XU Biweekly - Issue 8 - 26th July 2020 by XU Magazine

Monday 28 June 2021 | No. 8

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

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Revolut trebles gross profit in 2020 as adjusted revenues surge by 57% and customer numbers jump by 45%

HE FINANCIAL SUPERAPP, REVOLUT, TODAY RELEASED ITS ANNUAL REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDING 31 DECEMBER 2020, REVEALING STRONG FINANCIAL METRICS WHICH RESULTED FROM CONTINUED CUSTOMER ADOPTION AND ENGAGEMENT WITH REVOLUT’S PRODUCTS, INVESTMENTS IN PRODUCT INNOVATION AND TIGHT COST CONTROL.

Award-winning banking platform Novo recently surpassed $1 billion in lifetime transactions; will use $40.2 Series A funding to introduce new capabilities that will help small businesses save time and money

OVO, THE POWERFULLY SIMPLE SMALL BUSINESS BANKING PLATFORM, TODAY ANNOUNCED THAT THE COMPANY HAS RAISED A $40.7M SERIES A FUNDING. VALAR VENTURES LED THE ROUND, WITH PARTICIPATION FROM CROSSLINK CAPITAL, RAINFALL VENTURES, RED SEA VENTURES, AND BOXGROUP. “The modern-day online small business owner expects a digital banking platform to offer more than a well-designed interface — they want a robust, centralized, and nofee application that offers true value-add to how they manage their money,” said Michael Rangel, CEO and co-founder of Novo. “Small businesses across the U.S. have chosen Novo because our team has built a digital banking platform that makes everyday financial tasks a breeze — from creating invoices and receiving payments to connecting their accounts with other tools their businesses need to operate like Stripe, Shopify, Square, and more.” Since launching in 2018, more than 100,000 small businesses have opened a Novo account. In 2021, Novo surpassed $1 billion in lifetime transactions, announced a

number of new features, opened a new office in Miami, and grew its leadership team. The company was also named both CNBC’s Best Business Checking Accounts of March 2021 and Money Magazine’s Best Business Checking Accounts of 2021. “The ability of the Novo team to grow the company rapidly during a year where businesses have faced unprecedented challenges is impressive,” said Andrew McCormack, founding partner at Valar Ventures. “Novo tripled its small business customer base in the first half of 2021! Their custom infrastructure and banking platform put them in prime position to expand their services at an even faster pace as we come out of the health crisis. All of us at Valar Ventures are excited to join this team.” Novo will use its $40.7M Series A funding to continue building out a best-in-class platform for small business banking, with a focus on helping business owners simplify their finances and optimize their cash flow. Novo currently has more than 60 employees, with plans on more than doubling its headcount over the next year. “Novo’s robust and flexible underlying...

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Revolut’s customer base continued to grow strongly reaching 14.5m personal customers and 500,000 Revolut Business customers by the year end, despite the decision to forgo marketing spend during the pandemic. This strong growth in personal and business customers numbers, driven by the increased diversity of our product offering and an enhanced appetite for digital financial management helped push adjusted revenue up by 57% year on year, to £261m by the year end (2019: £166m), an increase of £95m. While COVID-19 reduced payments volumes from March onwards, this was more than offset by growth in Subscriptions,

GL CORPORATE SOLUTIONS, AUSTRALIA'S LEADING SUPPLIER OF SMSF ADMINISTRATION AND ASIC COMPANY COMPLIANCE SOLUTIONS, IS PROUD TO ANNOUNCE THE RELEASE OF CAS 360, OUR MARKET LEADING CORPORATE COMPLIANCE SOLUTION, IN SINGAPORE. The addition of Singapore to BGL’s CAS 360 Product means we are now providing our cloud based corporate compliance solu-

ISSN 2054-7234

9 772054 723006

ACRA into CAS 360 - another first for CAS 360. “The CAS 360, Dev Ops, Integrations and API Teams have been working hard over the past few months to build CAS 360 Singapore,” said BGL Managing Director Ron Lesh. “We are proud to announce the BETA version has been released to our clients and the Singapore corporate service provider (CSP) network. While our CAS Desktop product has been...

