XU Magazine - Issue 08 - Digital Edition by XU Magazine

The independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users

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The athletic accountant Page

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Number Nurses are back The rise of the custom app “It’s not just about cutting costs, it’s about increasing productivity”

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Issue 08 / 1

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XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users. Find us online at: xumagazine.com

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Issue 08 / 3

Welcome Inside this to issue 08 issue... magazine The independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users

Issue 08 Co-Founders: David Hassall, Wesley Cornell Managing Editor: Wesley Cornell Strategic Partnerships: Alex Newson Editorial Assistant: Livvi Scales Multimedia: Joel Barnett Subscriptions Manager: Chris Scales Contributing Writers: Jackie Russell, Richard Smith, Guy Pearson, Leigh Dunsford, Kevin Salter, Steven Lucas, Jeri Murphy, Grant Johnson, Adam Reynolds, Johnson Ma, Heather Townsend, Andrei Gromek, Brianna O’Regan, Peter McCarroll, Gavin Disney-May, Steve Pipe, Sarah Pilling, Andrew Erkins, Blaine Bertsch, Bradley Beer, Chris Petersen, Karen Reyburn, Shanu Mehta, Brendan Woods, Mallika Goel, Jared Armstrong, Tim Hampson, Marta Bright, Helmut Heptner, Mark Fletcher, Chris Urry, Ryan O’Donnell, Norm Cogdale, Adam Cotton, Devan Sabaratnam, Daniel Richards, Brad Golchin, Kevin Mann, Trent Innes, Nicola Anderson, Nik George, Anna Cochrane, Amanda Lennon, Melanie Power, Vipul Sheth, Joanna Cruickshank, Elaine Kirk, Jeannie Doherty. Editorial/News Submissions: If you have any editorial content (news, comment, tutorials etc.) that you would like us to consider for inclusion in the next edition of XU Magazine, please email us at editorial@xumagazine.com Advertising: advertising@xumagazine.com T: +44 (0)116 298 60 80 E: hello@xumagazine.com W: www.xumagazine.com ‘Xero’ is a trademark of Xero Limited (New Zealand). 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 2014-2016. All rights reserved. No part of this magazine may be used or reproduced without the written permission of the publisher. XU Magazine 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 magazine is for information only and is, as far as we are aware, correct at the time of going to press. XU Magazine cannot accept any responsibility for errors or inaccuracies in such information. If you submit unsolicited material to us, you automatically grant XU Magazine a licence to publish your submission in whole or in part in all/any editions of the magazine, 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 nor its employees, agents or subcontractors shall be liable for loss or damage. The views expressed in XU Magazine are not necessarily the views of XU Magazine Ltd, its editors or its contributors.

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It has been a busy few months for our team at XU Magazine! This issue’s debut appearance is at Xerocon South in Australia, the very spot where we started XU Magazine two years ago (Issue 01’s cover stars were Hannah McIntyre and Amy Harris from CrunchBoards). Also, as I write, members of our team have been attending Xerocon in San Francisco which I’m told was a huge success.

06 / Number Nurses are back!

The latest news from Xero confirms that they are now bigger and better than ever. They are the top small business cloud accounting software in Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. In July, they announced a total of 717,000 subscribers. Now, they are hopeful of reaching more than 1 million subscribers very soon. To top it all, recent announcements confirm that Xero’s goal is to reach $1 billion in annual revenue.

12 / Technological advancement has forced accounting into the subscription economy

Check out the new look - Xero have revamped the design of their Add-on marketplace, making it all the more easy to pick the right Add-on. We are always grateful to our regular contributors for their continued support. Many newcomers have also added to this edition and we look forward to far more joining us in the future.

Wesley

08 / Xero for charities: Is Xero right for charitable organisations?

14 / From catwalks to organics, how this SMB took advantage of the Addon network 16 / Automating adjustments for management (and final) accounts 20 / COVER STORY: The Athletic Accountant

24 / Add-ons Compared: Inventory management Add-ons 29 / It’s easier than you may know to connect Xero Add-ons to a website 32 / The challenge of turning expenses frowns upside down 34 / You’ve started your small business - what’s next? 38 / 3 reasons why you are not signing up bigger and better clients 40 / Facing up to the pros and cons of cloud software 42 / What’s the future of payroll? 44 / What do you mean my bank

XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users. Find us online at: xumagazine.com

account is not reconciled?

exposure in the aftermath of Brexit

46 / New investment for fintech firm, MyFirmsApp

91 / Think you’re too small to need an HR system?

48 / Another heroic case study

94 / The rise of the custom app

FEATURED

52 / Why you need to revolutionise your training manual 54 / How to go from a sole trader to a company in Xero

56 / Simplifying cash flow for your small business customers 58 / Encourage investors who selfassess to get expert advice

96 / Enabling payroll and HR: the secret to African growth

60 / Good advice requires great data 98 / Catching up with Tidy 62 / Two-Step Authentication 100 / Q & A with Trent Innes 64 / Go social - getting higher-quality leads via social media

103 / How to beat the cashflow blues and get paid on time

66 / Conduit of change 106 / Keeping up with your client 68 / Technology vs outsourcing for accountancy firms

107 / “It’s not just about cutting costs, it’s about increasing productivity”

70 / Make remote working work for you: get project management software 72 / How to find the right Add-ons for your clients

74 / Simplify, visualize, optimize 76 / Why a CRM solution with project management creates a competitive advantage 78 / Achieve safe and transparent employee-driven purchasing with Xero and ApprovalMax 79 / POS software helps specialty SMB retailers compete

110 / The world of Xero - where are we heading? 114 / Q & A with Melanie Power

118 / The Practice of 2020 and beyond 82 / Building better cashflow starts with making payments easy

120 / Payroll Add-on Australia and NZ

84 / Are you moving at the speed of commerce?

122 / 3 things you are not doing to manage your leads

86 / Chasing payments

124 / Add-on directory - over 500+ Add-ons listed!

88 / End-to-end automation for the processing of bills

134 / The value of FREE services

100

90 / How to navigate your FX We want to hear from you! Get in touch - email: hello@xumagazine.com

Issue 08 / 5

Words: Jackie Russell, Chatterbox PR. Jackie is the big cheese at Chatterbox PR. She works with number crunching companies who are transforming their business model in response to the evolution of techie business tools. As a remote worker advocate, Jackie is eagerly anticipating the day she can meet clients’ deadlines from an office at the beach, a yacht in New Zealand’s Hauraki Gulf or any other spectacular settings. @numbernurses

Number Nurses are back! Growing businesses will see their accountant as the doctor, carrying out the diagnoses and analysing how treatment is going.

What a Number Nurse receives: • • • • • • • •

Number Nurses branding Full training in Xero, WorkFlow Max Free Xero Account and Xero Practice Manager Member Mentoring and implementation programme Operations and training manuals Marketing collateral Nationwide advertising and marketing programme Access to the Number Nurses supplier network

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Things have been a little hushed for Number Nurses in the past year, following the passing of the Chief Number Nurse, Gayle Buchanan... The creative ball of energy was well known for launching the coolest bookkeeping business model in cyberspace and she planned to take her vision global. Big dreams were transforming into reality when Gayle became unwell and was taken away to a bigger Number Nurse station – beyond the reach of her family and colleagues but to never be forgotten. People who knew and loved Gayle, will completely understand that she would want her entrepreneurial legacy to go on – helping businesses tidy up their little messes and relieving the pain of paperwork. Kirsten Hawke, head honcho of Business Buddy, had frequently been in cahoots with Gayle and the pair shared similar collaborative business philosophies. With the blessing of Gayle’s family and supporters, Kirsten has bought the

Number Nurses brand and it has now franchised. “We are pretty honoured to be continuing Gayle’s vison for Number Nurses and it’s exciting to already have enquiries from potential franchisees,” says Kirsten. “The bookkeeping work complements Business Buddy’s accounting and advisory service and we can see huge potential to help businesses remain in tip-top shape.” Number Nurses has scrubbed up and is looking for like-minded numbery-type people who are prepared to take a leap of faith to start their own business. The franchise model has plenty of prescribed plans to boost a Number Nurse franchisee’s business health. “The big bonus for Number Nurses is that they can work remotely from an office that suits their needs, which could be homebased if that’s their goal,” Kirsten says.

XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users. Find us online at: xumagazine.com

“And they can work anywhere in New Zealand or Australia where we are focusing developing franchises at the moment.” There will be geographic boundaries for each franchisee and they’ll be supported with plenty of training. Xero was a game-changer for accountants and business advisors, and now they need systems that support outsourcing bookkeeping tasks. Number Nurses provide the perfect solution by complementing the work of the accountants and business advisors, which allows them to focus on their specialist areas.

People who knew and loved Gayle, will completely understand that she would want her entrepreneurial legacy to go on...

Growing businesses will see their accountant as the doctor, carrying out the diagnoses and analysing how treatment is going. The Number Nurse bookkeeper is more hands-on and does the regular pampering

and the sorts out the messy stuff. “Our focus is to empower every business owner, teach them best practice bookkeeping and to make the Xero

experience fun,” says Kirsten. “And of course, we’ll celebrate successes with them – with a wee toast to Gayle.”

Dreaming of working from home & around your kids?

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Issue 08 / 7

Words: Richard Smith, Founder & Technical Lead, infoodle Richard is the founder and technical lead for infoodle, a Xero Add-On for the Charity sector. With experience in NGOs in Europe, Africa and New Zealand, he brings his technical expertise and software skills to this important sector to organisations around the world. He is one of those geeks who can translate tech into English! @infoodle

Xero for charities: Is Xero right for charitable organisations? Whilst Xero is primarily directed at businesses, charities can gain enormous benefits by switching... Time is money - for businesses, and for your charity, money is often more scarce and needs to be targeted towards the beneficiaries. Whilst the monthly cost of Xero - even at the discounted charity rates - is still a bottom line cost, it does mean you can enable your staff and volunteers to spend less time doing the books, and more time focusing on the purposes of the charity.

normally stuffed into shoe-boxes, saves hours in tracking down errors and getting copies! Preparing end of year accounts for the accountant is mostly done prior to the year ending, ensuring a reduced bill and providing up-to-date information throughout the year for those monthly committee meetings.

Simple time savings

In addition, there is the benefit of oversight and accountability. Charities, particularly those smaller groups who rely on volunteer bookkeeping, can easily end up with the accounting and banking done by one person. This means the treasurer has no accountability and is open to the possibility (or, at least, the appearance) of abuse. Xero provides for any number of people logging into the accounts - even in a read-only mode. This makes it possible for the committee and trustees to have

Bank feeds are an obvious advantage, ensuring accurate, up to date bank information. There will be no double entering of information with associated typos and missed records. Quick coding of transactions is a related advantage. The books for many organisations can be up to date in minutes if performed regularly. Capturing expenses, including photos of receipts from staff and those 8 / Issue 08

Xero enables accountability

oversight of the books whenever they wish. As each bank transaction is made visible to all, the books suddenly become more visible to more people. It protects both the treasurer and the organisation. Xero can track donor and recipient funds A key benefit Xero provides for charities is the ability to record not only the donor side of the transaction, but also up methods for identifying the recipient of the transaction. Many organisations utilise grants or targeted funds for specific projects. They can, also, be a conduit for funds, in the sense that they perform fundraising on behalf of others and, once received, pass this money (or a percentage of it) onto the recipient. These two requirements can be met through the use of tracking categories (Figure 1). This Xero contact is the person giving the money, and the tracking category is the

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grant, person or campaign that is receiving the money. Xero can help track drop-offs Xero can also help with tracking the recurring giving if you are not too large an organisation. It’s a simple trick that when someone signs up to donate on a recurring basis, a repeating invoice is set up. (Don’t mark it to auto send though, donors aren’t keen on receiving invoices for their donations!) As their funds arrive, you reconcile the invoice. You will very quickly recognise when a donor has dropped off because the invoice will remain unpaid, giving you a chance to follow up.

around receipting. Whilst Xero can provide the core data to facilitate some of this activity, an Add-On is really the only solution for these core needs.

Of course tracking the income and expenses is only part of what a charity needs. You need to ensure you have a good understanding of your donors: who

with Xero to provide financial data, to enhance the donor profile, volunteer management tools, comprehensive receipting and reporting functions (Figure 2).

they are, where they are, what they do. You need to understand the volunteers, ensuring they are informed and that you know them as best you can. You need to care for your donors, volunteers and beneficiaries, catering for the issues

CRC International Trust, a charitable organisation providing online streaming services and funding filmmaking with a message, switched over to infoodle + Xero for their CRM/receipting and accounting needs, and haven’t looked back. With two offices 1000 km apart the team had to work together with common information, attempting to reduce the staff and volunteer hours spent on admin. With infoodle they can now retain institutional knowledge about their community and organisation centrally, easily generating

You need to infoodle has ensure you have a been developed specifically to good understanding address these needs, assisting of your donors: who charities, churches they are, where they and community groups to operate are, what they more efficiently. They do... leverage the integration

Figure 1

Xero can issue tax receipts

also need to separate the fundraising side of the financials from the administration part e.g. payroll. Give your fundraiser access to Xero so they have complete visibility of the accounts. These scenarios, and more, cause strain to Xero, and show its business leanings.

Well - sort of. Whilst Xero can issue receipts, it can only do this on a per invoice basis. So unless you want your donors to receive a receipt each time they give you some money (which some do), you are going to be limited by Xero. This is also relevant if you receive bank statement lines which need to be split between multiple donors, and have some rebatable (deductible) amounts, and different entities that need receipts issuing to them. You may

Figure 2

tax receipts, and, with Xero, providing quality accurate reports without the need for an intermediary - all with minimal administration.

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Issue 08 / 9

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Issue 08 / 11

Technological advancement has forced accounting into the subscription economy The key to running a new accounting practice is to look at the right metrics... From the early days of starting Interactive Accounting, it was apparent that time/cost billing was not a business model that was going to scale. Nor would it provide the right link between the delivery of value to clients and the earning of revenue as we adopted the cloud with Xero. Time/Cost would not allow for smooth cash-flow for my small but growing practice. Even if I had a larger practice, the adoption of cloud would cause a great deal of financial pain. My costs are monthly and my revenue is typically annual, as well as being in arrears with time/cost billing.

Words: Guy Pearson, CEO, Practice Ignition Guy has more than a decade’s experience in professional practice and is a Chartered Accountant. Now Founder / CEO at Practice Ignition, prior to which he founded and grew Interactive Accounting into a leading cloud accounting practice, focusing on startups and online businesses in Australia. Winner of multiple industry awards and Anthill’s 30 under 30 in 2014, Guy is a thought leader in the accounting industry and is driven towards advancing the industry to better serve small businesses globally. @ ignitionapp

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Going Cloud has forced the Accounting Industry to align value, revenue and costs, which, when you think about it, just makes sense. Even on base principals, it means that you should have a client that doesn’t cover your costs. Time/cost is dead. As an industry we should start: • Moving away from this model to subscription style billing and bundling services, your core offerings wrapped around compliance. • Aligning delivery of value for your clients, by dealing in the present and looking forward. • Moving to a 2 speed model for your practice: Subscription + Project Billing. Why time/cost should die out - in case you’re not convinced The move to the cloud has sped up the processes to prepare a set of annual

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financial accounts and tax forms (unless the systems have been set up incorrectly). Cloud accounting software has removed the value from data entry and processing. This takes the value out of the process work, as systems enable a standard delivery of service speed, no matter whether there is 10 or a 1000 transactions. The variance of the work is now not so great in value to prepare the required deliverables for these two extremes. Which means you can’t expect to survive if you are focusing on processing for your revenue. This is the method time/cost billing is built around.

WIP, Debtors, Profit, perhaps even Revenue, are all too far down the order to guide you to success in running a new style of accounting practice, especially if you’re keen to grow. I’m not saying that your revenue and profit are irrelevant, but they are the results of activity higher up in the business. Every practice should be getting to a single metric (like we advise our clients), so that we are to focus on driving our business forward.

are fixed, with the variable monthly costs being mostly immaterial. As a result, you have a notion of a fixed cost of X and fixed revenue of Y each month, when you run a monthly subscription revenue business. Therefore breakeven and profitability becomes more easy to monitor. Is Y > X ?

Note: there will always be a need for niche expertise on tax for particular issues - e.g. transfer pricing and other rulings that have a great deal of scope and interpretation, and are not simply cases of yes/no. Delivering value Figure 1

Value to your clients is going to shift as a result of Cloud Accounting Adoption. There is no value in looking back and announcing results and outcomes. The value is in: • Analyzing the previous results. • Providing a snapshot of the current scenario for your client. • Providing the best industry practice metrics and considering the comparability of your clients. • Recapping future goals for clients and highlighting a good project to undertake over the next period of time. • Assisting in the delivery of the value of the project, and measuring the results. An example of a project - Reduce days of locking-up in receivables. The above could be as simple as helping review bad debts, the sales process, tools used, assessment of clients, invoicing terms and collection processes. All of which you are able to detect, assess and assist. The 2 speed model of the new practice You now have a business model that runs two types of revenue streams:

Project revenue should drive the R+D spend and fund your growth

Introducing “MRR” For the Cloud Accounting Practice, I believe the #1 metric to focus on is Monthly Recurring Revenue (“MRR”). Just like with software companies, this is the golden metric for driving value, as the faster this rate grows, the more scalable is your business. Unlike software companies, losing clients is not a huge concern, as the rate of attrition tends to be low for accounting practices. It’s a single number you can focus on if you’re keen to grow MRR is a run rate that looks at your current revenue, month by month, focusing on the change in its rate in order to determine growth. It works just like compounding interest rates. The higher the increase and frequency, the larger the accumulation of interest is over the base. E.g. a 3% monthly increase over the prior month (consistently for 12 months) is equal to 42% p.a. Growth. It will define your profitability

• Recurring “subscription” revenue, and • Project based revenue. How do you decide if your new model is working? We’ll take a look.

Running a cloud practice, all of your core expenses and overheads are likely to be charged on a monthly basis, or even more regularly. Most of these expenses

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In a perfect world, the Project revenue should be 100% profit, as your costs are fixed and covered by your recurring revenue. This project work can be used to fund the development of the rest of the firm and build the base of recurring clients with marketing, hiring in advance or improving staff skills via training. All of these will add value to both your practice and your clients businesses. Make sure you don’t miss out on the wave of adoption Adoption of technology follows the bell curve. This looks at risk vs. reward in your stage of adoption (Figure 1). Looking at Cloud Accounting Adoption across the globe, accountants are the preferred path for the big accounting software companies, as “we” hold the relationship with the business owner. The question of risk is now mitigated as we have crossed the chasm into early majority from the early majorities, signalled by the big end of town (Big 4 and tax offices) adopting and integrating with cloud technology.

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From catwalks to organics, how this SMB took advantage of the Add-on network

Words: Leigh Dunsford, Co-Founder, Waddle Leigh is a co-founder of Waddle, the easiest way to get funds advanced against your unpaid invoices, simply by linking your Xero account. Waddle is the first, fully-integrated cashflow optimisation tool, offered as an invoice financing Add-on. The Waddle team is headquartered in Sydney, Australia. Before Waddle, Leigh ran a traditional, invoice-factoring company. @getwaddle

How Brett Monaghan solved the cashflow gap... When Brett Monaghan made the decision to leave the world of high fashion photography, including the catwalks of Milan, Paris, and Madrid, he dreamed of moving back to Australia and starting his own organics business, away from the fast paced lifestyle. “I wanted to play a role leading into the realm of really healthy food, that tastes just as great as it is healthy.” One of Brett’s first tasks was to ensure that he had the right technology, to bring efficiency and scalability, without disrupting growth. Cloud accounting was the first obvious choice for Brett’s organic manufacturing and wholesale business, as he mapped out how each system might work together from accounting, inventory, fulfilment and, eventually, finance. With cloud software being the only logical way to establish business systems for growth, Eclipse Organics was born with the help of his business partner. “Without the skills that both Jonny and I

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brought into this business, we would have found it nearly impossible. We have done most things ourselves. From Images and packaging design, to our internal filemaker production system. Without this, we would not have been able to play so soon.” Brett and his business partner, like most start-ups, need to wear many hats, so choosing systems that integrate with each other, and are accessible from any location, was critical. Growth Challenges and Managing the Fixed Cost of Software Establishing a baseline of solid cloudbased software, starting with Xero, allowed the business to utilise Addons, on-demand. Everything starts with financial data and, essentially, spiders out, allowing other software to integrate and facilitate two-way data exchanges, that eliminate most manual data entry. By leveraging Xero and its comprehensive ecosystem, Brett has set himself up to allow scalable Add-ons, that do not come with the hefty price tag of enterprise solutions. These may not suit the cycle of growth he is currently going through. As the business grows, he only pays for what

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he needs, while maintaining the option to upgrade in the future, as he grows or needs to change. He will be able to scale-up to a higher-tier, without having to overhaul the entire system. Cloud software has mostly been filling a huge cost gap for SMBs, between graduating from a micro business, to a larger turnover enterprise that requires large scale ERP software to run the operation. As a business grows, it can now take advantage of low-cost Add-ons and cloud-software, before making a huge leap up in costs. With Growth comes Payment Cycle Gaps Brett’s business manufactures and wholesales premium organic products. When the company got started, payments were usually up-front. However, after a few trade shows, some large distributors began to take notice. Larger buyers demand payment terms that can drag invoice payment out to ninety days, in some cases. A typical problem is that all growth businesses face selling on B2B credit terms. The opportunity to sell and distribute a product, or perform services, versus the time it takes to get paid, is something that cannot be avoided. More often than not, chasing payments or demanding quicker payment terms will fall on deaf ears. A new problem has been revealed. Paying suppliers up-front, or even on the account, would eventually come to a crunch, as new invoicing increases and payment terms are stretching-out. As the gap widens, establishing Add-ons to automate payment collections, and tightening up credit terms, is the first logical step to bringing down the day’s average payment times. Plugging the payment gap With receivables and payables growing apart, including increased wage payments, he had to find a solution to fill the gap, getting sufficient liquidity into the business. This can service the growth potential the company is preparing to tackle. Brett found himself with a common problem- a good problem-that meant he was growing. As a result, he needed to get himself a solution that would both provide on-going working capital, while not impacting his business operation that could scale with his growth.

“Space, equipment and ingredients. They all come down to one thing. Funds and cashflow.” Brett identified the need to approach his bank and apply for an overdraft. He needed a true working capital option that fitted the cashflow of his business. With timing constraints, waiting weeks or months to establish a line of credit would simply soak up too much time. Compounding this issue was the need to pledge property assets, in order to secure the loan. “We are just too different for the banks to understand, and our high rate of growth just does not fit a standard overdraft or loan. We need to find a funding stream that would grow with us and be as fluid as we are.” Brett knew he needed a credit-line that would grow with his sales, and was referred by the bank to a lending product called invoice financing. This would allow him to establish a line of credit against his unpaid receivables, which is not tied to the equity in his personal property assets. Invoice Financing is one financing option that can mimic a traditional overdraft, except for one significant benefit: Invoice Financing does not require any fixed repayments or set loan terms. As the business owner draws down funds against open invoices, customer payment automatically repays the credit line. This type of credit line is often referred to as a revolving line of credit. Each time new invoices are raised, they are financed and repaid, with the cycle continued each day, week or month. This type of financing tool is a favourable working capital solution,

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which does not impact on the businesses operational cashflow, to make regular set repayments that must be planned in advance. The issue he found with traditional invoice financing was the administration burden it might place on his back office. Traditional lenders would require Brett to use a separate system for logging invoices, including sending copies of the invoices and paperwork, such as delivering receipts to the finance company each time he needed to draw down funds. Traditional lenders will also make contact with customers, and disclose that a financing arrangement is in place. What also became apparent was the complexity in the bookkeeping that this type of funding option would bring to the business. All of this added back-office load, coupled with the perceived expense of the actual finance. This has turned most business owners away from this type of product in the past. Invoice Financing has Evolved into a Xero Add-on By becoming a cloud-enabled business, Brett has inadvertently opened himself up to a new wave of lending options that he can access through the Add-on ecosystem. This integrates directly with his Xero account. Invoice Financiers are now able to leverage Application Programming Interface (API) technology, to automate the entire lending process, removing the application stages and any paperwork that traditional lenders require. Business owners that use Xero can link their online account to the

Issue 08 / 15

lender, opt-in for a two-way data exchange, which automates every aspect of the financing. Financiers can make an assessment on the health of business from bookkeeping, customers spread, payment cycles, etc. All are helping to establish this within moments of connecting a new working capital facility. This fits the cashflow cycle of the business.

Business owners are now able to selfserve their funding needs and obtain real-time offers, based on their Xero data, instead of the traditional finance application process. They do this by, simply, linking their cloud accounting software, something traditional banks are yet to provide. Ongoing administration is almost nonexistent, thanks to the data sharing

between Xero and the lenders dedicated lending software. SMBs can invoice for a job or delivery of product/s, and drawdown funds against new receivables (assets) the instant they get generated. This new funding enables SMBs to identify, with pinpoint accuracy, the liquidity they require on a day-to-day basis. Instant access to funds against future customer payment helps facilitate payments to suppliers, wages, and expenses, without performing any further processes outside of their regular accounting duties. This is something that has never been seen before with a product, such as invoice financing. The Importance of Fixing Cashflow with Technology

to allow his operation to scale with minimal disruption. Putting cloud accounting first was a pivotal step in branching out to additional business software Add-ons. This has helped him reduce his fixed costs and deliver instant, efficient savings, that can be put back into developing better products and customer service. What he did not foresee was the evolution of business lending, specifically the vast changes in an age-old lending product, such as invoice financing. This has significantly impacted his access to steady cashflow. The cost saving provided through the possession of an integrated financing solution, which has minimal impact on his back office, just made sense to him. Choosing an offline funding option was never a consideration for this techsavvy entrepreneur.

Brett knew that he needed to get his business online from the very beginning,

Automating adjustments for management (and final) accounts Chartered accountant, Kevin Salter highlights the merits of FlowRev and provides some examples of the difference it has made to some of his clients in practice... Words: Kevin Salter, Partner, Glover Stanbury - Chartered Accountants Kevin is a partner in Glover Stanbury, Chartered Accountants (a Gold Xero Partner), as well as having many IT roles â&#x20AC;&#x201C; IT director of 2020 Innovations Ltd, a technical committee member of the ICAEW IT Faculty, regular blogger on IT matters and director of Docusoft Ltd, a document management software company. @GloverStanbury

Calculating adjustments for some management accounts can be quite straightforward. For instance, adjusting for stocks is often a two line posting document: the stock account on the balance sheet, and the cost of sales account on the profit and loss account. Frequently there is either an internal fixed asset module or an external standalone program that is used to monitor asset movements, profit or loss on sale, as well as calculating depreciation. Again just a few lines of posting are necessary to get the data into the accounts. But when it comes to deferring income or calculating prepayments, this can take an

16 / Issue 08

inordinate amount of time. Many expenses when incurred are simply placed in the Profit and Loss. As well as this, income is only fully recognised when the invoice is raised, as it can be too time-consuming to make the adjustments. Frequently a spreadsheet is created in order to try to monitor, calculate and summarise these figures. However, this often results in rekeying a lot of information (dates, narrative and amounts) that has already been entered into the accounting records. The spreadsheet can also be easily compromised, especially where it is used and updated frequently e.g. for quarterly or monthly accounting.

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Issue 08 / 17

A recent example is a it was scrapped. create an invoice in Xero, if you enter spreadsheet that had 4 columns, the dates above in curly brackets in the one for each quarter end. The total invoice’s reference or line description But... at last, someone has also identified nominal expense was entered in the “total this as an issue and solved the problem! field, these dates get driven automatically column” and then a formula was applied into FlowRev ready for the allocation! The solution is a pleasure to use (says the to calculate the prepayment The product offers additional ways to erstwhile sad accountant who at the end of each quarter. automate its workflow steps, which you has been in the profession This seemed easy, until can implement as is appropriate given far too long!) ...at last, there was an expense your client’s process. someone has that started part way FlowRev, Inc., based also identified through the year (the I was able to set up prepayments for some in the USA, is an Insurance Charge). 50 expenses incurred over a nine month accredited Xero this as an issue 7/12ths fell into period in FlowRev, having all the details add-on. It links to the and solved the the current year and entered in Xero in under an hour. Monthly client’s data in Xero and 5/12ths fell into the next accounts are now being prepared where imports all the invoices problem! accounting year. Obviously in the past only quarterly accounts were (sales and purchases) the same had happened in prepared and often these got missed too, that have been entered. The the prior year. Without giving it due to confusion over the prepayment first import can take some time. any thought at all, a user changed the calculation. However, subsequent refreshes import narrative to the current year and also only new transactions and those amended changed the total amount. As a result, the since the last sync. For another client who invoices for work first two periods’ prepayment amounts to be done in either the subsequent are now incorrect! Repeat this a few times month, quarter or ad hoc It is then a case of looking on other lines, leave out the dates and the down the list and deciding period, the calculation result is chaos. of deferred income which ones need to Adopting was being done by be adjusted. For FlowRev practice Some accounting packages enable staff that did not the insurance recurring transactions to be created that really understand bill received wide will allow you to post a set number of times. So it would the concept of and entered to deliver more accurate be possible to journal out an item into “spreading”. the insurance management accounts Prepayments and then set up 12 monthly FlowRev was expense code transfers out to the expense account. introduced and in July, the efficiently across your However, this would need monitoring this has instantly dates covered client base in a cost and takes up a lot of time. How is the transformed the are presented effective manner. balance of £34,250 on the Prepayments process. Around as:01/08/2016 – account actually made up? This needs a £140,000 was deferred 31/07/2017. From a spreadsheet for monitoring, or needs a from June 2016 invoices drop-down menu, how this sub-account for each prepayment. This to future dates. Having set up expense is to be spread is selected can, once again, turn messy! FlowRev for this client, we anticipate – in this case monthly. Click the process improved collaboration with them too. We button and a journal is created and This has always been an issue in can mutually operate process steps and posted into Xero. It takes the invoice out they can provide input directly in FlowRev accounting. Many iterations of of insurance and into prepayments, then spreadsheets have been developed and via emails and spreadsheets. sets up a recurring posting at the end of trialled. I have also tried to get a custom each month, out of prepayments and into program written. Explaining the concept the insurance account. There are a few more clients to whom and the requirements of the developer, we will introduce this to in the next few however, proved a step too far. As a result, And it can be even easier! When you weeks. They have a pattern of invoicing early in the financial year for a service to be delivered predominantly in JuneAugust.

