XU Biweekly - Issue 82 - 15th June 2024

Xero unveils breakthrough tech behind Just Ask Xero to improve accuracy of accounting tasks

Join the JAX beta here

GENAI-POWERED JAX BETA COMING SOON WILL HELP SMALL BUSINESSES COMPLETE ACCOUNTING TASKS WHEREVER THEY ARE.

JAX, available in beta in August, will help small businesses and their advisors run their business more efficiently. Customers and accounting and bookkeeping partners will be able to ‘Just Ask Xero’ to complete tasks like generating an invoice or editing a quote, either in Xero or other commonly used apps and devices that businesses use day-to-day, such as mobile, WhatsApp and email. See the JAX demo here

Diya Jolly, Chief Product and Technology Officer at Xero said: “We are making steps towards delivering on our product vision – to reimagine accounting through AI and mobile. Small busi-

ness owners are rarely in one place, or using just one tool. Through GenAI and mobile, it's now possible to really change accounting for small businesses so that it’s where their work is — in the office, on the move, on their computer or on their smartphone. With powerful, smarter AI like JAX answering our customers’ most important questions, we’re making the most critical business tasks available to business owners in the most important place — wherever they work.”

New technology-boosting accuracy in Just Ask Xero

Xero unveiled its firstof-its-kind technology that works under the hood of JAX. The proprietary technology ensures far greater accuracy than other AI models that only rely on large language models (LLMs).

It uses a control system to ensure the data that’s fed to the LLMs is only related to the relevant task, such as quoting an invoice.

“It's critical to ensure ac curacy in accounting tasks, which means using GenAI presents a unique chal lenge. LLMs are incredibly powerful yet can be flawed. When they are unground ed and don't have access to the right information in context, they can make up data points. In accounting, we can't make up information. That’s why implementing a technology like this is so groundbreaking for the accounting industry. It puts the right guardrails in place around the AI to ensure Xero customers using AI for accounting tasks can trust the precision and accuracy of JAX,” Jolly said.

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ApprovalMax announces ApprovalMax Capture and ApprovalMax Pay (Beta) for end-to-end accounts payable automation

NEW ADD-ON FEATURES ALLOWS CUSTOMERS TO IMPORT BILLS AND MAKE PAYMENTS DIRECTLY FROM APPROVALMAX.

ApprovalMax, a leading provider of software for internal financial controls and approval automation, today announced the launch of two new add-on features, ApprovalMax Capture and ApprovalMax Pay (Beta), which enable end-to-end accounts payable automation. With a built-in automated data capture tool, ApprovalMax Capture, and

XU BIWEEKLY - No. 82

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payment tool, ApprovalMax Pay, customers can manage the entire accounts payable process from a single platform for more control.

“Accounts payable has long been a time consuming, highly manual process. At ApprovalMax, we want to simplify the accounts payable process for businesses, their accountants, and bookkeepers, but still make sure there are the right checks and balances along the way,” said Konstantin Bredyuk, CEO of ApprovalMax. “Our latest features allow customers to take control of

their AP processes from one place, saving valuable time and resources.”

The new features allow Xero businesses, accountants, and bookkeepers to manage accounts payable workflows from ApprovalMax. ApprovalMax Capture automatically scans and imports bills into the system when uploaded, then sends them for approval. Once fully approved, bills can be paid from the platform using ApprovalMax Pay, using open banking technology.

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Announcing AI-driven updates across Zoho's collaboration solutions

WE'RE THRILLED TO ANNOUNCE SOME EXCITING NEW CAPABILITIES ACROSS FOUR OF OUR CORE COLLABORATION TOOLS: ZOHO PROJECTS, ZOHO WORKDRIVE, ZOHO NOTEBOOK, & ZOHO SIGN. THESE ENHANCEMENTS FOCUS ON AI, WORKFLOW MANAGEMENT, & INDUSTRY CUSTOMIZATION, & THEY ARE DESIGNED TO STREAMLINE PROJECT MANAGEMENT & SUPPORT PRODUCTIVE ASYNCHRONOUS COLLABORATION. THIS IS IDEAL FOR GLOB-

SMEs

AL BUSINESSES WITH EMPLOYEES, CUSTOMERS, AND PARTNERS THAT OPERATE IN DIFFERENT TIME ZONES.

With these new capabilities, our collaboration solutions offer more seamless data flow, increased productivity through automation, and vertical-specific capabilities that reduce the need for extensive customization. Let's explore what's new across Zoho's collaboration solutions.

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XBert Unveils XBert Intelligence - The Smartest Way to Use AI to Create New Revenue

XBERT, THE FUTURE LEADING AI-POWERED SOFTWARE FOR BOOKKEEPING AND ACCOUNTING TEAMS, ANNOUNCES THE RELEASE OF XBERT INTELLIGENCE (XI) – A NEW GENERATIVE AI ENGINE SPECIFICALLY DESIGNED TO MEET THE UNIQUE NEEDS OF ACCOUNTANTS AND BOOKKEEPERS AT SCALE.

XI acts like a super-smart, experienced member of your team, ready to tackle the unique challenges of the accounting world with powerful, easy-to-use tools.

