XU Biweekly - Issue 6 - 31st May 2021 by XU Magazine

Monday 31 May 2021 | No. 6

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

Need to make payroll profitable? WHITE LABELLED PAYROLL

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

AS SEEN ON TV! CATCH XERO ON YOUR SCREENS!

AVE YOU SEEN XERO'S DREAMY NEW TV COMMERCIALS THEY RELEASED EARLIER THIS MONTH?

After the success of their last few TVC's in 2019 & 2020, Xero are back with two new dance numbers, showcasing how their platform can simplify life for business owners.

Click the videos to give them a watch!

Xero's Subscription Fee Change (UK)

OLLOWING ONE OF THEIR PERIODIC REVIEWS, XERO HAVE ANNOUNCED AN UPCOMING INCREASE IN THEIR BUSINESS SUBSCRIPTION FEES. THIS INCREASE WILL BE IMPLEMENTED FROM THE 23RD SEPTEMBEER 2021.

Salon, but better - 30 Second TVC | Xero

In a recent email sent out to all business customers, Xero shared that by increasing their subscription fees, they are able to continue investing in product development, ensuring regular updates and platform improvements for customers. Their review ensures the price accurately reflects the value of Xero and it's incredible Marketplace offerings, allowing them to invest in the future of cloud possibilities. From the 23rd September 2021, Starter and Standard business subscriptions will see a £2 monthly increase, whilst the Premium subscription will be increased by £3 per month. All bureau subscriptions will also see an increase of £1 per month.

Tradie, but better - 30 Second TVC | Xero

Time is valuable, let’s give you some of it back! Monday 31 May 2021 ISSN 2054-7234

9 772054 723006

P10 FX FORWARDS

WHITE LABELLED PAYROLL

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

Bill.com to aquire Divy

Xero Education Month

Asia P3

New Apps & Updates

2 XU Biweekly | No. 6

New feature for ApprovalMax Partners: introducing Practice Staff

PRACTICE STAFF IS OUR NEW FUNCTIONALITY THAT ALLOWS PRACTICES TO ADD THEIR EMPLOYEES AS APPROVALMAX USERS WHO CAN MANAGE THE ORGANISATIONS AND SUBSCRIPTIONS OF CUSTOMERS. The new feature Practice Staff enables ApprovalMax Partners to invite their employees so that they get access to the Partner Portal and can manage customer organisations. This feature is only available after the Partner status has been confirmed. To access Practice Staff and invite your colleagues, go to your profile and select Practice Staff. Once a user has accepted the

invitation, they will become a member. There are three roles in ApprovalMax Practice Staff: Account Owner, Member and Manager. The Account Owner is the main Partner account and can invite employees to Practice Staff as well as appoint them as Administrator for a customer organisation and assign them to a Practice Staff role. Users with the Member role have access to the Partner Portal and all Partner-related resources in ApprovalMax. They’re allowed to take part in the ApprovalMax Partner Certification and can be assigned to the Administrator role in a customer organisation.

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XU BIWEEKLY - No. 6

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 2014-2021. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be used or reproduced without the written permission of the publisher. XU Biweekly is published by XU Magazine Ltd (08811842), registered in England and Wales. Registered office: 12 Jordan Street, Liverpool, L1 0BP, United Kingdom. All information contained in this publication is for information only and is, as far as we are aware, correct at the time of going to press. XU Magazine Ltd cannot accept any responsibility for errors or inaccuracies in such information. If you submit unsolicited material to us, you automatically grant XU Magazine Ltd a licence to publish your submission in whole or in part in all/any editions, including in any physical or digital format, throughout the world. Any material you submit is sent at your risk and, although every care is taken, neither XU Magazine Ltd nor its employees, agents or subcontractors shall be liable for loss or damage. The views expressed in this publication are not necessarily the views of XU Magazine Ltd, its editors or its contributors.

NEW XERO CONNECTED APPS!

iCHEF XERO APP PARTNER OF THE MONTH By Nick Houldsworth

HIS MONTH, WE’RE EXCITED TO CELEBRATE TWO SIGNIFICANT MILESTONES WITH OUR APP PARTNERS. IT’S BEEN OVER 10 YEARS SINCE WE CERTIFIED THE FIRST APPS TO CONNECT TO XERO. AND OVER THIS TIME WE’VE GROWN, WITH OVER 1,000 APPS NOW CONNECTING TO XERO, MANY OF WHICH ARE AVAILABLE IN THE XERO APP MARKETPLACE. For May’s app partner of the month, we’re shining a light on an app that’s been with us from the early days, Spotlight Reporting, a product suite covering reporting, forecasting, and consolidation. We caught up with CEO and Co-founder, Richard Francis, about Spotlight’s journey with Xero, and...