It won’t suit all clients individually, especially where there are relatively few adjustments. But across dozens or hundreds of clients, it adds up for your firm. Adopting FlowRev practice wide will allow you to deliver more accurate management accounts efficiently across your client base in a cost effective manner. For your practice and clients, where there are significant items to adjust, this is a great tool. This is now one of my favourite add-ons! 18 / Issue 08

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Cover Story

The Athletic Accountant The Olympics might seem a long way from Accounting, but there’s a lot accountants can learn from their data and competitors about going for gold...

Words: Steven Lucas, Customer Experience Manager, Receipt Bank Steven is responsible for making sure every part of the Receipt Bank software experience helps accountants and bookkeepers do better. He and his team at Receipt Bank work alongside partners to research better and more efficient ways to do bookkeeping. @ReceiptBank

The Olympics are dramatic. You’d expect as much, named after the home of the Gods in the country that invented Tragedy. As the Summer Olympics draws near, we can look forward to watching this epic play out on screens all over the world. Competition brings out the best in athletes, and for accountants, it’s no different. Just as the best athletes are always training to stay ahead of their competition, top accountants are always refining their processes, and looking for tools to help them get the edge. Competing on Data

and bookkeepers build scalable, efficient businesses, by giving them tools and data they need, from data extraction to practice metrics. And it works – the most common indicator for a successful and competitive firm is how they use the stats we provide. Having started by building a data extraction system that has since set the industry standard for accuracy, we realised that real value for an ambitious firm is visibility over the bookkeeping process. Now we can show our accounting partners everything, from how fast their bookkeeping team is working through items, to the average delay between a client receiving an invoice and submitting it. And this is the kind of data our partners are using to build an Olympic standard service.

Being a world-class athlete doesn’t just mean practicing every day. Teams and their trainers spend countless hours recording ...the gold their activity and stats medal for a so they can find areas competitive firm to improve.

“Moving away from a reactive workflow process driven by should be a portfolio filing deadlines to a pre-emptive workflow In fact, the modern of clients who that is driven by Olympics runs on rave about their timely turnaround data, just as much has been the biggest as it does dreams. services. challenge but has reaped Everyone, from the German the greatest rewards,” says sailors to British rowers, is Will Farnell, Founder of Bristol firm using analytics to perfect their Farnell Clark and a Receipt Bank partner. performance, and when IBM’s Watson isn’t busy winning game shows, it’s “An infrastructure built around cloudcrunching numbers to create training based rich data collection and processing guides for runners. And numbers are an and the development of a bespoke and accountant’s specialty. interlinking workflow mechanism was required. This is an ever-evolving project, At Receipt Bank, we help accountants 20 / Issue 08

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Cover Story there’s no system that can’t be improved, but the boost to productivity, cash flow, profits, referrals and so on has been seismic.” A gold medal in Accounting Bookkeeping efficiency and productivity are words that come up a lot at Receipt Bank HQ, because we truly think that accountants’ and bookkeepers’ time is valuable. The expertise you bring is best used providing services that help your clients grow, rather than on data entry. Now that data extraction can be automated with OCR tools, and invoices can be submitted on the move with a smartphone, a smart bookkeeping process can be the foundation of a service that adds real value. For that reason, the gold medal for a competitive firm should be a portfolio of clients who rave about your services. We’re helping our partners aim for Effortless Bookkeeping and, to show it’s possible, we’re taking a cue from the Olympics. The Effortless Bookkeeping Challenge We’re so convinced data and competition drives accountants to grow, we’ve started our own bookkeeping competition for Receipt Bank partners. The Effortless Bookkeeping Challenge is an opportunity for forward-thinking firms, using Receipt

Bank, to become more competitive, using all the bookkeeping data we provide about their practice and clients. We’re breaking out a toy chest of new metrics, to give our competitors

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unprecedented visibility over their bookkeeping process. At a glance, they will be able to see essential data such as how long items have been waiting for processing, their percentage of process automation and how

Issue 08 / 21

Cover Story

efficient their client submission methods are.

other practices also gave them milestones to work towards.

Since competition pushes us to perform “The Effortless Bookkeeping Challenge to our best, competitors will gave us the motivation and the be able to track their support we needed not performance against just to do things right The Effortless other firms in the but to do it great,” Bookkeeping contest, through says Paul. an anonymised Challenge is an leaderboard. Paul We’ve already opportunity for Miller, whose firm, filled our forward-thinking firms, placements for the Cornish Accounting using Receipt Bank, Solutions, won our July competition, very first Effortless but we’ll be taking to become more Bookkeeping registrations from competitive... Challenge in May, says Receipt Bank partners his team quickly identified for the next round in opportunities to become more September – which will be efficient, thanks to the dashboard open to the rest of the world. and the helpful advice they received. Being anonymously benchmarked against

22 / Issue 08

How to lead the pack In a rapidly changing industry, it’s going to be the athletic accountants who come out ahead. If you don’t pay attention to what is happening in, and around, your firm, you may find that the event has changed, while you’ve stayed the same. The key to keeping up is the right data. This race may not be as dramatic as the Olympics, but when the game is numbers, accountants and bookkeepers are uniquely placed to compete. Make sure you have the data to go for gold.

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Issue 08 / 23

Add-ons Compared

Compared: Inventory Management Add-ons

CIN7

DEAR Inventory

TradeGecko

Unleashed

Multi-currency

Multiple warehouses

Bin Locations / Stock Locator

B2B Portal

Basic Form Customisation

Clone/copy products

Stock & Service Product Types

Alternate Units of Measure (e.g. 6pk, 12pk)

Dimensions - Height, Width, Length

Weight calculation

Default suppliers

Core Functionality

Advanced Form Customisation

Product Management

Product Images & Files

Product families/variants

Barcode recording

Barcode generation

Size, Colour, Style Matrix (for data entry)

Size, Colour, Style Matrix (for printing)

Custom Fields

One

Multiple suppliers per product

Auto-SKU generation

This information was true and correct at the time of publishing. Releases happen all the time. Please contact the Add-on for the latest release information.

24 / Issue 08

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Add-ons Compared

For more information, please visit: CIN7 - cin7.com DEAR Inventory - dearsystems.com TradeGecko - tradegecko.com Unleashed - unleashedsoftware.com

CIN7

DEAR Inventory

TradeGecko

Unleashed

Backordering

Credit Limits

Stop Credit

Next Call Task (Basic CRM)

Contact Notes

Default Sales Representative

Supplier Returns & Restocking

Clone/copy purchase orders

Reorder levels by product

Reorder levels by warehouse

Minimum stock levels & alerts

Reorder back-ordered stock

Drop Shipping

Pick, Pack & Ship

Auto-Complete

Picking Slips

Delivery Dockets

Tracking Code Field

Barcode scanning

Sales Management Clone/copy orders Recurring sales

Purchase Management

Multiple Supplier Prices per Product

Fulfilment Management

Compiled by Jeri Murphy, Co-Founder of WhichAddOn.com

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Issue 08 / 25

Add-ons Compared

CIN7

DEAR Inventory

TradeGecko

Unleashed

First Expirying First Out (FEFO)

Batch/Serial Number Tracking

Landed Cost - weighted value

Landed Cost - weighted volume

Landed Cost - assign per item

Unlimited

Customer Special Pricing

Customer Discounts

Promotional Prices

Volume Based Pricing

Automatic Mark-Up of Selling Price

Kits/Bundles

Bill of Materials

Customisable BOM during production

Auto-assembly

Multi-level production

Disassembly

Basic Job Management

Multi-Line Stock Adjustment

Assign Stock Adjustment to Specific Account

Import Stocktake via CSV

Customisable Reports

Save Report Templates

Two-Way Xero Integration

Payments Only

Manual Sync when Ready

Contacts Only

Costing Method Options Average Cost First In First Out (FIFO)

Product Pricing options Price Tiers

Production / Light Manufacturing

Stock Adjustments & Stock-take

Reporting

Xero Integration Xero Integration

Immediate Sync

CMY

26 / Issue 08

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Add-ons Compared

CIN7

DEAR Inventory

TradeGecko

Unleashed

iPhone

Android

Mobile App

Other Integrations

Vend

Zapier

Shopify

Magento

MYOB QuickBooks Online

API Available for Custom Integration

ECommerce Integration

BigCommerce

via OneSaas

Woocommerce

via OneSaas

Neto

Ebay

via OneSaas

EDI

via Integration

Inbuilt POS

Sandbox Environment

Loads Foreign Exchange Rates Automatically

Inward consignment

Outward consignment (using warehouses)

Amazon

CRM Integration Salesforce CapsuleCRM

Other Features

Erratum - Issue 07: In the last issue, there was an error for Spotlight Reporting contained within the Add-on comparison. Spotlight Reporting does provide multi-currency consolidation. We apologise for this error. For more information, check out: https://www.spotlightreporting.com/product/reporting/

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It’s easier than you may know to connect Xero Add-ons to a website

Words: Grant Johnson, RocketSpark Grant is a co-founder of Rocketspark, a beautifully simple website builder that enables non-technical business owners to make their own website. Prior to founding Rocketspark Grant worked in marketing roles but his first job was as an accountant. @Rocketspark

Being a reader of XU Magazine, you are likely to be somewhat familiar with Xero Add-ons: how they can help your clients streamline their business, with simple to use tools, that automate historically manual processes.

Similarly, administrative savings are made for online retailers. By connecting their e-commerce system to a website, your clients will spend less time matching individual sales to the lump sum of money that is placed in your account overnight.

What you may not know is that it can be surprisingly easy to connect these Add-ons with a website; to harness the efficiency that a website provides, for customers to self serve online.

There are multiple ways that Xero Add-ons can be connected to a website, in order to benefit from the efficiency gains available. In this article I’ll introduce the main options available to connect Xero and Xero Add-ons to a website.

By extending the application of your addons to the online world, you can increase sales and reduce admin time. In service industries such as beauty, hospitality and tourism, using online booking can increase bookings, while saving time in phone calls and scheduling.

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1. Direct connection A direct connection is where the addon has connected with Xero’s API. For example, website builders like Rocketspark and Shopify have a direct connection to Xero, which

Issue 08 / 29

means that connecting to Xero is as simple as logging into Xero via your website dashboard, and selecting a few drop down items such as the sales account code.

A direct connection with Xero typically means a very simple setup process. 2. Embedded solution

3. Simple links Accountants and Bookkeepers are recommending a growing number of Add-ons for their clients. A simple way to help your clients access the Add-ons is to create a Logins page on your website, with links to the login pages of the various Addons you support. See the example of Alvis and Co’s website created by The Profitable Firm and powered by Rocketspark.

Many Xero Add-ons provide, within their

efficiency of streamlining your website and bookkeeping functions, you might explore a custom developed integration. Xero’s API is accessible by developers and with the right skills, they can develop an integration between Xero and your systems, without being on the Xero Addon marketplace. You’ll want to use a development partner who is experienced in the Xero API, to have the best chance of completing your integration on time and within budget. If you check out the ‘Custom-made integration’ section of the Xero Add-On Marketplace, you’ll find companies like BlueHub who know the Xero ecosystem well, and will examine your requirements to see if there is an “off-the-shelf ” solution available, or develop a custom integration for you. Cloud integrators

dashboard, a little snippet of website code which can be plugged into a website, in order to add their service. For example, booking and scheduling systems in the Xero Add-on Marketplace, such as Timely and Checkfront, provide online booking widgets which can be pasted into a website. This allows customers to book online directly into their systems. Another embeddable example is Practice Ignition, which allows new clients to select a proposition on your website and go through the client engagement process online. Receipt Bank also have an embeddable widget, which allows you to add a Receipt Bank login widget onto your website. For accountants and bookkeepers, it is a nice way to bring your clients regularly to your website. A quick search of the Add-on’s online help centre will show you instructions for how to get your widget code, and then a quick search of your website’s help centre will show you how to plug it in. 30 / Issue 08

4. Third party integrator software

Becoming knowledgeable in which add-on fits each scenario can take time. Testing each Add-on takes even longer. The number of services in the Xero Add-On Marketplace is While engaging growing at a the services of rapid rate, and a cloud integrator it can be tricky for business does carry a cost, the owners and benefit of having the advisors to right system for your keep up to date with all the Addbusiness...can far on goodness.

outweigh this...

Third party integration systems, like Zapier and Pipemonk, can provide a means of creating an integration between Xero and a website, when a direct integration doesn’t exist. It provides interaction between the website and Xero or, if the Xero Add-on is too involved to be achieved, it operates via an embedded solution. If you search the Xero Add-On marketplace, particularly in the e-commerce section, you will see examples of this software that functions to connect various systems together. 5. Custom developed integration

As Xero and the Add-On Ecosystem grows, we’ve seen a growing number of cloud integrators who are Rocketspark clients. These integrators have spotted the opportunity to come alongside business owners and advisors, such as accountants, to provide a service of recommending and setting up the right Add-ons for the job. While engaging the services of a cloud integrator does carry a cost, the benefit of having the right system for your business, and saving yourself the investigation and set up time, can far outweigh the cost, as you will free up time to focus on what you do best - running your business.

For businesses that have a bespoke built website, there may not be any existing “off-the-shelf ” solution for connecting to Xero. If your website is generating good business, and you would benefit from the

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Issue 08 / 31

The challenge of turning expenses frowns upside down

Adam Reynolds from Webexpenses takes a look at how technology is helping to challenge our attitudes towards employee expenses... Just mentioning the word ‘expenses’ can do strange things to a finance professional. It can cause shoulders to stiffen, eyes to roll and brows to furrow.

instead of being a painful process, it’s transformed into a simple and stress-free experience. Fresh Thinking

Expenses are something we’ve learnt to loathe. They’re a toxic drudgery; a tedious office task - a source of rancour and discontent between employers and employees. And it’s not just finance professionals who have an adverse reaction. It’s also disgruntled employees who are made to go through the monthly pain of processing bundles of paper, such as receipts to reclaim their losses. It’s company bosses who have to handle the consequence of endemic expenses fraud. In the UK alone, exaggerated and falsified claims are costing businesses in excess of £100 million each year. But what if this could be turned on its head? What if something we’ve become so accustomed to disliking could become something we actually enjoyed? That 32 / Issue 08

This is the challenge webexpenses has set itself and it’s what continues to drive the company forward. They view their cloudbased expenses management system as a tool to transform our core attitudes towards expenses. But to achieve this first requires an understanding of how expenses have been allowed to mutate into this business bogeyman. And when you look for the root of these negative attitudes, you find the ways we have traditionally handled expenses. Our attitudes have been borne in a pre-digital business world where we were reliant on manual and paperbased processes. Managing employee expenses meant being forced to process handwritten claims and bundles of paper receipts.

Words: Adam Reynolds, CEO, Webexpenses Adam is CEO of Webexpenses. He joined the company in 2013 as Head of Sales and took on the role of CEO role in 2015. Since then he has driven significant growth in the UK and overseen the global expansion of Webexpenses, with offices opening in Australia and New Zealand. @webexpenses

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It created an unavoidably slow and cumbersome way of working; finance teams having to cope with a monthly surge of paperwork. It meant there was rarely time to properly manage and monitor, so errors would go unnoticed, dodgy claims would go unchallenged. Without the ability to effectively tackle these problems, businesses simply learnt to tolerate them. Expenses became a dripping tap, a background drain on resources which companies turned a blind eye to.

replaced with faster and more efficient digital methods.

By removing the drudgery from processing paper claims, it frees up finance teams to start to properly take control of employee costs. Account managers can It’s estimated set up alerts which that moving from automatically trigger whenever a paper-based to a suspicious or outdigital system reduces of- policy claims processing costs by are made.

25 percent and cuts T&E spending by 10 percent.

Corrupt Culture The attitude came from the top and seeped down into the workplace, allowing expenses fraud to become normalised and legitimised. ‘Creative’ claims and ‘rounding up’ of mileage expenses became part of a battleground between employees and employers. A recent UK survey of more than 2,000 employees found that nearly a third (32%) said they over claimed expenses as a way to right perceived wrongs in the workplace - whether it was to top up salaries or get back at bosses. But those old ways of working which helped create this situation are no longer necessary. With the emergence of digital expenses management, we now have the tools to take back control; to challenge and change our old attitudes. A system such as webexpenses provides employees with the ability to instantly convert paper receipts into digital form via a smartphone app. It allows the old manual and paper-based processes to be

It’s estimated that moving from a paper-based to a digital system reduces processing costs by 25 percent and cuts T&E spending by 10 percent. But the advantages for an organisation go much further than financial savings. Smarter Working The ethos behind webexpenses’ development is not just to make a system which is fast, efficient and cost effective, it’s about completely changing the way we perceive expenses. It’s about taking away the toxicity and removing the drudgery.

the system an effortless, intuitive and enjoyable experience. To achieve this means finding the right balance between form and function - paying close attention to its look and feel. While in the past business software has not been known for its good looks, smart design is a now a vital part of the user experience. For webexpenses it has meant developing a crisp, clean and consistent look to match the functionality. Removing pain points is a constant process of iteration, using the feedback from users to refine and improve how the system works; empowering users without ever overwhelming them. A prime example of this is the seamless way that webexpenses integrates with Xero. A single-click is all that’s needed for your expenses data to be transferred over into Xero, ready to benefit from all of the powerful payment and billing abilities it offers.

It takes a potentially time-consuming and It takes a frustrating task, potentially timewhich is prone to consuming and manual errors, frustrating task, which and turns it into something is prone to manual effortless and errors, and turns it into intuitive.

something effortless and intuitive.

The move to mobile technology means that expenses management is no longer something tied to an office desk - it can be done from wherever you have an online connection on the platform of your choosing - from desktop to smartphone.

So, while it may seem something of an impossible task to turn those expenses frowns upside down,with the right tools, a smarter way of working and a fresh approach, this is now an achievable goal for any business.

Whether it’s claiming or processing expenses, the aim is to make using

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Issue 08 / 33

You’ve started your small business - what’s next? How partnerships can help your small business get to the next level... Any new company that wishes to grow always needs to keep an eye open for business development opportunities. Naturally, small business owners tend to look for ways to generate new revenue streams inside the walls of their own companies. But if you really want to take your small business to the next level, you should assess your strengths and look to form strategic partnerships with like-minded organizations. Anyone who’s ever done it before will tell you the same thing: Starting a new small business is no easy feat. Coming up with a killer business idea is only the beginning. From writing a business plan, to setting up your company as a legal entity, or even opening a business bank account, you have to jump through hoop after hoop just to get going. Once that’s all done, it’s time to roll up your sleeves and get to the real work of actually generating revenue. Or, at least, head down the path that leads to it. To do that, many small business owners are content with simply selling products and services to their customers. When sales appear to have peaked, additional products and services are developed. Expanding and strengthening your small business’ portfolio of offerings certainly helps you tap into new revenue streams. However, there are other ways to grow your bottom line and further develop your business. For example, once you’ve established a steady customer base, you can expand into new markets and target new customers. You can also put together more attractive packages by bundling your products together. To boost sales temporarily, you can offer discounts. The list goes on and on. Because their companies are just starting out, many small business owners overlook yet another tactic they can employ to grow 34 / Issue 08

their operations: Partnerships. By joining forces with complementary organizations to form mutually beneficial relationships, your small business can become that much Stronger and faster. How Partnerships Help Small Businesses Get to the Next Level There are a number of reasons small businesses enter into strategic partnerships with other companies. Here are five of them: 1. Your customer base expands immediately. Form a partnership and you get access to a whole new set of customers, many of which were not even on your radar beforehand. Instead of having to create new channels to sell your offerings, you can leverage your partner’s existing relationships to generate new revenue streams. According to a recent infographic, 57% of organizations establish partnerships for this reason. 2. You get access to new technologies and intellectual property. One of the main reasons businesses enter into partnerships with one another is because they each have something unique to offer. Form a partnership, and you’re able to gain access to new tools and new intellectual property that can make your company stronger, without breaking the bank. 3. You’re able to complete projects or launch initiatives in a cost-effective manner. Partnerships allow you to unlock the power of synergy. Your small business has its very obvious strengths, as does your partner. Quite simply, partnerships allow you to invest your resources in what you do best, while your partner does the same, giving you both more ‘bang for your buck.’

Words: Johnson Ma, Vice President of Business Development, Fundbox As VP of Business Development, Johnson manages partner relationships as well as partnership strategy. Prior to Fundbox, Johnson led business development and strategy for Yub (acquired by Quotient Technology Inc.) and oversaw business development and marketing at TrialPay (acquired by Visa, Inc.) Johnson received a BA in Economics with highest honors from UC Berkeley. @fundbox

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enter partnerships also need to have 4. You can tap into a deeper pool of access to cash. knowledge. As the old saying goes, two minds are better than one. Partnerships Just as you wouldn’t want to have bring a whole lot of new blood to cover your broke college into the mix. This enables roommates’ food and you to tap into a more Coming up drink every single diverse set of ideas. with a killer time you went out, You never know business idea is only companies aren’t when a partner’s exactly keen on idea, or what the beginning. From entering into their company writing a business plan, to partnerships brings to the setting up your company as with businesses table, might a legal entity...you have that are having inspire you cash flow to create an to jump through hoop problems. No amazing new after hoop just to one wants to be product or launch a get going. responsible for the lucrative new service. entire bill when both parties are benefiting from the 5. You don’t have to do it on your own. Instead of being solely responsible arrangement. for your small business’ successes or You Can’t Create a Great Partnership failures, partnerships create a scenario Without Great Cash Flow where more people have skin in the game. As a result, you don’t have to Let’s say your business just established worry as much about making the wrong a strategic partnership with another decision. Your partner’s care just as organization. You can’t expect the much as you do about your campaigns succeeding. They’ll let you know if there relationship will be successful if you don’t have access to capital. Without cash, is a better option out there. you’re unable to aggressively pursue new opportunities. It’s also harder to buy new As is the case in any other kind of equipment and supplies, and making relationship, all members of a partnership payroll and covering your operating need to contribute. In the business expenses gets trickier too. world—in addition to having customers, products, and ideas—companies that

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Since cash flow problems make it more difficult to run your own business, how can you reasonably expect to add all the value you possibly could, under ideal circumstances, to a partnership? The good news is these problems are largely avoidable if you take a proactive stance to cash flow management. How to Optimize Your Cash Flow You don’t have to let cash flow problems prohibit you from establishing partnerships altogether. Instead of waiting for cash shortages to materialize before doing something about them, there are a number of tactics you can employ to reduce the likelihood you’ll experience them in the first place: • Modify your approach to invoicing. According to a recent Fundbox study, 64% of small businesses are affected by late payments. Instead of waiting until the end of the month to invoice your clients, switch things up and send bills the moment services are rendered. This should accelerate payments. If you haven’t already, you may want to offer incentives to your customers to pay early by offering discounts (e.g., 2/10 n/30). • Use an invoice financing service. While your accounts receivables might look nice on your

Issue 08 / 35

financial statements, you can’t exactly pay your bills—or grow your business—with IOUs. Instead of waiting around for your customers to send their checks, you can use an invoice financing service like Fundbox to advance payments on outstanding bills. For a small fee, Fundbox gives you access to the cash you need to take on new opportunities within a business day or two. You then have 12 weeks to repay the advance, plus the small fee. (A note for new small business owners: You need to have a few months of invoicing history under your belt to use the service.) • Reconsider whether you need office space. When you just launch a new small business, you may be tempted to sign a yearlong office lease. But before you sign your name on the dotted line, it’s worth asking yourself whether you really need a dedicated office in the first place. Remember, the average startup pays $6,100 a month in rent. Instead of forking over that much cash, examine

36 / Issue 08

whether a distributed workforce makes more sense for your company. If you occasionally need space, you can always use a co-working facility.

We’ve helped Xero business owners with both cash flow obligations, such as making payroll, and unexpected business opportunities, such as new projects.

Many small business owners direct the entirety of their business development focus internally. But when cash flow is strong, it’s time to look outside your company walls. Consider whether it makes sense to form strategic partnerships with other organizations.

The end result? Additional revenue streams for you, and amplified value for your customers, putting your company in a much more enviable financial position.

When done correctly, partnerships enable your business to invest its resources more effectively, and even provide your existing customers with more value. Thanks to partnerships built through the Add-on Marketplace, Xero’s community of users have access to a variety of partner applications that build on Xero’s accounting software: For example, Xero customers use Fundbox (a financial services add-on) to advance payment on their outstanding invoices in Xero, freeing up previously locked cash flow.

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Automates Data Entry for Xero Bills Receipts Bank statements Credit card statements Credit notes Sales invoices

Integrates with . . .

+more An OCREX product - Trusted supplier to over 1,800 accounting ďŹ rms. We want to hear from you! Get in touch - email: hello@xumagazine.com

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Issue 08 / 37

3 reasons why you are not signing up bigger and better clients

Words: Heather Townsend, Lead Tutor, Spotlight Advisor Academy Heather Townsend is the author of ‘The Go-to Expert’ and the lead tutor of the Spotlight Advisor Academy. In 2015 the ICAEW decided Heather was the number one online influencer for the accountancy profession. @HeatherTowns

38 / Issue 08

Ask any firm what they are wanting to achieve with their marketing and most firms will tell you that they want to be winning bigger and better clients. In this article, Heather Townsend, author of The Go-To Expert, explains three reasons why many accountants are often not signing up the bigger and better clients... This is the answer, so what’s your problem? Recently I read a blog post, written by a coach, on an area I was well acquainted: how to choose the next partner for your firm. As I read the blog post I became more and more irritated. The blog post was obviously researched, but had fallen into a trap common of many coaches. What is this trap? They essentially tell us that the answer is ‘coaching’, without notifying us, or even considering, what the question is. Coaches are notorious

for selling coaching as the solution to any client’s problem. This is the trap which this coach had fallen into in this blog post. His thinking was fundamentally flawed, as his reasoning was viewed through the lens of his belief that ‘hiring a coach’ is the only answer. The coach had neglected to really think through the issue from his audience’s perspective. You may think that accountants wouldn’t do this. But would they? How many times have you been having an initial business development conversation where you

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already know the solution you would be selling them? How many times have you been in a situation where the answer is ‘we will do your compliance and a bit of tax planning’, before they even told you their problems. When you approach your business development meetings with a “This is the answer, so what’s your problem” mentality, you either don’t win the client OR you leave business on the table. This is very often the type of business which would make our newly won client a ‘bigger and better’ client, the very type of client we are trying to win. So, what are the typical reasons we fall into this deadly business development trap? Being an order taker It’s all too easy when talking with a client or prospect to become an order taker, rather than a good business developer. So what do I mean by an order taker? Think of a waiter in a restaurant. When the diner says “I’d like the cod to start, followed by the lamb”, the waiter takes this order, and is, in effect, an order taker. You see this happening with accountants and their prospects. The prospect comes in and says “I need an accountant to help me with X, Y, Z.” The accountant then says, ‘of course, it will be £X amount, when do you want to start?”. Alright, this is an exaggeration, but if you don’t fully explore the context for your client’s requirements, their goals and objectives, challenges they are facing in their business or individual affairs, then you risk becoming an order taker. Very often when clients come in with a particular requirement, it actually isn’t what they really need. Only when we take the time to properly explore their world and what they want to achieve can we truly recommend the appropriate course of action. It’s this exploration which often

unlocks the extra pieces of work a client needs, alongside their normal compliance requirements. I.e. The bigger and better clients that we want to win. Poor quality listening Of course you listen to your clients, as you are a successful accountant in practice. However, how well do you really listen to your clients and prospects? I recently ran a listening exercise on the Spotlight Advisor Academy, with a group of very successful founders of award-winning practices. The outcome of the exercise was their realisation that they weren’t accurately listening to their clients. Or, at least, not at a really deep level, taking into account their client’s body language, intonation, and other non-verbal signals. (As an aside, this can often be more revealing than what is actually being spoken.) The participants in this exercise found that in business development meetings, their own mental dialogue was stopping them from listening properly. This could be stuff such as: “I really need to win this client”; “Do I think I can do what this client wants?”; “This sounds similar to another client and they needed X, Y, Z”; or, even, “I need this meeting to finish on time as I’ve got to get 2 sets of accounts done today.” If you don’t listen properly then you will fail to spot signals about what the client really needs, rather than what they are simply asking for. Therefore, this leaves business on the table again.

one of the reasons that accountants who market to a niche normally enjoy higher than average fees from their clients, as well as winning the bigger and better clients. They know where to look and what to ask in order to identify more services they can sell to their clients. In summary The next time you have a new business meeting, take the time to really explore what is going on for their client, and don’t presume that you already know what solutions they require. This is one of the best and quickest ways to win the coveted bigger and better clients.