"XBert Intelligence is like having an expert who's worked in accounting for decades," says Aaron Wittman, Co-Founder and CTO of XBert. "It understands the challenges accountants and bookkeepers face and provides practical, powerful tools to address them at scale. Finally, you can use AI to reduce the hours it takes to look across your clients at scale, help you retain clients and grow revenue by being proactive with no effort."

The first major feature powered by XI is Custom XBerts. This tool allows accountants to set up customised alerts based on their clients’ ledger and transactional data. Moving from reacting to problems to anticipating them, Custom XBerts provides timely, personalised alerts about opportunities and risks. "With Custom XBerts, you can give your clients the advice they need exactly when they need it" adds Wittman.

Custom XBerts lets you choose what kind of financial activities you want to keep an eye on, like decreases in client revenue, and large expenditure changes so you can have more advisory meetings immediately.

What you wanted to be alerted on to drive efficiencies is now in your hands. Early adopters are asking to be alerted on whether client super and pension payments are made, when teams are not completing reconciliation on time or when transaction activity increases so you can increase fees.

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can bring revenue in faster by automatically sending reminder letters to debtors in the post with QR code payment links

CHASER, THE LEADING GLOBAL ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE SAAS PROVIDER, HAS LAUNCHED LETTERS. THE NEW FEATURE ALLOWS SMALL-MEDIUM BUSINESSES (SMES) TO AUTOMATICALLY SCHEDULE PAYMENT REMINDER LETTERS TO THEIR DEBTORS IN THE POST. CHASER HAS EXPANDED ITS CREDIT MANAGEMENT AUTOMATION FUNCTIONALITY TO HELP BUSINESSES WORLDWIDE SAVE TIME ON MANUALLY POSTING PAYMENT REMINDER LETTERS.

Today, 87% of businesses say they are typically paid

late (Chaser) and must write off 7.5% of invoices issued as bad debt (Sage) despite their best efforts to get them paid. The result is a slowdown in SMEs' ability to generate revenue, which can negatively affect their cash flow. For example, SMEs are currently owed an average of $300,000 in late payments (QuickBooks). SMEs need a tool that ensures their payment reminders are seen, conveys urgency to their debtors, and lets them know they mean business when it comes to getting their invoices paid.

Research shows that 90% of postal letters get opened,

while emails achieve an average open rate of just 20% (Zipdo). To ensure debtors see SMEs’ payment reminders and to help them reduce bad debts, Chaser has developed the ability to supplement email chasing with postal letters.

Although letters are an effective way to get payment reminders seen, writing and posting letters is time-consuming. Through Chaser, SMEs can automatically write and send personalized payment reminder letters to their debtors, saving them time and money.

in Chaser, SMEs can now increase the urgency around payments with their debtors to help ensure they get paid on time and protect their revenue without committing any time or effort.

Chaser's Letters feature allows businesses to prewrite payment reminder letter templates that match their style and tone. These templates are automatically personalized with relevant debtor information and addresses for every recipient. This level of personalization ensures that debtors feel understood and catered to, increasing the chances of prompt payment.

In addition to Letters, Chaser has also recently released the ability to automate the most time-consuming part of the credit management process; phone calls. SMEs can now automate payment reminder letters and schedule them alongside automated debtor phone calls, emails, and SMS payment reminders within one comprehensive system. This comprehensive approach gives SMEs security and confidence in their finances, knowing that all aspects are being taken care of automatically.

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Modulr Unveils All-in-One Payments Solution Tailored for the Travel Industry

MODULR, THE EMBEDDED PAYMENTS PLATFORM, TODAY ANNOUNCED THE LAUNCH OF ITS INNOVATIVE TRAVEL PAYMENTS SOLUTION, SPECIFICALLY DESIGNED TO ADDRESS THE UNIQUE NEEDS OF ONLINE TRAVEL AGENTS (OTAS) AND TRAVEL INDUSTRY INTERMEDIARIES. THE NEW OFFERING ENHANCES OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCY, STREAMLINES RECONCILIATION AND CASH FLOW PROCESSES, AND UNLOCKS MARGIN IMPROVEMENT OPPORTUNITIES WITHIN THE TRAVEL SECTOR.

The traditional payment infrastructure in the travel industry is often fragmented and outdated, relying on multiple vendors and creating cumbersome manual processes. With the International Air Transport Association (IATA) reporting that 41% of travel

firms still place payment inefficiencies as their biggest concern. This not only puts operational strain on businesses impacting tight margins, but also affects supplier relationships and deteriorates the customer experience.

Modulr's comprehensive platform and deep payment network connectivity, is engineered to overcome these challenges and is tailored to the unique needs of travel industry. It provides a suite of solutions in a range of currencies that includes virtual cards, account-to-account transfers and customisable notifications, all supported by detailed reporting and accessible through a single API integration and an online portal tailored for travel agents.