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tion in 3 jurisdictions - Australia, New Zealand and Singapore - with more to come in 2022. “CAS 360 is a game changer in Singapore,” says BGL Managing Director Ron Lesh. “It is the first company secretarial solution to be approved by the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) in Singapore for the electronic filing of company Annual Returns. CAS 360 Singapore also provides a connected service allowing clients to download company data directly from

Time is valuable, let’s give you some of it back! Monday 28 June 2021

Wealth & Trading and Revolut Business. Adjusted revenue in the second half of the year was 41% higher than in the first half. The company continued its progress towards profitability as investments in product innovation helped accelerate daily use and progress towards long term profitability. Gross profits increased by 215% from £39m in 2019 to £123m in 2020. Gross margin improved by 24 percentage points from 25% in 2019 to 49% in 2020.

New Apps & Updates

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Monday 28 June 2021

NEW XERO CONNECTED APPS! Wise-sync's industry-first integration empowers ConnectWise Manage users to auto-sync without lifting a finger

UR INDUSTRY-FIRST INTEGRATION EMPOWERS YOU TO AUTO-SYNC WITHOUT LIFTING A FINGER. SIMPLY CREATE AN INVOICE IN CONNECTWISE MANAGE, CLOSE IT, AND BY THE TIME YOUR CUSTOMER RECEIVES THE INVOICE - IT’S ALREADY IN YOUR ACCOUNTING PLATFORM (XERO OR QUICKBOOKS ONLINE).

GL CORPORATE SOLUTIONS, AUSTRALIA'S LEADING SUPPLIER OF SMSF ADMINISTRATION AND ASIC COMPANY COMPLIANCE SOLUTIONS, IS PROUD TO ANNOUNCE THE RELEASE OF ITS NEW INVESTMENT PORTFOLIO SOLUTION, SIMPLE INVEST 360.

No more waiting, and no more having to click a sync button. Instead, instantly sync...

This newest addition to BGL Product Suite provides a portfolio management solution for trusts, companies and individuals. The kind of efficiency we’ve seen clients achieve in their SMSF processing with Simple Fund 360, can now be achieved for trusts, companies and individuals. Simple Invest 360 uses the same award-winning proven technology that powers Simple Fund 360, Australia’s #1 SMSF administration solution. “I am incredibly proud to be in a...

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WEBINAR: Introducing Real-Time Sync. Register: Australia & North America

XU BIWEEKLY - No. 8 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 Editorial Assistant: Kacey Wright 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.

JUNE EDITION: WHAT'S NEW FROM REVOLUT BUSINESS By Elizabeth McGrath

RE YOU READY TO JUMPSTART JUNE? BECAUSE WE SURE ARE. THE WORLD IS OPENING UP A BIT MORE AND WE HOPE THAT – IF YOU CAN – YOU’RE ENJOYING A RETURN TO BUSINESS AS USUAL. WE’VE GOT SOME EXCITING UPDATES TO HELP YOU GROW AND MANAGE ALL THINGS BUSINESS FROM ONE PLACE. START THE SUMMER RIGHT AND TAKE THEM FOR A SPIN!

Introducing FX Forwards Last month, we launched FX Forwards, bringing...

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OPHISTICATED AUTOMATED APPROVAL WORKFLOWS ARE GREAT, BUT WHAT HAPPENS WHEN ONE OF THE APPROVERS LEAVES YOUR ORGANISATION? NOW, WE HAVE THE ANSWER.

TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR JOB CARD, ASSET AND JOB FORM TEMPLATES

2Shakes June 2021 Update

IND OUT WHAT THE TEAM HAVE BEEN WORKING ON, AND WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT TO SEE IN THE UPCOMING WEEKS IN THIS JUNE 2021 UPDATE!

Coming soon: 2Shakes Referral Program Do you love 2Shakes and think everyone should be using it? We want to reward you! We really appreciate how many of you tell other businesses about 2Shakes. We understand how valuable a referral from an existing customer can be, so...

HE LATEST SIMPRO UPDATE WILL START ROLLING OUT FROM MONDAY 14TH JUNE AND PROVIDES YOU WITH THE ABILITY TO: • Design forms for jobs, assets and job cards that better meet your business’ needs. • Complete Square payments faster using prepopulated address details. • View more details on your Reverse Tax Charge reports (UK).

Manage Job Cards, Asset and Job forms using Form Builder Find out more

When do you need user offboarding?

When an ApprovalMax user leaves, you’ll need to adjust the workflows accordingly. Previously, this process was potentially a complex one – especially if that person was deeply involved in one or more approval processes. You first had to delete this user from the ApprovalMax organisation and then go over every single workflow...