Find out more

Fathom joins forces with SAIBA to help accountants in Southern Africa

Product update: Domestic Reverse Charge VAT for UK customers

By Joanna Bellis

EW RELEASE: HELPING UK CONSTRUCTION BUSINESSES HANDLE AND COMPLY WITH THE CHANGES IN DOMESTIC REVERSE CHARGE VAT LEGISLATION IN WORKFLOWMAX.

What is Domestic Reverse Charge VAT? Domestic Reverse Charge VAT (DRC) is a new way of accounting for VAT. From 1st March 2021 DRC applies to all VAT registered construction businesses in the UK. Put simply, the legislation moves the VAT lia-

bility from the supplier (subcontractor) of a service in the construction industry to the customer (contractor).

Why is it being introduced? The legislation has been introduced as an anti-fraud measure designed to counter sophisticated criminal attacks on the UK VAT system. It intends to cut down on “missing...

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT BUDGETS

AU - Allows customers, accountants and bookkeepers to bulk download Xero attachments, Select multiple documents and compress them into an archive, ready for download. Account Tasker removes the need for a time consuming and error-prone process.

ATHOM ARE DELIGHTED TO JOIN FORCES WITH THE SOUTHERN AFRICAN INSTITUTE FOR BUSINESS ACCOUNTANTS TO INCREASE OUR PRESENCE AND SUPPORT IN WHAT IS ONE OF THE FASTEST-GROWING AND EXCITING REGIONS FOR THE ACCOUNTING PROFESSION.

GLOBAL - An all in one spend management platform specifically designed for SMEs. Enable your staff to manage expense claims, purchase orders, supplier invoices, and track budgets all from their easy to use mobile and desktop application. Allows your AP Team to manage a single or multiple Xero organisations.

SAIBA is the number one professional body for accountants and finance

professionals, and so we’re delighted they’ve chosen Fathom as an Official Partner in the region. Both SAIBA and Fathom have identified several...

NEW WEBEXPENSES FEATURE ANNOUNCEMENT: ACCOUNT AND ADMIN DASHBOARD

EBEXPENSES’ NEW DASHBOARD OFFERS ACCOUNTS AND ADMIN USERS AN INTERACTIVE WAY OF ANALYSING A HIGH-LEVEL OVERVIEW OF COMPANY SPEND IN A VISUAL FORMAT. ONCE LOGGING IN TO YOUR WEBEXPENSES DESKTOP ACCOUNT, ACCOUNTS AND ADMIN USERS WILL SEE THE NEW DASHBOARD. THE OTHER PLATFORM FEATURES WILL STILL BE VISIBLE. A drag and drop feature is included which allows users....

Find out more

Update Contact & Resend – the new way to handle incorrect email addresses in Quotient

H E ARE SO EXCITED TO INTRODUCE A NEW FEATURE THAT HAS BEEN HIGHLY REQUESTED BY OUR XERO CUSTOMERS –– THE BUDGET MODULE! THIS IDEA WAS FIRST BROUGHT UP BY THE XERO COMMUNITY IN 2012 AND AFTER YEARS OF WORKING ON THE IDEA, IT WAS FINALLY IMPLEMENTED IN 2020.

ACCOUNT TASKER

EXPENSEMANAGER

ANDLING BOUNCED EMAILS IS NOW EASIER IN QUOTIENT.

By Yelena Tretyakova

HK, MY, SG - iChef is a leading Point-of-Sales system provider and end-toend consultancy, offering F&B resources and solutions for SMEs. Manage customers, inventory & staff effortlessly as your business grows.

By Andrew Webb

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

Monday 31 May 2021

Previously, if you sent a new quote email, but the recipient email address was incorrect, Quotient would send you a bounce notification to let you know that your email couldn’t be delivered. This was helpful of course, but you would come to a dead-end with no easy way to fix the contact and

resend the quote.

Introducing Update Contact & Resend! Now when you receive one of these bounce notification emails, you can click through to quickly update the email address for the contact, and then resend the quote – all in one easy step....

CHARTMOGUL GLOBAL - ChartMogul helps subscription businesses track, analyze & manage revenue data all in one place, in real-time. See your monthly recurring revenue, churn rate, customer lifetime value and more from Xero. Send your data to ChartMogul with no messy csv's, spreadsheets, or coding.

MYPROSPERITY AU - A powerful client portal used by accountants, planners, brokers and multidisciplinary firms to better engage their clients in all aspects of their financial lives. Help achieve their goals and give a holistic view of their household finances. The wealth portal is used by individual households to store, manage and track all their financial affairs. Mobile and desktop applications.