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Enhance AP collaboration and decision making processes for today’s remote business landscape

IN TODAY’S FAST-PACED AND INCREASINGLY REMOTE BUSINESS WORLD, EFFICIENT COLLABORATION AND STREAMLINED APPROVAL PROCESSES ARE ESSENTIAL FOR MAINTAINING FINANCIAL CONTROLS. DECISION-MAKERS NEED A NUMBER OF CHANNELS TO STAY CONNECTED AND INFORMED, ESPECIALLY WHEN IT COMES TO CRUCIAL DOCUMENTS THAT REQUIRE THEIR APPROVAL.

To address this need, ApprovalMax has introduced a powerful integration with Slack, allowing teams to manage approvals seamlessly without leaving their favourite communication tool. This integration adds to the list of ways ApprovalMax notifications can be received such as the mobile app and email.

Get Real-Time Approval Notifications in Slack

With the ApprovalMax Slack integration, decision-makers can receive real-time Slack notifications when their approval is needed. This integration bridges the gap between approval workflows and the communication hub, by allowing decision-makers to have their say, without having to leave Slack!

Slack users will enjoy the convenience of being able to provide prompt requests for approval, further adding to the variety of decision-making channels facilitated by ApprovalMax. This added convenience speeds up response times and can contribute to better overall approval times, allowing businesses to get more purchase orders, bills, and invoices ready for payment sooner, rather than later.

Communication that syncs between apps

Effective decision-making relies on context and collaboration. ApprovalMax understands the significance of providing the right context for discussions around financial documents. With the Slack integration, users can provide context, ask questions, comment on bills, invoices, or purchase orders, all without leaving Slack. The integration centralises communication by ensuring that all comments made on approvals in Slack are logged in the ApprovalMax workflow history. By ensuring the conversation is copied over to the ApprovalMax platform, teams can ensure there is always one source of truth for accounts payable (AP) communication, especially if they are ever audited.

Go where your decision-makers are

Time is of the essence in business, and every minute saved counts. Streamlined communication processes are more important than ever before, especially with business communication becoming more hybrid and remote. Integrating ApprovalMax with Slack brings approvals to where many decision-makers already spend a significant portion of their day – their communication tool. By leveraging Slack’s popularity and ease of use, ApprovalMax encourages faster approvals and a more streamlined decision-making process.

By notifying decision-makers in Slack, organisations can achieve higher efficiency in their approval workflows, reducing delays and bottlenecks. The results? Faster approvals, productive decision makers, and happier Finance Leaders!

Xero unleashes a wave of product innovation at Xerocon London

XERO, ANNOUNCED AT XEROCON LONDON, A SUITE OF PRODUCT INNOVATIONS TO STREAMLINE KEY ACCOUNTING TASKS FOR UK SMALL BUSINESSES AND THEIR ADVISORS. THE NEW TAX, PAYMENTS AND PAYROLL FEATURES WILL HELP BUSINESSES PAY AND GET PAID FASTER, WHILE ENABLING UK ACCOUNTANTS AND BOOKKEEPERS TO MANAGE MORE OF THEIR CLIENTS’ COMPLIANCE OBLIGATIONS SEAMLESSLY IN XERO.

The new innovations include:

• A new partnership tax solution available soon in beta, expanding Xero’s tax offering in market

• A new beta of an integrated practice management and tax solution for accountants and bookkeepers in Xero Practice Manager (XPM), supporting seamless workflows

• A new client insights dashboard, giving advisors a snapshot of their clients’ key metrics and financial health, in one place

• Industry-first availability of Tap to Pay in the Xero Accounting mobile app, enabling UK small businesses to accept instant payments from their smartphone

• A series of investments in Xero Payroll, including the all-new payroll manager in beta, helping advisors manage payroll data easily from a centralised dashboard

Diya Jolly, Chief Product and Technology Officer at Xero, said: "We’re always listening to our customers and partners about the tools and workflows that are most important to them. Expanding our tools to include features like partnership tax and the new payroll manager will equip advisors to better support their clients with critical small business needs and move towards a more streamlined practice management experience.”

New partnership tax and client insights: Xero unveiled its new partnership tax solution, available from July in beta, enabling accountants and bookkeepers to automatically prepare partnership annual accounts and tax using Xero data and seamlessly file partnership tax returns with HMRC.

Adding partnership tax means Xero now handles the vast majority of compliance tasks needed to serve UK small businesses in one place, eliminating the need for multiple, costly practice tools.

Deeper integrated practice experience: Xero has opened the beta of its new integrated practice management and tax solution for UK accountants and bookkeepers in Xero Practice Manager (XPM). The new integrated experience connects tax compliance with practice management, enabling advisors to see all client obligations, manage workflows and improve job tracking and prioritisation, all in one place.

The experience brings together a single client record, or client database, across Xero’s practice tools, delivering a more unified experience for partners. Additionally, advisors will be able to add and manage their practice staff across Xero HQ and XPM, eliminating the need to manage staff access into multiple places in Xero. A full launch of the integrated experience is coming later this year.

Deliver more client insights to practices: Xero also previewed client insights, a new dashboard giving advisors visibility of their clients’ key metrics and financial health. Available in XPM and Xero HQ, it will show client data such as business health, profit and expenses across the practice, enabling advisors to quickly identify clients in need of support and better target advisory services. The feature is now live in beta.