Too much of a generalist As the saying goes, if all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. It’s the same with business development for accountants. If you don’t have specialist knowledge of a sector or technical area, then you typically propose the ‘sameold- same-old’ solutions to clients. This is

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Issue 08 / 39

Words: Andrei Gromek, CEO, Wink Reports Andrei’s background is in accounting, IT implementation and project management. He juggles the day-to-day running of the business with keeping fit and active, spending time with his young family and an (over) appreciation of music and coffee. @WinkReports

Facing up to the pros and cons of cloud software Is there anything cloud software can’t do? Andrei Gromek from Wink Reports asks the hard question... I work in a team of Xero Add-on developers, as the Managing Director of Wink Reports. Before that, I was a Xero Partner, consulting with SMEs to integrate their cloud software. Before this, I was a Xero user, and have continued to be, through a pivot; a rebrand; and rapid expansion of our team and our customer base. I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’ll be wearing all three hats in a stack at Xerocon South in Brisbane this September (propeller beanie; green eyeshade visor; and fedora respectively). Although I’m excited by the prospect of a best dressed nomination at the Xero Gala Awards dinner, packing for the trip could get complicated. I had to wonder: why do I wear all of these hats? Similarly, you might wonder why you use so many different cloud based software tools and add-ons to run your business. After all, it could be much simpler to go with a single enterprise level vendor (if you can afford it). One-size-fits-all vs a stack of tools and integrated Add-ons Expense and in-house IT infrastructure 40 / Issue 08

requirements aside, there are advantages to using a single system. Dealing with a single vendor streamlines the implementation and training processes. Having all of your data in one place allows for cross-function reporting. The unified experience allows every user in every department to speak the same language. This sounds great – until you give the green light and see how it plays out in practical terms. Single vendor system: jack of most trades, master of some As gigantic and feature dense as these single systems are, they do not excel at every aspect. You might get great stock control, but mediocre job tracking. They have varied strengths and weaknesses; and you get every feature, good or bad – even the ones you don’t need. “But hey, at least I get everything I need, right?” Wrong. I have never seen an implementation of these systems fit a business perfectly. Even disregarding scope creep, you’ll always need some amount of customisation to fit the software to your business.

Customisation of a large system requires extra development time, and more training and documentation. You need more support to maintain it, but fewer people know enough to offer this. You’re stuck with that one vendor for the life of the system; and in my experience, support for SMEs is an afterthought for enterprise level vendors, only arriving once they’ve finished looking after their big customers. Xero + Add-ons: masters of each trade Compare this to a cloud based ecosystem, like Xero and its add-ons. Each tool is the best-of-breed, performing a specialised purpose. Each can be integrated with other specialised tools. It’s the combination of these that provide everything you need, with no bloat of features or convoluted interfaces. You can swap out and scale different components as your business changes; or even as new and improved cloud software arrives on the market. Simpler tools and less customisation means training and support are more readily available. The standard documentation for each tool will actually match how you use it; and you can consult with any number of expert partners that

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actually consult with you to work out what you need and create tailored reports just for you. You can finally have the master of each trade and the unified system across your entire business. Whichever hat you wear – user, partner or developer – I hope this can solve that last nagging problem you’ve had with your cloud software toolkit. If you’re coming to Xerocon South in Brisbane, please come and see the team and I in Startup Alley. I might not have managed to pack all three hats in my luggage, so just look out for the Wink Reports stand, and come and say g’day. can be quickly brought up to speed. Ok – you probably already know this stuff. That’s why you’re a Xero user in the first place. Let’s face up to some harder truths. During my time as a cloud software consultant, the problems I was tackling boiled down to different flavours of the same issue: no unified experience across the business. Multiple tools meant struggling with multiple vendors and multiple points of potential failure. As a cloud integrator, I could act as that missing single vendor to solve these problems. But I was still missing something crucial. No cross-function

reporting. There was nothing that helped one department speak the same language with the others; or saw how changes in one aspect of the business effected the rest. Wink Reports: many tools. One unified experience As I’ve shifted gears from Xero Partner to working in a team of Xero Add-on developers, I’m now finally able to provide this missing piece of the cloud software model. Wink Reports can connect all of your best-of- breed tools, and generate reports on any aspect you like. Not just cookie-cutter report templates – we

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Issue 08 / 41

Words: Brianna O’Regan, Partner Manager, Tanda

What’s the future of payroll? How to spend less time on payroll and more time advising clients

Most people never have to worry about the process required for paying someone. It’s not a hugely riveting subject: people go to work, they work, they get paid.

Suffering from the payroll headache? Brianna explains how software, like Tanda, is changing the way advisors and businesses process payroll. The future of payroll is using technology to work smarter, not harder...

@TandaHQ

officer is somebody nobody knows.” This shows an understanding that attention is only paid to payroll when there are errors, under-payments, or the pay is late.

But for accountants and bookkeepers, this What most don’t realise, though, is that behind a simple payslip are legal seemingly small process represents one questions covered with grey and varying of the biggest headaches and stresses shadows of complexity. Australia is associated with the job. And it’s not just the advisors who are suffering. Fair Work’s routinely identified as one of the most complex countries to run a payroll, list of big companies who are failing with workforce administration, to pay legal wages continues compliance requirements, to grow every week. So it’s and payroll regulation no surprise that society Digital identified as the major is starting to wonder, ecosystems complicating factors. why is it so hard to like Xero are the pay people correctly? In total, we have driving force for 122 Modern Awards, For the past three software change with an average years, we have made award having between it our business to in Australia. 180-200 individual rules. know the intricacies of Take off your advisors hat payroll, and how to build for a moment, read a Modern software which automates the Award document cover to cover, and you’ll complexities of getting people paid. empathise with small business owners Currently processing over $520 million and executives who might not understand in casual and part-time wages each year, the complexity of the process. Or, let we’re an advocate for those who have the best intention and efforts to pay their staff alone, how to guarantee organisational wide compliance on the next level. correctly. The payroll headache: With each new pay scandal, I’m reminded of an old industry saying: “a good payroll

42 / Issue 08

Brianna is responsible for managing the Tanda Partner Program. She establishes partnerships with accountants, advisors and bookkeepers who are passionate about getting the most from their clients’ workforce. Tanda is a workforce management software automating rosters, employee attendance, timesheets, award interpretation and payroll integration.

However Australia’s payroll complexity is only the tip of the payroll headache iceberg. For many advisors, taking on payroll means losing billable time on

XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users. Find us online at: xumagazine.com

How Tanda works...

Coupling Tanda with platforms like Xero allows advisors to invest in long term solutions. These incentivise and reward compliance management as a competitive edge for their clients. Technology is providing feasible alternatives to manual processes, that are not only assisting advisors to manage the potential payroll risks, but also assisting them to help their client succeed.

BUILD YOUR ROSTER

SEND SHIFTS TO STAFF

What the future holds... Today the ability to collect meaningful data is key to ensuring accuracy, efficiency and compliance. However the successful workplaces of tomorrow will be the ones that can take this data and use it to make smarter decisions.

STAFF CLOCK IN

AUTOMATE TIMESHEETS

5 PAY STAFF CORRECTLY

For advisors, this means using software like Tanda and Xero to gather realtime data for wage costs, revenue and employee attendance, so that you can advise clients instantly. This may be as simple as advising them how to make up today’s roster variance, tomorrow. Or it could be as involved as modelling the Modern Award updates, and the expected wage cost increase for a business.

Approved Timesheets

admin tasks, taking on unnecessary stress, and the risk of your professional reputation if something goes wrong. It certainly doesn’t make payroll a particularly appealing task for advisors. So how do you take a painful but necessary task like payroll, and turn it into a tool that empowers you and your client? The painkiller for payroll: Digital ecosystems like Xero are the driving force for software change in Australia. With more and more software solutions developing daily, there has never been a better time or excuse for advisors to focus on what they love doing.

Technology is providing infinite opportunities and possibilities for advisors and businesses to succeed, and the future is for advisors to be proactive in embracing solutions that empower their clients.

XERO

Products like Tanda are empowering advisors to assist their clients in getting the most from their business and workforce. By automating workforce management, administrative processes like timesheet generation, timesheet data entry, and award interpretation, Tanda is not only reducing the administrative burdens on both advisors and clients, but also making it easier for everyone to comply. We all know it’s the responsibility of businesses, of all sizes, to properly comply with the law. Rather than relying on an advisor as the compliance enforcer, technology is now making it easier for oversight to be shared with everyone involved in payroll processing.

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Technology is creating an atmosphere where working smarter, not harder, has tangible benefits for everyone, and not just the advisors. Fair Work are unlikely to slow in their mission to bring non-compliant businesses to light, so it’s time for businesses to get smarter about how they manage their workforce and compliance responsibilities. By empowering businesses to be smarter in their workforce management, advisors are able to make a difference in their clients’ lives. Payroll shouldn’t take all day. As an advisor, your time is much better spent focusing on tasks that help you and your client succeed. That’s why we built Tanda, to help good advisors be better.

Issue 08 / 43

What do you mean my bank account is not reconciled? “I have reconciled all the available items, but Xero tells me that it still doesn’t balance – what have I done wrong...?” One of the most common questions I get from people goes like this: “I have reconciled all the available items, but Xero tells me that it still does not balance – what have I done wrong?” This can be quite frustrating to the non-bookkeeper as, in your mind, you have finished “reconciling” and expect that the bank account should now be balanced! So if you have ever felt like this, then let me start by saying that you probably have not done anything wrong! And, it does not mean that Xero is not reconciled. I have covered most of the common bank reconciliation problems in the last two issues so, in this issue, I will cover some reasons why you SHOULD be out of balance (plus a few other matters). The Xero accounting system is made up of two distinct parts: Bank Statement lines represent EXTERNAL data. They are imported into Xero direct from the bank through a Yodlee feed, through a CSV file (by a user) or by using the Mark as Reconciled function. The sum total of all the statement lines gives you the “Statement Balance” amount displayed in the Xero dashboard. You can view and search the bank statement lines from the Bank statements tab. Bank statement lines do not have any direct impact on the accounting balances in Xero. Transactions are the INTERNAL data that has been created inside Xero. These include Spend Money, Receive Money, Payments (against Bills and Invoices), Transfers and Payroll payments. The sumtotal of all these transactions (whether matched to a bank statement line or not) 44 / Issue 08

becomes the “Balance in Xero.” The Reconcile tab in the Bank section does the work of joining these two data stores together. When you use the Create or Transfer sections to “reconcile” a statement line, Xero is actually creating a new underlying transaction and then matching (or reconciling) the bank statement line to the newly created transaction. When the right side of the screen turns green, or you use the Find and Match option, Xero is matching (or reconciling) the statement line to one or more transactions. You can read more about this process in my article in XU issue 7. When you match statement lines, Xero creates a third set of data that stores the matches. Once a statement line has been matched to one or more transactions, it no longer shows in the Reconcile tab (but you can still find it on the Bank statement tab). But if you have more transactions than statement lines, this is what causes the statements to be fully “reconciled,” while the balances do not agree. It is all about the transactions that have not been matched to a statement line. We call these “unreconciled transactions.” You always start with the Reconciliation Report – this is the hub for understanding your bank balance. You access the report from the Manage Account menu (of the link right beside it). This report will show you the differences between the Xero balance and the Statement Balance, as expected in Xero (see XU issue 6 for my article on checking and fixing the Xero Statement Balance). There are three sections to the report, but if you have reconciled all the statement lines, then the “Plus Un-Reconciled Bank Statement

Words: Peter McCarroll, Founder, Business Express Peter was awarded Xero’s ‘Most Valuable Professional’ award for his contribution to Xero’s online Community Forum. Peter is a Chartered Accountant in both New Zealand and Canada and provides Xero-based accounting and bookkeeping services to clients in New Zealand, USA and Canada as well as providing live support to Xero users around the globe. He is also the founder of uCollect.biz – a Xero add-on that helps initiate pre-authorised account collection. You’ll find him regularly answering questions in the Xero Community @TheX_eroGuru

Lines” section should be empty (if it shows something, then you have matched a statement line prior to your report date, with a transaction dated after your report date). It is the top two sections that are of most interest to us in this article. These sections will list the unreconciled (or “outstanding”) transactions from your bank account. If you click over to the transactions tab in the bank account, you can also see these items identified in the status column with an orange “Unreconciled”. Click on the status column to sort these to the top of the list. Now that you have identified the unreconciled transactions, you need to determine if they are legitimate. Here are the most common, legitimate reasons, that require no further action: Unpresented Cheque – if you sent a cheque to someone, but they have not cashed it yet, it is “unpresented.” If you entered this into Xero when you issued it (as you should), then it will not yet be matched to a statement line. As long as this cheque has not been reissued or returned to you, then you simply wait until the cheque is cashed, reissued or goes stale. If it has been more than a few weeks, you may want to contact the recipient and ask them if they received it. Your Payment has not cleared – As cheques become “so 20th Century” and electronic payments become the norm,

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there will be the odd occasion where you make or authorize a payment which does not hit your statement that day. This may be especially true if you have authorized a payment by credit card or Direct Debit/ACH. A one or two day delay in the transaction, showing up on your statement, is normal. Anything more than four days old should be investigated. Outstanding Deposits – most banks now process deposits on the day that they are received by the bank. But if you mail in cheques for deposit, or have recorded a payment/sale that has not yet been deposited, then they will show up in the “Outstanding receipts” section. In an ideal world, these would be matched to a statement line within a day or two. Any longer than that and you need to investigate why. Unsettled Credit Card Proceeds – this is very common if you record payments against invoices in Xero, that were paid by your credit card online. Depending on the merchant service that you use, there could be up to a one week delay

between the authorization of the payment and when the funds arrive in your bank account. This can be further complicated if your merchant facility holds back a portion of your proceeds for reserves, or deducts fees directly from the settlement amount (too big to cover in this article). Any payment that is not cleared within the settlement window of your merchant account should be investigated. If a transaction does not meet one of the categories above, then it is probably an error and needs attention. See my article in XU issues 6 and 7 for tips on how to deal with these. One thing I have not covered in these articles is the difference between Unreconcile, and Remove and Redo, when fixing mistakes. Unreconcile vs. Remove and Redo Let’s say that you find a bank transaction that has been entered incorrectly or matched to the wrong statement line. This needs correcting. Xero gives you two options to do this: Unreconcile (only available from the transaction Options menu) and Remove & Redo (available from

the Account Transactions tab as a batch action, as well as from the transaction Options menu). Both options will break the connection between the underlying transaction and the Bank Statement line. The Bank Statement line will show up on the Reconcile tab again, ready to allocate or create again. The primary difference between them is that the Unreconcile option leaves the underlying transaction (Spend/Receive Money, Transfer or Payment) intact, whereas the Remove & Redo option will delete (remove) the underlying transaction completely. In most cases Remove & Redo is the one you want (you do not want the incorrect transaction hanging around, causing problems, or being recommended for matching again). However, if the Statement Line was attached to the wrong transaction, that would take too much time to recreate (such as a spend/receive money transaction, with multiples lines of coding, or a payment for many invoices). In this case, the Unreconcile option may be better.

Types of Bank Account Transactions There are only five types of transactions that you will ever see in the Account Transactions tab. These are: Spend Money – this represents a withdrawal from your bank account. It could be an ATM or teller withdrawal, cheque you have written, credit/debit card charge, electronic bill payment, bank charge, etc. Spend Money transactions are NEVER connected to other Xero transactions (such as Bills). They are only created from the Create tab in the Reconcile area, or from the “New Spend Money” option in the Manage Account menu or Account Transactions tab. There are 3 subtypes of Spend Money transactions: • Direct Payment – standard Spend Money Transaction – does not affect the Accounts Payable balance. • Overpayment – creates a credit in the Accounts Payable balance that is available to be offset against a future Bill (or refunded). • Prepayment – this is a hybrid of the above two – it is a standard transaction that is coded as normal (and Sales Tax is handled) and does

not affect the Account Payable balance, but is available to be offset against a future Bill (it is automatically reversed when applied as a credit against the Bill). Receive Money – this represents a deposit into your bank account. It could be a branch deposit, incoming funds from an electronic transfer, or a bounced cheque (horror!), interest received etc. Like Spend Money transactions, Receive Money transactions are NEVER connected to other Xero transactions (such as invoices). They are only created from the Create tab in the Reconcile area, or from the “New Receive Money” option in the Manage Account menu or Account Transactions tab. Receive Money transactions also have the same three sub-types as Spend Money transactions. • Transfer – transfer transactions represent cash movements between Xero bank accounts. You only create them in one of the accounts (the first one that you reconcile), and then you match it in the other account (when you create a Transfer transaction it

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creates both sides immediately). You should not use a Transfer transaction to record a movement to/from a bank account that is not part of this Xero ledger – you would use Spend/ Receive money instead. If you have a bank account created in Xero for your PayPal, Stripe or other payment service, then always use Transfer to record the movement of funds between accounts. • Payment – this type records a payment or a deposit that has been matched against one or more bills (purchases) or invoices (sales). Payment transactions are created on the Match tab in the Reconcile area, from the “Add a payment” panel on an invoice or bill, or from the Batch Payment/Deposit function in the Purchases/Sales “Awaiting Payment” tabs. • Payroll payments – this is actually a hybrid, and the most frustrating, as Xero has hidden the accounting component of these to the point that you need an expert to find problems. These cannot be edited in any way!

Issue 08 / 45

New investment for fintech firm, MyFirmsApp Gavin Disney-May, FinTech entrepreneur and experienced senior corporate leader, has invested in MyFirmsApp, alongside being appointed Chairman. MyFirmsApp hope the investment will lead to delivering enhanced product development. This would provide customers with an evolving business solution, building on the rapid international growth (with ARR increasing by more than 200% in the last six months) the FinTech company is already enjoying. MyFirmsApp is currently providing custom mobile software for accounting firms, that want to engage with their clients via their smartphones in five countries, with an expanding base of over 150,000 end

46 / Issue 08

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Issue 08 / 47

Another heroic case study Taking an online start-up accountancy practice to $1m in a year and a half... In the last edition, we featured the key findings of Steve Pipe’s new book “The World’s Most Inspiring Accountants”. The key message was that accountants are heroes, who are generating outstanding results for themselves, their clients and the wider world. And the evidence for that claim comes from 57 case study firms, from every continent, who are representative of the vast majority of the global profession in terms of size, structure, client and location. Many of those case study firms are using Xero to create heroic results, including this one from Live CA in Canada. LiveCA LLP is a two-owner, 13 person firm, based in Canada, that has harnessed technology to:

Then, in 2010, Chad came across Cloud Accounting. “It changed everything,” he says. “And because no one was really doing much with Xero in Canada, I spent a year researching and building up the courage until I was ready to leave my job, move my family away from the beach and back to snowy Canada, and start an exclusively online practice.” The situation was similar for Josh. He started offering services over Skype and grew his customer base over the coming months.

Josh knew there had to be a better way to serve clients.

• Build a $1m business within 18 months of starting-up. • Eliminate the need for an office. • Recruit “top of the class” talent. • Pay above average salaries. • Earn above average profits. • Provide flexible lifestyle choices for the entire team “It’s been an extremely rewarding and exciting journey,” says partner Chad Davis. The situation at the start LiveCA was founded three years ago, and is owned by Chad Davis CPA, CMA, MBA and Josh Zweig, CPA, CA, LPA. Although they have a postal address in Toronto, in reality none of the team works at that address, because the business is 100% online. Four years ago, Chad was working in the Cayman Islands for an international group of companies. Josh was working for a traditional accounting firm. Chad 48 / Issue 08

was extremely frustrated by the practical difficulties of extracting the required information for central management, from the group’s many different desktop accounting systems around the world. Josh knew there had to be a better way to serve clients.

Within a few months Chad’s firm was at the top of the Xero partner listing in Canada. “At that point Josh contacted me online, and we started passing work to each other because he specialised in tax and I didn’t. It was incredibly hard to find a CPA that was willing to learn a new system,” explained Chad. “We soon realized that with complementary, but completely different skill sets, we had a chance to build a firm that had a shot at building something truly great. But because we work exclusively online, the first time we actually met was when Josh flew to Halifax, Nova Scotia to meet me to work on developing our partnership agreement!” What they did “Being a virtual practice in itself is not anything special,” says Chad. “But what makes it game-changing is how we have also focussed on building a practice driven by customer needs, not pricing based on a menu and not being closed minded on the services we’ll offer. Through this we spent a lot of time on

About the author: Steve Pipe FCA is the founder of AVN, a 200 strong association of proactive practices, and the free improveyourpractice.co.uk programme. In 2012 he was named ‘The world’s most highly rated advisor to accountants’ for having more recommendations (now over 480) on LinkedIn than any other adviser. Those recommendations also made him the most highly rated accountant in the world. He can be contacted via www.stevepipe.com

processes, documenting as much as we can, systematically learning from every failure, and involving everybody in the firm in constantly improving every single aspect of what we do. Because of that we are able to attract the very best people, wherever they are located in the country. It’s really rewarding working next to people who believe the same things you believe and work tirelessly every day to make the lives of our customers better.” This approach can be seen in many of the specific keys to their success, including: • Semi-annual firm retreats – At the first of these events, they focused on Simon Sinek’s seminal book, “Start with why”, and used it to identify and articulate their core purpose. And at the second they focused for four days on how best to apply the systemisation principles of Michael Gerber’s “E-Myth Revisited”. Interestingly, these retreats are the only times most of their team members have actually physically met. • Learning from the gurus – “Simon’s ‘Start with why’ and Michael’s ‘E-myth revisited’, along with Ron Baker’s “Implementing value pricing”, are the pillars at the foundation of the firm. And a new favourite of ours is Warren Berger’s “A More Beautiful Question”.

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We don’t agree with absolutely every detail on every page, but they contain so much we do agree with, and they are fundamental to our success,” says Chad. • Everybody has a say – “The entire team is literally EXPECTED, and not merely allowed, to be involved in making the business the best it can be. Everybody has a voice, everybody is listened to, and every contribution is valued.” • After Action Reviews – As part of their “sometimes you win and sometimes you learn” philosophy, they carry out ‘After Action Reviews’ every time something goes well or badly. And those reviews are shared in real-time with the entire team, via the app Slack, so that they learn every lesson and build every nuance of best practice into their systems. “They are also incredibly valuable for new team members to review to see why we do certain things the way we do.” • Access to the entire client relationship – “Even our most junior team members are fully engaged because they know they can make an impact on the entire client relationship. All they have to do is show initiative. Nothing is off limits to them and in return, they know they will be rewarded with appreciation, feedback, experience and career growth.” • Quarterly client meetings – “Although most customers come to LiveCA because the technology and processes we introduce solve some of their immediate pain points, the real value comes in the form of quarterly management meetings where we get to learn about the owner’s plan for the business. We support that call with financial information and the result is usually a great relationship that grows the more we learn from each other.” • Emotionally connected team – “Everybody in the team has an emotional connection with the business because they really believe in what we’re doing. They are here for the profession: to push forward what customers think of accountants as a whole and they know they are changing those perceptions every single day.” • Giving back to the profession – Because of their deep-rooted belief that they are there for the profession, they are always willing to explain what they have learned with other accountants. As a result, they are frequently invited to share their experiences at major accountancy conferences, and often

share their systems, documents and procedures on a one-to-one basis with other practitioners. The step by step process at the heart of their success “Companies usually come to us because they think they need help with tax or their accounts. But we flip the conversation around from the very beginning, because we know that an even more important (but unrecognised) issue is that they don’t know what they want to get out of a good system and rarely consider the entire lifecycle of data in the context of decision making. Our intention is to find out exactly what information is required to support the things that are important to them, and without a good system for that it’d be pretty tough.” This approach is formalised in the five step process they use with all new clients. Step 1: Discovery – This is done via a structured and comprehensive online meeting with one of the CPAs. The aim is to identify their goals and aspirations, and then drill down into an analysis of what they really need. As part of this they also explain their approach to customer service, to see if it’s a good fit for the potential customer.

Step 3: Value pricing – LiveCA then offers clients a choice of three customised options, each of which includes all the necessary year-end accounts and tax compliance work. “We price every customer individually, so the services delivered can differ greatly from customer to customer. Value pricing is hard work and you don’t always get it right; but the more you practice the better you get. Prices are always presented during a video chat and we walk them through each of the packages to make sure they’re aware of all the important elements of each option so they’re fully prepared to decide which one is the best fit.” Step 4: Kick-off – “This is an online call where we’ll set up all of the systems, wrap up the admin, and introduce them to the LiveCA team they will work with. That three person team always consists of a Chartered Professional Accountant (not a partner) for high level tax and accounting support, a technical adviser to sort out the technology, and an associate for the day to day details. They work alongside the client throughout the relationship, and get to know them intimately.”

It has grown into a $1million practice within 18 months of starting up.

Step 2: There’s an app for that – This technical demonstration step is usually carried out by a member of the technical team, who are all accountants with deep technical accounting backgrounds. “Every single potential customer has a unique story and it’s in this phase of the discovery process that we fine tune what they find valuable, how we can structure the accounting processes appropriately to aid in delivering that value and show them exactly how we’re going to do it. It’s easy for most people to find an app online, receive technical support for free and try on their own so it’s important that people see value in us more than just the apps we use, but the methodology behind our technical approach to solving problems. Apps come and apps go, but as long as they know their interests are at the heart of each recommendation we’ll be on the

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right path.”

Step 5: The Work Begins – “In this step we teach them how to use all their new apps, and help them to develop a workflow that makes sense. As part of this we create step by step checklists and procedure documents for them, and have them follow a homework schedule. And, on an ongoing basis, they have unlimited access to their accounting team using their preferred contact methods (Skype, Google Hangouts, email, etc).” It’s a process that the team really believe in, because, as senior manager Greg Toner explains, “There are countless opportunities to create value for clients through the proper use of technology combined with a strong tax and accounting knowledge base.” Key technology Some of the technology LiveCA

Issue 08 / 49

finds most useful in helping them to run an online practice

The difference it made

includes:

This approach has allowed LiveCA to:

• Slack – for helping team members communicate and cut down on the volume of email. • WorkflowMax – for managing firm recurring jobs, leads and customer information. • ScheduleOnce – for booking in meetings that require pooled availability. • RightSignature – for signing electronic documents. • Google Apps – for email, calendar and collaborative documents. • RecruiterBox – to manage incoming resumes and job postings. • Teamwork Desk – for technical helpdesk support (internally and externally).

• Grow into a $1million practice within 18 months of starting up . • Earn well above average profits. • Turn 85% of the prospects who they price into customers. • Work with customers from anywhere in Canada. • Create 11 new jobs. • Recruit top-in-class talent, regardless of where they happen to live. • Pay above average salaries. • Avoid the need for an expensive office, and instead only pay $100 a month for an accommodation address service. • Hold all their meetings with clients online. “And those meetings tend to be shorter and much more focused. So they greatly improve our productivity too. In fact, the only time we ever meet clients in person is if we accidentally bump into them at a social event!” • Have team members working from home in five different Canadian provinces, and, • Allow the two partners to live wherever they want (at the time of writing they live over 4500km apart).

In addition, some of the apps that their clients find most useful include: • Xero and QuickBooks Online – for the core accounting tasks. • Receipt Bank & HubDoc – for processing purchases and automatically retrieving bank statements. • Crunchboards – for providing flexible management dashboards. • Payline by ICE, Rotessa, TransferMate and Plooto – for online payment management. • Dear Inventory – for inventory tracking and sales. • Shopify – for ecommerce and point of sale systems.

How it made them feel “It was tough at first and we were working long hours. But we didn’t mind because we have always believed we’re helping build something truly great. We realise that we are enabling a new type of firm

to exist, and the freedom that allows in our personal lives is well worth the extra hours,” explains Chad. Little by little, of course, things got better and he is now able to take his daughter to school in the morning, put both of his children to bed in the evening, and keep weekends completely free for family time. Josh also enjoys travelling and working from locations all around the world. “Life is good,” says Josh. According to Chad, “It’s been an extremely rewarding and exciting journey from initial chaos to eventual order because we now have the right people performing the right roles. Our goal is now to become a profitable firm that provides a challenging and rewarding work environment for everyone that wants to come along for the ride. Although we have high hopes and goals for the firm, we’d like to get there the right way, not straying from our core values of enriching the lives of our employees and customers in everything we do. To do this, we are reinvesting most of our profits in people, technology and systems to get there even faster.” Josh explains, “When I originally set out to pursue my CPA designation, it was so that I could gain a skill to make an impact on the businesses where I’d work and launch an exciting career. LiveCA is an extension of that passion to make an impact in the lives of others, but also in a way that challenges the general accountant stigma and makes us proud to be CPAs.”

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XU Magazine reader offer: Order online the print edition of “The world’s most inspiring accountants” and get a PDF copy of its sister book “The UK’s best accountancy practices” free of charge!

50 / Issue 08

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Issue 08 / 51

Why you need to revolutionise your training manual On demand video tutorials are not the only province of big business...