OVERSIGHT GLOBAL - A simple way to retain clients and grow your advisory business. Oversight’s client dashboard provides a clear and straightforward view of your clients Xero data. Identify changes in your clients data, see key Xero metrics, group files for customer overviews, set thresholds to trigger actions and develop data history that isn't available in Xero.

News

XU Biweekly | No. 6

Bill.com to Acquire Divvy, a Leader in Spend Management for SMBs

B E

MERSION SYSTEMS IS VERY PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE THE APPOINTMENT OF OUR FIRST TEAM MEMBER LOCATED IN THE UNITED STATES, OUR NEW CHANNEL ALLIANCE / BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER MIKE JONES. Hailing from Atlanta, Georgia, Mike joins us as we roll out our launch in the USA, providing localised support for Emersion customers and channel partners on a whole new side of the globe. Following continuous quarterly revenue growth throughout FY21 and launching on the Salesforce AppExchange marketplace, Emersion is set for a strong start to the next financial year as Mike leads our business development initiatives in the USA. Previously Mike has demonstrated his direct and channel sales expertise selling to Fortune 1000 accounts while working as National Channel Sales Manager for the USA and Bermuda at award-winning cyber security firm Cybergen, and as Channel Account Manager for the Southern USA at global cyber security leader Check Point Software. When he’s not developing partnerships, and helping partners grow their businesses, Mike keeps busy building log homes...

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Monday 31 May 2021 3

ILL.COM A LEADING PROVIDER OF CLOUD-BASED SOFTWARE THAT SIMPLIFIES, DIGITIZES, AND AUTOMATES COMPLEX BACK-OFFICE FINANCIAL OPERATIONS FOR SMALL AND MIDSIZE BUSINESSES (SMBS), ANNOUNCED TODAY IT HAS ENTERED INTO A DEFINITIVE AGREEMENT TO ACQUIRE DIVVY IN A STOCK AND CASH TRANSACTION VALUED AT APPROXIMATELY $2.5 BILLION. DIVVY IS A LEADER IN SPEND MANAGEMENT THAT MODERNIZES FINANCE FOR BUSINESS BY COMBINING EXPENSE MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE AND SMART CORPORATE CARDS INTO A SINGLE PLATFORM.

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XU Hub

sion and enhances our ability to deliver value to the combined customer base. Bill.com’s expanded solution will enable businesses to automatically manage accounts payable, accounts receivable, and corporate card spend all in one place, saving them valuable time and money. With real-time insight into all...

The acquisition supports Bill.com’s mis-

is now live on Apple News!

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STP IS CHANGING THIS EOFY: WHAT DO AUSTRALIA’S ADVISORS NEED TO KNOW? By Con Harbis

S AN ACCOUNTANT OR BOOKKEEPER, YOU MIGHT CONSIDER YOURSELF AN OLD HAT WHEN IT COMES TO SINGLE TOUCH PAYROLL (STP) BY NOW. THE ATO INITIATIVE HAS BEEN AROUND FOR NEARLY TWO AND HALF YEARS TO HELP EM-

PLOYERS ESTABLISH REAL-TIME DIGITAL PAYROLL REPORTING INCLUDING SALARIES, WAGES, PAYG WITHHOLDING TAX AND SUPERANNUATION INFORMATION. With STP having been rolled out in stages, some

small businesses have been offered exemptions from the initial deadlines. That is, up until now. This EOFY, most small business employers will need to be STP compliant. Depending on the types of...

GoCardless announces FATHOM IS NOW ACCREDITED Thought Leader Of The Year BY THE INSTITUTE OF CERTIFIED Joins ANZi backed FinTech! 90-day ‘Work Away’ policy OUNDERS OF DIVIPAY, A SYDNEY BOOKKEEPERS and appoints new Head of BASED FINTECH, CEO DANIEL KNIAZ

AND CO-FOUNDER RUSSELL MARTIN, HAVE CONFIRMED TO XU MAGAZINE THAT TRENT MCLAREN HAS BEEN APPOINTED AS THEIR HEAD OF ACCOUNTING.

Xero Education Month:

Next stop - Asia

By Kevin Fitzgerald

AN YOU BELIEVE IT’S ALMOST JUNE ALREADY? IS IT JUST ME OR DOES EACH YEAR SEEM TO GO QUICKER THAN THE ONE BEFORE? IN MANY OF THE CONVERSATIONS I’VE HAD OVER THE LAST FORTNIGHT, I GET THE SENSE THAT PEOPLE ARE HUNGRY EITHER FOR A BIT OF INSPIRATION, A NEW CHALLENGE, A FRESH PERSPECTIVE, OR A BETTER WAY OF DOING THINGS IN THE MONTHS AHEAD.