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MyWorkpapers addresses key frustration in accounting industry with Dual Codes

WITH THE ADVANCEMENT OF THE LATEST ACCOUNTING SYSTEMS, MANY FIRMS ARE FINDING NEW CHALLENGES THAT MAKE THEIR WORK MORE COMPLEX, RATHER THAN SIMPLIFYING THEIR PROCESSES.

To combat this, MyWorkpapers has launched a new Dual Codes feature that allows firms to import data from any system via integration or spreadsheet and maintain each system’s Chart of Accounts.

This then allows firms to map their Trial Balance with whatever financial statements system. MyWorkpapers then remembers and maintains both Chart of Accounts codes for Trial Balance to revert to when needed.

Ultimately, this ensures that the same code is available on every file, which helps firms review their information more easily and helps create a consistent and familiar approach that reduces the potential for mistakes.

“Firms are increasingly using a diverse

technology eco-system that relies on the use of multiple platforms, with various integrations, to maintain Trial Balances for various clients,” said Stephen Burgess, Chief Revenue Officer at MyWorkpapers.

“Having spent quite some time speaking with our users and many others within the industry, this growth in technology has created new challenges as each bookkeeping and financial statement system has its own Chart of Accounts.

“This means that every line item on the Trial Balance needs to be mapped accurately for import/export between different accounting systems.

“This adds complexity to systems, that are meant to be making the lives of accountants easier and the lack of consistency between clients, each using a different account solution, creates complexity and increases the likelihood of errors. Dual Codes addresses this issue head-on.”

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BGL REGTECH 2024: The Countdown to Innovation and Excitement Begins!

BGL CORPORATE SOLUTIONS (BGL), AUSTRALIA'S LEADING PROVIDER OF COMPANY COMPLIANCE, SELF-MANAGED SUPERANNUATION FUND (SMSF), INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT, IDENTITY VERIFICATION AND AI-POWERED PAPER-TO-DATA SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS, IS PROUD TO ANNOUNCE THE RETURN OF AUSTRALIA'S PREMIER ACCOUNTING TECHNOLOGY EVENT, BGL REGTECH 2024.

“This is not your ordinary gathering of accountants but rather a vibrant hub of innovation, inspiration and collaboration for the entire sector” said BGL’s Chief Executive Officer, Daniel Tramontana. “It will be a valuable opportunity for attendees to connect with industry experts and like-minded professionals, where they can explore opportunities in the industry and be ready for the future of technology”.

BGL has invited the five industry professionals to provide an opportunity for attendees to learn from their valuable insights into how to position their businesses for success.

• Adriana Cavallo: General Manager –Customer Experience (APAC), BGL (MC)

• Aly Garrett: Founder and Principal, All In Advisory

• Daniel Tramontana: Chief Executive Officer, BGL

• Lielette Calleja: Director, businessDEPOT

• Ron Lesh: Founder/Director, BGL

“I am very excited to debut as a speaker for BGL REGTECH 2024“ said Adriana Cavallo, General Manager of Customer Experience (APC) at BGL. “It’s a unique opportunity for all of us to engage directly with the brightest minds in our industry and I look forward to showcasing our cutting-edge technology not only to meet but to exceed client expectations!”

Dates and locations:

14 Aug 2024 - Adelaide Convention Centre

15 Aug 2024 - The Westin Perth

21 Aug 2024 - Brisbane Convention Centre

22 Aug 2024 - Dockside, Sydney

27 Aug 2024 - RACV Hobart Hotel

29 Aug 2024 - Melbourne Convention Centre

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The Business Show Asia

THE BUSINESS SHOW IS THE WORLD’S LEADING EVENT FOR ENTREPRENEURS, BUSINESS OWNERS AND START-UPS. RUNNING FOR 25 YEARS, THE BUSINESS SHOW TAKES PLACE IN LOCATIONS ACROSS THE GLOBE INCLUDING LONDON, LOS ANGELES, MIAMI, AND SINGAPORE, AND THE TEAM BEHIND THE EVENT HAVE PLANS TO CONTINUALLY EXPAND TO REACH MORE COUNTRIES AND MARKETS. THE BUSINESS SHOW AIMS TO SUPPORT ENTREPRENEURS AND STARTUPS BY OFFERING THEM THE SERVICES AND PRODUCTS THEY NEED TO RUN A SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS.

he Business Show is the world’s leading event for entrepreneurs, business owners and start-ups. Running for 25 years, The Business Show takes place in locations across the globe including London, Los Angeles, Miami, and Singapore, and the team behind the event have plans to continually expand to reach more countries and markets. The Business Show aims to support entrepreneurs and start-ups by offering them the services and products they need to run a successful business.

Bringing together the inspirational entre-

preneurial and business community from across Asia, The Business Show is the leading platform to provide you with the insights you need to kickstart your business venture or take your organisation to new heights. Running for its third year, the show welcomes over 250 exhibitors, 150 speakers and 8,000 entrepreneurs, business owners and startups from across the country. This year, some of Asia’s most influential business professionals and entrepreneurs from the likes of Google, Forbes, Amazon and PayPal will be taking to the stage and delivering keynote seminars to inspire and educate our audience. Alongside this are esteemed businesses, joining the event centre stage to share their products, resources, setbacks, and successes.