ITH EVERY LITTLE PIECE OF VALUABLE INFORMATION IN THE CLOUD DEPENDING ON GOOD SECURITY MECHANISMS, IT’S SMART TO TAKE EXTRA STEPS TO PROTECT YOUR TEAM’S AND CUSTOMERS’ DATA WITHOUT SACRIFICING USER EXPERIENCE. AFTER THIS PRODUCT UPDATE, YOU CAN DO EXACTLY THAT BY INTEGRATING YOUR PREFERRED SINGLE SIGNON PLATFORM WITH SCORO.

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AU, IE, NZ, ZA & UK - OnRent by inspHire is a cloud hire management software for small to medium businesses in the construction and general tool industries, accessible on any device, from anywhere. From creating rental orders and checking equipment availability, to equipment maintenance and invoicing, OnRent handles it all. Pay-as-you-go, easy to use, simple to setup and developed by market leaders.

Introducing proper user offboarding

June 2021 Version Update

Plus, from now on, effortlessly set up team meetings with clear insight into your team’s schedule and resource availability. And define your team’s workflows with increased flexibility and granularity with the help of new permissions.

ONRENT

What’s New in Jirav: June 2021

By Blake Oliver, CPA

HIS MONTH, THE R&D TEAM HAS BEEN HARD AT WORK MAKING USER EXPERIENCE IMPROVEMENTS ACROSS THE JIRAV APP: • Dashboard charts look better with less white space • Add/Edit/Clone Standard Drivers across modules • Feature announcements inside the app

• New KPI: % Salary by Department / Role • Miscellaneous user interface enhancements Let’s dive in!

ODAY, WE’RE EXCITED TO LAUNCH A NEW PLATFORM SPECIFICALLY FOR BOOKKEEPERS. IT’S THE FIRST TIME WE HAVE TAILORED OUR DEBTOR MANAGEMENT SOLUTION TO FOCUS ON A PARTICULAR BUSINESS MARKET. A growing list of bookkeeping customers prompted Debtor Daddy CEO and co-founder Matt McFedries to develop ‘Debtor Daddy for Bookkeepers’. “Until now it’s been difficult for bookkeepers to offer a complete debtor management service to their cli-

By Allanah Miller

HIS MONTH, FATHOM ARE DELIVERING MORE THREE-WAY FORECASTING FLEXIBILITY, AND WE’RE THRILLED TO ANNOUNCE THAT YOU CAN NOW CREATE AND UPDATE DRIVER VALUES WITH AN EXCEL IMPORT. A driver-based approach to planning allows you to forecast performance using your key operational drivers (ie. resources, activities, or other inputs).

Dashboard charts look better with less white space Don’t like to see unnecessary white space in your dashboard tiles? Neither do we!

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Introducing Debtor Daddy for Bookkeepers

By Lucy Pink

New: Effortless driver creation with new Excel import

ents,” McFedries said. “Bookkeepers often ask their clients to manage debtor processes themselves or offer a basic solution using automated email reminders and monthly statements with occasional calls, usually at the client’s request. This is mainly due to the manual nature of the job and the lack of technology to make it automated and scalable.”

SATAGO LAUNCHES FULL INVOICE FINANCE

ATAGO HAS LAUNCHED FULL INVOICE FINANCE, THE NEW WAY TO FUND AND GROW YOUR BUSINESS. NOW YOU CAN UNLOCK CASH FROM YOUR INVOICES WITH EVEN FASTER APPROVAL AND COMPETITIVE RATES. Sinead McHale, CEO of Satago says: “We’re delighted to offer our customers the choice of Single or Full Invoice Finance. Our aim is to cater to our customers’ needs and provide them with the funding that’s right for them. Helping them ease cashflow, build their business and plan for the future...

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News

XU Biweekly | No. 8

Monday 28 June 2021 3

The home of XU Magazine and XU Biweekly

XU Hub is now live on Apple News! Fieldays 2021: Connecting with the NZ agri community

MERSION IS HAPPY TO REPORT THAT SCOTT BARNSLEY HAS JOINED US THIS WEEK AS OUR NEW SOFTWARE ENGINEERING MANAGER. IN THIS HIGHLY IMPACTFUL ROLE, SCOTT WILL BE TAKING THE HELM OF OUR GROWING DEVELOPMENT TEAM AND HELPING US TO SCALE UP OUR OPERATIONS. Scott has a passion for building and training engineering teams, and leading them towards achieving amazing results, his track record speaks for itself in that regard. He’s been a leader in the IT/software space for the last decade, previously leading the software engineering and IT teams at Melbourne-based hardware MSP Amtek Corporation, developing fully bespoke systems as well as managing business IT operations. Scott’s leadership and development work supported the company through sub-

Looking after wellbeing on the farm Life on the farm often comes with a lot of pressure and uncertainty. With so many jobs to get done and long hours adding up, wellbeing is not always front of mind. Wellbeing is a key component of happiness and our workplace plays a big part in building personal resilience. At Fieldays, to inspire people to connect with each other and spark dialogue around how they’re feeling, we created mood badges which used weather icons as a way of showing how people were feeling. Just like...