By Andrew Webb

E’RE DELIGHTED TO RECEIVE ACCREDITATION FROM THE ICB.

The Institute of Certified Bookkeepers is the largest bookkeeping institute in the world, so we’re thrilled to be accredited by an organisation that works tirelessly to promote and maintain the standards of bookkeeping as a profession. Watch on Advisable: How bookkeepers can design and launch advisory services

McLaren has held notable positions within the accounting technology landscape, including VP of Client-Success at TOA Global, Head of Accounting and Strategic Partners at Practice Ignition and senior BDM at Intuit Australia. He was also recognised as Thought Leader of the Year at the Australian Accounting Awards, hosted by Accountants Daily in partnership with Thomson Reuters.

Find out more

Workplace

MPLOYEES AT GOCARDLESS, A LEADING FINTECH FOR BANK-TOBANK PAYMENTS, NOW HAVE THE FLEXIBILITY TO WORK AWAY FROM THEIR NORMAL PLACE OF WORK FOR UP TO 90 DAYS IN ANY 12-MONTH PERIOD. THOSE WHO QUALIFY FOR THE ‘WORK AWAY’ SCHEME CAN REQUEST TO WORK FROM ANY LOCATION THAT MEETS GOCARDLESS STANDARDS FOR SAFETY, SECURITY AND PRIVACY.

It’s no secret that 2020 was a huge challenge for businesses around the world.

Sobi Hariharan, Head of Strategic Partnerships at the ICB said "We are thrilled to...

The Work Away policy forms part of ‘Adaptive Working’, the working model GoCardless is implementing after the pandemic and beyond. Under Adaptive Working, employees will have the autonomy to decide the number of days they work from the office, aligning with their teams to maximise collaboration and socialisation. The remaining days will be spent outside of the office...

Enter Education Month in June 2021

Independently accredited

Features

4 XU Biweekly | No. 6

Monday 31 May 2021

FROM KPMG TO SUCCESSFUL PRACTICE OWNER WITH ACCOUNTANCYMANAGER By James Byrne

AROLYN CULLEN HAS BEEN A CHARTERED ACCOUNTANT FOR 20 YEARS. AFTER QUALIFYING AT KPMG MANCHESTER, SHE SPENT EIGHT YEARS THERE IN AUDIT, BEFORE MOVING TO SWINTON INSURANCE. IN 2019, CAROLYN FOUNDED MONTON GREEN ACCOUNTANCY LTD AND HASN’T LOOKED BACK. “IT’S THE BEST THING I’VE EVER DONE,” SHE SAYS, “I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT.” Carolyn always planned to work remotely, but not necessarily alongside her husband and two young kids. “I class my two as fairly diligent and reasonably intelligent... With home-schooling, there were no signs of either of those characteristics!”

Goodbye, Excel. Hello, AccountancyManager. At Accountex North 2019, Caroline made a beeline for AM’s stand after a recommendation. “I thought I’d give it a go for a few months... and loved it.” “I used spreadsheets to manage deadlines before, but as my client base grew my spreadsheet was getting longer and longer... Now, without AccountancyManager, I’d be sobbing gently in the corner! I would’ve had to have stopped taking on clients much further back.”

Automation: A leap of faith worth taking Carolyn put off using automated record requests and reminders at first. “I was a bit nervous about switching them on, but now it’s brilliant. Clients respond so much quicker, I get information out a lot quicker. It works really well. I should’ve switched that on from day one.” “I’ve got 220 clients and the admin for all of those people and chasing them... it really adds up to hours and hours. It’s not productive time either because you don’t get paid for it. The automation is just saving so much time - hours and hours a week.” “I’ve had clients say that they’ve really appreciated tax payment reminders too. Their previous accountants didn’t remind them and they’d missed payments. So those are great too.”

Risk assessments: Carolyn asks, we deliver On AccountancyManager, you can complete AML ID checks, credit screens and risk assessments. Carolyn suggested being able to set an automated risk assessment task to generate in 12 months’ time.