The Business Show Asia brings a diverse range of companies to the room, each with a unique product or service tailored to help you propel your business to the next level. While visiting the event, you will have complete access to endless opportunities and have the ability to learn about products and services that could be the missing link to growing and developing your business.

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Your AI Advisory & Reporting Dream Team:

Etani and Clarity

OUR PARTNERSHIP COMBINES CLARITY’S EXPERTISE IN BUSINESS ADVISORY AND PERFORMANCE

IMPROVEMENT WITH ETANI’S ADVANCED AI ANALYTICS AND REPORTING TOOLS.

A Comprehensive solution empowering accounting firms

Together, we offer a comprehensive solution to empower accounting firms to dramatically 3x firm profitability, jump the curve on business advisory, and have happier clients and team members.

How This Partnership Benefits You

• Accelerated Implementation and Delivery: Speed up your implementation and delivery processes like never before with structured, step-by-step expert guidance.

• Automation for Efficiency: Let automation handle the heavy lifting, so tasks you don’t need to think about are done for you.

• Reduced Learning Curve: Quickly adapt and leverage your existing strengths without needing to learn extensive new skills. Navigate easily with integrated tools that enhance your capabilities.

• Play to Your Strengths: Utilise what you already know, focusing on navigating and integrating the tools seamlessly

into your workflow.

• Integrated Solutions: Benefit from the seamless integration of AI analytics with advisory methodologies.

• Enhanced Efficiency: Experience streamlined processes for data analysis and reporting.

• Strategic Insights: Access advanced tools for delivering data-driven advisory services.

• Comprehensive Support: Receive training, support, and resources from both Etani and Clarity to ensure your success.

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Etani and Clarity have teamed up to bring you the best in AI-driven data analysis and advisory services.

UPCOMING

Why Zoho Assist's Survey feature is a game changer for remote support

IF YOU'RE IN THE REMOTE SUPPORT GAME, YOU KNOW HOW VITAL IT IS TO GET FEEDBACK FROM YOUR TECHNICIANS AND END USERS. ZOHO ASSIST, A TOP-NOTCH REMOTE SUPPORT SOFTWARE, UNDERSTANDS THIS TOO. THAT'S WHY WE HAVE INTRODUCED OUR SUPER-HANDY FEATURE: THE TECHNICIAN AND CUSTOMER SURVEY.

Say goodbye to hassles with manual feedback

Picture this: A support session ends, and now you have to chase down every customer and technician individually to ask for their thoughts. Sounds like a nightmare, right? Zoho Assist takes that headache away. Right after a remote session, both the technician and the customer get prompted to fill out a quick survey. This way, their feedback is fresh and honest, and you don't have to send a million follow-up emails.

Customer surveys: Capturing the client’s experience

After a remote session ends, customers get a quick survey prompt. This is a fantastic way to get immediate feedback while the experience is still fresh in their minds. Here’s why you need to try it:

• Immediate feedback: Customers can quickly share their thoughts on the session. Did the technician solve the issue? Was the support helpful? How skilled did they find the technician?

• Customizable questions: Organizations can tailor the survey to their needs. Whether it’s single or multiple-choice questions, dropdowns, or star ratings, you can get the exact type of feedback you need.

• User-friendly: The survey is designed to be quick and easy to ensure a high response rate. Happy customers mean you get more insightful data!

Celebrating excellence at the 2024 Xero Awards Asia

EVERY YEAR, XERO AWARDS GIVES US AN OPPORTUNITY TO CELEBRATE THE INCREDIBLE COMMITMENT AND ACHIEVEMENTS OF OUR ACCOUNTING, BOOKKEEPING, AND ECOSYSTEM PARTNERS, WHO WORK TIRELESSLY TO HELP SMALL BUSINESSES THROUGHOUT ASIA THRIVE.

ner of the Year Award will recognise a Xero App Store partner in Asia who provides a fantastic user experience and has a worldclass engagement programme, along with a proven track record of growth with Xero’s customers and/or accounting and bookkeeping partners.

There are five categories in total:

Technician surveys: Insight from the front line

Once the session ends, technicians are also prompted to provide their feedback. This provides crucial insights:

• Technicians' perspective: Technicians can highlight what went well and what challenges they faced. This helps you understand the session from the support provider’s viewpoint.

• Areas for improvement: It’s a great way for technicians to voice their opinions on what could be improved in the process or the tools they’re using.

• Skill assessment: It helps organizations see where technicians feel confident and where they might need more training or resources.

Customization and reports: Making data work for you

Zoho Assist’s Survey feature is super customizable. The organization or super admin can whip up as many surveys as they want, but only one goes out per session to keep things simple. You can mix and match answer types—single choice, multiple choice, dropdowns, short and long text, or star ratings—so you get exactly the feedback you need.

Once the surveys are filled out, Zoho Assist compiles them into neat reports. These reports are beneficial for organizations, providing deep insights into both customer satisfaction and technician performance. It’s all about spotting strengths and areas for improvement.