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XSBI data shows mixed performances for small businesses in May

HAT’S A WRAP FOR FIELDAYS 2021! XERO HAS BEEN A BIG SUPPORTER OF FIELDAYS FOR A NUMBER OF YEARS, AND WE WERE THRILLED THAT WE COULD COME TOGETHER IN PERSON FOR THIS EVENT. After an incredibly tough year in 2020, we wanted to emphasise to the agri community the importance of looking after yourself and your team. That’s why we chose the theme of wellbeing to underpin our activity at Fieldays this year.

stantial growth and helped them to be competitive in the hardware support and repair service industry. Scott has also been self-employed as a Principal Engineering Consultant, providing engineering and IT solutions as well as developing an array of software solutions fit to be sold off-the-shelf to businesses. He even recently developed a ticketing and integration system for the legal industry, in which he saw potential for a lot of improvements in tailored software. Apart from all things software and IT, Scott gets outdoors with motorbike riding, hiking, surfing, playing basketball and enjoys trying a glass or two of a new whiskey. We’re looking forward to working with Scott and having his expertise lead the dev team,

By Rachael Powell

T’S BEEN OVER A YEAR SINCE THE PANDEMIC BROUGHT ABOUT CHANGES THAT NO ONE COULD HAVE EXPECTED. MANY SMALL BUSINESSES HAVE ADAPTED IN DIFFERENT WAYS TO SURVIVE. HOWEVER, NEW LOCKDOWNS AND ONGOING RESTRICTIONS CONTINUE TO IMPACT THEIR RECOVERY, PARTICULARLY IN THE HOSPITALITY AND ARTS AND RECREATION INDUSTRIES. As we look at the Xero

Small Business Insights (XSBI) data for May, we are starting to see some encouraging signs for small businesses, particularly in sales growth. However, Xero’s Small Business Index – part of XSBI – shows the bumpy road continues across the UK, Australia and New Zealand. For the month of May, the Index rose in Australia, fell in New Zealand, and remained steady in the UK. Australia’s Index hit an all time high since records began in January 2017, of 132 in May, the fifth consecutive month of overall above

average performance. But, as the lockdown in Victoria saw restrictions return and the New Zealand/Victoria travel bubble paused for a short period from 27 May, we won’t know the impact of this until we see the June data. The trans-Tasman bubble between Australia and New Zealand opened in mid-April and it’s encouraging to see the May data reflect an improvement in sales and jobs for the previously struggling hospitality industry in both regions.

CB WAS CROWNED ACCOUNTANCY BODY OF THE YEAR WHILST ICB TV WON THE INNOVATION IN ACCOUNTANCY AWARD AT THE 18TH ANNUAL PQ AWARDS... At just 25 years young, ICB snatched the hotly-contested honour from the hands of the centennial chartered bodies, ICAEW, ICAS and ACCA, in what was a unique moment in the 18-year history of the PQ Awards. To be named Accountancy Body of the Year is a significant and well-deserved achievement that points to the strength of a bookkeeping profession that has truly shown its worth over the last year of pandemic-induced disruption and uncertainty. The vast technological shifts that have transformed the accountancy profession in recent years have enabled a new generation of bookkeepers to flourish. The...

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Features

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Monday 28 June 2021

SPOTTED ON LINKEDIN...