One in five businesses provide no structured training, which means someone has to manually demonstrate every task to a new employee. So is there a way to have a well-trained, effective team, without it costing a fortune? Here is the secret of how to provide cost-effective training in your business. Xero and integrated cloud software is frequently updated and improved. While a huge benefit to your business, it is challenging for small businesses to keep their staff training up-to-date. Writing training manuals is a laborious task. So, how do you provide custom training on your business? If you have done the Xero U training, you will have seen the ease and convenience of the on-demand videos. Leveraging Xero U is a great way to improve the transition for new employees entering your business. It also teaches them how to use Xero. But what happens when you have an integration? How do you train them for this? How do you help your staff use this integration, and how do you document the unique processes that only your business has? It is simple! Create your own video training. Leverage Xero U and existing 52 / Issue 08

videos, as an easy means of training your staff. When adopting a new Xero integration, staff training increases adoption uptake and staff engagement. Whether it is Tidy Work or Vend, if staff cannot remember how to create a new client, it neither saves time for them, nor money for you. We have seen experienced project managers struggling to move away from excel to Tidy Work. They are so busy doing their job, they do not have time in the office to attend training sessions. They had questions, and it was a slow process using a printed guide. So we thought, why not create our own version; a Xero U just for them? Then they have someone to walk them through the software, whenever they need it.

Words: Sarah Pilling, Cloud Integration Partner, Bramble and Briar Sarah is the Cloud Integration Partner at Melbourne practice Bramble & Briar. With a passion for all things digital, Sarah designs and implements Xero integrations across a range of industries. @brambleandbriar

At Bramble and Briar, we start with creating a master training document. This should cover everything you want accomplished in the integrated system. It is essentially a lot of headings, with links to all the video content. If it is how they send out statements to customers from Xero, use a link to the appropriate Xero training video. If it is how to create a new customer in Vend, then link to the Vend training. If it is something specific to your business (for example pushing invoices from Tidy Work to Xero), then we film that workflow.

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Using ScreenFlow for creating a freelancer training guide in Xero

We use Screen capturing software, and upload the training to a client training area. When it is uploaded, we provide a link to that client-specific training, in their Master training document. The really important part is that it is easy to update. For example, if you added Stripe as a payment gateway to your Xero invoices, you might want to film how to reconcile the stripe payments. The next time you do the bank reconciliation, record your own screen, and save the document to the training area. Add the link to your master training document and email the updated link to your staff. By using your business data, your employees understand exactly what they need to do. They can also re-watch it if they did not understand the first time.

You can even encourage your employees to create their own videos, which can be invaluable in job handover or leave cover. So, how do you create your own video training? There are many options at different price points, but we have found these to be user friendly, and all three have free trials. The biggest challenge is overcoming the fear of recording your own voice. Remember, it is exactly the same as sitting down with an employee and showing them one-on-one. If you want to record your screen and edit it, we use ScreenFlow software to easily record the screen and any audio. (www. telestream.net/screenflow - $132AUD). It is easy to use and export, and is available on Mac.

MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTING AUTOMATION

Another alternative is Camtasia, which is a good screen recording software. It has both a Mac and PC version. (https://www. techsmith.com/camtasia.html - $299) If you want to host training live to employees, consider running an internal webinar. Using Zoom, share your screen. You can record the webinar and share for later internal use. (https://zoom.us - Free plan for local recording, or $14.99USD for cloud recording). The days of handing a new employee a welcome pack and printed manual are over. Save your time and money by showing every employee how to do their role. Up to date, on demand, online.

"The solution [to this long standing accounting problem] is a pleasure to use." Kevin Salter, Partner, Glover Stanbury

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Issue 08 / 53

How to go from a sole trader to a company in Xero It’s a familiar story...

Words: Andrew Erkins, Co-founder, Digit Books Andrew is passionate about helping small businesses achieve success by leveraging technology. As co-founder of the multi-award winning bookkeeping firm Digit Books, he loves spending time working with people around Australia to help them use Xero and the cloud to engage their customers, make better decisions, and focus on the stuff that matters. When not connected online, you can find him rock climbing or down at the local beach.

You have a great idea, and decide to go into business. Starting out for the first time, and unsure how it will go, you set yourself up as a sole trader. A friend recommends that you jump on Xero, as it’s easy to use, so you find a Xero expert and get set up. You have the world at your feet.

Not quite …

As far as the ATO is concerned, even if you’re trading under the same Over time, your business name, ‘you as a sole trader’ grows and thrives - after and ‘you as a company’ all, you’re good at are completely ...‘you as a sole what you do. So independent trader’ and ‘you you make the and unrelated decision to entities. Like as a company’ are transition to two strangers completely independent a company walking past structure. One each other in and unrelated entities. item on your the street. Like two strangers action list is walking past each converting Xero For business across – and what activity purposes, other in the street. happens next is this is especially true. important to get right. Your company would

@AndrewErkins

What not to do Lately at Digit, we’ve come across a few cases of how not to change over to a company in Xero. What people have done is simply change the ABN to the

54 / Issue 08

new registered company, change the dropdown in Xero for organisation type to ‘Company’, and away they go. It’s simple, right?

lodge a tax return, and so would you as a person. If you’re registered for GST, you would lodge a BAS, and so would your company. If you have employees, they would need to sign new agreements with the company. What’s owned by you as a sole trader needs to be

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transferred to the company in some way, if you so choose it.

So, what is best practice for managing this transition in Xero?

The shortcut sometimes taken is to think, since you registered the company from February 10th, all activity in Xero before that is for you as a sole trader, everything after is you as a company. Therefore, a few adjustments will balance it all out. We’ll manually lodge a BAS for Jan-9 Feb, and another from 10 Feb to 30 Mar. This way you have your full history in one Xero account.

The best approach to take is the simplest. Set up a new Xero account for the company, and, over time, change from one to the other. We’ve put together a quick checklist for making the change from sole trader to a company:

5. Continue lodging any Business Activity Statements for both you as a sole trader and you as a company, for as long as there is activity in those entities during the reporting periods.

1. Create a new Xero account from the incorporation date of the company.

6. Close down the sole trader bank accounts, exporting out any CSVs or bank statements.

The problem with this approach is that the transition from a sole trader to a company is rarely so clean. Typically, activity continues in the sole trader account for some time after the changeover. Whether it’s customers paying the wrong account, or suppliers debiting it. Add to this the fact that the context is wrong; the trading history of you as a sole trader isn’t related to your performance as a company.

2. Set up new bank accounts under the company, and get the feeds up and running. 3. Let your clients and suppliers know that the company details have changed. 4. Clear your balance sheet as a sole trader. Talk to your accountant and find out the best way to manage any assets still held by you as a sole trader(such as money in your bank accounts), and also any liabilities (such as loans). For instance, money in your sole trader

account might be treated as funds introduced to your company.

7. Downgrade the sole trader account to a ledger (you can upgrade it again if you ever need to access the financials – such as at year end). By doing it this way, there is a clear distinction between you as a sole trader, and the company. Both can still have activity during the changeover period without it becoming unnecessarily messy. It ensures that the process of moving from a sole trader to a company is as smooth and easy as possible.

During busy season, it’s crucial that we have cash in our hands on time. Fundbox makes that possible. Kyle Parsons, Indosole Fundbox syncs with your Xero. Get started in 30 seconds.

fundbox.com/xero | (855) 572-7707

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Issue 08 / 55

Simplifying cash flow for your small business customers Words: Blaine Bertsch, Founder, DryRun Blaine is the Founder of Dryrun, a scenario-based cash flow tool and Xero add-on. With over 15 years as an entrepreneur and a decade as an agency owner in the creative industry, Blaine’s spent nearly all of his professional life on the front lines of small business. He’s earned both Bachelor of Design and Master of Design degrees from the University of Alberta. @mydryrun

The expert financial help they need in the trenches... Before Dryrun, I owned and ran a small creative shop, and, like most small business owners, I had no formal finance training. We had plenty of work and just made sure we stayed ahead of the cash flow wave that would occasionally nip at our It was heels. Our ‘system’ was fine... up until the global melt-down around 2009.

As part of this ‘financial awakening,’ I sat in our accountant’s office to make sure we had all of our bases covered. I was fully engaged. I nodded totally my head, reviewed documents and looked unfair to him in the zone.

but,in my mind, there was ‘accounting’ and then there was reality. And I wanted to get back to reality.

Like many businesses, our world turned upside down as clients slammed shut their budgets and projects were shelved and shredded.

Suddenly finance became my focus. I started with a simple set of spreadsheets to try and get a sense of where we sat. Slowly, I developed a system that gave me much more data than just the basics and 56 / Issue 08

helped us not only rebound but grow our business.

Now, I’m going to let you in on a little secret.

As my accountant spoke (an awesome guy, super bright and eager to help), I bounced between thinking “I have no idea what he’s talking about” to “I know...I was there.” Back and forth. From ‘irrelevant,’ to a summary of the hyper detail I dealt with every day and could almost recite from memory. It was totally unfair to him but, in my

mind, there was ‘accounting’ and then there was reality. And I wanted to get back to reality. What had happened in the past didn’t matter much to me because all we were trying to do was to survive and grow. At that point, I only cared about three things: 1. My break even point every month. 2. How much money was coming and going this month. 3. Do I have enough work coming in this year to turn a profit and grow. It felt like my dirty little secret. Like my accountant somehow had the critical data, but unbeknownst to him, I had this private stash of numbers that was my actual lifeline. We survived, rebounded and even managed to grow. That little set of numbers continued to grow in sophistication. I became more comfortable every day in coaxing out the truth from the numbers and making more informed

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decisions. Those early chaotic days and spreadsheet systems eventually served as a basis for Dryrun. Diagnosing the Problem So, are all small business owners like me? I sure think so; in actuality, we likely share some common traits, such as: 1. Little or no formal financial training. 2. Learning finance from the school of hard knocks. 3. Having a much better understanding of the key financial points in their business than they (or you) might believe. 4. Often not tracking those key points correctly (‘in my head’ doesn’t count.) 5. The lack of a clear process or system prevents from taking total control. 6. Uncomfortable asking for help until there’s a crisis. The traits among entrepreneurs may be similar in many cases, but the root issues can vary substantially from business to business. They just need some help identifying and prioritizing the true pinchpoints in their business. They require guidance to help them set up a system that helps them keep track of their core

how quickly I can understand their core issues with a couple of quick questions. Make no mistake; the business owners know these problems inside out! Accountants are the perfect remedy They may not bring them up and are only a few questions if you don’t ask, but they away from offering the The key is would benefit greatly solution. The key is to to start with a from some professional focus on a few core advice on day-to-day areas and simplify single core issue management. their life. Introducing and let it grow too much too soon will naturally from The key is to start invariably get the mental with a single core issue flush. It’s simple survival there. and let it grow naturally for the entrepreneur. They from there. If they don’t have a thousand high-priority already have a system in place, things on their minds every minute then they are probably reluctant to add and too much info will feel like they’re more complication to their day. However, trying to drink from a fire hose. tackling the greatest nagging issue in the simplest way will offer tremendous value Getting Started to their business, get them on track and set the foundation for an evolving system. The battles the business faces are quite simple. They aren’t getting paid on Once you have a handle on the first step time; they’re eating up profit through and an idea where you need to go, it’s inefficiency; they need cash on hand time to identify the best system for your at key times to buy inventory; they are customer. The add-on store is a great chronically missing their budget every place to start. There are terrific products month... built to help your small business clients take the next step in understanding their I often talk to small business owners and business, gaining clarity and making accountants alike when they schedule informed decisions. online tours of Dryrun. It’s amazing numbers, without taking up every minute of their day.

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Issue 08 / 57

Encourage investors who self-assess to get expert advice Investors could be missing out on thousands of dollars in unclaimed depreciation deductions...

Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s that time of year when many investors are busily compiling their receipts, to ready themselves to prepare their annual income tax assessment. A significant portion of these investors will complete their income tax assessment online themselves. By doing so, they could potentially be missing out on thousands of dollars in unclaimed depreciation deductions. As Accountants who use Xero Software, or who have clients who do so, it is important to recommend those who own investment properties in Australia to speak with a specialist Quantity Surveyor. This way, they can arrange a tax depreciation schedule for their property. A depreciation schedule will outline all of the deductions an investor can claim, due to the wear and tear of the building structure (capital works allowance). Due to the easily removable plant and equipment assets, they can claim depreciation for within their investment property.

Words: Bradley Beer, CEO, BMT Tax Depreciation @BMT_Tax_Dep

The deductions for the capital works (or the structural part of the property) were similar, however the deductions for plant and equipment items (or mechanical and removable assets) were grossly underestimated or completely missed when the investor self-assessed. BMT were able to identify more plant and equipment items within the property, which significantly increased and accelerated depreciation deductions. A specialist Quantity Surveyor will identify plant and equipment items, which may otherwise be considered capital works. This will increase the rate at which items within the property can be depreciated, making the most of available deductions. There is no item too small to consider, including in a depreciation schedule. Lowcost assets and low-value assets all add up to help maximise depreciation benefits. If an asset has sufficiently low-value, legislation allows it to be written off much faster; sometimes the complete value can be claimed immediately.

To demonstrate the difference this can make for a client who self-assesses their depreciation claims, BMT Tax Depreciation have provided an example scenario.

The cost an investor client pays to engage a specialist Quantity Surveyor is definitely worthwhile and the additional cash flow will assist the investor, to begin to reduce their loan liabilities, or even to start saving for their next investment property.

A property investor purchased a three bedroom house for $610,000, which was originally constructed in 2004. Below are the deductions the investor found, versus assessed deductions using a BMT Tax Depreciation Schedule (Figure 1).

Any of the depreciation deductions outlined in a depreciation schedule can also be input manually into Xero Accounting Software.

In the first full year, BMT were able to identify an extra $7,050 in depreciation deductions, and an extra $28,200 in deductions in the first five years.

Self-assessed versus expert assessed deductions in the first full year Self-assessed deductions

BMTâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s deductions

Capital works deductions

$6,750

$6,200

Plant and equipment

$2,100

$9,700

First full year total

$8,850

$15,900

First five years total

$35,400

$63,600

Figure 1. Deductions are based on a full financial year of ownership. Depreciation deductions were calculated using the diminishing value method of depreciation. 58 / Issue 08

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Good advice requires great data Why outdated information could be hurting your clients...

Words: Chris Petersen, CEO, Asset.Guru After many years of software experience, Chris launched Asset.Guru in 2014 to disrupt the billion-dollar Asset Management industry. Petersen is a believer that small and medium businesses can leverage technology to innovate much faster than the titans of the industry – that speed becomes a unique value proposition against much larger established players. @Asset_Guru

“

Nobody would read a year-old newspaper and expect to know what is happening in the world today, yet many business advisors are operating on just such a basis. Outdated information is resulting in poor advice ... and leading to questionable business decisions. Having a clear picture of the assets within a business is critical for accountants, auditors, advisors and business owners. When assisting with strategy and planning, they need to be sure their advice is based on up-to- date information that reflects the current goings-on. But, unfortunately, advice is often based on incomplete or out-of-date information. As a result,clients may be making poor choices and missing out on opportunities for growth. Taking steps to ensure comprehensive asset data is collected,and made available for those requiring it,

should be a vital activity for any business. Getting a clearer picture The first step is to gain an accurate picture of exactly what assets are in place. This may sound obvious, but often it is not done effectively. New equipment may have been purchased during the previous year, or older items discarded. Teams may have acquired products that have not been noted by the finance department, or items could be misplaced,or even stolen. The challenge becomes greater if a business has multiple locations or a mobile workforce. Creating an accurate register of every asset takes time, but it is an essential foundation. Using an automated tool, such as Asset Guru, can assist with this process.

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60 / Issue 08

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Accurate depreciation Creating an up-to-date asset register allows efficient and accurate depreciation schedules to be formed. Missing assets reduces the depreciation allowance available and can result in higher-than- necessary tax bills. Curiously, large numbers of businesses still rely on manual systems for this process. Some even use paper-based lists and a highlighter pen to record which items should be depreciated. This can lead to mistakes and inaccurate advice from the accountant.

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Asset quality and life stage Knowing what assets you have in place is important, but so is knowing their condition. All have a finite life and require different levels of maintenance as they age. Having a clear picture of asset quality can help an accountant provide advice on where funds should be allocated. If they only rely on depreciation schedules, this advice may be flawed. For example, a city-based car fleet will have a longer lifespan than a similar fleet used at a mine site. The latter will require more funds to be allocated to upkeep and earlier replacements. This, in turn,has implications for cash flow and profitability. More than a spreadsheet Effective asset management requires more than paperbased records or a humble spreadsheet. Data must be captured electronically and made available to business advisors as needed. Using a cloud-based system for this purpose is a good choice as it facilitates closer collaboration between a business and its advisors. Everyone can be confident they are seeing the same accurate picture of exactly what assets exist, their location and their condition.

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Having this accurate picture allows accountants to provide the best possible advice to the business. This could include the most effective allocation of capital or a need to refresh equipment to lower operational costs. Rather than feeling as though they are lost in an endless sea of administration and compliance, businesses will be better positioned to take advantage of new opportunities for growth. Instead of being a cumbersome task, asset management can become a powerful business tool.

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Issue 08 / 61

Two-Step Authentication Introducing Xero’s newest security feature... the protected information.

Why is security so important? Xero claims that data security is their number one priority. After all, it is a problem that affects the entire industry, and is a daily concern for all customers who have a lot of financial information to protect. Online and financial services are regularly facing the threat of phishing scams, where an attempt is made to steal names and passwords needed for accessing private information. It is essential that businesses everywhere ensure that they have impenetrable security, so that all of this information is kept secure. Xero feels that the seriousness of this cannot be overstated. Introducing Two-Step Authentication As most Xero Users will be aware, Xero has started to use a Two-Step Authentication, alongside their other updates in security. This has been used by many internet banking and online services. It provides all Xero customers with the option of an additional form of security, to ensure that all Xero user accounts are safe from being hacked. This added level of security keeps a Xero user’s account from being vulnerable to phishing and malware. This

So, how does it work? Follow this process to successfully set-up Two-Step authentication: First of all, you need to download the Google Authenticator app to your Smartphone. When you are ready to go back into Xero, navigate to the top right and select your profile. Select the account tab, and from here, click the set-up button. You will now be walked through setting up Two-Step Authentication. First, a QR code will appear on screen. You will need to scan this by using the Google Authenticator app on your phone. Once this has been scanned, the Authenticator app will generate a unique, six-digit code. Type this code into Xero.

Finally, you will need to select three security questions. These are designed to added be difficult for anyone level of security else to guess. The In order to use keeps a Xero information required this innovative would not be found security method, user’s account from on any of your a customer will being vulnerable social networks. The require their security questions Smartphone, to phishing and are provided for Xero with the Google malware. users in an emergency, Authenticator app or if the user does not have downloaded and ready access to the Authenticator to be used. The Two-Step app. They are not to be used on a Authentication is an added means of regular basis. confirming the identity of a customer logging into the Xero dashboard. They After you have finished this process, you do this by first asking for the customer’s are ready to go. Every time you access existing password, and then asking for a second, unique code, randomly generated Xero, you will have to go through these by the Authenticator app. This code will be two stages of security. First you will type your email address and password, which different every time that the user logs in. you choose. Xero suggests you use a This means that only the Xero user, with strong password, at least 8 characters access to that device, will be able to loglong, with a mix of letters, numbers and in. This will significantly reduce the risk of special characters. Be careful not to an unauthorised person accessing any of 62 / Issue 08

Words: Staff writer

share it with anyone, and use different passwords for different services. Then, you will need your Smartphone to access the second step of authentication. The app will provide a unique six-digit code, that changes every 30 seconds. On receiving this code, type it into Xero. As an added quirk, the user setting screen shows which users are not using the app, so you can suggest it to them. It can also show you your history of logging into Xero, to see how often your data has been checked. There is a ‘Contact Support’ link from this screen, where you can instantly contact the team if you have noticed anything suspicious. When you complete your Two-Step Authentication, Xero provides trusted device recognition. A user can select “Remember me for 30 days,” and the second authentication will not need to be performed on that device for 30 days. Xero strongly encourages all Xero users, and other users of technology, to be all the more vigilant of the online solutions they are using. Xero is built around protecting your financial data, and with their adoption of this new form of security, your finances will be more protected than ever before.

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Issue 08 / 63

Go social Getting higher-quality leads via social media Go beyond simply having social media accounts. Use them to help people trust you, find you and, ultimately, buy from you...

For accountants, marketing hinges on your expertise. And for you, using social media is not about drumming up new business by selling services, or promoting Xero and the latest Add-on (as good as those are). It’s about demonstrating your expertise in a way that people engage with, helping them to like and trust you. I remember the days when social media was still considered a fad. I would go to accountants’ conferences in which the ‘same old, same old’ content was being preached. The only difference was that Twitter and LinkedIn were thrown into the mix, like they were the newest magic wand. Accountants grudgingly accepted them, set up accounts, posted a few things now and then and, for the most part, went on the same marketing way as before.

Facebook Live, and whatever’s trending. Why do only what the other accountants are doing? Help people trust you Here’s how you build trust: • Share some personal things - I was recently asked by the partner of a very large international tax firm, “Do people really care if I’ve had a steak, and took the dog out for a walk?” Yes, actually they do. What would you talk about when you first met a new prospect? Family, pets, holidays, food, football. You don’t have to share everything, but these are the first steps to making the prospect meeting flow more easily.

That doesn’t help you. What does help you – and helps your prospects – is to engage with your social in a way that builds trust.

• Share others’ content that you like (or don’t like) - Part of building community revolves around ‘tribes’ of people who have similar interests. So if you love Xero and are always tweeting about it, the chances are that others of the same mind will connect with you. (The opposite is also true, for the things you and others are not so much a fan of.)

For accountants, buyers do tend to use Twitter and LinkedIn: but don’t let that hold you back. Use Instagram, Snapchat,

• Share your own content, which proves expertise - Anyone who knows me is aware of how passionate I am about

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Words: Karen Reyburn, The Profitable Firm Karen is a creativeminded individual who specialises in online marketing for accountancy firms. A former accountant (and a Certified Public Accountant in the States), Karen set up The Profitable Firm to work exclusively with modern, digitallyminded accountants who want to use online marketing to their best advantage. She and her team use remote and virtual working to help accountancy firms all over the globe. @ProfitableFirm

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original content – nothing generic. Besides the fact that generic content isn’t actually helpful, and has no personality, it also does nothing to prove your own personal, specific expertise. Whatever you love talking about, get it on your site, and then share it on social media. Help people find you

• Share content daily. • Use pinned tweets and promoted posts. • Use polls and questions to encourage interaction. • Link your social accounts to all your other marketing (website, email, video, other social channels, etc). • Use hashtags – those who are searching for them will find you.

What does help you – and helps your prospects – is to engage with your social in a way that builds trust.

Now that you’re being yourself, engaging with others’ content, and demonstrating your own expertise, it’s time for the rest of the world to find you.

But not the whole world – just those who think as you do. I am regularly being asked by accountants how they get their message out to “the right kind of clients”; the quality leads, not the time wasters or the tyre kickers. First, make sure you know exactly who those quality leads are. Not just “ownermanaged businesses over £x in turnover”, but identify a niche or a focus area. Consider characteristics; issues; people types. Write it down, and keep this in mind with all your social media marketing.

Help people buy from you

Now that you have an engaged group of followers, who are “your kind” of people, it’s time to get them to reach into their pockets. In professional services, this is a bigger ask than for products – but there is still a path to getting more of your contacts to become buyers. Here are a few ways you can maximise your social presence so that browsers become buyers: • Direct them back to your site. This presumes you have a good website with engaging content and calls to action.

sense they have is that they’re still seeing the same thing. • Give things away. This builds your list and (when follow up is done properly) leads to buyers. • Consider special offers, freebies, and discounts. This doesn’t have to be a % discount or free accounting service: but there are ways to draw people in with a low or nil investment that will help them suss out your expertise. • Be clear about what you’re offering. The clearer your service offerings are, the easier it is for people to buy from you. Many accountants have package pricing – but often it’s all the same. What can you offer that is specific, priced well, profitable for you, and helpful to the buyer? Social media is only one integrated part of all your marketing. Don’t look for Twitter alone, or LinkedIn on its own, or some other social solution to bring in all the leads. Have a streamlined, consistent marketing approach across all channels, and use social to support everything you do.

• Use landing pages. Ideally, these are on your own website, but even if it’s a one-off page, it can be very useful.

Here’s how: • Follow the right kind of people (and businesses). • Stop following the wrong kind.

• Use good quality, consistent design on all your social media channels. When a follower goes from your site to Twitter, to Instagram, or to YouTube, the general

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Issue 08 / 65

Words: Shanu Mehta, MMC Convert Meet the spirited mastermind behind MMC Convert Shanu Mehta, whose clarity of thought, leadership and adept execution makes the complex task of conversion go seamlessly. She confidently drives the development team also. The idea of MMC Convert started after meeting Rod Drury back in 2008, which incidentally coincided with Xero’s AGM for the financial year. She was enthused with the response Xero was getting from the stakeholders. When Shanu is not converting, she’s usually practicing yoga, meditation, reading Indian and Greek mythology, watching Shark Tank and travelling to awe-inspiring destinations. @mmcconvert

Conduit of change When you integrate accounting with cloud and analytics, all you can expect is high-value, seamless output.

Taboo to trend Defying typical taboos of ‘going online’, first banking and then accounting technology trends, have helped businesses reach the front of the pack. Use of cloud computing to lower accounting system costs has already gained popularity, across both big and small businesses. It is considered by many to have near-limitless growth opportunities. The combination of financial management and cloud accounting provides an improved platform for seamless and integrated financial processes. It supports management decision-making and advisory, by offering access to realtime KPIs (key performance indicators), greater transparency and informed users. Intelligent collaborations allow companies to use the same technology as their accounting firm, so both the client and the accountant are accessing the same data and software application. This creates a win-win for involved stakeholders. Openness to change Converting all data to one software facilitates fresh and effective, comparative

66 / Issue 08

study. If previous accounting is completed in other software, say for the last four years, and in the fifth year I decide to convert to Xero, in order to make an effective comparative analysis, I need all my data on the same platform. If I do not convert and start afresh, all my contact and business details do not convert to the new software. Desktop accounting software are confined to a single computer, and can often make it difficult to get things done when you are away. As a business owner, you cannot afford to have setbacks that slow down your work. Since the advent of the cloud, timeliness and accessibility have been given a priority. Cloud-based accounting software, which is accessible through a web browser or mobile app, is free of the barriers of the desktop, providing small business owners with a better way to do their accounting. Factors such as enhanced data security, reduced maintenance costs and easier workforce management, as well as flexibility and scalability, offer a significant improvement in performance in the long term. Additionally, greater costs and risks of on-premise systems associated with hardware, running software and

XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users. Find us online at: xumagazine.com

maintaining data integrity, make cloudcomputing a more appealing choice. Splash of Xero awesomeness The battle for the hearts and minds of accountants and bookkeepers rages in earnest. Xero fired the first shot to explore life beyond conventional accountancy. While many are yet to be educated in the market on the benefits of the cloud, Xero’s prime stage of the journey is mostly complete.

receivable account entries passed as a general Journal, while Xero entries have to pass as invoice/credit memos. Other software can have multiple receivable/ payable accounts, while Xero needs one to consolidate all into one receivable account. Xero has its own way of accounting those transactions, and only an expert would know how to route any transaction with the help of the Xero API. This way, the financial data matches exactly, and the conversion is seamless. What makes MMC Convert special

From cashflow, invoicing, payments, pay runs and mobile, Xero features bring you almost everything you need to run your business beautifully. From a single-point solutions provider, it has become a fullyfledged platform of functions and services, that will eventually encompass every aspect of a business. From payments to loans, to transferring funds, Xero wants to be the one-stop shop, meeting the fin-tech needs of small businesses across the world. Don’t try this at home When you try converting records on your own, it becomes a tough affair. It is quite difficult to import just a section of an accounting system. Sometimes, it sort of breaks the double-entry accounting model. Why get into the clumsiness of procedures when you can outsource it to an expert converting agency? These agencies can professionally accomplish the desired outcome with advanced knowledge and customisation. Also, every software has a different method of recording transactions. For example, few accounting software allows

Stemming from a singular belief that any data that exists digitally should require retyping, MMC Convert has grown in strength and stature to achieve what we call a ‘beautiful conversion’. We are a team of Certified Chartered Accountants, well-versed with prevailing accounting softwares. We perform conversions to Xero with ease, accuracy of data, thorough quality analysis, with an automated tool in place. What makes us different is our range of services. We offer years of transaction history, customisation, multi-currency, and all of this under one umbrella. Our global reach spans across US, UK, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Canada, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines, to name a few. Road Ahead The desire to use data to guide strategic decision-making is set to go more pronounced. The evident emphasis is on what has come to be known as business intelligence tools in accounting. It turns

out the effect of these analytical tools on corporate performance is measurable. Companies today are looking to go beyond analysing assets and liabilities, as well as revenues and expenses, when considering financial performance. The ability to assess more granular performance indicators is a demand the accounting software industry is working hard to meet. This trend is visible in the increased number of management dashboard type modules being offered, and the variety of graphical options for displaying data. Similarly, there has been a widespread focus among software developers to simplify report creation, so decision makers are better equipped to turn data into actionable business information. Future offerings may include management dashboards that offer a fresh, collaborative and dynamic service, in contrast to the dated, static, financial reporting that accounting outsourcing has offered in the past. The accounting firm will design the dashboards, maintain stability, and provide added analytics. The senior management will log on from anywhere in the world to view his/her dashboard, and analyse the organisation’s business performance. Rapidly changing business needs have placed a premium on the ability to stay nimble and flexible. In this environment, we all have to play our roles intelligently to strike a perfect balance between value and control for growing businesses.