Zoho Assist’s Technician and Customer Surveys make collecting feedback simple, insightful, and incredibly effective. Give them a try and see the difference they can make!

The last year has been a challenging one. Amidst macro economic challenges like inflation, rising costs and talent shortages, you have been the first line of support for Asia’s small business. The impact of your work and support on our local communities is immeasurable.

To honour you and the extraordinary work you and your teams do, we are hosting the 2024 Xero Awards Asia to showcase the innovation, resilience and perseverance your firms and companies have demonstrated over the last year.

New award category alert

This year we are excited to introduce a new award category. The all new App Part-

• Small Accounting Partner of the Year

• Medium Accounting Partner of the Year

• Large Accounting Partner of the Year

• Advisory Partner of the Year

• App Partner of the Year

Nominations are now open and will close on 14 June at 23:59 SGT. You can enter for any and every category you qualify for.

Finalists will be announced on 27 June and the winners will be revealed at our Awards ceremony on 6 August.

Finalists will be selected by a judging panel of leaders at Xero and winners will be selected by industry experts.

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Payhawk customisation strategy

PAYHAWK ANNOUNCED ITS Q1 2024 BUSINESS PERFORMANCE RESULTS AND THE LAUNCH OF ITS SUMMER EDITION PRODUCT RELEASE THAT BRINGS FLEXIBILITY TO THE WAY COMPANIES MANAGE SPEND. Q1 SAW REVENUE GROWTH OF 86% YOY, LARGELY DRIVEN BY THE FINTECH’S FOCUS ON CUSTOMISATION TO MEET THE COMPLEX AND INCREASINGLY GLOBAL CHALLENGES OF FINANCE TEAMS AT MAJOR ENTERPRISES.

Payhawk Q1 in numbers By employing customisation strategies and building technologies more attuned to solving the problems of larger enterprise businesses, both Payhawk’s global and UK Q1 results saw growth across all business lines:

Revenue: As of March 2024, Payhawk’s Q1 revenue growth was 86% globally YoY. The UK saw a jump of 127% in Q1 YoY and now makes up 27% of the fintech's total revenue. Payhawk’s ARR Q1 YoY growth was 85% globally. Its Q1 YoY ARR growth was 122% in the UK.

Customers: Total number of customers grew 58% YoY with 79% YoY growth in the UK. Net revenue retention from new customers in 2023 was 141% worldwide and in the UK it was 140%.

Headcount: Total headcount has grown 29% YoY to 305 with planned growth of 31% YoY by the end of 2024.

From XU Magazine

A new age for accounts payable and receivable

By Konstantin Bredyuk, CEO of ApprovalMax

THE WAY WE DO THINGS IS CONSTANTLY EVOLVING, EVEN IF WE DON’T ALWAYS REALISE IT. AS LATE AS THE 20TH CENTURY, ICE WAS BIG BUSINESS.

It was manually harvested from rivers and ponds and delivered to houses and businesses, sometimes travelling all the way across oceans and seas. Now? Most people just go to their freezer. The international ice trade went the way of many other obsolete processes, into the past and out of our memories.

These days, technology has made the pace of change faster than ever before. But while no one would consider importing glacier ice from overseas, many other slow, manual processes still persevere. Consider accounts payable and receivable. The functions have historically been highly manual during all parts of the process, even after going online with the dawn of the internet and computing technology.

Now, we have the chance to fully reimagine accounts payable and receivable to happen seamlessly and with minimal intervention. Over the years, automation has made light work of single elements, like importing bills

or managing approval workflows, and it has the potential to help even more.

Here at ApprovalMax, we’re proud to be a part of this evolution – we want to make AP and AR just happen for businesses, their accountants, and bookkeepers, but still with the right checks and balances along the way.

Our latest product releases aim to do exactly that; offering a way to automate accounts payable and receivable from end-to-end, all in one platform. With this, we’re excited to enter a new era for how we approach AP and AR here at ApprovalMax. Introducing our two new products – ApprovalMax Capture and ApprovalMax Pay (Beta)!

While grabbing a long-deserved holiday is a great idea, why not use the time to enhance and build your practice moving eate an appointment with you. Just keep all of this in a Word document, and then paste it into emails as required.

"As a bookkeeper, we’ve moved from literally writing stuff up in Kalamazoo books and having really rigorous filing processes for paper-based systems, to everything going digi-

tal. These days, things happen much more quickly, with higher volume coming through, and that’s because we can handle accounts payable and receivable in a far more streamlined way. But with fewer people involved in the process, the question is ‘what we can do in software to make sure we're adding the financial controls we need?’ for things like catching duplicate invoices or checking that we haven’t paid one previously.”

Cassandra Scott, Head of Bookkeeping APAC at ApprovalMax.

Automatically import bills into ApprovalMax

One of our most requested features is now here – an in-built automated data capture tool, ApprovalMax Capture. This kick-starts your accounts payable process by importing bills and receipts through photo or PDF upload, individually, in bulk, or via email.

These outstanding bills automatically funnel into you or your client’s pre-set approval workflows, so the right documents end up in the hands of the right people. With a little bit of set up, it all happens without lifting a finger!

Why

use ApprovalMax

Capture?