Cut your ATO document processing time by over 90% Meet your TFN privacy obligations AND communicate proactively with clients? It’s possible with ATOmate! By Stan Corner

UTOMATING REPETITIVE PROCESSES IS ONE OF THE EASIEST WAYS YOU CAN CREATE CAPACITY IN YOUR PRACTICE, STREAMLINE AND SYSTEMISE YOUR EXISTING PROCESSES, AND REDUCE THE ERRORS AND DELAYS THAT INEVITABLY COME WITH MANUALLY COMPLETING THESE CUMBERSOME TASKS. AND IS THERE ANYTHING MORE CLUNKY THAN MANAGING THE CONSTANT STREAM OF CLIENT CORRESPONDENCE FROM THE ATO? As ATO systems and communication channels become increasingly digital and direct, it has never been more important for practices to be able to process, review, and distribute ATO notices to clients efficiently and effectively. Yet the administrative burden in doing so comes at a cost – countless hours spent manually filing, cross checking, and communicating what matters (like payment amounts and due dates) are taking you and your team away from value added tasks and services. You are likely already using a suite of cloud-based apps and streamlined processes to run your practice and leverage

your use of Xero, but do you really know what is involved when it comes to managing your ATO documents?

What does your ATO document management process look like? For a typical accounting practice, processing ATO documents generally involves: • Receive ATO notices in the mail, manually sort into batches based on correspondence type; • Compare each notice or statement against the estimation in Xero Tax and Xero Practice Manager; • Manually redact / erase Tax File Numbers for all notices; • Prepare correspondence to email or post to clients, manually pulling contact details from Xero; • File everything against your client in your document management system as a complete record of the communication; • Repeat for notices received via the Tax Agent Portal, manually downloading each statement; • Field queries about notices clients have received direct to their myGov inbox (including why it bypassed you altogether!).

ATO document management is costing you more than time A task that really should be completed each day to ensure swift communication with clients can quickly consume an entire morning (or day during peak lodgement times!) taking your client service team and even accountants themselves away from more valuable practice and client-focused activities. Not to mention the potential for human error that can occur at multiple points throughout the process and the impact that can have on your clients: a missed TFN redaction, or a notice sent to an incorrect email address could lead to a privacy breach, client-wide notification, and some difficult conversations.

The automated solution to ATO document processing The good news is that this is no longer an administrative burden you must bear. ATOmate is an innovative automation platform that combines cutting edge robotic process automation technology with AI to cut your ATO document management, processing...

Updates from Xero B

What we’ve been working on...

By Steve Vamos

UILDING ON OUR COMMITMENT TO SINGAPORE SMALL BUSINESSES AND PARTNERS. We recently announced the introduction of localised billing for our subscribers in Singapore, as part of our commitment to helping small businesses and their advisors in the region. From July, customers and partners in Singapore will enjoy a seamless, transparent billing experience when paying for their subscriptions. This will remove the need for customers to consider fluctuations in the USD/SGD currency exchange every month. It’s one of many enhancements to be announced this year, and part of our continued growth in the region. Since opening our Singapore office in 2016, Xero has invested in enhancing our product suite for local customers. Some of the work we’ve done to bolster our of-

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

fering in Singapore includes: To support Xero partners, we have added: • Singapore Report Templates, making it easy for partners to generate financial statements that are compliant with Singapore financial reporting standards • Singapore Chart of Accounts templates, saving partners time when onboarding new clients into Xero Small businesses are the backbone of Singapore and the future of the economy. We’re continuing to work closely with the small business community, advisors and the Singapore Government to remove friction, create new opportunities and enable our subscribers to grow and thrive.

Global Upload COA templates in CSV format to Xero HQ

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We’ve made it even easier for accountants and bookkeepers to customise their Chart of Accounts (COA) templates in Xero HQ. They can now upload an existing COA template in a CSV format to their template library. The template will be automatically mapped to Xero account codes, helping onboard new clients faster, without creating a new COA template from scratch.

Making reports more beautiful in Xero HQ We’ve given the Report Styles page in Xero HQ a facelift. This makes it easier for accountants or bookkeepers to upload their practice logo and choose the title colour that will appear on new published reports.

View all bank rules in one place Setting up bank rules helps businesses reconcile...

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6 XU Biweekly | No. 8

Features

Monday 28 June 2021

5 Steps to Maximising Your Accounting Tech-Stack with Spotlight Reporting By Thomas White

VER THE YEARS, I’VE SEEN MANY FIRMS FAIL TO MAXIMISE THE ROI ON THEIR ACCOUNTING TECH-STACK DUE TO ONE KEY REASON: LACK OF UTILISATION. IT’S AN ISSUE I’VE SEEN CROP UP TIME AND TIME AGAIN, AND THERE ARE FOUR MAIN FACTORS BEHIND IT: • Wanting an Immediate Fix: Firms expect accounting tech to solve problems immediately, without them investing any time or effort into learning to use the software efficiently. • Single use: Tech is purchased to solve a single problem, rather than for all the processes it can optimise. • Lack of awareness: Firms don’t see or understand the full capabilities of their tech-stack, leading to technology being underutilised. • Unrealistic expectations: accountants expect their software to be plug-andplay, which it often isn’t.