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We have been associated with Xero since the start. In this over 5 year relationship, I have closely observed the concept of cloud seep through, going global, with cloud accounting soaring to an all new level. If you think social media has enabled people to communicate globally, Xero’s Add-ons and the network of bookkeepers will write a success story that connects businesses and economies. Shanu Mehta, MMC Convert

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Issue 08 / 67

Technology vs outsourcing for accountancy firms While new technologies promise to save accountancy firms time and money in the long-run, the question remains whether to outsource labour-heavy tasks or to invest in the technology to automate them... reliance on mobile computing, means Technology is changing the way clients can, and do, expect information that accounting firms do business. The and assistance, anytime and anywhere. emergence of cloud-based computing, the growth of mobile computing, and Reducing labour-intensive tasks, such advances in data management, mean as data entry and other routine data that accounting firms have a new set of processing, are now emerging as key tools available that can automate and streamline tasks. Industry leaders expect focus areas for technology companies in the space. Appetite for these solutions is the shift to mobile and cloud-based growing fast, as firms strive to increase accounting to not only continue, but to their profit margins while, at the accelerate, and for good reason. same time, increasing client The results are in and satisfaction levels and technology has come Technology setting up to scale their up trumps. More than practice. They take on ever, it is essential has already many more clients that accounting and radically altered without a linear bookkeeping firms determine how the way accountancy growth in overhead. they will integrate firms work and has Outsourcing new technologies increased client when planning for Two options available the future. expectations. to address this challenge: This is especially true in areas such as data entry • Outsource labour-intensive tasks to and payroll processing, that were once an offshore outfit, specialising in data extremely labour-intensive. While new processing at lower labour rates. technologies promise to save accountancy • Gear up with a suitable technology firms time and money in the long-run, the solution to automate the work. question remains whether to outsource labour-heavy tasks, or to invest in the Outsourcing requires a lot of research to technology to automate them. find the right company to work with. You must ensure: Emerging technologies in the accountancy industry • The quality of their staff in delivering work to meet the grade. Technology has already radically altered • That they have the capacity to scale up the way accountancy firms work and has as you scale your practice. increased client expectations. Cloud• That you aren’t impacted by a disruptive based computing allows businesses to level of staff attrition within the store data in the cloud, rather than on outsourcing company. in-house servers, which allows both the • That you won’t experience firm’s team and the client to access the communication issues and that exact same information, concurrently, in you can establish reliable, secure real time. This, coupled with increased 68 / Issue 08

Words: Brendan Woods, CEO, OCREX Brendan is the founder CEO of OCREX. Brendan is a computer science graduate of Trinity College Dublin and has worked for fifteen years in enterprise software development primarily in the financial services industry. @OCRexSoftware

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communication lines, escalation procedures and contingency plans, while ensuring you are adhering to data protection laws.

entry, firms are increasingly opting for the latter two options. Automating data entry offers several benefits, in addition to reduced labour costs. It offers better accuracy, scalable productivity, expanded reporting capabilities and greater security. For a firm that is growing quickly, it is essential to ensure that any processing solution you invest in, can also scale with your company and meet your future needs. With the advances of cloud-based computing infrastructure, a cloudbased solution can quadruple its server processing capacity in milliseconds, where an outsourcing company cannot. Brass Tacks

Finally, you need to know that, having made the shift to outsourcing and having grown dependent on it, it continues to be cost effective into the future. I do not suggest that an outsourcing company would be likely to hike rates unjustifiably. However, given that most outsourcing companies are based in countries such as India, where inflation is more than five times that of the US, it is inevitable that they will be unable to hold their rates for long. Technology While outsourcing companies have thrived in the last decade, global tech investors are betting heavily that it will be the technology solutions that will take over in the future. Signing up to an Add-on requires little or no advance consideration. You’ll know within hours or days if the given solution will work for you or not. Growth in the adoption of such Add-ons is proving that they are working. Cloud based Software as a Service or SaaS Add-ons tick all the boxes of outsourcing and more. Given the choice of: performing data entry manually in-house; outsourcing data entry to a country with lower labour costs; or, using a tech solution to automate data

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So how much does automation software cost to purchase, set-up, and maintain, and how does that compare to the labour cost of manually entering data in-house or outsourcing? Traditionally, document capture software has been pricey, and often sold with a significant up-front cost, followed by additional support and training costs. AutoEntry is one such solution. The AutoEntry Add-on automates the capture, analysis and posting of routine documents that bookkeepers have to deal with. These include bills / invoices, receipts, credit notes, sales invoices, and even bank and credit card statements. With regard to invoices, AutoEntry will capture full line item details including product descriptions, quantity of units and unit price. It remembers how you categorise different parts of a given bill to different expense/nominal accounts. For invoices from foreign suppliers, it will work out the FX rate on the invoice date back to your company’s base currency. Finally, having then posted the data to your accounts software, it will then also act as your filing cabinet or document management solution, storing your documents for as long as you need. It will be readily retrievable at any time in the future, within seconds.

world of Add-ons, but it is certainly gaining a lot of traction. We at OCREX developed AutoEntry to close the functionality gaps left by other solutions in this space. We now service over 2,000 accounting and bookkeeping practices including Deloitte and BDO, right down to sole practitioner accountants and bookkeepers. Some things that differentiate it from the competition include capturing line items and the ability to capture other documents, like sales invoices and statements. For accountants and bookkeepers that are using AutoEntry for several client companies, it can work out up to 50% cheaper than competitors. This is because it doesn’t ring-fence subscriptions per company. Round Up Technology solutions like AutoEntry have, in the last couple of years, started proving that they are clearly replacing the outsourcing model. Whether it be for accounts payable, employee expense management or data processing, where manual data entry has always been a key influence, technology solutions are eating up market share. You can get a free trial of AutoEntry at www.AutoEntry.com or by clicking through the Xero Add-On store.

AutoEntry may be a late starter in the

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Issue 08 / 69

Make remote working work for you: get project management software Desperately need a holiday? Get your project management software sorted so you can work from anywhere – whether you’re floating down Venice in a Gondola, or soaking up art from the hallways of the Louvre...

Words: Mallika Goel, Marketing Copywriter, WorkflowMax Mallika is a Marketing Copywriter at WorkflowMax fresh from the agency world, bringing with her four years of experience working with some of New Zealand’s largest brands as well as more boutique ones. She believes life’s too short to do one thing so keeps herself busy pursuing her many interests: an obsessive love of writing/blogging, fitness, travelling and design. @WorkflowMax

70 / Issue 08

Your bags are packed, the kids are with your sister for the next three weeks, and you are clutching your flight tickets like they contain tonight’s winning Lotto numbers. This is what happiness feels like! The first real holiday you are about to take in years, just you and your partner. Blissful, peaceful and stress free! And then your phone starts ringing...

are using Xero for your accounting, the lack of a comprehensive system to manage your business means you have to hold all the critical information in your head – details of ongoing projects, leads to follow up on client contact details, even your financials… Implementing a project management system can be scary, but also hugely empowering. So how should you go about it?

Oh sh*t! 1 – Research your options Taking a holiday, or indeed any time off, can be hard for small business owners, sometimes impossible when you’re so embedded in the day-to-day management of your business. And even though you

Typing “project management software” into any third party review site will get you a whole heap of great options. Sure, you could spend time trawling through

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the reviews, visiting their websites, signing up for free trials and watching hundreds of demo videos until your head starts spinning. OR, you could check out WorkflowMax, a Xero owned product, which has the best integration with Xero out of any other option you might be considering. And when your accounting software speaks seamlessly to your job management software, it’s a beautiful thing.

control? Maybe they’ll be excited to hear about the 100% rise in transparency this software solution offers. And if they are still not convinced, tell them with this snazzy software that they can even work from home in their pyjamas if they really wanted to!

following – a laptop, an iPad or an iPhone (and pretty soon your Android phone), and easily keep tabs on your business from that fancy vineyard in Provence, or the sunny beaches of Majorca.

...Okay wait, maybe don’t do that.

Expert tip: The software solutions WANT you to want them, so they’ll be doing everything they can to convert you. You are a shiny new lead, full of promise, calling the shots. So make sure you use this to your advantage: request a demo, check out the support resources, ask lots of questions, and sign up for a free trial, so you can test the product out for yourself.

You want to achieve company-wide behaviour change, and you want this to go as smoothly and efficiently as it possibly can. But learning a new software can sometimes feel like an arduous climb up to the top of la Tour d’Eiffel. So make sure your chosen software offers, heaps of tutorials, webinars and self-paced education courses help you get set up. In Workflow Max’s case, you can even get an IT setup partner on board to show you the ropes. They can take your team through the process, and provide ongoing support as and when required.

While a project management software like WorkflowMax, combined with Xero, will certainly take care of most of your business needs, if you’re looking to add more grunt to your arsenal, check out some of the world-class Add-ons we offer. We have everything from document storage, to payroll power!

2 – Find a champion For change to happen in your organisation, you are going to have to be a believer. Anyone who’s read the seminal How To Win Friends And Influence People will know that people love to know what is the benefit for them. Let’s face it, we are all a pretty self-involved bunch. So make it easy for your team to get on board. Will they save 10 precious hours a week on timesheeting? Or achieve a whopping 80% increase in job satisfaction through greater ownership, responsibility and

“

3 – Invest in some training

4 – Get the mobile app

5 – Add-on some Add-ons

6 – Book your tickets, baby! Et voila! Once you’ve decided on a project management software package, set your team up, and made sure everything is running smoothly, you can finally breathe a sigh of relief. And good timing too, because the taxi has just pulled up outside the door and guess what – you’re off to Europe, for a warmer climate, and some cultural indulging and wine swirling.

The beautiful thing about cloud technology is that you can access your information from anywhere, across all your devices. No need to lug a clunky desktop halfway across the world (you need suitcase space for all those shoes you’re going to buy, right?). With WorkflowMax, you can use your choice of any of the

Make your cash Satago, all-in-one Accessing shortflow termwith finance to your bridge cashflow gaps cashflow soluuon. Spend less me chasing customers can be difficult as a small business. I needed a way to with our automated invoice reminder system. access the money locked up in my unpaid invoices. Try invoice reminders satago.com Then I found invoiceat finance from

“

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Issue 08 / 71

How to find the right Add-ons for your clients You’ve successfully signed on a new client, sold them on ‘the cloud’, and got them set up on Xero. But something extra is needed... You need to help them tie in their business process with Xero, and toss out their old, unplugged approach. “Not to worry,” you think, as you hop on to the Xero Add-on Marketplace - this is exactly why Xero was built in the cloud! Suddenly, you’re greeted with over 500+ Add-on options, and you have no idea where to start! What a headache! The sheer volume of options does make the job of recommending an Add-on a little less cut-and-dry than it used to be. You need a way to find the best-fit solution for the business at hand, without spending days investigating. You only have a limited amount of time, but you also don’t want to accidentally miss a fantastic solution. You’ll also have other clients with different situations in the future. Sure, you could just use the app with the biggest marketing budget, but having been along for the ride with an innovative little company named Xero, we all know that the biggest marketing budget does not mean the best product, by any stretch! Identifying the problem Start the process by figuring out the underlying problems. This is critical when efficiently searching through the available Add-ons for the right fit. For example, jumping straight to ‘timesheet Add-on’ is probably too broad of a search. What kind of timesheets are you looking for? Something like MinuteDock is a great fit for professional service firms, where contractors or freelancers need to generate invoices. But that’s an entirely different category to something like ZoomShift, which is better for hourly employees needing to schedule their shifts. These key distinctions are usually included in the description of each Add-on in the Xero marketplace, making it easy to cross out or flag potential options at a glance. 72 / Issue 08

Keep it simple if you can It’s also worthwhile taking a step back and asking if adding another piece of software to the mix is really necessary. Could a simple Excel or Google spreadsheet suffice? Sometimes a little pivot table magic can go a long way. Or can the business process be adjusted slightly from what is currently being done to simplify or fit in with Xero’s built-in features?

Work with the business and figure out what the current day-to-day process is You need to have a solid understanding of the workflow to be able to quickly include or exclude products in your search. It’s also important to figure out why the business uses a particular workflow. Is any of it done as a workaround for something particular with their existing set up? Or, are there any parts that seem redundant or unnecessary? The best time to implement a smarter business process is while adding new tools or workflows. This is an area where you can really add value. Categorise the main problems Often times there will be more than one ‘problem’, which may, or may not, need more than one Add-on to solve. You should keep this in mind! Going back to our timesheets example, you might break it down into: employee timerecording, budget tracking, and client invoicing. Within each category, you may want to note down some specific key requirements, which you can refer back to as you’re researching. However, be careful about making a long check-list of must-haves. This can be a warning sign that you’re being too specific about fitting a new solution in the client’s existing workflow. Really, you’re looking for a new, smarter workflow to implement

Words: Jared Armstrong, CEO, MinuteDock Jared is the founder and CEO of MinuteDock - the top rated time tracking software for Xero. MinuteDock is a Kiwi company like Xero, but Jared is currently working from London. You can pick up a free trial of MinuteDock and a special offer of 50% off your first 3 months at minutedock.com/xumag @minutedock

for the client. Some of those previous requirements may not be relevant anymore! Gathering the options With a clearer understanding of what is actually needed, we can now look for a solution. Check with your friends or network Has anyone investigated solutions for the same scenario before? A great place to look is on the various Xero Facebook groups for partners & advisors. There is constantly great discussion on these topics. Explore the Add-on Marketplace The richest source of leads is going to be the Xero Add-on Marketplace, currently counting over 500 add-ons. One easy way to cut out the noise is to jump into an industry category. Xero provides convenient filters for this and, also, allows you to further explore different feature sets. For example, in the Professional Services industry page, you can further filter your search for specific problem categories (eg. time tracking). Generate a list of promising candidates Scan through the list and the descriptions in the Add-on marketplace. These will include keywords that match those high level categories you defined before. But don’t waste time diving into the details

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a few quirks or missing features that you are not quite happy with. Testing out the free trials is a must Usually you can tell pretty quickly when trialing a product if it is going to be something that fits. When you set up a trial, make sure you connect to a Xero account so that you are properly testing out the integration. Either use the live account for real-world data, or, if you are not ready for that, then you can always connect a Xero Demo Account (which is great for testing). If you get stuck or have questions, remember to reach out to customer support instead of instantly dismissing it. Most apps have a friendly customer support team, that will often go above and beyond to get everything sorted for you.

of trial accounts and webinars just yet. Rather, as you go through the list just open any potentially relevant apps in a new browser tab, so you can refer back to them later. Pay extra attention to the apps with reviews. They have been confident enough to ask their customers to recommend them. You can also click on the ‘reviews’ link to see the feedback in the new tab. In general, the reviews on the Xero marketplace are quite useful. Other Xero users have been very forthright in their feedback. It’s really valuable to see if anyone has any insight matching the type of business and problems you’re looking to solve. Don’t forget that you can sort the Add-ons by ‘newest first’. This lets you keep up to date with the ones you have not seen before. This is very useful when reviewing and building on your previous research for a new client. Scan through the marketing websites I know they say to never judge a book by it’s cover, but be very cautious of a software provider that puts minimal effort into making their website presentable and easy to understand. A bad marketing user experience can often be an early indicator of badly designed app experiences. Also keep an eye on Add-ons that claim to do a lot more than what you are looking for. In a perfect world, an app should do exactly what you need, and nothing more.

Generally there will be a few extra features you may not need, but if a product is trying to do too many things for too many different types of businesses, it results in a more complicated user interface. There will be a less streamlined workflow for the problem you’re trying to solve.

Another thing you can do here is enquire about the feature roadmap of these apps. This can give you insight into their development plans, especially whether or not they are moving in the right direction for what you are looking for, and whether or not any key missing features may be available in the near future.

Build the short-list

Remember to involve the business owner

As you’re doing all this, you should be building a short-list. Remember, do not spend too much time getting into the nitty-gritty of each Add-on, as this is just an initial search. Ideally, you will gather a handful of options that might be a good fit. This is after excluding a other options that do not fit the core requirements, by checking over their marketing website, reviews, etc.

There is no harm in presenting a few options and getting their feedback. Watching some webinars or training sessions can be very helpful. Although, I always recommend the pre-recorded options, as this lets you fast-forward through information that you already know or are not interested in (this can turn a 45 minute webinar into a 5 minute run-through!).

Some may look promising, but perhaps you are not quite sure about something in particular. This is a good chance to email the Add-on’s support team. When doing this, remember to also give a basic explanation of the context and problems you’re trying to solve, rather than just asking if they offer a specific feature. This will help the customer support team understand what you are trying to do. They might even have an alternative way to achieve the same goal.

At the end of the day, sometimes you may just need to take a punt and pick one. Your gut feeling can be useful here, as well as referring back to the reviews and community comments.

Picking the winner If you are lucky, there will be one clear winner. Most of the time, though, you will have filtered your list down to a handful of promising options. However, there may be

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Helping clients find great business software and implement more efficient workflows into their business is a brilliant way to bring additional value to the table. That said, there is definitely a fair amount of work that goes into researching Add-ons. Thankfully, a lot of this work is transferrable across clients. Once you get a process down-pat, it can go a lot faster. Happy hunting!

Issue 08 / 73

Words: Tim Hampson, CoFounder, SalesSeek Tim is a co-founder of SalesSeek, with particular focus on product specification and marketing. Tim’s background includes most aspects of the software business and companies ranging in size from IBM to startups in the UK, Japan and the US. @SalesSeek

Simplify, Visualize, Optimize Integrating CRM and Accounting to deliver better service at lower cost...

According to recent studies by Forbes, in 2015, 65% of US small businesses were using cloud-based apps to manage their revenue generation process. Of those, the majority of businesses have two critical systems they need to keep the cash flowing: Accounting, and Sales and Marketing. Accounting ensures that the cash comes through the door, that suppliers get paid, and government tax and compliance are completed. Xero has established itself as the ‘de facto’ leader, in making this straightforward for businesses of any size.

However, to get the cash, they require a Sales and Marketing team, some customers, and a Sales and Marketing application. Traditionally, the software used to manage these has been divided into multiple, separate tools, to cover Sales (CRM), Marketing (automation), Web (analytics) and Social. It is recognized that the real value of these tools and platforms comes from a synchronized and shared transparency of data, whereby all of your tools talk to each other at all times.

Figure 1 - AgriWebb Dashboards on Multiple Devices 74 / Issue 08

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Figure 2 - SalesSeek Dashboard displaying Xero activity

combines these two spheres with a cloudFrequently, this is achieved through a based app, to help manage farms and Costly, patchwork quilt of custom built analyse farm data, in order to improve integrations, made by enterprise level efficiency and profitability. consultants. It is no surprise that SMEs and Startups worldwide have been pining “We focus on delivering the best for ready, ‘out-of-the-box’ tools, possible service to our to meet the 360° needs customers with the of businesses. There easiest to use and are a number of most visual farm pioneering, cloud...to get the cash, management based platforms. software This includes [you] require a Sales available” says SalesSeek and Marketing team, Kevin Baum, CEO (Figure 2), that some customers, and a and co-founder have heard of AgriWebb. “I the call, and Sales and Marketing expect nothing combined Sales application. less from my own and Marketing to infrastructure. With remove the need a rapidly growing for multiple tools, the business and the global hassle and expense. livestock industry to serve, we need to be using the best, most efficient However, to complete the circle, it is products on the market.” essential to integrate Accounting into the loop as painlessly and cost efficiently as Naturally, Xero was the obvious choice possible. when it came to accounting for AgriWebb. The Sales and Marketing choice was a AgriWebb (Figure 1), an innovative, little more difficult, with the plethora of agricultural software company, tools that exist. Kevin and his team are understand this well. While Australia may agile, and they value visibility. They opted be known for its wide open spaces and for SalesSeek, as it offered the most premium farming industry, it is not as visibility over their opportunities, and well known for its rapidly emerging tech was the most innovative and simplest tool sector. Appropriately enough, AgriWebb We want to hear from you! Get in touch - email: hello@xumagazine.com

to grow when managing their Sales and Marketing. The Xero accounting and SalesSeek CRM integration is crucial to AgriWebb. “There is nothing worse than constantly switching between platforms or entering information multiple times. Now, the sales team can see every invoice and its status. Any delays in payment can be immediately nipped in the bud. The accounting department gets notifications of new customers the instant the deal is won, transferring SalesSeek contact information seamlessly into Xero and creating the Xero invoice instantly, saving time. Faster payment, simpler operations, happier customers. I love it.” As more businesses move their business operations to cloud-based platforms, the value of having your crucial Sales, Marketing and Accounting applications integrated will only increase. Making the decision to bridge these key systems is one that all forward-thinking businesses should consider. By implementing packages like Xero and platforms like SalesSeek, businesses can integrate their tools with little effort. It’s a no-brainer!

Issue 08 / 75

Why a CRM solution with project management creates a competitive advantage Why a CRM solution with project management creates a competitive advantage... As an accounting professional, it is likely that providing excellent service to your clients revolves around being up-to-date on the latest tax codes, rather than exercising your project management skills. The landscape for accountancy practice management is changing, however. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solutions is designed specifically for small and medium size businesses. It may be time to consider taking a new approach with the help of a CRM solution, with project management features baked in. So what the heck is project management, anyway? At its core, project management can be defined as a client-centric process, that enhances your ability to provide the service and results your clients expect. Most accounting assignments definitely qualify as projects. You must adhere to specifics, like maintaining a paper trail, and you have to comply and adhere to hundreds of tax laws and complex regulations, such as Sarbanes-Oxley. In accountancy, creating a project would require you to produce a set of clientspecific deliverables. This could be a tax return, a cash flow projection, or an audit. Because there is no such thing as a truly 76 / Issue 08

generic tax return or run-of-the-mill audit, each of your projects will have its own different set of goals. Likewise, each project will be influenced by each client’s personality. Getting your team involved Introducing CRM’s project management processes into your practice does not happen overnight.

Words: Marta Bright, Content Manager, Insightly Marta is Insightly’s Content Manager. She’s been writing about the ‘business of technology’ in the Silicon Valley for more than two decades. @Insightly

The best CRM is the one that gets used. CRM implementations fail routinely. Of course, there are any numbers of factors that impact CRM success, but the most cited reason a CRM fails to deliver the expected results is a lack of use. Before you begin the CRM selection process, meet with your team members and gather their input. Ask them what they feel the “must have” features, versus those that are ‘nice,’ but not essential. How to choose a solution that makes sense With limited resources, you should look for solutions that solve as many problems as possible, enhance productivity, and streamline workflow. You do not have the time or the budget to waste on technology investments that do not return value. When you are ready to begin the selection

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process, focus your efforts on finding a proven CRM solution, that is designed to grow and change with your needs, without being too complex or costly. Often, a company purchases a heavyweight CRM, full of exciting features it does not actually need. As a result, the tool is overly complex and difficult to learn. In each case, the company ends up with a potentially costly solution, that is not utilised enough to return the anticipated value. So, what functionality is relevant to accountants when considering a CRM system? Here are a few things to put on your shortlist: Workflow automation – Good CRM is about more than simply tracking contacts and activities. Workflow automation allows managers to automatically assign tasks to employees, once a certain point in the project is reached. This ensures tasks and opportunities continue to move ahead. Reporting – You can use advanced reporting features built into a CRM to create custom, tabular reports. Focus your efforts on learning from the most valuable reports. These include completed projects

and overdue events, or stages within a pre-defined stage of a project.

not seem a natural fit for accounting. However, when properly implemented, a CRM solution that supports project management can provide your firm with a competitive differentiation.

Billing and payments – One of the biggest challenges accountancy firms face is overdue With limited payments from resources, you should Experience customers. firsthand how CRMs that look for solutions that CRM project integrate with solve as many problems management leading financial can give you management as possible, enhance that competitive tools, such productivity, and edge by signing as Xero and streamline workflow. up for the Insightly QuickBooks 14 day free trial. Online, can help automate billing activity and monitor overdue payments, giving growing businesses an advantage. The net gain With good project management processes in place, your accounting firm will get a leg-up on planning resources more effectively, ensuring that every client project is completed and delivered in a timely manner. At first glance, CRM may

Accountants & bookkeepers that

use Tanda get the most from Xero payroll. Timesheets created via a time clock, no double data entry Reduce payroll processing time Pay items managed automatically by Tanda Manage leave, timesheets and rosters in one place Suitable for businesses with 15+ staff in every industry

www.tanda.co/XU Caitie from Ben & Jerry’s, Queensland

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Achieve safe and transparent employee-driven purchasing with Xero and ApprovalMax Purchasing can be tricky. If you give too much control to a single person, and route all purchase requisitions through them, they can easily become a bottleneck. If you build a dedicated purchasing department, it can take some of the strain, but it will definitely eat into your budget. If you allow employees to send Purchase Orders themselves, it can quickly spiral out of control. How can an SME achieve balance? How can they retain control over purchasing, without spending too much time and money? This is precisely what we are going to address in this article. Laying the Groundwork In most cases, SMEs cannot have a dedicated department that will handle all purchases. Instead, they must defer responsibility to their employees, allowing them to initiate Purchase Orders themselves. When this happens, a couple of questions inevitably arise: • Should we give all employees access to Xero? This seems unreasonable and not entirely safe. Employees may see accounting information that is above their pay grade. • How do we organize approval processes? Should the requester manually follow-up approvers via email? And if so, how can we guarantee that he

78 / Issue 08

will receive approval from the relevant manager? • How should approvers approve? Do they simply reply to an email, or should they login to Xero and click “Approve”? Email approvals can become messy rather quickly, and they are certainly not good for audit trails. And while approval in Xero is effective, it does not offer the feature of multi-step approval, therefore making delegation of responsibilities difficult. Allowing Employees to Raise Purchase Orders These are the questions that prevent many Xero customers from implementing a smooth, employee-driven purchasing process. We have talked to dozens of Xero customers, and we have finally built a solution that should answer these questions. Here is how: Keep PO Requesters Out of Xero The most effective solution to implementing a clean and constructive approval process is to keep PO requesters out of your accounting system. That is where ApprovalMax comes into its own. Purchase Orders are created directly in the platform; employees do not need to access Xero, therefore sensible accounting data is safe. What employees will see is the information they need to raise a PO: inventory items, tracking categories, etc.

Words: Helmut Heptner, Chief Operating Officer, ApprovalMax Serving as COO at ApprovalMax and MD of a BPM company, with a proven track record in his former position of COO in a larger international software company, Helmut masters not only theoretical knowledge about effective organisations, but has helped many organisations to transform their daily operations and make them more efficient. Prior to his current roles, he was instrumental for growing the business in Central and Eastern Europe for Acronis, a leading vendor in the Backup and Recovery software market. Helmut holds a Master of Science degree in Electrical Engineering and Applied Informatics. @ApprovalMax

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Another benefit of ApprovalMax is that it can set limits on what requesters can order. This can be by supplier, inventory items, accounts, or tracking codes. For example, this means a particular requester could be limited to ordering from two selected suppliers, which equates to even more control over purchasing matters.

decision, the requester is notified via email and can be certain that the Purchase Order has been sent to the supplier. Approve and Track After the Purchase Order has been approved by the automatically selected approvers, it is sent to the supplier.

Automate the Approval Process And then? How is it tracked? After a Purchase Order is created in ApprovalMax, it is routed to the appropriate managers for approval, as defined in the approval matrix. Approvers can be selected based upon different criteria, such as amount or supplier. A multi-step workflow can also allow approval levels to be defined; for instance, Purchase Orders above 10k USD should be approved by the CFO. And all of this is seamless: approvers can approve Purchase Orders with a single click from the email or mobile app. An automated multi-step approval process ensures all relevant managers have approved the Purchase Order, before it is sent to the supplier and any financial commitment is made. After the approvers have made their

Words: Mark Fletcher, CEO, Tower Systems Founded in 1981 by Mark Fletcher, Tower Systems is a leading Point of Sale software company in Australia, assisting over 3,500 clients. The goal has always been to help independent small businesses, in various vertical marketplaces, to unlock greater success for their business. Mark is a passionate businessman, who has been a part of retail for 35 + years. @towersystems

If there are a handful of orders submitted monthly, it should be no problem to track them manually. But what if there are more? The strain on resources in order to track and manage the orders can cost both time and money, not to mention your reputation if you miss a deadline. The answer? A Xero Add-on Purchase-to-Pay solution, such as the i2B supplier portal. By providing a shared portal between your company and your suppliers, you can help both parties keep PO fulfilment on track, as well as provide automated, up-to-theminute, detailed reports on outstanding/ overdue, as well as future, orders. Transparent. Safe. Approved. By providing the answers to Xero customersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; questions, have we transformed employee-driven purchasing

into a safe and transparent process? Yes, we have. As a final step, all incoming bills should be matched against the POs, when going through approval to ensure the company is paying for the goods and services they actually ordered. But thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s another story for another time.

POS software helps specialty SMB retailers compete Mark Fletcher, CEO of Tower Systems, explains his companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s commitment to small business and how its POS software serves specialty retail... The most effective ways small business retailers can compete with big businesses is through efficient operation, accurate data and customer service touch-points that add appreciated value. Tower Systems only sell its POS software

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to small business retailers. We believe in small businesses, their importance to local communities and their broader economic value. Through our software, our personal in-store training,

>> Issue 08 / 79

24/7 human and locally-based help-desk service, regional user meetings, weekly online workshops and other touch-points, we help small business retailers, beyond what is usual for POS software companies.

Integrations

Personal service matters

Our Xero integration is one of many approved integrations provided by the software, to serve the needs of retailers. Other integrations include:

The Tower training is personal, one-onone. It is delivered in-store, by someone with extensive retail experience.

Our company motto is weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re here to help. We take this seriously. Everyday, our motto challenges us to help our customers in ways they do not expect, ways beyond the software itself.

- Tyro broadband EFTPOS.

Founded in 1981, Tower Systems has evolved as technology has evolved. The software we sell today is generations away from where we started. We are proud to have served some of our customers for decades.