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6 WAYS TO IMPROVE YOUR RECRUITING RESULTS How to hire top talent more efficiently with HR Partner By Fiona Adler

OR SMALL AND MEDIUM BUSINESSES, RECRUITING IS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT TASKS YOU CAN DO, BUT ALSO ONE OF THE MOST TIME CONSUMING. WHEN YOU OPERATE WITH A LEAN TEAM, EVERY SINGLE TEAM MEMBER IS CRITICAL, AND WE ALL KNOW HOW DIFFERENT THE OUTCOMES ARE WHEN WE HIRE AN AVERAGE PERFORMER, COMPARED TO A TOP PERFORMER. Good recruiting processes (and systems) and make a huge difference to your recruiting outcomes. Here are 5 easy ways to improve your recruiting results…

1) Start with a Clear

and Compelling Job Advertisement Your job advertisement should be factual, but it also needs to convince potential applicants to apply - especially those that may not be actively looking. Remember, you’re trying to attract a pool of the best applicants possible! It should not be a straight copy of the position description. Be sure to include words and phrases that potential applicants will be searching for as these can make the difference between your ad being seen or being invisible.

2) Put together a Selection Panel Decide who will be involved in the recruiting process for this role. Perhaps

you’ll include the line manager, but maybe also some of the colleagues who’ll be working alongside this new hire will also have some good insights to share.

3) Use an Application Form for Efficient Screening Think through some questions to ask on your application form. If you require certain qualifications, or experience, ask for it here. If you require strong writing skills, ask them to write a response to something that would demonstrate those skills. A well thought out application form can help you get a lot faster with the initial screening process.

Why automation is key for effective accounts receivable management By Sonia Dorais

USINESSES WASTE COUNTLESS HOURS EACH YEAR TRYING TO KEEP TRACK OF AND CHASE THEIR RECEIVABLES. MEANWHILE, THEY COULD BE SAVING UPWARDS OF 15 HOURS PER WEEK WITH ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLES AUTOMATION. In business, it can feel like a constant race against the clock. The last thing anyone needs is to have to chase up late customer payments. The reality is; however, an increasing number of businesses are finding themselves in this position now more than ever. The true lost cost in all of this? Wasted time. Businesses can recoup this lost time by simply automating their accounts receivables. Here’s both the why and the how. When a business provides goods or a service to a customer, but does not ask for immediate payment, this is classed as accounts receivables. It is money that customers owe to a business for goods and services already provided. The money is expected to be paid at a set date in the future, and therefore accountants include it as an asset on the business’s balance sheet.

The good vs the bad of accounts receivables The truth: most businesses don’t expect to ever reclaim 100% of these monies. So why do it? Ultimately, it shows that the business was able to obtain orders, and successfully deliver them to a customer.

Fundamentals for a successful business When the customers are regular and reliable, there is a benefit from selling goods and services on credit, as it acts as a steady income. Businesses can invoice these customers periodically, reducing costs of processing small transactions, and knowing the

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

invoices will be paid. • Some other good reasons to sell goods or services on credit are: • Customers are more likely to buy from you if they do not feel obligated to pay upfront • They can be considered as assets which are valuable for business viability • It accounts for items sold (but not yet paid for) on the balance sheet

Why can it become a problem? Simply… unreliable customers who don’t pay. Businesses will need to absorb the loss of defaults and therefore need to assume that there will always be a certain amount not received. They need to account for this. When selling to a customer, despite what they say, there is no way of knowing if they can (or will) truly pay. Having too many outstanding invoices in the accounts receivable looks like a troubled cash flow. These payments need to clear on time to be an asset. There’s always a risk providing goods and services before payment…it just depends whether it is considered worth it in the long run.

Automating your accounts receivables As you can imagine, all of the above takes up countless hours of manually chasing receivables.This is why at Chaser, we aligned ourselves to solving the problem of late payments for businesses through automatic and intelligent email chasers. To date, Chaser has helped users chase over £3 billion in overdue invoices, without losing the human touch.

How does it work and what are the benefits? The system works by streamlining all of a business’s chasing activity into a centralised hub. This means they can see every...

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Features

6 XU Biweekly | No. 6

Monday 31 May 2021

Putting Xero At The Heart of A New Accounting Firm

Q & A: The Power of Partnerships By Joanna Cruickshank

ULIA JONES HAS BEEN A QUALIFIED CHARTERED ACCOUNTANT FOR OVER 20 YEARS AND FOUNDED ARCHANGEL ACCOUNTING IN 2007. ARCHANGEL PROVIDES FINANCE AND ACCOUNTING FUNCTIONS TO SMALL BUSINESSES GLOBALLY AND HAVE SEEN THEIR CLIENTS GO FROM STRENGTH TO STRENGTH THROUGH XERO AND APPOGEE HR. HERE, OUR VP PARTNERSHIPS STUART KEEBLE INTERVIEWS HER.