If lack of utilisation is a challenge for your accounting firm, here are five steps to help you make the most of your accounting techstack.

1) Start with ‘Why’ Why are you investing in software? What problems are you trying to solve? What opportunities can you take advantage of? Before you implement any tech solutions, knowing your Why is essential to ensure you also get maximum ROI. But it’s only one half of the equation – the other half is being prepared to put in the time and resources into incorporating your new tech product into your internal systems. Software is an enabler—people and processes provide solutions to problems. Technology enables this to happen, but won’t do it all for you.

2) Find solutions that will solve multiple problems Many accounting firms begin their search by look-

ing for technology that only solves one specific problem. This isn’t the best approach—by focusing on a single issue, firms fail to invest in software that solves multiple problems at once. Write a list of all your problems, group them into themes, and get really clear on what you need to solve Take a holistic approach to each option, and evaluate what opportunities it’ll afford you. Having a full understanding of what software tools can do before you start your journey will save you time and money in the long run.

3) Train your team Implementing a new piece of software isn’t just a case of making a purchase, and then presenting it to your teams. You’ll need to empower your teams with the time and resources to learn the technology, train their peers, and share their successes. What’s the end goal? Who is in charge of getting you there? Are there training

programs you can participate in? Many software suppliers offer things like kickstart calls and certifications, to help you on your journey. Reach out to your accounting software provider and take advantage of any training options available. Finally, don’t focus on the people you feel should

be driving the change based on title or seniority. Instead, allow anyone who is excited about the new opportunity to lead the charge. They’re more likely to be successful than someone who’s an unwilling participant.

4) Educate consistently

SaaS companies are constantly improving their products—so you should be continually updating how you use them. Subscribe to product marketing updates, ask for product training sessions, and set aside time each week to incorporate...

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PROPEL YOUR PRACTICE FORWARD WITH SMARTER CLOUD PRACTICE MANAGEMENT FROM WOLTERS KLUWER By Rakesh Naidu

ISSUE 27 OUT NOW!

XU magazine

HE SERVICES THAT ACCOUNTING FIRMS OFFER ARE MOSTLY PROCESS-HEAVY, PEOPLE INTENSIVE, AND DATA-LADEN WITH EXACTING STANDARDS, AND OFTEN CHANGING TAX CHANGES. AND FOR EVERY JOB, THE ACCOUNTING PROFESSIONAL MUST BE 100% ACCURATE.

says Rakesh Naidu, Head of Product for Professional Software at Wolters Kluwer Tax & Accounting Asia Pacific. “With firms dealing with hundreds, even thousands of tasks across the business, a practice management system keeps everything organised and everyone on the same page.”

When internal procedures are not streamlined, firms are burdened with additional non-billable work. Add in the challenges of remote working, legacy systems, and unforeseen change – this can result in a significant decrease in each fee-earning employee’s potential billable hours. Client and staff turnover are also put at risk. Every forward-looking Practice Owner or Partner benefits from a single source of truth for resource allocation, jobs, time, billing, and communications. For firms, the right practice management solution helps everyone work smarter, communicate better, and boosts the firm’s bottom line. “Choosing the right practice management solution is critical to increasing productivity and gaining a competitive edge,”

In recent years practice management software has adapted rapidly in response to the growing focus on the digital transformation of businesses worldwide. The pandemic lockdowns, and remote working, are accelerating its benefit globally. “Firms need to be nimble and have the ability to connect and collaborate seamlessly with clients online,” says Rakesh Naidu. With a cloud-based practice management solution, everyone with permission to access the platform can do so at any time, from anywhere, providing a single source of truth and a central repository of mission-critical information. It acts as a hub around which a firm can organise and...