• All-in-one control. Take care of everything from ApprovalMax and simplify your tech stack – one less login for less hassle.

• Save time and reduce errors. Use automated data capture technology to import bill details faster and with more accuracy.

• Add extra layers of control. ApprovalMax Capture funnels incoming bills straight into your approval workflows before they enter your general ledger so they always go through your proper processes.

Manual data entry isn’t just time consuming but expensive too. The average cost of paying a PDF invoice is £13.93/AUD$27.67 and for paper invoices £16.13/ AUD$30.87 with most of this due to the manual work of inputting data from bills and processing for payment, including fixing errors.

With automated data capture, it’s easy to get things right from the start. Bills enter the system accurately and on time. Then, they automatically go through the right checks and balances so you and your team can focus on higher value tasks while feeling confident in

your accounts payable data.

With ApprovalMax Capture, this all happens via the one app to streamline the process even more.

ApprovalMax Capture is now available for Xero customers in all regions, with QuickBooks Online and Oracle NetSuite compatibility coming soon. To get started, simply add ApprovalMax Capture to your existing subscription, set up email preferences, and sync to approval processes.

A secure and convenient way to pay bills

We’re excited to launch a new way to pay bills directly from ApprovalMax. Using open banking technology, ApprovalMax Pay (Beta) allows you to pay approved bills directly from the platform and build stronger financial controls across your entire accounts payable process. Why make payments from ApprovalMax though? Just think – it’s easier to travel an entire journey via one express train than get out halfway and change.

Currently, ApprovalMax Pay is available in beta for UK businesses using Xero. In a few simple steps, securely sync your bank account to ApprovalMax via open banking and pay approved

bills with ease. Payments can only be made for bills that have been through your preset approval workflow, so you know funds are going to the right place.

Why use ApprovalMax Pay?

• Strengthen your financial controls. Feel confident knowing you’re paying a bill that’s gone through the right approvals process and internal verification checks, every step of the way.

• Protect your banking data. With ApprovalMax Pay, there’s no need to share sensitive bank data. Instead, employees create a request, pay approved bills in a few clicks, and have this added to the audit log for full visibility.

• Avoid payment errors. There’s minimal risk of paying the wrong amount (or even person!) with ApprovalMax since there’s no need to manually copy payment details and amounts.

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Data Zoo Secures $34AUD Million in Series A Funding from Ellerston JAADE to Fuel Global Expansion

DATA ZOO, A LEADING PROVIDER OF GLOBAL IDENTITY VERIFICATION SOLUTIONS, TODAY ANNOUNCED APPROXIMATELY $22.7M (AU$35M) IN SERIES A FUNDING FROM ELLERSTON JAADE, AN ELLERSTON CAPITAL FUND. THE RAISE WILL HELP DATA ZOO DRIVE ADOPTION AND INNOVATION OF ITS IDENTITY VERIFICATION SOFTWARE, WHICH PROVIDES DIRECT ACCESS TO AUTHORITATIVE DATA FROM OVER 170 COUNTRIES; FEATURES ADVANCED DATA SEQUENCING TO IMPROVE EFFICIENCY AND MAXIMIZE CONVERSIONS; AND PRIORITIZES DATA PROTECTION AND PRIVACY BY ELIMINATING IDENTITY DATA STORAGE.

Data Zoo outperforms in improving customer approval rates and revenue realization through its access to global data and logic-driven data source sequencing, which automatically verifies or retries identities against the next best source, reducing dropout rates and lowering the total cost of ownership.

Data Zoo’s vision is to provide a global, efficient, secure alternative to legacy solutions while enhancing KYC/KYB compliance and fraud prevention. As part of the raise, Data Zoo – which is trusted by leading financial institutions, payment providers, and fintechs – plans to continue to expand its operations globally.

Tide partners with Connect Earth to help SMEs reach Net Zero

TIDE, THE LEADING BUSINESS FINANCIAL PLATFORM IN THE UK, HAS PARTNERED WITH CARBON MEASUREMENT

PIONEER CONNECT EARTH

TO DEVELOP AND DELIVER A NEW RANGE OF CARBON ACCOUNTING TOOLS THAT WILL HELP TIDE’S MEMBERS (CUSTOMERS) REDUCE THEIR CARBON FOOTPRINT.

Small businesses currently account for 50% of the UK’s business greenhouse gas emissions. Despite wanting to play their part in mitigating climate change, 90% of SMEs felt there were barriers to taking climate action. They said finding the right solutions and cash flow constraints to manage their impact were the top two blockers.

Key to reaching net zero in the UK will be collective action by SMEs. Tide made a pledge in 2023 to make it simpler for its members to get to net zero, by developing support for them to reach carbon neutrality.

Tide is working on rolling out free access to the first batch of its 600,000 UK members to Connect Earth’s carbon dashboard, Connect Insights. The dashboard provides a user-friendly plat-

form that increases awareness and understanding of sustainable practices. It provides carbon data estimates for every business transaction based on continuously updated and improved data models and databases, and personalised carbon insights empowering members to understand how their spending habits translate into environmental impact.