Q: Thank you for joining us today Julia! To kick us off I’d like to know more about how you started to get involved in HR Tech? A: Happy to be here! As part of Archangel Accounting I look after companies and act as their CFO, HR often comes my way as companies that I work with often don’t have their own internal HR person due to their size. Where I can see there’s an opportunity I do like to use software to ensure their core business needs are met, and HR is definitely one of those. I look after companies’ payrolls so it’s important for me to find a solution which integrates with Xero, but also we need a platform which can support all companies’ employees, new starters and their records.

Q: What impact from your customers perspective does using HR tech such as Appogee HR have, and how is it received by clients? A: Really well! Right from the start of the employee journey, the onboarding portal really takes away the admin as it guides new starters through all of the documents they need to provide so we love it, firstly, from an onboarding perspective. We’re also using it for keeping all the company’s documents and policies in place, especially reviewing versions or having employees acknowledge, for example, handbooks etc. and we love it for just making sure our clients are on top of all things HR. Appogee HR offers a really good performance review feature too, which we used for the first time after it launched last year, and it just went really well. Every-

one especially liked the 360 feedback! Instead of using a lot of paper to complete all of these exercises, like we used to do, HR tech automates everything and then has a really strong audit trail which is so important from a compliance perspective.

Q: How have your customers been impacted by the pandemic and how have HR tech tools helped? A: A lot of my clients facilities were closed in the early phases of the pandemic, particularly those using university labs. They adjusted by introducing working from home practices and a phased return to laboratory working when facilities were open and it was safe to do so. HR software is particularly helpful here as having procedures such as health and safety policies within the labs is often a primary concern. Being able to share health and safety documents via the company documents portal, as well as being able to confirm who’s acknowledging those procedures has really helped in getting the labs to reopen, and then stay open, safely.

Q: How have you found working with clients from home? A: I love working from home! I work from Texas and therefore do all my work online and using video calls. We’ve been embracing the positives coming out of the pandemic, from a working perspective, and I think we’re in a strong place when it comes to client communication and carrying on, business as usual, remotely. I would even say that you can be based anywhere these days and still support the same function to the same high standards. I think it’s a sign of how far business technology and innovation has come really.

Q: How do you help your clients get started with Appogee HR? A: The clients I use Appogee HR for are biotech start-up’s where you are introducing practices and procedures from scratch.

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How tech has helped Praxis deliver outstanding client service By Christopher Blunn

HRISTOPHER BLUNN, CO-FOUNDER OF PRAXIS, LOOKS AT THE CHALLENGES OF STARTING A NEW ACCOUNTING FIRM AND HOW THE EVER-GROWING XERO ECOSYSTEM IS AT THE HEART OF THEIR SERVICE-DRIVEN FIRM.

Xero as the main hub of the new firm When Alex Shall, Pete Heslington and I set up Praxis back in October 2020, we had a very clear goal for the firm. We’re all driven by providing the best client service, and technology is such a big part of that client service these days. We’d all seen how easy cloud has made it to collaborate with staff and with clients, and as young and tech-savvy professionals, we were keen to embrace this. So, with Praxis, we wanted to take those cloud tools and apps and use them more efficiently – and Xero was always our choice of platform for doing this. When we first set up Praxis as a firm, we knew that Xero had to be the central hub. We’re using a suite of cloud solutions which are all integrated with Xero, and that’s making it easier to work anywhere and to engage with clients. There are so many benefits of being in the cloud, once you get through the initial teeth-

ing issues. I would say that maybe 90% of our clients are now on Xero, and we’re already a Silver Partner with Xero, which is pretty good for a new startup firm.

Running the practice on the Xero platform When we started looking at practice management solutions, we knew that one must-have was that it must integrate with Xero and the wider ecosystem. As a firm, we use Xero Practice Manager for our work in progress (WIP) and billing, and Accountancy Manager for our practice management, with

everything integrated with the main Xero accounts. Accountancy Manager is the best practice management offering out there, in my opinion, and works perfectly with Xero. If we raise a bill in Xero it appears in Accountancy Manager and you have that brilliant integration between both solutions. We had a lot of initial questions and feature requests for the Accountancy Manager team when we first started, but ‘out of the box’ it can do all the things we need as a practice. We use it mainly for holding client

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8 XU Biweekly | No. 6

Features

Monday 31 May 2021

Billing Automation - It’s a Win-Win!