Connect and collaborate

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8 XU Biweekly | No. 8

Features

Xero & GoCardless: Putting an end to late payments

infoodle: Why would your charity client need a CRM? By Aukje Smith

NY SUCCESSFUL N OT- F O R - P R O F I T ORGANISATION REQUIRES RELIABLE TOOLS THAT HELP EXECUTE THEIR STRATEGY, MEET GOALS AND CREATE AN IMPACT. WHILE THERE’S AN ARRAY OF VARIOUS SYSTEMS THAT COULD BE OF HELP, THE MOST VALUABLE ONE IS UNDENIABLY A CRM - CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE THAT HELPS CHARITIES STREAMLINE AND SIMPLIFY THEIR PROCESSES, SAVE TIME SPENT ON ADMIN AND TAKE CARE OF THEIR COMMUNITY BETTER. The most important component of running a nonprofit organisation is to be able to build strong relationships with people, which is why it might be wise to invest in a software solution for managing your customers’ data and consistently keeping in touch with them. A secure cloud-based CRM system can help with achieving that and more, bringing all your admin operations into one place! In today’s article we are discussing three essential components to look for in a CRM:

Contact Management A software solution for collecting and storing your members’ contact information is vital for the success of your organisation. Having a CRM tool allows you to centralise your data, access it from anywhere and manage it more efficiently. Creating groups and segments is one excellent way of managing different tiers or types of members. In addition, the system allows you to run custom reports to see

Monday 28 June 2021

By Rachel Astall

HY DOES THE ISSUE OF LATE PAYMENT EXIST AT ALL?

your members involvement with your organisation, add private notes to individual or household profiles, and see the history of communication, making it easier to understand your members and how to best serve them. Finally, a CRM also works as a project management system that allows you to create task lists, set up reminders and build workflows to keep your processes well organised and make sure no important deadlines get forgotten and no one falls through the cracks.

Communication Tools Communication in the context of not-for-profit organisations can serve multiple purposes, such as growing a community of supporters, advocacy, or fundraising. To save time, it is a great idea to utilise the communication tool in your CRM that gives you an opportunity to send out bulk emails. You no longer need to email every person individually - the email service inserts the right salutation and sends it to your entire membership with just one click. Alternatively, you can email a segment of your audience keeping your com-

munication more relevant. Some CRM tools now provide you with beautiful and customisable templates for emails and campaigns to keep your communication on brand. However, the most important feature is access to analytics where you can check how many people read your emails and what links they click on, which helps create better content for your communication emails. Consistently keeping in touch with your stakeholders is paramount, and a good CRM can help you not only design, but also automate your communications, making the whole process more efficient.

Finance Tracking Depending on the type of your organisation, you might need tools to help manage the collection of donations or pledges, produce statements and invoices, and generate reports. The easiest way to do it is to keep using your CRM since all information on your donors’ profiles is already there. The reporting tool comes in handy here as well, helping you discover lapsed...

Some view it as a question of psychology. Your customers might be busy, forgetful or at worst, selfish. The smarter way is to view it as a question of technology. Then can you solve the problem of late payments at its source - payments themselves I sat down with Xero’s Director of Global Financial Partnerships, Ben Johnson, to talk about how small businesses should make their payments solutions work better for them, and how Xero’s new integration with GoCardless benefits Xero users.

The number one reason small businesses fail Ben doesn’t mince words when it comes to the biggest threat facing small businesses. “The number one reason small businesses fail is poor cash flow. To effectively manage cash flow, it’s critically important that small businesses have an efficient process in place to get paid.” “The number one reason small businesses fail is poor cash flow.” When you don’t have an efficient process in place to get paid, the resulting late payment has a knock-on impact on your cash flow. Xero’s Small Business Insights in the UK show small businesses were paid on average 6.6 days late, as at March 2021. When you have staff and suppliers to pay, consistently getting paid this late creates problems. So what’s the solution? You could view it as a problem of psychology and go down the communications route. This can be effective, but it doesn’t address the source of the problem - your customers can only pay late because you’re giving them the option

to. At the core of the late payments problem are the methods you use to collect payment. Manual bank transfer - the de facto default way many businesses collect payments leaves you with zero control of getting paid on time, putting it entirely in the hands of your customers. “Customers who use online invoice payment platforms like GoCardless get paid up to twice as fast as those who don’t.” Addressing the source of late payments requires choosing the right payments platform. Ben explains that Xero’s data shows customers who use online invoice payment platforms like GoCardless get paid up to twice as fast as those who don’t. “Using the right invoice payment solution can save time, and importantly get money into the business faster. It’s a really foundational part of improving cash flow. It’s also a very practical step that a business owner can take to improve the health of their business.”