- Links to all major banks through PCEFTPOS. - Magento e-commerce. Magento is an excellent platform for website sales for small to medium businesses. - Shopify e-commerce. Shopify is an excellent entry-level solution for small to medium businesses.

More than 3,500 specialty, small business retailers, in Australia and New Zealand, use our specialty POS software.

- FlyBys in New Zealand.

To us, a specialty retailer is one that offers services unique to the channel, services that define the business. We embed in our software for each retail channel facilities, that serve needs unique to that channel. We take pride in doing this and enhancing these channel-specific facilities as the needs evolve.

- Scale integration for selling by weight. - Touch networks for vending event tickets, phone recharge, fishing licences and more. Cloud or not The Tower software can run on the desktop or in the cloud. Retailers decide what they prefer.

Retail markets There are versions of the software, serving the businessâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; specific needs of: Jewellers, Bike shops, Garden Centres, Book shops, Gift Shops, Homewares Shops, Produce businesses, Fishing and Outdoors shops, Newsagents, Toy Shops, Confectionery Retail, Stationery retail, Pet Shops, Pet Grooming, Whole Foods Grocers, Swimming Pool Supplies, Firearms Retail and Adult Shops. Linking directly to Xero enhances the time-saving gained through the software, as well as facilitating the accuracy of data managed by the software. Our Xero link provides for a data feed of sales as well as purchases. With a CPA working full-time in our business, we are configured to provide a technical solution that has been overseen by our own Accountant, to ensure it is a viable solution for the small business retailers we serve.

80 / Issue 08

- Transactor loyalty in New Zealand.

In its cloud offer, Tower offers a 100% hosted solution, running in a secure purpose-build location, with high-level security and backup. This solution is offered on a SAAS (Software As A Service) model with minimal on-boarding costs and a single monthly fee. Retailers who prefer local control can purchase or lease-finance the software. Once acquired, there are no mandatory annual access fees. This flexible approach to pricing provides retailers the maximum flexibility in acquisition model.

The help desk is based in Hawthorn Victoria. When people call, the call is answered by a human, and not a computerised phone system. We believe in personal service. The company also offers free online training workshops, where retailers can learn more and talk to each other about how they use the software. Every customer has access to free one-onone training, year after year. There are also user meetings around the country, where people can meet the management and technical team in an open group setting, for more free training and free assistance. We are retailers too We own and operate several retail businesses, providing us with experience every day, that enables us to walk in the shoes of our customers. We also use these shops as test sites for early releases of software updates. Plus, we are happy for customers and prospects to visit the shops, and learn from what we do ourselves, in leveraging the software. The customers are in control At the Tower Systems website, click on Software Ideas to see our transparent approach to customer engagement on software enhancements. This is worldclass. Customers can make suggestions. These are assessed to ensure they will work. All customers are then invited to vote on the suggestions. The more votes, the faster we bring the suggestion to reality.

What the software offers This is a comprehensive and flexible Point of Sale software package, offering facilities in many areas of retail business operation. This includes facilities that help small business retailers to run more competitive and valuable businesses. The Tower website provides comprehensive information on software facilities.

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Words: Chris Urry, CEO & Co-Founder, IntegraPay Chris and his brother David founded IntegraPay in 2009. IntegraPay is a global integrated payments technology company that provides subscription, recurring and ecommerce payment solutions for businesses of all sizes. @IntegraPay

Building better cashflow starts with making payments easy Whether you are a new business, or an established one, cashflow is your lifeblood...

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), more than 60 percent of small businesses cease operating within the first three years of starting. It is a very well known statistic, as it is recited to anybody with bold ambitions, embarking on their own new venture. What is less known are the reasons for failure. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) released a report into corporate insolvencies for 2011-2012, that found 44 percent of businesses suffered poor strategic management; 40 percent had inadequate cashflow or high cash use; and 33 percent suffered from trading losses. It could be easy to deduce from this that many new businesses have a good strategy for making profits, but fail because they are simply not getting cash in the front door fast enough to pay their bills. Making it easy for clients to pay their bills, so you can pay yours, is the reason we started IntegraPay. Through dealing with hundreds of clients, thousands of their customers and millions of payments, we

82 / Issue 08

have identified some of the key blockages that can bring your cashflow to a grinding halt. Ultimately, the solution to cashflow problems is easing the transaction that transfers money from your clientâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s bank account to yours. Our experience shows that the more difficult you make it for clients, the less likely they are to pay on time. You need to understand the challenges they are facing. When developing our Add-on for Xeroâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s accounting software, we wanted to keep it simple. But, at the same time, we had to ensure clients had access to more than just the basics. Here are some of the easiest ways to unblock your payments pipeline and get cash in the door faster: One-Click Payments Cheques were still commonplace in Australia just 10 years ago. Now they have gone the way of the honest politician and become virtually extinct. The way businesses pay their accounts has changed massively over recent times. The vast majority of payments now occur

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each invoice you send. This ensures the payment can be automatically reconciled. Automatically Reconcile Payments Keeping up-to-date with who has paid what and when, as well as dealing with the tyranny of reconciliation, can soak up hours of your time every week. Additionally, if you are currently collecting your payments by direct deposit, you will find the process is riddled with the risk of making errors. Using a system that automatically reconciles payments with your invoices in Xero, in order to reduce manual data entry and administrative costs, is one of the best ways to improve cashflow. This will give you more time to solve the real problems in your business. Make Security a Priority

digitally. Keeping your clients’ payment options easy and effective, within this digital ecosystem, is the first step to improving your payments. With IntegraPay and Xero, customers can pay immediately, directly from their invoice. With a simple touch on the “Pay Now” button on any invoice, customers can launch a payment from their bank account or credit card, straight to you. Your customers can even choose a default account from which to send future payments to your company. Set Up Recurring Invoices Some of the most successful and fastest growing businesses in the world, like Xero, are built on a recurring revenue business model. The major benefits of a business with recurring revenue is the predictability of cashflow. Regardless of what type of business you are, you should be investigating ways to get as many of your clients and services working on a recurring basis. If you invoice your customers monthly with items or services like rental invoices, retainer fees or subscriptions, then you will love the Repeating Invoices feature in Xero, powered by IntegraPay. You will be able to create and email invoices to your customers on time, and have your payments processed quickly.

Give Your Customer Payment Choices Everyone knows that if you are given a range of options to complete a task, you are more likely to put it into action. It is the same with customers making payments. Options are the gateway to convenience, so if you provide customers with more options, they are more likely to pay on time. The IntegraPay Xero Addon brings together all the most popular payment methods. Customers can choose to pay by Visa, MasterCard, American Express or bank deposit. Having a comprehensive suite of payment methods for your invoices means your customers are happy, resulting in you getting paid sooner. BPAY is Essential BPAY has emerged as Australia’s most popular online payment service and should be an essential part of the payment suite you provide clients. Many of the early challenges associated with becoming a BPAY ‘Biller’ have now been solved. As a BPAY ‘Master Biller’, IntegraPay allows you to take advantage of the benefits of BPAY. This is without the administrative complexity and costs associated with signing-up for a Biller Code yourself. IntegraPay’s technology automatically generates a linked Biller Code and payment reference number for

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While the digitisation of payments has created many benefits for business, it has also created its own fair share of headaches. While cheque fraud has diminished with the use of cheques, the fraudsters have simply moved into the online environment. Providing clients with a secure environment to make their payments, while protecting their funds and their data, is now an essential practice for all businesses, large and small. There are millions of instances of fraud, globally, every day. This erodes consumers’ confidence. Just one instance where your clients’ data is compromised could permanently damage, or destroy, your business. The primary response to the fraud threat has been the development of the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS). This Standard sets the technical and operational requirements for organisations, accepting or processing payment transactions, and for software developers and manufacturers of applications and devices used in those transactions. With IntegraPay as your payments partner, you have access to our certified PCI DSS compliant solutions, backed by our Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL), giving you the peace of mind that your data is secure.

Issue 08 / 83

Words: Ryan O’Donnell, Director of Marketing, Avalara As a Director of Marketing at Avalara, Ryan satisfies his penchant for solving complex problems by working with small business owners to solve sales tax challenges. @avalara

Are you moving at the speed of commerce? 3 easy steps to staying on top of sales tax... In our previous article featured in Issue 7, we touched on the ins and outs of sales tax, and how/when a business should be concerned about sales tax compliance. Highlights included: determining the right time to get started with sales tax collection, understanding sales tax nexus, and the impact of remote employees. In this issue, we’ll consider sales tax from the perspective of today’s hightech multichannel merchant. With the explosion of online selling, the number of retail channels to consumers has greatly increased. Amazon, eBay and Etsy all offer sellers marketplaces to showcase products and access millions of potential buyers. For businesses interested in hosting their own website and building a brand, solutions such as Shopify, WooCommerce, and BigCommerce offer simple yet powerful solutions. Of course, more selling channels mean more management responsibilities. 84 / Issue 08

Rapidly putting products in front of many prospective customers could cause some unintended consequences. First, sales are unlikely to be confined to local buyers, since the internet eliminates the barrier of distance. These days, it’s as easy to sell to an Alaskan as it is to a Floridian. Second, with such a large audience, e-merchants will likely sell faster than ever before. The converse of this, of course, is that competition is going to be stiff, and merchants may need to compete on price. Regardless of pricing or competition, state tax authorities still care about sales tax. Suppose you’re selling products on Amazon at razor-thin margins that may be even lower than the total sales tax rate. That means you may be collecting less in profit than you are in sales tax. Ouch! The risk here is not collecting the tax. If the sales tax amount is greater than what is collected in margin, you could,conceivably, collect less than what is necessary to cover the tax bill. That can put you at risk. Sales tax is due on taxable items, whether

tax is collected from the buyer or not. Here are some practical ways to manage sales tax: What sellers can do to manage sales tax 1. Set up and collection 2. Preparation 3. Filing and paying Set up and collection Collecting sales tax doesn’t happen automatically. The onus to collect tax revenue falls on the shoulders of the seller. Should you choose not to collect, there are no safety nets that will stop you and remind you of your legal obligation. That being to remit tax revenue to state and local tax authorities. And sales tax varies by state, by product and sometimes by time of year (due to sales tax holidays). Complexity quickly adds up and since time is precious for most emerchants, the best way to manage sales tax is with an automated solution (more on that, below).

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Preparing to file

Common sales tax pitfalls to avoid

Every registered business is assigned a specific filing frequency (ie. monthly, quarterly, or annually). It is up to the business to submit its sales tax filings by these deadlines. The most complex aspect of filing is preparing tax data and completing often complex state sales tax filing forms.

Overlooked nexus states

Avalara TrustFile is one service that connects directly to Xero and can import and prepare sales tax data for filing. It can save users hours of time manually, preparing tax data and filling out forms. For the time-starved high-tech merchant, automation is key to running a successful business. Filing and paying After preparing sales tax data, businesses are required to fill out tax filing forms. They then submit them to state tax authorities, along with any tax dollars collected. There are multiple options for this step. In the past, people would fill out paper forms and submit them via mail, along with a paper check to the states. These days, paper is going the way of the fax machine. Every state is going digital. Filers have the option of completing their filing forms on state government websites, or leveraging services such as Avalara TrustFile to prepare and file forms much more quickly. Payment can still be made by sending in a paper check, but many business owners opt for cash transfer options such as ACH processing.

Sales tax nexus is a complicated topic. If there is any question whether you’ve had significant physical contact with a state, we urge you to consult a sales tax expert to get an educated opinion. Drawing the wrong conclusion may result in months of missed sales tax, late filing penalties, and interest payments. Missed filing deadlines Just because you’ve registered in a state, and are collecting sales tax, doesn’t mean you’re done. Failure to file returns on time may result in penalties and interest payments. Our advice is to set calendar reminders at least a week in advance, so you have time to complete your sales tax filing without feeling rushed. Leveraging online tools like Avalara TrustFile for Xero can cut the time you commit to filing tax returns from hours to just minutes. Waiting too long to take sales tax seriously For many small business owners, sales tax collection seems like a hassle reserved for larger, multi-million dollar businesses - if only that were the case! In fact, for many very small business owners, the decision to collect sales tax boils down to whether the cost of potential fines and interest payments, caused by not collecting, are material enough to matter.

As your business grows, so does the risk associated with non-compliance, so don’t wait too long to get serious about sales tax compliance. Not sequestering tax revenue When a merchant collects sales tax revenue, it’s important to remember the tax is not revenue to keep, but must be remitted to the state to which it belongs. Business are strongly encouraged to separate any collected tax revenue from the company activity revenue pool. This will help to prevent the unfortunate situation where tax dollars are mistakenly spent. Careless mistakes There are still those who file sales tax returns on paper and who write checks to state tax authorities. If that is you, be sure you are using the correct filing form and that you’ve signed and dated the form and the check. Failure to do so will result in delays and potential penalties, due to missed filing deadlines. Whether you are supporting the growth of a business as an accountant or bookkeeper, or running your own start up, your success is tied to making sound business decisions, while moving at the speed of commerce. And that means complying with the complex and intricate web of rules and regulations that make up the world of sales tax. But there are automated solutions out there to help you, and that’s exactly why Avalara and Xero have come together as partners!

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Issue 08 / 85

Chasing payments

Words: Staff writer

Let’s beat late payments together... Xero asked more than 1,000 British businesses about late payments. The results highlight an endemic issue and real opportunities for change. Statistics about chasing invoices Young people aged 25-34 are worst affected. They spend more time than any other age group chasing payments. Over 55s are least impacted.

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Experience in selecting the right clients. More efficient invoice-chasing processes demonstrated by older people. Maybe even an issue of ageism- older people are taken more seriously! Businesses in London spend 1.5 days a month chasing payments, followed closely by businesses in Wales, that spend 1.3 days a month. The UK’s productivity is affected by this. Over a third of respondents suffered a drop in productivity as a result of late payments.

‘That lost productivity is likely to have a direct correlation to the nation’s GDP. Addressing the issue of late payments will have wide-reaching implications, extending to creating a healthier economic environment overall.’

Top tips for better cash flow

• Check out a business’s credit history and financial background before entering into an agreement with them. Companies House could help, or you could pay for services like Experian or Graydon. • Make your terms of payment clear and ensure the customer understands. • Invoice your customer immediately after the work or service has been completed. Include all information in the invoice, so there is no excuse for not being paid on time. e.g. blaming a wrong purchase order number. • Provide the customer with a variety of different means to pay e.g. credit or debit card etc. • Don’t be afraid to chase the payment! Gary Turner, Managing Director of Xero UK, also gives tips for small business owners:

Industries most and least impacted: • The legal industry was least affected, potentially because clients were more concerned about meeting these payments.

86 / Issue 08

‘When we asked the owners of failed businesses what had led to their demise, 65% of respondents blamed financial mismanagement.’

These are things to do to prevent or reduce the impact of not being paid:

Why is this? •

• HR is at the top, with more than a quarter of businesses affected by late payments in this area.

1. Invoice Promptly 2. Establish a Relationship. Personally introduce yourself to the people in the accounts department. Ask them to include your invoice number as a reference with every payment they make, to help you determine which

invoice is being paid. 3. Keep accurate records. Keep track of everything as you go. This will make it easier for you at a later date. 4. Define your payment terms. Consider shortening your invoice payment period to even one or two weeks, to encourage faster payment. Do your best to meet all of your customers deadlines for the service. This provides them with more reason to meet your deadlines. 5. Offer easy payment methods. The easier it is for your customer to pay, the sooner they will pay. “Some accounting software offers a ‘pay now’ button on online invoices, which means you can send customers invoices online with the option of getting paid instantly.” Tools to help you Legal documents. You can download templates for service agreements and other contracts that help you take control of client payments. You should always get the advice of a legal professional though. Xero mobile app. You can send custom invoices after the job is completed. You can see when an invoice has been received and opened. Then let automated reminders follow, so you don’t have to chase them yourself. Chaser. This can also be used to chase payments for you. Reminder apps. Set reminders for the payment date when you send an invoice.

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Issue 08 / 87

End-to-end automation for the processing of bills A smooth, uninterrupted, end-to-end process... Finance managers have many important responsibilities. Setting up controls for bill payments is one such task. Automating the Accounts Payable process, to make their lives that little bit easier, certainly has many advantages. The crux of the matter lies in the numbers. Paying 10 bills a week is not unmanageable. But what if there are 50, or even 250 bills, to be paid weekly? Manually driven processes can, and often do, fail. Here is how we can fix them, and implement a smooth end-to-end process. A Typical Process Having control over bill payment typically involves the following steps: • The bill arrives, either by email or in paper form. • The data is extracted and validated, utilising Intelligent Data Extraction.

88 / Issue 08

• The bill & data is sent to Xero. • The bill is submitted for approval. • The bill is paid. The Breaking Point This particular workflow often breaks down at the approval stage, when business managers are required to approve bills before they can be paid. The Bill Approval process is normally a manual one. In most cases, Accounts Payable staff oversee it, utilising email to communicate with approvers. But as the number of bills and approvers grows, it becomes an unsustainable flow of emails for everyone. Another option is to request that managers log into Xero in order for them to approve their bills. This is not very efficient, due to the fact that managers are not notified about new bills awaiting their approval. In fact, this often causes some

Words: Norm Cogdale, Founder, Business Efficiency Group Norm is a Business Process Management professional, specialising in automating processes, such as Accounts Payable approvals. He has assisted and guided many companies of all sizes to successfully automate their vital business processes, using the latest technologies.

XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users. Find us online at: xumagazine.com

bills to be overlooked, as a client will see all active bills, not just the ones they need to approve. Breaking the Habit: Approval Automation An effective solution for this particular problem is to automate the approval process. This has compelling benefits: • Bills are always approved by the appropriate managers. • Approvals are monitored to ensure they are dealt with on time. • Up-to-date bill status and notifications once a bill has been approved. • Full compliance with internal and external business rules. • Visibility throughout the entire process. • Full audit trails, with instant reporting thrown in for good measure.

A Smooth, Uninterrupted, End-to-End Process

How to Make it Happen Using a Business Process Management System (BPMS) might seem appropriate to enable this kind of approval automation. However, it comes at a price: • A significant amount of time is required for the implementation. • Staff are required to have specialised skills (BPMS knowledge). • And BPMS implementations are very expensive, with budgets in the tens of thousands. Fortunately, there are solutions like ApprovalMax that are tailored to the needs of finance managers and allowing the automation of the entire approval process from end-to-end, without spending large sums of money or turning grey.

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The illustration shows an automated bill processing in action, using IDE for Intelligent Data Extraction, ApprovalMax to manage the approvals, and Xero as the accounting software. End-to-End Process for Bills Implementing this process sees data collected using Intelligent Data Extraction (IDE), before it is automatically pulled by ApprovalMax. Once the bill is approved in ApprovalMax, it is marked as Authorised, and can be paid either through Xero or via a payment processing Xero Add-on. There are many benefits of such automated processes, including the following: • More bills can be processed with less resource, saving time and money. • The approval process is significantly expedited. • Compliance with all business rules is ensured. • The establishment of a full audit trail, with instant reporting thrown in for good measure. Still to Come: Additional Steps That Could Be Included To make this process even more effective, future additional functionality could also:

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• Enable bill coding (setting up tracking categories, accounts, etc.) by approvers as a part of the approval workflow. This way, important information could be filled in by a knowledgeable person right away. • Match bills to purchase orders, before checking that the bill matches the purchase order that was sent to the supplier. • Set up approval for the payment of bills in batches. This is the final check before money leaves the company. In a Nutshell

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Issue 08 / 89

How to navigate your FX exposure in the aftermath of Brexit An informative view of how the Brexit aftermath will affect the currency markets... The work of David Davis, the newly appointed minister in charge of navigating Britain’s way out of the European Union, is in full swing. Looking for an informative view on how the Brexit aftermath will affect the currency markets, we naturally turned to Adam Cotton, a key client of Kinder Pocock. He is also MD of preferred Xero app partner, SATFXOnline, which provides specialist currency services for Xero users who deal with international payments. The 1st January 2000 was supposed to be the day that Y2K bug led to the global meltdown of IT systems. According to the “Remainers,” the 24th June 2016 was going to be the day that financial Armageddon ensued. On both these days, nothing to the scale that was promoted changed; global IT systems did not melt down, neither did the financial markets. True, in the immediate aftermath, the value of Sterling dropped against the US Dollar, the Euro and pretty much every other currency, but by the close of business on the 24th June 2016, Sterling had regained half of those losses. The challenge for companies now is the future, and how to manage the uncertainty Brexit will cause. This is no different, though, than managing the uncertainty of the currency markets at any other time. One of the most effective methods to manage currency risk is with a forward contract – “buy now, pay later” – fixing the exchange rate for a date in the future and removing all uncertainty. They are simple, cost effective and ideally suited for companies with known currency exposures. Even if you are not 100% sure of the future requirements, booking 50% of your known requirements is a prudent and effective route to employ. At a time when the UK’s relationship with Europe will change, currency volatility will 90 / Issue 08

remain. My advice for FDs and business owners is this - if you only change one thing when it comes to your FX, it should be to increase the number of forward trades you book. This gives you some certainty, especially when the economic climate is so uncertain. A Xero App That Makes Global Transactions Quick & Easy For bank-beating exchange rates, with a ‘fee-free’ solution to book forward trades and more effectively manage your currency, find SATFXOnline in the Xero App marketplace. Search under ‘Payments’ - www.xero.com/uk/marketplace/appfunction/s/payments. Alternatively go direct to the app and start connecting with your Xero at www.satfxonline.co.uk The app allows Xero users to connect with the most robust international payment system available on Xero. It gives users the benefits of being able to: access competitive, bank-beating rates for 150+ currencies; use superior functionality, versus other apps, to manage currency risk; connect to a easy-to-understand user interface; and gain peace of mind, from stringent security settings, that your money is in safe hands.

Words: Adam Cotton, MD, SATFXOnline Introduction by: Sharon Pocock, Kinder Pocock Adam has worked in the foreign exchange markets for over 15 years, initially with one of the largest currency brokers in the UK, before establishing SAT Worldwide in 2006, now trading as SATFX. His experience of trading, new business development, operations, compliance and account management has enabled him to develop a thorough understanding of the nuances of the currency world. An innovative thinker, Adam is Managing Director at SATFX and responsible for the overall strategy and management of the business, as well as looking after a number of key customer accounts. Away from the office, Adam is a married father with two young children and he would love to keep playing rugby (“4 games last season”), rather than just watching from the touchline. @satworldwide

Four Ways the Xero App Saves Your Business Money • Batch pay numerous international invoices in the same currency and save money on the economies of scale a larger currency purchase provides. • Use a forward contract which avoids you losing money if the rate moves between when you pay or receive payment of an invoice that has a payment term date set in the future. • Set up part payments of an invoice in one simple step rather than having to

buy currency at different rates each time you need to settle a percentage of the invoice. • Sterling cost confirmation for all international payments provided to give your business the finite cost to budget effectively for your international payments.

XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users. Find us online at: xumagazine.com

Think youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re too small to need an HR system? The importance of Human Resource Management, even for smaller businesses... In over 25 years of being a small business software consultant, I have had the privilege of working with many organisations, ranging from one person businesses, to those who have hundreds of people working across the country.

Words: Devan Sabaratnam, Creator, HR Partner Devan Sabaratnam has been programming computers and working as a software consultant for over 3 decades now. He has run several successful businesses that specialise in assisting other businesses, small to medium, in automating their business processes, and implementing accounting systems. Over the years, he has been an authorised agent for Attache, Triumph, ACCPAC and SAP accounting systems. Lately, Devan has been focusing on getting his clients onto the cloud, and is actively writing solutions that integrate with Xero and other cloud based SaaS apps. Devan has also written several popular web applications for small business, including LogbookHQ, LetsInductMe and HRPartner. @HRPartnerApp

Whilst many of these businesses were fastidious about their software when it came to accounting, manufacturing, supply chain management or customer management, most of them did not have, or plan to have, anything in place for their human resource management. Do not get me wrong, they spent a lot of effort to ensure that they met the legal requirements for payroll, including pay rates, leave and other immediate financial benefits. However, when it came to the extra things, such as performance reviews, career management, and other factors that are needed to nurture and grow a workforce, they usually did not have anything in place. Most businesses with a handful of employees are almost run like a small family. Everyone knows a lot about each other, the team usually socialises together, maintaining harmony and balance themselves.

Manager or the Payroll Officer will have to try and perform some of the tasks that an HR Manager would normally do. Why do most growing businesses delay in setting up an HR department? In a lot of cases, it is purely a cost and convenience factor. However, in my experience, a lot of business owners do not realise that an HR person on the team is essential to their operations. They can see that adding people to the sales team increases sales, and adding people to the operations or manufacturing teams increases efficiency. However, where is the correlation between adding people dedicated to human resources and a direct improvement in your business? To answer this, you need to step back and look at what it means to hire an employee. When you hire a person to do a task in your company, you are not just hiring them for their skills, or potential to learn the skills involved. There is also an implied promise that you will help them to grow personally and professionally, and that you will help them to map out their career path. This is not only within your own company, but perhaps also beyond that, should they choose to spread their wings and move on in the future.

But once that team size grows into double digits, then it becomes harder for the business owner or manager to really keep in touch with everyone. Small sub groups or cliques will form, and it becomes harder for team members to easily communicate, or resolve differences, in order to get their jobs done.

Additionally, you have a legal obligation to operate within the employment regulations of your jurisdiction. Especially when the time comes for you to ensure they are performing their duties well, and more importantly, consider how you can handle it if they are not.

The difficulty is that a LOT of businesses we work with that have between 10 and 50 employees (this seems to be an average of most companies we work with that use Xero accounting) do not have a dedicated Human Resources manager. There seems to be a certain company size range, whereby either the Administrative

In order for a staff member to give you their best, they have to feel a sense of purpose, belonging, and trust. This means that they have to feel that they are making a worthwhile contribution. They need to know that their efforts are appreciated, and that their concerns and needs as a person are being met

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Issue 08 / 91

and respected. This can make all the difference, between them loving their job and dreading waking up in the morning.

This is where implementing an HR software solution can help. If you do not have a dedicated HR Manager on staff, often times, an HR software system can probably help your existing admin or payroll officer to effectively handle the job. Even if you do have a dedicated HR Manager, she or he could probably do with HR software to help them keep track of all the information they need. HR software is not just for large ‘enterprise’ level businesses any more. Even small and medium sized companies can make big improvements in staff morale by implementing such software. A good HR software system should take all the myriad of spreadsheets, written notes and filing cabinets full of forms, and make them available in one, easy-to-use place. But how do you choose a decent HR Management system? The good news is that these days, the selection of HR software available is always growing, and as a result of this choice, pricing is coming down too, making it easier for even micro businesses to be able to afford them. There are great websites, such as GetApp. com or Capterra.com, that specialise in showcasing business to business software. Often times they have buying guides and reviews which will help make your decision easier. It is important to treat the purchase and implementation of your HR System the same way you implemented Xero in your business. Like any software, an HR system is only as good as the time and effort you spend learning, entering and maintaining the data within it. You should ensure that any chosen system fits into your current business processes, or be

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prepared to evolve your current process to suit the new system. Some important questions to ask the vendors when selecting an HR Management system are: • Will the system fully integrate with my Xero Payroll system? Will I have to double enter data and maintain two separate record sets for each employee? • Will the system allow more than one of my administrative team to access it at the same time, so that I can have an assistant helping me? If so, can I control the access of junior staff members, so they do not see sensitive employee information? • Can the system allow external HR consultants to log in from time to time to check our compliance, much as Xero allows my Accountant of Financial Adviser to log in and keep tabs? • Is the system installed on premise or hosted ‘in the cloud’? If it is cloudbased, is my data secure, and can I access it using a variety of platforms, including tablets and/or smartphones? • If my company is large and spread across the country/world, does the system support multiple time zones and localities? • Does the system have an employee ‘self service’ portal, enabling my employees to log on and check their pay history, and their information, contracts etc.? As a special bonus, does it let them communicate with their managers and colleagues via that portal? • Does the system have some sort of ‘continuous feedback’ feature that lets me keep my finger on the pulse of how my employees are feeling about their work on a day-by-day, or week-by-week, basis? • Does the vendor offer a free ‘try before you buy’ period that lets you ascertain if the system will fit your business practices? • Does the vendor provide full training and support for the system, including webinar tutorials, immediate email or phone support, and assistance to

upload initial employee data? A lot of HR systems out there have a plethora of features. It is important to remember that more features does not mean that it is better. You may find yourself only using a small subset of a complex HR system, and that is fine. You can choose to grow into it, or ignore features you do not use at all. Then there are a lot of systems out there that specialise in one particular area of HR. For example, absence tracking, or employee scheduling, or time and expense tracking. These specialised systems do an excellent job in their niche, but bear in mind that if you wanted to expand your HR management later, it may mean that you have to subscribe to several different HR software services. Lastly, it is important that you do not just ‘set and forget’ your HR software. It is imperative that you constantly revisit your system to ensure that you are keeping your data fresh, and that you are staying on top of your obligations to your employees. Most HR systems have some sort of reminder, dashboard, or regular automated report generation feature. This will keep you in the loop when there are any important anniversaries, scheduled reviews, contract renewals or licence retesting etc., which need to be carried out on behalf of your employees. Good luck growing your business, and do not forget that these days, HR is NOT an evil department that is the butt of jokes at the Friday evening employee social gathering, but, in fact, is essential for keeping a happy and effective workforce.