How to overcome the obstacles your practice will face in Spring 2021 More challenges lie ahead – here’s what you can do to take action By Caroline Plumb

By Paul Dundas

N AUTOMATED BILLING PLATFORM LIKE EMERSION WILL HELP YOUR TEAM TO MANAGE COMPLEX BILLING PROCESSES WHILE ALSO HELPING YOUR CLIENTS TO IMPROVE PROFITABILITY AND REDUCE CASH FLOW VOLATILITY. If you’ve ever worked with MSPs, telcos or utility providers, you’ll have an idea of just how difficult it can be to manage complex billing through Xero. This often means manually adding usage and pro-rata charges to invoices, which is time consuming and can lead to errors. The larger the customer base, the more difficult this is to manage. This is where a business automation platform like Emersion can help. Emersion can take the stress out of your billing process. By synchronising with Xero in real time, we are able to automate the entire accounts receivable process including invoice generation and payment collection. This will save time and reduce the need for costly re-work. At the same time, we’ll help your clients to improve profitability, lower their operating costs, reduce volatility in their cash flow and minimise their exposure to reseller debts. It’s a win-win! Here’s how we do it:

Improved cash flow through billing automation Emersion automates the entire billing process from receiving and processing usage, to pro-rata charges calculation, invoice generation, payment processing, reconciliation and collections. This minimises the work for accounting and bookkeeping teams and means that your clients’ bill runs

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will go out on time, every time. Automated collections notifications reduce your clients’ average invoice payment time and can even automatically apply late payment fees to encourage prompt payment of all accounts. Emersion bills in real time and supports sending multiple invoices for the one payment period, so your clients can charge for ad hoc services when they happen and any other subscription services at the end of the billing period. At the same time, they can opt for shorter billing periods often leading to improved cash flow.

Minimise exposure to reseller debts Often when a company is reselling services (such as voice, data or energy), they are liable for any usage charges, regardless of whether their end users have paid their invoices. Emersion’s service management functionality helps to minimise your clients’ exposure to reseller debts. With service management, your clients’ can limit this exposure by setting a maximum amount of time that an invoice can remain unpaid before the service is suspended. If the end-user has failed to make a payment by this point in time their service is automatically marked as suspended until payment is made and no further usage fees can be generated.

Lower operating costs through business automation Emersion can automate entire business processes...

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AROLINE PLUMB, FOUNDER AND CEO AT FLUIDLY, OFFERS PRACTICAL SOLUTIONS TO THE BIGGEST CHALLENGES YOUR PRACTICE WILL FACE IN THE MONTHS AHEAD. Do you remember when it was just the occasional government announcement you had to worry about? Big new initiatives, like Making Tax Digital, popped up every now and then, but you had enough time to get your head around them before they came into effect. The last 12 months couldn’t have been more different. Countless schemes, unlike anything that has come before and with ever-changing criteria, have been launched at an astonishing and sometimes overwhelming rate. For the first time, clients are listening to the Chancellor’s Budget speech too. While the worst of the pandemic is hopefully now behind us, most industries are still dealing with the after-effects of the first wave of upheaval. Employee morale, the pros and cons of remote working, new ways of interacting with customers – you probably already know what will shape the months ahead for your practice. So here’s a few tactics to get on top of these challenges and ensure your firm doesn’t get left behind.

Looking after your team Accountants have gone above and beyond, saving thousands of businesses from the brink of collapse, but they haven’t had the recognition they deserve or the time to properly recharge. With so many of your team on the edge of exhaustion, how can you ensure staff remain happy and supported? Employee wellbeing is like company culture – it starts at the top. So make sure managers are properly trained, doing regular 1:1s with direct reports and in a position to catch issues before they get worse. Health benefits platforms like Vitality can play a big part here, by providing discounted access to mindfulness apps and online mental health support services. Simple things can have a big impact too. Doing something to say thank you, like a free food delivery from Deliveroo or Uber Eats, can make staff feel appreciated. HR tools can also be useful, by helping you monitor whether staff are taking advantage of annual leave, so you can bring it up and set the right example.

A profitable and competitive practice Like your clients, you’ve probably introduced new ways to cut costs and make money over the last 12 months. Perhaps you’re paying less rent – through downsizing, renegotiating your lease or dispensing with your office space altogether. Maybe the cash coming in has changed too, if you’ve settled on a new pricing model or a different way of charging clients. With more accountants offering support online and bundling their services in similar ways, the playing field between practices has been levelled. Traditionally, business owners in London would probably turn to accountants in their local area. But now, what’s to stop them from hiring advisers in Newcastle, Newport, or anywhere else in the country? After all, most of their interactions are going to be over the phone anyway.

