business. The curriculum will include training on non-traditional retail paths, up-leveling checkout and digitization, developing

Make seamless payments with Google Pay

global marketing strategies, and navigating supply chain issues. Other key components will include research and recommendations to eliminate some of the barriers underrepresented retail SMBs face.

“Beyond education, this partnership symbolizes growth for our entrepreneurial community,” said Jay Bailey, President & CEO of RICE. “We recognize the paramount importance of harnessing retail avenues and embracing digital transformation. The PayPal Retail Academy will serve as a conduit for this knowledge, empowering RICE Stakeholders to navigate the complexities of retail with resilience and innovation. Every facet of the Academy is meticulously designed to elevate entrepreneurs to new heights."

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WE KNOW THAT BEING ABLE TO MAKE TRANSACTIONS AS EASILY AS POSSIBLE IS IMPORTANT TO YOU. THAT’S WHY YOU’LL NOW BE ABLE TO ADD YOUR TIDE CARD TO GOOGLE PAY AND START USING IT TO MAKE CONTACTLESS PAYMENTS! YOU CAN USE IT WHEREVER YOU SEE THE GOOGLE PAY OR CONTACTLESS SYMBOL.

The benefits of Google Pay

• It’s secure, it’s easy: every transaction is completed through a unique token –this means your card details are 100% secure

• It’s easy to pay: there’s no need to dig around in your wallet or open the app, simply hold your phone up to the card machine

• You’ll get instant notifications: push notifications confirm your payment within seconds, so you can see if it was successful...

Find out more

PayPal Announces Recipients of its 2023 Community Impact Grants to Support Local Communities and Expand Economic Opportunity

FORMER GLOBAL HEAD OF DESIGN AT EXPEDIA GROUP BRINGS EXTENSIVE DESIGN VISION, EXPERIENCE STRATEGY, AND OPERATIONAL LEADERSHIP TO PAYPAL.

PayPal today announced that Rachel Kobetz has joined the company as Senior Vice President and Chief Design Officer (CDO), reporting to John Kim, Executive Vice President and Chief Product Officer. Rachel joins PayPal following more than 20 years in senior leadership roles building design organizations at some of the world’s largest companies.

Rachel comes to PayPal from her most recent position as SVP and Global Head of Design at Expedia Group, where she was responsible for leading the company’s Experience Design organi-

zation. Her responsibilities included design vision, experience strategy, and operational leadership for products and services for all Expedia Group stakeholders, including employees, travelers, partners, agents, and developers. Prior to this, Rachel was SVP and Head of Experience Design at Bank of America where she led the Experience Design organization to drive the end-to-end transformation of core product and service experiences. Rachel was also the Head of Studio, New Product UX at Amazon’s Design Group, and prior to this was Senior Director of UX at Samsung’s Mobile Innovation Lab.

In her role as PayPal’s SVP and CDO, she will be responsible for the design strategy and execution at scale across all end-to-end...

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Acquisition of Jo Wood Virtual FD to The OnPoint Accounting Group

JO WOOD VIRTUAL FD LTD IS ACQUIRED BY THE ONPOINT ACCOUNTING GROUP.

After three years of hard work and dedication, Jo Wood has agreed to a business sale. After being made an offer that is right for the clients, employees and shareholders, Jo has decided to move on from her business to focus on future

projects.

"I am so proud of what we have achieved in the last three years," said Jo. "It’s not been an easy decision but one that I believe will be beneficial for my family, my team and my clients."

This sale means the improved level of service and support for clients of Jo Wood Virtual FD as a...

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TODAY, PAYPAL NAMED 77 NONPROFITS ACROSS 22 COUNTRIES AS RECIPIENTS OF ITS ANNUAL COMMUNITY IMPACT GRANTS. RECIPIENTS RECEIVE MONETARY GRANTS OF UP TO USD $20,000. ALONG WITH THE FUNDING, THE RECIPIENTS RECEIVE VOLUNTEER SUPPORT FROM PAYPAL EMPLOYEE VOLUNTEERS AND PRO BONO RESOURCES TO HELP EXTEND THE IMPACT OF THE AWARD.

Each year, employees in PayPal’s offices around the world come together and vote to select local charities that align with PayPal's mission of creating economic opportunity and improving financial health for all. Throughout the year, employees contribute their time, skills, and resources to support these nonprofit organizations that are addressing the specific needs of local communities.

“Our focus on community impact and employee volunteerism is one of the ways that we fulfill our mission and live our values. Through our Community Impact Grants

program, we support the communities in which we live and work and inspire and enable our employee community to come together to help advance our mission and shared purpose” said Franz Paasche, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer, PayPal.

Through PayPal’s Community Impact program, the company’s employees participate in the local grant nomination and decision-making process, which builds community inside and outside the company. As part of this year’s program, grant recipient Down Syndrome Ireland will use the funds to support upskilling and employment opportunities for their members and people with Down syndrome across Ireland. Hope Chicago, an organization dedicated to creating pathways to success for multiple generations of Chicagoans through equitable access to higher education, will use the grant to fund debt-free higher education opportunities for Chicago high school graduates and their families..

"We consistently tell...

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RACHEL KOBETZ JOINS PAYPAL AS CHIEF DESIGN OFFICER