92 / Issue 08

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The rise of the custom App Words: Daniel Richards, Head of Sales, MyFirmsApp Daniel is Head of Sales and a member of the executive team at MyFirmsApp. He is passionate about helping firms maintain a key role in the always-on App environment, which plays such an important part in our daily lives. Daniel has been involved in helping professional service firms grow and make the most of new techniques, strategies and technology for over 17 years. @MyFirmsApp

Forward thinking accountants looking to embrace Xero within a custom App... In today’s increasingly competitive and digital marketplace, the most successful accountants are the ones seeking innovative ways of working and gaining advantage. Daniel Richards looks at the role the custom App plays in differentiating and future-proofing a firm. We live in a smartphone society. With record levels of ownership, our mobile devices have changed our personal and professional lives, transforming how we communicate, who we interact with, and how we present ourselves to the world. At the heart of mobile engagement is Apps; 90% of the time people spend on mobile media devices, they spend using Apps. We are recognised, at MyFirmsApp, as the pioneer of custom mobile software, for accounting firms who want to engage with their clients via their smartphones and tablets. We work with firms to build a branded, tailored mobile App version of their business, integrate the accountancy and finance services they use, and package it into a streamlined App their clients can download for free. It puts that firm in the hand, pocket, desk and bedside table, via a device their clients constantly use. Clever, capable software like Xero gives 94 / Issue 08

any practice a solid foundation, to run effectively and service clients. A custom App helps firms of all sizes move to the next level. As the world-leading provider of Apps for accountants, we are endorsed by all major professional bodies, and will soon exceed 200,000 end users. It is growing because accountants realise that,

clients. Working in the cloud, these are practices that particularly understand the importance of cutting edge technology. They are also some of the most commercially savvy companies we deal with. They tell us that it simply “does not look right” if they do not have their own App.

in today’s 24/7 mobile world, they cannot afford to be left behind.

While it may be the result of years of development, key to the success of any App is its ease of use. With busy lives, demanding jobs and short attention spans, an App that confuses people or does very little, will be quickly forgotten

We deal with a lot of fully Xero firms, and we have seen the difference that Xero has made to them and their own

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or deleted. The team at MyFirmsApp recognises that simplicity is crucial, and so integrates all essential systems, bringing together Xero and a variety of Add-ons into one easy to use platform. It suddenly becomes more than a free-to-download App; it becomes a practice tool. Many Xero firms use an array of excellent Add-ons, such as CrunchBoards, Spotlight, Fathom, Receipt Bank, Nimbus, Chaser etc, and the client can end up with multiple Apps – some even describing it as “digital getting messy.” Midlands-based Titanium recently came on board; they remarked on the benefit of being able to offer clients one single, Titanium-branded App, with everything in one place. That single interface is now a critical piece of client engagement, simplifying life and increasing usage.

There has to be more than just a pretty face; an App has to do incredible things to keep the user’s attention and draw them back daily. The deep level of integration that our App offers, enables accountants to share information quickly and easily with clients. Not only does the sharing of figures and documents over a smartphone speed up the approval process, it also creates a stronger working relationship, as the practitioner and client interact more closely.

“

If you are going to create an App for clients, you cannot offer the same as your software provider does through their own version. It has to stand out and offer something different. Our platform features a GPS mileage tracker tool, receipt manager, multiple tax and VAT calculators, and a wealth of insightful text content. Added to this, Push Notifications can be utilised to send important information to your clients’ and employees’ phones. It is all a client could need, which helps to reinforce your firm as a trusted business advisor. This sets you apart from the competition. The added time and cost saving benefits are clear too. No more instructing the client to download a tonne of different Apps and pieces of software. There is one App to download, and they can instantly start recording information on it. Should you want to change any software providers, it can be done without the client needing to physically do anything, and without you instructing your client base to delete one provider App and install another. For instance, Farnell Clarke, a national firm of chartered certified accountants, uses MyFirmsApp, and when the firm switched from KashFlow to Xero, it was a seamless transition with no negative knock-on effect. Make sure your App is promoted well to clients and prospects – a good App is a huge marketing tool for you. When we work with firms, the App itself is free for end users. This means that anybody surfing the App store looking for an accountant’s App will be able to download it and be introduced to that firm. It is entirely possible that this user may become a fully-fledged client afterwards. We have heard a lot of these stories over the years. We also know that firms willing to put the effort into marketing their App see the results in downloads and business. The ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach rarely works in business. We all expect a unique solution for our needs. An App can enable you to tailor what you offer,

selecting specific Add-on partners for certain clients. Tyrrell and Company, a multi-award winning firm of business consultants and accountants, refers to the three systems it uses, alongside Xero as the “Xero Trifecta.” Central to its marketing material, webinars and on the App itself, Tyrrell and Company focuses on the Add-ons of Receipt Bank, Spotlight and Chaser as the key partners that, in conjunction with Xero, can power a business. A branded custom App puts you in control, as you are in charge of your clients’ digital experience, as you are now communicating and interacting in a new way. Traditionally, accountants have always been the first point of contact on finance matters, but in today’s mobile world there are countless alternative sources of information just a search engine away. Additionally, there are always third party service providers and competitors looking to develop client relationships. Now more than ever there is the need to retain control of your relationships and make them as beneficial as possible. Apps are going nowhere and the mobile market appetite is only ever growing. Yet despite this, only 2% of UK accountants have their own App, which leaves a huge opportunity for those looking to stand out from the crowd. Take the excellent software you have with Xero, look at what the end user, your clients and prospects, are looking for, and give them a single destination and streamlined solution that brings it all together. If you would like to access a free full feature trial version of the App with Xero integration go to: http://bit.ly/xeroapptrial

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“

Complete Cashﬂow Conﬁdence

Issue 08 / 95

Enabling payroll and HR: the secret to African growth Why automating your payroll is good for business... Whether you are a start-up with one employee, or a global business with hundreds, addressing employee payroll needs can be a time-intensive job. Even more so when dealing with multiple tax territories and international compliance procedures. PaySpace’s Clyde van Wyk considers why limited legacy infrastructure and new automation technology will mean that expansion into Africa, a continent with 54 countries and 54 different sets of payroll rules, does not have to be a painful process. According to the African Development Bank (AfDB), Africa’s middle class sits at 350 million people, over one third of the continent’s population. This is expected to reach 430 million by 2020. This, combined with the rapid rate of urbanisation, is driving economic growth. McKinsey & Company estimates that African consumer spending will hit $1.4 trillion by 2020. As Africa’s middle class grows, so too do the opportunities for companies looking to do business on the continent.

Words: Clyde van Wyk, Director, PaySpace Former software developer Clyde van Wyk has been a director at PaySpace for 15 years. Thanks to his strategic leadership, PaySpace has become a top technology product, helping businesses around the world manage their online payroll and human capital management (HCM) with greater efficiency. @PaySpace

96 / Issue 08

In addition to a growing economy, technology plays an important part in the continent’s development. Thanks to a lack of legacy infrastructure, many African countries are testing and adopting mobile and cloud-based solutions at a faster rate than their European or American counterparts. African businesses benefit, as new apps automate and consolidate important functions, like HR and payroll. This ensures that multi-nationals are compliant, and SMEs can focus on their go-to-market strategies. Automating your African payroll As a local or international business, managing your payroll can be a challenge, especially in new or unfamiliar markets. Africa, as a continent of 54 countries, does not offer a one-size-fits-all rulebook. Your XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users. Find us online at: xumagazine.com

payroll systems will have to comply with the local legislation and tax regulations of each country you operate in. Plus, you have to make sure that your expat employees are ‘grossing up’ the correct pay in their home country currency, once all the host country tax deductions have been made. In fact, tax equalisation is a key consideration for all multi-nationals, as no employee should ever be shortchanged when working abroad. Here’s the potential headache: say you want to open a new office in the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kinshasa. To do this, you need to relocate two employees from your London headquarters to the DRC. The question is, how much do you now need to pay them to ‘gross up’ their earnings, in order to cater for local taxation in the DRC? This is ensuring that their current take-home is correct in British pound sterling, too. Their expat salary packages may also include benefits, such as housing or travel allowances. Any such perks will also have to be calculated correctly under the local host country laws, so as not to impact their final net salaries.

company’s Nairobi office in the middle of the tax year. Now payroll needs to consider the legislative implications of one home country (UK) and two host countries (DRC and Kenya), providing the employee with the relevant tax certificates and payslips in each currency. You must do this, whilst still ensuring that the employee’s earnings are unaffected. Confused yet? The solution? System, features and country-specific-report automation, through cloud technology. This can then be amplified through seamless integration with your accounting software. Companies operating in multiple locations need to help employees become HR and payroll self-sufficient . They should not have to request and wait, but should be able to easily find historical information, such as old payslips or tax certificates. Whilst doing this, they must also manage their expense claims online, quickly and easily submitting annual leave dates and appraisals. This should be accomplished without having to chase HR or the finance department. Putting your HR team to better use

The challenge becomes even more pronounced when, for example, one of the two employees then moves to the

does not only provide a more responsive employee experience; it also frees up important HR time to focus on employee engagement, talent acquisition, training and development, succession planning and employee satisfaction. These are all the things your HR department does that really add organisational value. Consider that international companies doing business in Africa may be legally required to hire a certain quota of local employees, providing them with skills development and training. This is what your HR department should be working on. A legacy payroll system, that relies on Excel spreadsheets and laborious, iterative calculations, is vulnerable to human error and slow, manual processes. Added to which, local up-to-date knowledge of each host country’s tax and legal requirements can be difficult to interpret and integrate with your existing systems. When your HR department is tied up in transactional processes, such as multi-territory payroll, they have little to no time to focus on employee growth or training requirements. This can have farreaching consequences for your business operations, limiting growth in a continent ripe with opportunity.

An automated, multi-jurisdictional, single-instance payroll and HR solution

CMY

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Issue 08 / 97

Interview

Catching up with Tidy Tidy just released their new website and a new partner programme. XU Magazine asks Kevin Mann, CEO of Tidy International for more details and if there are any new features in the products…

XU: KM:

Hi Kevin. Why the new website?

The decision was quite simple. Tidy have three products each with their own website. This model of a single website works well for a cloud software firm with only one product which is how Tidy began in 2010 with Tidy Work. Since then we have released Tidy Stock and Tidy Build with their own websites. All three products solve operational problems for an organization in terms of jobs, projects, project materials or inventory so combining our messages into the one website makes creates clarity. We chose www.tidyinternational. com as it reflects the span of our global customer base and the offices serving our customers and partners.

Richard said “Be clear on what outcomes you and the client want to achieve“ which is one of his top five tips for the perfect advisory relationship. Tidy Start is about defining those clear outcomes between all three parties to the partnership; Tidy, the partner and the end user client. Richard also said “The backbone of a perfect advisory relationship is human interaction”. With the new, improved focus that Tidy Start brings in terms of quality, Tidy can now offer more time on average with each Tidy Start partner and we foresee this attention will also lead to an improvement in the quality of interactions with their clients.

XU:

Have Tidy added any major features since we last spoke

in Issue 6? When a customer now searches for one of our products; Tidy Work, Tidy Stock or Tidy Build or one of our programmes like Tidy Start, our new partner programme or Tidy Giving, our non-profit programme, the relationships between the products and programmes are clear and consistent under the Tidy brand.

XU: KM:

Why Tidy Start, why a new partner programme?

Our old partner programme listed many partners. We found that our very active, quality partners were not clearly distinguished from those who really did not maintain their knowledge or sales momentum. We spoke to our successful active partners and found out what they liked and disliked, what they wanted more of and what a fresh new partner programme should include. The new programme, named Tidy Start, is the result. A fresh start reflects what everyone is experiencing in the flexible, dynamic new world of mobile, and cloud. Tidy agrees with the advice from Richard Francis in Issue 06 of XU magazine where 98 / Issue 08

KM:

Yes we have. The major new feature Tidy has introduced is a new Quotes module. It is a major enhancement to the software. Providing quotes and proposals is an essential, yet often quite time consuming activity for most businesses. We worked with our customers and released the first version of this quoting capability last month. One of the customers we worked with to deliver this feature has been able to save costs by cancelling a dedicated Quotation add-on and now just uses Tidy Work with Xero and Capsule CRM for their entire business. Tidy Work Quotes now integrates quotation into one seamless solution and the quotes information passes over to the job when it starts saving more time.

Kevin Mann is the founder and CEO of Tidy International who have been delivering cloud software products to their global customer base since 2010. Kevin’s engineering background and qualification is behind Tidy’s product focus on delivering efficiency to the operational challenges of SME’s and not-for-profit organisations; job and project management, materials and inventory management. Prior to founding Tidy Kevin managed teams delivering IT projects for major international firms reliant on advanced, quality software. This experience made it clear to Kevin that there was much further opportunity to deliver even better solutions for businesses solving many of the challenges they face in a simple to use way from desktop to mobile. Kevin leads the team at Tidy to continually evolve their products that are powerful but simple to use. @tidyint

Tidy solves complex workflow challenges making it powerful software yet the user interface is intuitive and simple to use – delightfully simple is actually an original customer quote. The Quotes module is an example of how Tidy keep evolving advanced software but keeps it simple to use.

XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users. Find us online at: xumagazine.com

Job + project + stock management POWERFUL SOFTWARE DELIGHTFULLY SIMPLE

Streamline your business A Tidy Start partner can work with your team to implement Tidy for maximum business gains. See how you can elevate your organisation to a higher level of profitability, efficiency and manageable growth at tidyinternational.com. Become a partner Tidy Start is our new partner programme, based on partner quality, not quantity. It provides exclusive resources and valuable benefits to grow your business. If youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re an accountant, systems integrator, consultant, software developer or trainer, see why Tidy Start is not your average partner programme at tidyinternational.com.

JOB MANAGEMENT

STOCK MANAGEMENT

tidyinternational.com

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CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT

Issue 08 / 99

Interview

Q&A with Trent Innes

Xero Managing Director - Australia 100 / Issue 08

XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users. Find us online at: xumagazine.com

Interview

Trent Innes, Xero Australia’s Managing Director, talks to us about life, software, cloud integration and leadership, chatting through some of the more memorable anecdotes of his career in the software and IT industry...

XU: TI:

Can you tell us a little about your background?

Throughout high school and university I worked at KFC. I used to manage shifts in stores and I learnt a lot about managing people and customers in a hot, high pressure environment. After getting my accounting degree at uni, I went into the chartered world doing auditing but didn’t last very long - I quickly realised it wasn’t for me. I found my way into a large architecture company as an accountant. They did everything manually - I thought “This is crazy!”, so I convinced them to buy a finance and project management solution (called SunSystems) and implemented it for them. That was when my passion for using technology to run a business really started, and I completed my CPA while working there.

If you are not challenging those around you (or more importantly if they’re not challenging you), then as a leader it’s probably time to start doing something new. If there’s no challenge, that’s when complacency creeps in. If I had to choose one thing, then I would say the most challenging and rewarding aspect to my role is managing high growth. Over my three and a half years at Xero Australia, we have seen our customer numbers grow approximately ten-fold and our staff numbers increase by 600 per cent. This is major growth, and managing that while maintaining the qualities that made us special in the first place is something I think about a lot.

XU:

Could you tell us about a couple of people who’ve really inspired you in your career?

Following that, I worked in the UK for the maker of SunSystems in various technical, functional and pre-sales roles.

TI:

At around this time, Microsoft purchased Great Plains and Navision and I was approached for a role looking after presales for their new range of ERP solutions.

I recall sitting in the audience of an allhands kick off, whilst the MD shared the vision for Microsoft Australia.

The great thing about those early days was that we were effectively a small business operating independently in a big company. I spent 8 years at Microsoft and learnt a lot, especially around people management and leadership.

One person that stands out was the Managing Director of Microsoft when I first started.

The vision was about purpose and impact to our customers and partners - that’s when I decided that I wanted to be a leader in this very exciting industry. Rod Drury (the Xero CEO) is very inspirational.

After Microsoft, it was off to Xero and the rest is history.

His ability to have such a clear vision for the future combined with his energy, passion and humility is the backbone of the Xero culture.

XU:

What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced so far in your working life?

software?

TI:

There are so many challenges, but that’s a good thing. Barely a day goes by when I’m not challenged.

What led you to switch industries from accounting to

I don’t think I actually ever left accounting.

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Early in my career I realised that the more traditional compliance based accounting functions like tax and audit were not really my thing. What I really enjoyed was system accounting - working with businesses to automate their processes through technology was where my passion lay. For many years this was only in the enterprise and mid-markets, but with the advent of Cloud this capability is now available to small business.

XU: TI:

How were you first introduced to cloud accounting?

The vast majority of my career to date is working with business

systems.

Throughout that time there have been different iterations of cloud like solutions. I will be interested to see who remembers terms like “Bureau” (in the 90s), “ASP” (in the early 2000s) and then “Hosted”. Most of these were simply taking an on-premises based solution and hosting it externally for consumption by an end client. Not really cloud. My first real introduction to cloud as we know it now was my time at Microsoft where I was involved in the launch of the cloud version of their CRM product, Dynamics CRM.

XU: TI:

How did you start working with Xero?

I used to work with the previous Managing Director of Xero Australia, Chris Ridd, during my time at Microsoft. He was my manager and before that we had worked together on a couple of key customer engagements. Chris has been a great mentor to me throughout the last 10 years of my career, and still is today.

Issue 08 / 101

Interview It was Chris who encouraged me to come across to Xero, and it didn’t take much convincing. Once I saw the product, had met Rod Drury and knew Chris was involved, it was an easy decision.

XU:

You’ve been managing Xero in Australia for about 7 months now, how’ve you found it

overall?

TI:

I still wake and pinch myself - I am very lucky. First of all I had a great legacy to pick up and run with from the brilliant work achieved by Chris. We have an amazing team of highly dedicated people who wake up each and every day wanted to make a difference and improve the lives of small businesses through the use of technology.

XU: TI:

What is your vision for Xero in Australia in the next five years?

From a technology perspective it has never been a more exciting time to be a small business.

The investment in the industry as we digitally connect all of the essential services to run a small business is very exciting. My vision is to deliver on this and rewire the small business economy to create more opportunity for jobs and prosperity.

XU:

When you’re not looking after Xero’s largest national subscriber base, what do you do for

fun?

TI:

I am currently training for my first ever marathon in New York later this year. A great challenge, (and I’m really looking forward to it) but I wouldn’t say it is fun! The rest of my spare time is spent with my family.

XU: TI:

Are there any exciting projects you’re working on at the minute that you can tell us about?

There is always so much going on that it’s hard to talk about just one thing!

What I would recommend is that Xero partners come to Xerocon South in Brisbane on the 8th and 9th of September for all the latest and greatest.

102 / Issue 08

XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users. Find us online at: xumagazine.com

How to beat the cashflow blues and get paid on time

Words: Nicola Anderson, VP of Marketing, GoCardless Nicola is the VP of Marketing at GoCardless, the UK’s leading Direct Debit solution. GoCardless integrates with Xero to bring small businesses and their accountants a fast, hassle-free way to automate customer’s payments and improve cash flow. @GoCardless

Are you a small business owner fed-up with yet another late-paying customer? Is the resulting havoc on your cashflow becoming too much to handle? Samantha North, from GoCardless, explores this common pain point in more detail, offering some expert tips to make sure your customers step-up and pay-up on time... According to the State of Late Payment 2016 report from MarketInvoice, UK small businesses are owed an estimated half a trillion pounds in unpaid invoices. This astonishing figure signifies fundamental problems within the UK’s business culture, problems that disproportionately affect smaller firms. On an individual basis, the average UK small business is owed £36,186 in unpaid invoices. This is according to data from Bacs, the system responsible for bank-tobank payments in the UK. The Bacs data also shows that 60% of SMEs have faced issues with chasing overdue payments.

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£36,186 is no small bean. Think what your business could do with that sum of money. It is not only the impact on cashflow that causes problems. You can fritter away a lot of time following-up with late-paying customers. Chasing payment is a process prone to awkward conversations and uncomfortable emails. This leads to uncertainty and stress. When you consider what your team could achieve with that precious time, the impact of late payments looks even worse. What’s more, the resulting financial instability stops you from making nimble business decisions. You are always waiting to get paid. That

Issue 08 / 103

Pictured: The GoCardless team

means fewer opportunities to spend time and money on growing your business.

Customers pay late for reasons ranging from pure forgetfulness, to their own cashflow issues. But no matter why, the end result is the same: you do not get paid on time. So, what is a small business owner to do? Fortunately, tackling late payment has become easier with the advent of software systems, which are designed to automate common invoicing tasks. In general, though, there are some simple steps your business can take to cut-down on late payment, taking back control over cashflow: Make payment terms clear from the first day of your relationship with a new customer. Terms should be defined in the contract and clearly repeated on each invoice. State the full amount due, the due date, and any penalties for late payment. Result: no more customers claiming that they ‘did not know’ the invoice was due. 2. Invoice promptly! Do yourself a favour by invoicing as soon as work is completed, and double-check your invoices for accuracy to avoid any potential for delay. 3. Stick to your guns. If you state late fees, make sure you implement them. This signals that you are not a pushover and often spurs the customer to pay-up. Remember that late payment terms are covered in UK law, so you are well within your rights to use them. According to the Gov.uk website, customers must pay within 30 days of receiving your invoice, unless a different payment window is agreed. You also have the right to charge interest of 8% (plus the Bank

104 / Issue 08

of England base rate) on unpaid sums. Pick up the phone. It may help to talk to your customer about why they are not paying on time, especially if it is becoming a common issue. Although some business owners may fear the thought of phoning a customer to discuss late payment, it does not have to be unpleasant. Just make sure you stay polite, pleasant and direct. All being well, you can work together with the customer to resolve whatever issue they have with payment. Make it easy for them to pay you. Let your customers choose their preferred payment method and set-up a system where they can pay you instantly. Send them payment reminders before payment is due, and make sure your bank information is displayed clearly and accurately on every invoice. Encourage your customers to set up automatic payments by Direct Debit. This is especially useful for regular recurring payments. Direct Debit ensures no more missed payments, and keeps your cashflow in good shape. Online direct debit providers, such as GoCardless, use technology to level the playing field, offering even sole traders the benefits of the UK’s most reliable payment system. If you already use a cloud-based accounting system, devote some time to exploring the features that can schedule and automatically issue invoices on your behalf. For example, Xero offers complete mobile access, so you do not have to return to your desk to send an invoice. Automate everything! By combining Xero with a Direct Debit provider such as GoCardless, you can avoid the hassle of chasing payment altogether. Over 4000 Xero customers already

use the GoCardless dashboard to collect payment by Direct Debit. 9. To get paid faster, consider integrating credit control solutions such as Satago or Chaser into your accounting workflow. They automatically email customers when an invoice becomes overdue. Businesses that use them report getting paid up to 23 days faster, which has a positive impact on their cashflow situation. 10. Consider using invoice factoring to fund your cashflow. Currently used by 45,000 UK businesses, invoice factoring involves selling invoices at a discount to a third party, either a bank or an independent factoring provider such as MarketInvoice. Using a factoring service unlocks funds tied up in unpaid invoices, so that your business receives funds without waiting for customers to pay. Your business can really benefit from taking considered steps to address problems with late-paying customers. What’s more, the wide range of smart tech solutions now available means that you can pick and choose the best accounting and payments system for your ongoing business needs. Why not consider teaming Xero with GoCardless to automate away those payment hassles? Businesses that use the reliability of Direct Debit via GoCardless have saved on average £2000, as well as three weeks each year spent chasing late paying customers. Do not let late payers slow you down a moment longer. Solve your cashflow challenges today and watch your business soar!

XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users. Find us online at: xumagazine.com

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Issue 08 / 105

Keeping up with your client Being the trusted advisor to your clients can be a roller coaster ride. There is always something happening, from raising cash-flow, to sudden changes in business focus...

Words: Nik George, Product Manager, Spotlight Reporting Nik George is the Product Manager of Spotlight Reporting. Nik previously worked as an Accountant at a boutique CA firm and Xero Gold Partner (Francis Consulting) before moving to Spotlight Reporting in 2011. @spotlightrep

eliminate any inter-entity transactions and make sure you account for foreign exchange differences. 3. Report on key ‘other’ data. One of the main reasons your client’s ventures have performed so well is due to their brand awareness, as well as their focus on non-financial drivers of success. Therefore, looking at data holistically must be an on-going priority. Relying Help your client see There is no need to on financial the importance of this worry, though. Here statements and non-financial data, are three things you can do, right now, to historic data alone by adding it into the monthly board pack cement your place as no longer cuts the you provide. Whether it the trusted advisor: mustard... is looking at social media engagement or customer 1. Report on key business satisfaction, these can and will metrics. Over the years, affect the financial performance of your client has diversified their the businesses. business activities. To ensure these ventures provide the best return, you Thankfully, reporting on the three need to do more than look at standard Profit & Loss reports. Each business has ‘must haves’ is a breeze, with Spotlight Reporting’s latest product updates. KPIs and metrics that are specific and relevant to that industry. Reporting on Use the new industry templates to industry KPIs will give you the clearest create tailored reports for SaaS, retail picture of how each business is really and professional service businesses. performing, as well as showing you The industry templates are pre-built where improvements can be made. with indispensable industry KPIs, as well 2. Report on group performance. The as metrics you need to report on. More client has listened to your advice about templates will be released based on your creating separate legal entities for each feedback. growing business. This has minimised risk and has been tax advantageous. Consolidating multiple entities in However, they have expressed their Spotlight Reporting has been a standard frustration at not being able to see feature for many years, but with our latest their overall activities, as it is spread release we have automated eliminations across multiple entities. Preparing and improved FX options. This is so consolidated reports for the group will we can better handle inter-company help them see the group performance and their net outcomes. Do not forget to transactions and FX requirements. Consolidations have never been easier! Over the years, you have had a ringside seat, as your client’s business has grown, faced challenges and relied on your advice. With so many things to juggle, you worry you will lose your advisory role if you do not come up with something fresh and inspiring. Relying on financial statements and historic data alone no longer cuts the mustard.

Finally, create the ultimate ‘board pack’ using the new ‘add your own content’ option. Insert PDF, PNG or JPEG files, from other systems and reports, directly into your Spotlight Report. As a result, recipients now have all the information they need to make good decisions in the one report. Keeping up with your clients can be a challenge at times. However, partnering with Spotlight Reporting will help you keep up and exceed their reporting needs. 106 / Issue 08

XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users. Find us online at: xumagazine.com

“It’s not just about cutting costs, it’s about increasing productivity.” Tim Hoopmann on the Time Tracking Revolution in Bookkeeping...

Words: Anna Cochrane, Business Development Manager, TSheets Anna ran her own bookkeeping business prior to joining Xero in 2011 and continued in the technology efficiency space, by moving to Receipt Bank three years later. This year she became TSheets’ business development manager, based in the Time Tracking and Employee Scheduling app’s Sydney office.

@Anna_Cochrane @TSheets

Fresh from a 6,000km coast-to-coast trip between Sydney and Perth, Tim Hoopmann says he cannot imagine going back to the days before mobile apps. “I look back when everything was manual and paper-based and I wonder, how did I survive doing that? Because now I have way more time to actually run my business.” Tim’s business is Cornerstone Bookkeeping, which he describes as 100 percent cloud-based. “Everything we do internally, and everything we do for our customers, is driven by cloud computing,” he explains. His enthusiasm for being able to work anywhere, anytime, is irrepressible. Tim works as hard as any business owner. He is no workaholic, though. His other great passion, besides technology, is his firm belief in the importance of having a good work-life balance. The secret to this, he says, is productivity. Work smarter, not longer “All I need while I’m on the road is my

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iPhone and iPad,” Tim reveals. “I can sit in a cafe, somebody else’s office, or a hotel, and I can connect with my team, exactly as if I was in my office.” This gives him the freedom to go out and look for new business, to network, and run his business on the go. In short, it helps him make the very best use of his time. Technology is not the only thing that business owners like Tim require. To run a business effectively — no matter where that business takes you — you also need to have a great team behind you that you can rely on. When he is recruiting, Tim says the quality he looks for, above all, is passion. You may be able to learn the skills you need to provide a good service, but to provide a great service, it takes an extra spark that cannot be taught. “I need people in my business who are really passionate about technology, cloud accounting, and helping customers to improve their processes and save time. We are all about saving the customer time and money, and working out how to do things smarter for them. So I am very clear about accountability,

Issue 08 / 107

integrity, and ownership, and these values have helped me get the right people on board.”

longer they work and that, if they work more than 55 hours in a week, there is no increase in output at all.

Value for money

“TSheets is a great way for me to analyse our productivity,” Tim adds.

Like many bookkeepers, Tim moved away from billing by the hour a long time ago. He prefers a value-based model that gives him and his clients more certainty on pricing and, at first, he thought this meant he could stop tracking his team’s time entirely. But as he took on more staff who, like him, were working remotely, he decided to reintroduce it to help him manage things more effectively. Straight away, he realised he had made a mistake. Not because he had reintroduced time tracking, but because he had got rid of it in the first place. “With TSheets, the uptake with staff was 100 percent from day one, and I was really pleased about that. I can now see what’s going on in the business in real-time, but from a distance. I don’t have to drill down on things. It’s a very different focus.” But there was another benefit from using TSheets, which Tim did not foresee. “Time tracking is a great discipline to get into,” he continues. “It’s now much easier for me to have conversations with my team when they say, ‘we don’t have enough time for this,’ because the facts are all there. I don’t like to see my team working long hours every day, because if they are here until eight o’clock every night, they will burn themselves out, and I don’t want that. If you just ask people to work longer hours, it’s not going to work.” Research by John Pencavel at Stanford University supports this. Pencavel found that employees’ output falls sharply the

Redefining payroll

Redefining bookkeeping Tim’s business has embraced and evolved with the cloud-based technology, of which he is such a proponent. However, he admits it has not been without its challenges. He still encounters the misperception among some that bookkeepers could be replaced by automated business processes, but he is very clear about the fact that the bookkeeper’s role will only grow in importance as it continues to evolve. “Bookkeepers are essential for compliance, to make sure payroll is accurate, and to help you look at every part of your business,” he says. “If you want to be at the front end of your business, you’ve got to have someone at the back end, looking after your finances. The bookkeeper has a very important role to play and that’s not going to change.”