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FinTech News

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Atom bank starts lending under the Recovery Loan Scheme

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E’RE BRINGING FX FORWARDS TO THE MASSES AND REVOLUTIONISING CURRENCY FORWARD CONTRACTS, BUT WHAT ARE THEY? BUSINESSES WHO TRADE INTERNATIONALLY CAN FIX THEIR FOREIGN EXCHANGE RATES (FX) FOR A SET AMOUNT AND DATE IN THE FUTURE TO MINIMISE THE RISK FROM MARKET MOVEMENT. A WORLDFIRST FOR FINTECH APPS, OUR FX FORWARDS FEATURE LETS BUSINESSES OF ANY SIZE GET A CONTRACT WITH US. DO IT ALL FROM OUR WEB APP WITH NO PHONE CALLS NEEDED AND ALWAYS BENEFIT FROM OUR EXCELLENT EXCHANGE RATES.

Set your fixed future FX rates online, 24/7 All our business customers who apply for currency forward contracts can do everything online in the Revolut Business web app. You’ll never need to call us, ever, so we won’t slow you down

while you’re planning your business finances. It’s easy to manage you contracts too, you can book and view all your contracts anytime and anywhere you want, straight from your dashboard in the web app.

Save money with great FX rates We’re known industry-wide for our great FX rates that save you money on exchanges, now you can fix them in the future too with our FX Forward contracts. Plus, don’t forget you can also save by exchanging money in more than 28 currencies, as well as spend like a local all over the world with debit cards at our excellent FX rates.

Manage market risk with us Our business customers get a great fixed FX rate for a set amount and date in the future, so you can manage your business and cash flow in the present. Our FX Forwards contracts mean you’ll know exactly what you’ll get

in the future, whatever way the market moves. Then it’s a flat 0.8% for all future exchanges for UK customers on company plans.

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OLLOWING ACCREDITATION BY THE BRITISH BUSINESS BANK, ATOM HAS TODAY STARTED TO OFFER QUOTES ON ITS AWARD WINNING SECURED LENDING PRODUCTS UNDER THE RECOVERY LOAN SCHEME (RLS). HAVING BEEN ONE OF THE LEADING PROVIDERS OF BROKER-LED SECURED LENDING TO NEW AND EXISTING CUSTOMERS UNDER THE CORONAVIRUS BUSINESS INTERRUPTION LOAN SCHEME (CBILS), ATOM’S ACCREDITATION FOR RLS CONFIRMS THE BANK’S CONTINUING SUPPORT FOR BUSINESSES ACROSS THE UK. RLS gives UK businesses access to finance as they recover and grow following the COVID-19 pandemic, with funding that can be used for managing cashflow, investment, and growth. Through RLS, Atom will offer secured loans from £250,000 up to £5m, subject to eligibility criteria, via its network of 200+ independent brokers across the UK.

Set up FX Forwards in a few taps • Book a contract in any combination of GBP, USD and EUR up to three months in advance • Choose your contract type by agreeing when and how you drawdown with fixed or flexible...

Atom has built a business lending book of over £725m and the Durham-based mortgage and business lender finished the last financial year with income well above business plan, and a Net Interest Margin in excess of 110 basis points.

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With simple, transparent and competitively priced secured business lending products, and a history of lending to UK SMEs since 2016, Atom has invested in a programme of Open Banking and automation capabilities as it seeks to deliver a further £1bn in business lending over the next...

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Stripe acquires Bouncer to help businesses with fraud prevention

TRIPE, A GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY COMPANY THAT BUILDS ECONOMIC INFRASTRUCTURE FOR THE INTERNET, ANNOUNCED TODAY IT HAS ACQUIRED BOUNCER, A COMPANY BUILDING CARD AUTHENTICATION TECHNOLOGY TO REDUCE FRAUD DURING ONLINE TRANSACTIONS. Bouncer’s team and technology will join Stripe to further enhance the capabilities of Radar, Stripe’s powerful, machine-learning-based fraud prevention tool. Bouncer’s card scanning and risk technology is used to help online businesses reduce fraud and authenticate cards. Bouncer will be integrated into Stripe Radar, a fraud prevention tool whose machine learning models are trained on purchases made at millions of companies around the world every day. Radar is fully integrated into

Stripe’s payments platform. When it identifies a specific transaction as high risk, Radar will use Bouncer’s card scanning and verification technology to confirm that an end customer has a legitimate card in their hands at the time of the purchase. This extra layer of protection will reduce false positives among potentially high risk transactions. “Bouncer is a great tool for modern internet businesses. It allows them to quickly identify stolen cards, while also ensuring legitimate customers can transact without being blocked,” said Simon Arscott, business lead for Stripe Radar. “We’re thrilled to welcome the Bouncer team, and their years of experience building payment authentication software for businesses, to Stripe and to enable their technology for Radar users.

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