Throughout 2024 and beyond, Tide and Connect Earth will add further tools such as automated carbon accounting for bank transactions, invoices, and accounting data, more insights and recommendations, and ways to enhance business efficiency, by helping members to align reducing emissions with saving time and money.

Vinay Ramani, CPO, Tide said: “Nearly half of small businesses say carbon reduction is a high or very high priority. That’s an astonishing starting point and

“There’s been a long-standing need for a more efficient and secure way to verify identities. Data Zoo has spent years refining its solution – the result has been incredible innovation, UX optimization, and growth in a fiercely competitive market, putting us head-tohead with today’s most established identity providers,” said Tony Fitzgibbon, founder and Chairman of Data Zoo. “Ellerston JAADE spotted an opportunity in Data Zoo’s proven ability to help global firms verify consumer and business identities, reduce fraud, and meet global compliance standards.”

The raise follows the recent appointment of former London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) executive Charlie Minutella as Chief

translates into an opportunity to really capitalise on a transition to net zero for SMEs. Tide’s partnership with Connect Earth will create a range of innovative tools to help our members measure, monitor and manage their carbon emissions in their Tide accounts. This technology and support is crucial to delivering Tide’s own environmental pledges and a significant step to helping entrepreneurs globally reach net zero.”

Alexander Lempka, CEO and co-founder, Connect Earth said: “Our partnership with Tide marks the launch of an incredibly exciting carbon accounting project. Together, we will give Tide’s customers the ability to gain insights into their emissions, reduce their carbon footprint and participate in reporting. By doing this, we are expanding access to climate data, contributing to the reduction of scope 3 emissions across the UK and beyond. This collaboration exemplifies how innovative partnerships can inspire and drive widespread sustainability, empowering SMEs with tools to make meaningful environmental impact. ”

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Executive Officer in February 2024.

“Data Zoo is well-positioned to expand its footprint because of its patented ability to efficiently onboard a more diverse and global set of customers, meet compliance standards across jurisdictions, and enhance data privacy and protection,” said Charlie Minutella, Chief Executive Officer at Data Zoo. “The investment from Ellerston JAADE will supercharge our capacity to operate in key markets, attract new business, and enter new strategic partnerships.”

Data Zoo’s fundraise sits within Ellerston JAADE which invests across a number of high-growth Australian-based companies,

such as Mable, Camms, and Phocas. The fundraise represents Data Zoo’s first outside investment.

"Data Zoo's innovative platform and success in expanding its operations internationally, especially into challenging markets like North America, were key factors in our decision to invest,” said David Leslie,

no small feat. We are pleased to support them as they continue to scale in the identity verification industry."

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Starling Group achieves third year of profitability

STARLING GROUP TODAY PUBLISHES CONSOLIDATED RESULTS FOR STARLING BANK, ENGINE BY STARLING AND FLEET MORTGAGES, FOR THE YEAR ENDING 31 MARCH 2024. THE RESULTS SHOW A THIRD YEAR OF PROFITABILITY FOR THE GROUP, DRIVEN BY STRONG GROWTH IN REVENUE, DEPOSITS, ACTIVE CUSTOMERS AND CUSTOMER TRANSACTIONS.

The UK digital banking group reports a 54.7% increase in pre-tax profits to £301.1m. Revenue grew by 50.6% to reach £682.2m, while total deposits were up 4% to £11bn.

John Mountain, Interim CEO of Starling Bank, said: “This is our third full year of profitability demonstrating a robust financial performance. It was a breakthrough year for Starling as we became a global provider of banking Software as a Service through our subsidiary Engine by Starling. We’ve heavily invested in Engine because we’re confident it can one day become as big as the UK bank, or bigger.”

David Sproul, Group Chair of Starling, said: “Starling is now an established part of the UK banking scene. The percentage of active accounts now stands at nearly 80%, while total transactions rose by 21% to £174.1bn dur-

ing the year. We have more customers, using our services more often, continuing to deepen their relationship with us.

“We look forward to welcoming our new Group CEO, Raman Bhatia on 24 June. He brings a wealth of experience in consumer technology, banking and fintech expertise as the Group enters its next phase of growth.”

Highlights:

Profit before tax: Continued profitability growth with a 54.7% increase in profits to £301.1m (FY23: £194.6m)

Total revenue: Up by 50.6% to £682.2m (FY23: £452.8m)

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REDITINFO HAS CHOSEN WINR TO HELP SAFEGUARD ITS SERVICES AGAINST FRAUDULENT ACTIVITY IN OVER 30 COUNTRIES WITH AN ADDITIONAL LAYER OF IDENTITY VERIFICATION.

The new partnership enables one of Europe’s leading

providers of credit information and risk management solutions to access WINR’s significant data asset of deterministic identifiers via a single API.

With 33 bureaus across four continents, Creditinfo Group facilitates access to finance in both mature and

emerging markets. WINR’s international consortium of privacy-compliant data spans the EU, Latin America, Asia-Pacific and more making it the ideal partner to bolster trust among Creditinfo's clients worldwide.

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Investment Director at Ellerston JAADE. “Data Zoo’s impressive growth, solidifying itself as a trusted identity provider against well-established competitors – all without prior funding – is