The payment method that gives you back control Direct Debit is a household name in the UK, Australia and New Zealand, but it’s often pigeonholed as a payment method for things like utility bills, magazine subscriptions, or gym memberships. This is an unfortunately dated view that seems to hang around. Direct Debit and its equivalents around the world, such as ACH debit in the US, are the solution to the source of late payments for businesses of many more kinds. Unlike manual bank transfers, Direct Debit payments don’t rely on your...

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TARLING, THE LEADING DIGITAL BANK, IS SUPERCHARGING ITS KITE DEBIT CARD FOR CHILDREN BY GIVING USERS AGED 6 TO 16 ACCESS TO THE STARLING APP. ONCE PERMISSION IS GRANTED BY A PARENT OR GUARDIAN, CHILDREN CAN CHECK THEIR BALANCE, SEE TRANSACTIONS AND RECEIVE REAL-TIME SPENDING NOTIFICATIONS ON A SMARTPHONE OR TABLET. The newly launched app access will give parents the ability to manage their family finances in one place, gaining greater insight into their children’s spending habits. The space for Kite within the Starling app provides parents with a simple, secure,

cash-free tool for managing pocket money without the need to set up a full bank account for their child. Kite is linked to a parent or guardian’s personal or joint account and allows customers to manage child, personal and business banking from one place. The Kite debit card can be ordered in the Starling app and arrives with the child’s name printed on it, giving them a sense of ownership and responsibility. Once Kite is activated, parents can have full line of sight over their child’s digital finances. They can check, control and limit specific functions, such as online payments and ATM withdrawals and set a daily transaction limit which can be adjusted as the child’s financial needs and awareness grows.

For security and peace of mind, if a card is lost or stolen, it can be locked from the parent or guardian’s Starling Bank app. Helen Bierton, Chief Banking Officer at Starling Bank, said: “Research shows that only 37%* of children keep their money in a bank account. From providing real-time notifications to seeing their transactions listed in the app, Kite is the perfect way for both parents and children to educate themselves about digital banking together.” Starling Kite is available for £2 per card, per month. Existing users will be able to help their children set up their own app access from launch.

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Reimbursements just got a whole lot easier with Pleo Pocket

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USINESS SPENDING COMES IN ALL DIFFERENT SHAPES AND SIZES, AND SOMETIMES A COMPANY CARD DOESN’T QUITE CUT IT. You know, things like mileage costs. Reimbursing employees who had to dip into their own pockets. Taking account of work cards accidentally used for personal purchases. Some areas of business spending are stubbornly old school. That’s exactly why we built Pocket, a centralised place to keep track of the money owed between your team and the company. In this blog post, we’ll go through all there is to know about Pocket, breaking down each feature that admins can find in their Pleo apps. Already onboarded? Here’s the complete rundown on how to get started with Pocket. So, what can Pocket do for you?

Pain-free reimbursements Reimbursing your team for out-of-pocket spending is a pain for everyone involved. Your finance team probably has to deal with the impact reimbursements have on the payroll process, or just the general inefficiency of chasing team members for receipts. Not to mention your employees who are left waiting for weeks, maybe even months, to get back what they’re owed — be that £3

As more economic activity happens online, the need for internet businesses to establish and maintain high levels of trust increases commensurately. Online businesses frequently need to verify the identities of their users to comply with age requirements or “Know Your Customer” (KYC) laws— and to increase trust and safety by reducing fraud, preventing account takeovers, and stopping bad actors. Stripe Identity makes identity verification as effortless for a business as payment acceptance. Identity is built on the same infrastructure that powers Stripe’s own global onboarding compliance and risk management, meaning that the verification tooling Stripe originally built for itself is now available to Stripe’s users as well. Stripe Identity is the first self-serve tool of its kind, allowing any online business to begin verifying the identities of their users in just a few minutes, with no code required.

Early users of Stripe Identity include: • Discord, which embedded identity verification as a feature to ensure trustworthiness. • Peerspace, which added identity verification to their checks when onboarding users or merchants to reduce fraud. • Shippo, whose fraud and risk teams augmented their own risk signals by asking high-risk users to verify their identity (without adding friction for good users). • Security teams at a range of companies, using Stripe Identity to help prevent account takeovers. “Verifications serve as a critical tool in any marketplace that’s powered by trust, especially for a platform like Peerspace that connects people to unique spaces for important meetings or milestone life events,” said Matt Bendett, VP of Operations at Peerspace. “The integration between Stripe Connect and Stripe Identity has allowed us to reduce fraud and give our users peace of mind, all while staying in a single, consistent experience that’s powered by Stripe.”

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