Since Tim introduced TSheets into his business, the Time Tracking and Employee Scheduling app has launched a worldwide integration with Xero invoicing and with Xero Payroll in the U.S. and Australia, which Tim uses at Cornerstone Bookkeeping. The goal for TSheets was to create a seamless experience that felt like you were using one system instead of two, and Tim agrees that this is exactly what TSheets delivered. “When it’s time to pay the team, the approved hours are seamlessly exported to Xero Payroll. Thanks to TSheets and Xero, it’s effortless. With one copy of our timesheet data, we’re not doubling up on anything, so I don’t have to go back and check it again, which saves me time.” That is time that Tim and his clients can now put to better use, elsewhere.

He adds, “I used to spend a lot of time doing things that are now automated, and it’s the same with our clients. By adopting new technology, they will get more time back to use in their business. So, if they want to progress and move the business forward, cloud accounting and Add-ons are the right way to go. TSheets is a great example of that. Whenever I’m on the road, talking to people, I pull up the TSheets app on my phone and I show them how it is operating in my business. I can show them who’s working, and where, without even being there. It’s not just about cutting costs, it more to do with increasing productivity.”

“I use Xero in my business and I often recommend that business owners move to Xero, so they can stop using a myriad of spreadsheets, and give themselves ‘one source of truth’ for all their business data,” he adds. “We recommend TSheets because it’s a very effective time tracking and productivity tool, and the new integration will be a key part of the service we offer people.” Find out more at tsheets.com/xero.

CRM & Donor Management for Charities Manage Donations, receipts, rosters Store Names, address, notes Connect People, groups, communicate Track Assets, donor profile, attendance 108 / Issue 08

w w w. i n f o o d l e . c o m Telephone NZ +64 7 579 3085 USA +1 415 231 0023

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Issue 08 / 109

The world of Xero where are we heading? Amanda Lennon, Director of the venture development organisation Innovative Minds, examines the path abroad for new and established Add-On Developers in the Xero ecosystem... Make no mistake, Xero is the “platform du jour” in the burgeoning cloud-based accounting sector. A New Zealand-based company that, since its formation, has rapidly expanded both in revenue and geographic reach, it now boasts offices in the UK, the US and Australia, as well as its home country. So, what makes Xero so attractive as a platform? The fundamental answer lies in its configurability – the way in which other developers can add to the framework, via their own offerings. And that makes Xero Add-On developers themselves pretty hot property. This means that they have a choice of where to locate their businesses. And I do not just mean on a global scale – I am also talking about regionally and even locally. Soft-Landing Support But, if you are a Xero developer with a great Add-on idea, and you are looking to kick-start your nascent business, how do you choose where to execute that hopedfor soft landing? There are a number of reasons – some financial, some not – as to why you would select a particular location as your working home. From my experience as a venture development specialist, I have helped technology companies establish themselves in foreign territories. This includes the UK, US, EU, Middle East and Australasia. In the following paragraphs, I use examples from this to explore the rationale behind selecting location. Firstly, let’s look at non-financial support, which is available in various regions. Even though you might regard monetary support (grants or tax incentives given 110 / Issue 08

to companies to open new offices in a new location) as being the most important element in any package, it is only one consideration. There are many other things you ought to be taking into account, aside from those strictly financial matters. One thing to consider is that areas which are considered less attractive may frequently offer the biggest incentives. For example, anyone wanting to locate into London (or indeed New York) will not be eligible for a grant, whereas Wales or South Yorkshire will offer funding support. One of the most significant concerns I regularly hear is the availability of talented staff and customers – or more often the lack. Look at it this way – if you parachute into an unfamiliar location, lured by promises of money, only to find that you cannot hire or attract talent, your newly acquired pot of gold is soon going to evaporate. So, my primary note of caution – or realism, call it what you will – always focuses on whether the region and its support network has any familiarity with your service expertise. If not, then think seriously about giving it a wide berth.

Words: Amanda Lennon Amanda specializes in growth and knowledge transfer strategies for technology sector start-ups, academic spin-outs and public and private sector innovation initiatives. She has led the feasibility, creation and delivery of innovation and incubation projects, as well as being instrumental in the establishment and management of incubators and incubator-aligned co-investment seedcorn investment funds in the UK and New Zealand. An active member of the international innovation community, Amanda has been involved at the higher levels of Government, trade organisations, universities, RDAs and clever companies, operating in a variety of sectors in the UK, Europe, North America and Australasia. @AmandaCLennon

An Appealing Working Environment Secondly, can you see yourself working and – probably equally importantly – living there? Let’s face it, all the money in the world is not going to compensate for an unappealing working environment. And, moreover, what is the state of the town, city, University or Business Park, especially when it comes to the end of the working day or week?

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I know it might sound glib, especially when you are starting out, and you are intent on smashing that 18-hour day. However, there really is more to life than being sat at a Mac or mainframe, punching keys and inputting code. So, check out what the social life is in your location of choice, and see whether you could actually live there, during your “downtime”. In fact, to really get a feel for what your preferred location can offer, speak to the inward investment agency operating in the region. As well as this, get the “zeitgeist” from the local tech community.

Now, the big question on everyone’s mind, given the political events of the end of June within the UK is, “what will happen due to the UK’s decision to leave the EU?” The simple fact is that, while we may have voted for so-called Brexit, the UK is not leaving Europe immediately and, as yet, we are not really sure exactly what Brexit will look like.

Even more importantly, what is the business support network community like? I have heard from countless organisations that I have supported that, while you may have a very pleasant building, made of shiny steel and designed by an award-winning architectural team, there is often scant support available or offered for business development. It lacks faceto-face networking, or even practical support, such as accounting or marketing assistance and experience. And, make no mistake, these are vital tools that you will need to draw on, as you find your business feet.

Firstly, if we look at London, it is apparent that few other global locations outside of Silicon Valley has the depth of talent that this capital city does. It is certainly not Paris or Berlin, that’s for sure. The degree of relevant skills on hand in London is born of the simple fact that we have a wealth of events, support activities and sheer like-mindedness, that no other location can offer. It really is a hotbed of pure talent, which counts for a huge amount, regardless of the temporary political landscape.

The Tidy Work Experience An example of one organisation benefiting from this degree of support is Tidy Work. This is a New Zealand company, wanting to bring its Xero-based product into the UK, as it saw a significant market opportunity in the region. I assisted in their gaining access to support-funding, a customer-base and, vitally, the provision of talent to help them grow the business. Tidy Work looked at a variety of locations within the UK, settling eventually on Newcastle, due to the low entry costs afforded in the city and its established pool of developer talent. Moreover, and very importantly, I was able to broker an introduction to the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales (ICAEW), the professional body representing the sector. This was a move which afforded them a huge degree of international kudos and credibility. It is this sort of networking skill set that I would recommend ambitious companies to seek out as, longer-term, it really does make a difference to your business growth.

112 / Issue 08

However, there are several things to bear in mind, each of which should – and will – reassure you that the UK remains a very welcoming place in which to set-up your business.

SEIS Support Equally, UK SEIS and EIS, the seed investment schemes, will still exist and, if anything, as our Brexit path develops, may well be expanded in reach and stature. If anything, the UK Government will be eager and anxious to attract and retain talent within our shores, and this sentiment will play beautifully into the hands of those wishing to set up tech industries inside the UK. The UK already has some very attractive tax-friendly schemes for the benefit of entrepreneurs, and the next stage will doubtless be an expansion of these support structures. Indeed, UKTI is already beginning to roll out its own support programmes for businesses, as the Government’s commitment to hightech start-ups and scale-ups gathers momentum. And vitally, do not forget this one “killer point”: Territories and tariffs are irrelevant to digital start-ups. Remember that the digital world crosses territories, so your growth strategy is much more important than anything else. And that is where the UK particularly has the frameworks in place to enable your seed idea and new business to nurture, grow and become a

great success. The Shopping List So, finally, while you are studying form and considering where your next business move should be, think on this handy list of considerations. While not exhaustive, it should provide you with a convenient way to judge, dispassionately, the pros and cons of each location: 1.

Access to your customer base – how easy is it for you to target and secure them and, indeed, for them to find you?

2. Access to talent - how many developers, marketers, business and development personnel are the academia in your potential new location creating each year? How much competition is there for it? You will need to take into account the cost of retention of this talent pool. One important point to consider here is that, while there is plenty of talent in London for instance, developers there change jobs every 12 months. Conversely, in the regions (less than 2 hours by train from London) they will stay on average 4 years. Importantly, the cost of talent is lower outside the capital, too. 3. Access to capital – if you have growth aspirations and therefore capital requirement in your plans, where do you need to be to attract investment? What is the angel or VC community like in your prospective new location? 4. Access to business support – What publicly funded support and/or tech community is there that you can tap into? For instance, the Kiwi Landing Pad in San Francisco offers workspace, support and the personal networks of a number of New Zealand entrepreneurs. This enables “newbies” to settle into the environment. Additionally, NZTE has its Beachheads programme to assist Kiwi companies land all over the globe, while UKTI has support for inbound and outbound companies in a similar fashion.

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Invoice Finance for Smart SMEs Automated funding. SimpliďŹ ed bookkeeping.

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Interview

Q&A with Melanie Power

Global Head of Bookkeeping, Xero 114 / Issue 08

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Interview

XU:

What does a typical day look like as the Head of Bookkeeping at Xero?

MP:

I spend some time helping the product team with review on product; especially at the moment in Australia, where we’ve got a fantastic tax product. I’ve been involved with helping the product team with feedback from a practitioner’s point of view, as well as collating feedback from our partners. A day can also involve dealing with industry bodies (including ICB global), maintaining relationships with them and discussing the bookkeeping profession. I also work quite closely with the heads of accounting, who represent the bookkeeping community in different regions. My role as Head of bookkeeping is to be the champion and voice of bookkeepers in Xero. But, also, to be the voice of Xero back out to the profession. It’s a really interesting and varied role, and it encompasses a lot of different things.

XU:

How would you describe the difference between the roles of an accountant and a bookkeeper for a small business?

MP:

Traditionally, there’s always been a very set role for bookkeepers and accountants, but due to the change in technology, automation, and the cloud platform, that line has become more greyed. It’s allowed accountants and bookkeepers to work even more closely together. The bookkeeper is responsible for processing all of the transactions in relation to the general ledger. Everything that happens within the life of a small business, the bookkeeper is responsible for recording, managing and making sure that information is accurate. They’re collating information so that there’s a nice flow for the accountant to deal with compliance, tax, anything else that has to be done, and then step in to really give the higher level tax and business advice to the small business owner.

XU:

Could you tell us a bit about your journey to becoming the Head of Bookkeeping?

MP:

I started out as a tax accountant back in the very early 90s, and I very quickly realised that I didn’t find tax particularly exciting.

I discovered that the bit I really loved was the conversation around where their business was going and what the future was going to look like in 12 months time. When I realised having conversations in an advisory capacity was what really interested me, it led to me birthing my own bookkeeping practice. Along that journey, I also had a couple of other small businesses including a brokerage, an IT business and the (then) number one motorcycle dealership in Australia. In 2012, my husband and I decided to sell the motorcycle business. We were on holiday in New Zealand when he suggested that I go back to doing what I love (advising small businesses) and start another bookkeeping practice. I discovered Xero through the accountant that was taking me through exiting the dealership, which started my journey from a 0 - 100 (or Gold) Xero bookkeeping practice in a year, which I did with myself and a part-time staff member. It wasn’t long after I’d achieved that Gold status that this role with Xero came up. It’s been a lifetime of passion of the bookkeeping function and the importance it plays in the life of small business.

XU: MP:

Can you tell us your favourite customer/client story?

I once phoned a client (a vet) about some open discussion items on his bank receipt, and I heard these really weird noises coming through the phone. It made me think “What IS this guy doing on the other end of the phone?” Eventually I asked him “I’m sorry, is this a bad time for you?” and he said “Well actually it is, because I have my arm all the way up a cow’s backside at the moment.” He had his arm up its backside, and his phone in the other hand, talking to me and reconciling his bank statement! Here I was, on the other end of the phone, thinking he was up to something cheeky, when he was actually looking after this poor cow! It was the cow mooing that gave it away eventually, but all I could hear were these weird squishing noises...

XU:

How do you manage working for Xero and still running your own practice? Have you ever thought of giving up the practice and going over to Xero full-time?

MP:

I see this as a real opportunity for me to make a

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difference - not just for people’s numbers. What this activity and this process does is change people’s lives. I know that because I’ve lived it. I’ve been in small business, where I’ve lost weekends on data entry. On the other end of the scale, I’ve been a bookkeeper and not operated in the most efficient way, and lost money and time with my family. A few months into my role at Xero, I merged my practice with an Accountant I’d been working very closely with. The practice is doing very well, and I don’t do so much in the operational side any more. I have a handful of clients that I provide advisory services for, though, and I still work together with my business partner. That’s the way that I’ve made the balance, but I’ve chosen to take this opportunity with Xero and make the most I can of the time I have.

XU:

Are there any projects in development at the minute that will help bookkeepers specifically?

MP:

We are developing an ondemand, video-style webinar series at the minute, that will be available around the world, based on the six points on how to create and build a cloud practice that can be successfully scaled. We’ll be bringing in some fantastic partners, who can share their journey to making this successful, and it should be launched in early 2017.

XU:

How much has Xero changed the world for bookkeepers so

MP:

I would say they’ve changed the world of bookkeepers a

far?

whole lot! One of the best examples I can give is my own. My first practice was desktop-based, and I ran that until 2006, when I sold the business because I couldn’t make enough profit in a traditional business model. It just doesn’t work very well - I had 9 staff at that time, and only about 60 clients. The second time, under a cloud-based business model, I had 100 clients and 1.5 staff (myself and a part-time staff member), and I didn’t have to work weekends! All of a sudden, Xero is a whole business in a box for a bookkeeper. You don’t have to actually spend a whole lot of capital. You’re only using your own intellectual property.

Issue 08 / 115

Interview

With a PC and an internet connection, you’re off and

Who are their debtors and creditors? Do they need training or systems integration? They’re the things that bookkeepers can actively go after, and have the skill level to provide.

running. It’s a massive difference and it’s totally revolutionised the way that we do business.

XU:

What do Xero see the future role of the bookkeeper being? What value added services do bookkeepers give that accountants don’t?

Xero is a global business platform - is there much of a difference between the bookkeeping processes it has to handle around the world?

MP:

XU:

A good example is looking at what tool best suits a small business - traditionally, bookkeepers will be better placed to provide that valueadded service, because accountants won’t be involved in the day-to-day, all round level of what’s going on in the life of a small business. Our head of accounting says this very eloquently: “Why would I implement receipt bank when I can get Mel to do it? She knows it; he’s so much better at it; the client’s are going to be happy; and I’m going to get the information at the end of the day, and I don’t have to worry about it.” Bookkeepers can be telling them the story about what’s going on in their business that month - what’s their cash position?

The main task of maintaining and recording financial transactions in a general ledger is the same, no matter where you go in the world. The place it really differs is around sales tax and compliance - there’s a lot of similarities there, but the legislations in each region that dictates how compliance needs to be handled is the main differentiating factor. It gets down to the fact that bookkeepers need a source document which shows a physical transaction happening, and they need to take that information and put it into Xero. The main processes of that are the same, no matter where you go.

XU:

What do you and your team do to engage with the global bookkeeper space?

MP:

We have a team of industry leads for Xero - a mixture of heads of Accounting and Bookkeeping. We’re all designed to champion the same space, and, as a team, we all do very similar types of activities in the way that we connect with partners. Social media is a really big part of what we do. A lot of us are quite active within the social space with industry groups, so, for example, there’s a group called Bookkeepers Club on LinkedIn which has over 60,000 bookkeepers from all over the world, and that’s an area that I’m quite active in to connect with other bookkeepers. We all participate in speaking engagements at different events, we engage with industry bodies, and there is quite a bit of cross regional global collaboration between us and our partners. It’s very effective - say you’ve got a partner in Australia who wants to connect with someone in the US, it’s very easy to arrange!

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Issue 08 / 117

The Practice of 2020 and beyond Ideas that firms need to know in the very near future... Our piece in Issue 7 of XU talked about the challenges and opportunities that Cloud Accounting and Xero will bring, and how outsourcing can enhance your offering. Below, we discuss what we can do straight away, offering some ideas that firms can move towards in the very near future. The Digital revolution is creating a great opportunity for firms to move their clients to the Cloud. Governments around the world are moving to digital accounting and quarterly accounting. Accountants with clients using desktop software will find it harder and more expensive to provide support to desktop clients. If they cannot pass the full cost on to the client, their profits will undoubtedly suffer.

minimum you should be doing?

If your client is not in the Cloud, would they pay for 4 sets of quarterly accounts?

Products such as Receipt Bank and Expensify are speeding up the entry of expenditure in the business.

Firms adopting cloud are likely to be at a great advantage, as they will be able to keep their clients compliant with local legislation, whilst delivering costeffective, profitable solutions. So, what is the journey your practice needs to take over the next few years? A) Automate as much as you can There are 2 parts of the process you can automate:

- Bank Feeds - Invoice and Expenses Processing Bank feeds are speeding up the data entry and increasing the accuracy of banking transactions.

Once you have reliable input data, you have an opportunity to deliver better outcomes for your clients. Outsourcing and using a reliable supplier can help deliver this quickly and more accurately. A well-trained outsourced team, that delivers bookkeeping on a daily basis, increases the speed and turnaround, whilst keeping costs low. Outsourcers like AdvanceTrack have their own technology to help deliver efficient bookkeeping services.

1. Automate the data entry 2. Automate the outputs Increasingly, getting the data into the software is automated. What is the 118 / Issue 08

So what should you be doing now?

Words: Vipul Sheth, Founder/Managering Director, AdvanceTrack Vipul is a UK based ICAEW Chartered Accountant and Chartered Tax Advisor. Vipul trained with a regional UK firm before moving to Ernst & Young and KPMG. Vipul is Founder and Managing Director of AdvanceTrack Outsourcing, a UK Headquartered Accountancy Outsourcing Company, with operational centres in India, delivering services to firms around the world. AdvanceTrack are an ICAEW Member Firm audited by BSI in the UK for ISO9001:2015 (Quality Management) and ISO27001:2013 (Information Security Management). AdvanceTrack are currently the only major accountancy outsourcer certified for the latest International Quality and Security Standards. @AdvanceTrack

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Install the essentials. Input Data Add-ons: - Bank Feeds - Receipt Bank + Expensify

that if a product is withdrawn or taken over, you are ready to respond with an alternative which is suitable to your clients’ needs. C) Fixed Price Services

Outputs Add-ons: Choose from products like Spotlight/ Crunchboards/Fathom, depending on your clients’ needs, to help interpret data quickly and consistently. Use products like Chaser/Satago to collect cash faster. Just doing this at the outset will markedly improve your firm’s capacity and capability, in order to deliver more client-focused services.

Bundled fixed price services are the key to the profitability of firms in the future. Tech savvy clients will recognise that compliance can be delivered faster and cheaper. Outsourcers like AdvanceTrack helps firms deliver fixed price solutions, so firms have certainty on pricing when selling compliance services. The challenge is for your fee-earning staff to change mindset, from quoting time-based fees, to quoting fixed-price, value-based services. Spend time understanding your business model.

B) Add-on Marketplace The choice of Add-ons is enormous. How many will survive?

D) Business Advice and Technology Consulting

Some are niche products and, provided they reach sufficient critical mass, they will survive. Inevitably,though,there will be losers. However, that does not mean you fail to give a start-up the opportunity to impress!

Delivering strategic business, coaching and corporate finance advice will increasingly be part of your bundled service. Remember why you entered the profession. Cloud software will make it easier to deliver such services in a dynamic way.

Add-ons are subscription-based, so you can quickly add a new Add-on into Xero, testing it before moving the product. The key is to know the various products, so

Many businesses need help putting systems into their businesses, in order to increase efficiency and provide more relevant, real-time information. Industry

“

focused Add-ons will help deliver better financial and non-financial information. Delivering that for a fixed price, totally unrelated to time, will improve firms’ profitability and, as the work that firms are completing for clients are outputbased,they are seen as highly valued services by the clients. What are the key takeaways? 1. Automate Data Entry and Output Analysis. 2. The Add-on Marketplace will be fluid, so keep abreast of changes. 3. Deliver Fixed Price services – move away from a time-based model. 4. Increase your business advisory and technology consulting capability. 5. Use Technology-based Outsourcing, to reduce costs and improve efficiency.

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“

Complete Cashﬂow Conﬁdence

Issue 08 / 119

Payroll Add-on for Australia and NZ We make payroll processing a breeze! The nature of the labour market has changed significantly in the past 20 years. It has increasingly moved away from manufacturing , and other traditional segments, to the services sector. The traditional Monday to Friday working week is now a vast range of different forms of working arrangements and awards. Both sides of the Tasman have their own payroll complexities. However, it is apparent that time is a precious commodity for payroll managers and business owners. There is still the fear of getting payroll wrong and possibly upsetting your employees. Or, worse, having Fair Work knocking on your door, which could be a very costly mistake for your clients business. Getting your payroll ‘right’ and having smooth management of your payroll is now more than ever an essential part of running a business. It can be a large and possibly expensive internal resource, unless you choose specialist payroll companies to assist you. Back in 2000, in Wellington, New Zealand, Martin Gleeson, Company Founder and Managing Director, recognised the opportunity for SMEs to utilise the advantages of cloud based services, launching iPayroll Ltd shortly after, in October 2001. Software as a Service (SaaS) was the catchcry back then, which is today known as Cloud Computing. Back then, Amazon and Internet Banking, as well as services such as Trade Me and eBay, were in their infancy, and Xero was not yet in existence. iPayroll was born in the Cloud and has enjoyed phenomenal success since its startup days in Wellington, which is still HQ. Today, it has offices in Auckland, Christchurch and Hamilton, processing upwards of $1.5 billion in payrolls per annum and well over $10 billion in payrolls to date. It is proven and trusted, with many thousands of happy clients.

120 / Issue 08

Elaine Kirk started work at iPayroll in May 2002, after an extensive background in sales relating to the Accounting profession. Later, in 2011, CloudPayroll was created and launched for the Australian Market. From its first Australian office in Melbourne, it now has clients in all of the Australian states. As accountants and bookkeepers, do you dread that vague, quarterly phone call or email from your clients, that will not be able to provide you the Gross Wages and PAYG/PAYE figures for the BAS statement? Or are they providing you some ‘figures,’ which you know, deep down, may not be correct? Do you have those clients who are not paying their superannuation obligations to the relevant superannuation funds or KiwiSaver in a timely manner? Do you have clients whose director is tasked to do the wages, but they have never processed payroll before, resulting in you attempting to decipher and ‘fix’ the account later? Single touch payroll in Australia is really going to try and enforce employers to get organised, and they will have no option but to process their payroll online. Businesses want comprehensive, efficient, easy-to-use, confidential and reliable services every time. They rightly expect the best technology, along with seamless integration to Xero. iPayroll and CloudPayroll delivers on both counts, and was the first Add-on Partner to integrate with Xero shortly after Xero’s launch in 2005. There are 500 + Add-on partners with Xero from many different categories, including many in the payroll area. Although payroll is a routine task, it is a critical one and an integral part of not only your accounting practice, but also your clients operations.

Words: Joanna Cruickshank (General Manager, CloudPayroll Pty Ltd) and Elaine Kirk (National Sales Manager, iPayroll Limited)

As trusted advisors, Accountants and Bookkeepers need to ensure that client’s employees are not only paid on time, but are also paid accurately, and there is proper record- keeping, as well as historical-reporting being available. Processing payroll can be highly stressful, as you try and ensure that you pay employees correctly. It can also be time-consuming, as you gather all the information from managers about employees’ attendance. A large proportion of an employer’s time can be wasted searching the web for legislative payroll information. CloudPayroll and iPayroll eliminate this. The key to correcting ongoing YTD earnings, whilst leaving balances in check, is in setting it up correctly. CloudPayroll and iPayroll do this for their clients, with the balances that clients provide used as part of the implementation process. Clients are trained on how to process their payroll. The online leave application and designated security access approval can ensure that no leave slips through the cracks, which can eliminate the cost of time and money for clients. Payroll enquiries are answered promptly on the phone, or by email if preferred. There is no time- wasting or stress required. Employers’ time is valuable, and payroll is only one component of running their business. What about running payrolls without having to do anything? Yes, CloudPayroll and iPayroll can both be set up to run automatically. This is perfect for clients with minimal changes to their payrolls. Clients will receive an email prior to payday, which is a reminder if they need to make a change. If no changes are required, it will process without any input from the Employer. For many small employers, it’s just set and forget!

XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users. Find us online at: xumagazine.com

Xero account, by clicking enable, finish. Then log into Xero account and enable. Integration is now seamless. Advantages of why to consider an Add-on partner for payroll

The way payroll is managed can have a huge impact on clients and their employees’ morale. That is why many Accountants and Bookkeepers recommend payroll options that are “State of the Art” and “Best of Breed,” like iPayroll and CloudPayroll. Business relationships are about people and we pride ourselves on our “old fashioned service.” Our support team are all experienced, friendly payroll experts that answer your client’s questions promptly, and they fully understand payroll immediacy; delay in processing the payroll is not an option. Superannuation management with Superannuation Guarantee contributions can be highly administrative tasks.

Payments are needed to be paid by the due date, and in the required format (SuperStream compliant in Australia) to avoid penalties. In NZ, iPayroll is the largest IRD PAYE intermediary listed online, managing both PAYE and KiwiSaver on behalf of clients. Employee Payslip Kiosks are available with online leave requests, full payslip history, tax summary and (in NZ) iPayroll Giving. New enhancements are frequent, and time and attendance is the next scheduled, exciting feature, coming soon. Integration with Xero is an easy process with CloudPayroll/iPayroll and is part of the implementation process. You enable your log in CloudPayroll/iPayroll to

• Set up by payroll experts, trained by payroll experts and has ongoing, unlimited support from payroll experts • Well established software and easy to use • Peace of mind that clients are keeping on top of payroll requirements • Best of Breed, State of Art, standalone payroll system • Suitable for Basic payroll for clients who may be on Xero Cashbook, but are employing staff • Suitable for more complex payrolls who require additional reporting requirements • Suitable for group accounting, multiple entities, but group reporting required • 50+ reports including ETP, Payroll Tax report in Australia and 63 day tax adjustment report in New Zealand • Able to process 200+ employee payrolls easily

Your Complete Payroll Solution Premier Cloud Services Since 2001 • All sizes of businesses • 50+ reports, helpdesk support, feature rich • Partner programme for Accountants & Bookkeepers

Free trial and no obligation demo

New Zealand

Australia

www.ipayroll.co.nz | sales@ipayroll.co.nz

www.cloudpayroll.com.au | sales@cloudpayroll.com.au

We want to hear from you! Get in touch - email: hello@xumagazine.com

WELLINGTON

AUCKLAND

HAMILTON

CHRISTCHURCH

SYDNEY

Issue 08 / 121

MELBOURNE

3 things you are not doing to manage your leads Bringing it back to the basics!

Struggling to finding new customers? What about keeping them long enough to convert them to sale? Oh, and throw in the added worry of nurturing them down the marketing funnel, cajoling and coaxing them to stay engaged for the long haul, all the while warding off competition, and trying valiantly not to lose their details in that stack of papers, that is masquerading as your “lead management system,” dangerously on the verge of teetering off the edge of your desk... *gust of wind* Oh look...there it goes. Unfortunately, this is a reality for a lot of small business owners. Instead of regurgitating what any number of business or lead management blogs could tell you, I am going to highlight three things that you are probably NOT doing to manage your leads.

@WorkflowMax

1) You are not... treating potential customers like, well, people I will be honest, I hate the word “lead”. Even “prospect” gives me a headache. Why not just assign potential customers a binary code of 1s and 0s, and be done with it? Marketing jargon like this acknowledges that these customers have a personality, real needs, and problems that we need to help them overcome! Let’s try being #human for a change. So, what can you do? • Research! Who are your customers? What are their pain points? What problem are they trying to solve with your product/service? These are probably the typical questions you might ask potential customers on first point of contact, for example, through a form on your website. But have you gone deeper? Have you ever wondered what their favourite colour is, what food they like, what gets them up in 122 / Issue 08

the morning? The occasional obscure fact can really help differentiate names from numbers . It might even be a good icebreaker in those tense moments of conversation. You want enough information to paint a big, fat, realistic picture of your customers, so you know how to pitch your sales. • Write for one person! Instead of trying a blanket approach to please everyone, tailoring your comms will help you think about what problem your “leads” are trying to solve, and what kind of content they need most. Everything, from your email communication, to marketing material, can be personalised. • Minimise the jargon! Marketing speak can be a handy shortcut when you are having a quick two minute standup with your team, but it can also be distancing and confusing. And worst of all, have you ever let some of this jargon slip when speaking to potential customers? Way to put your foot in it! No one likes being thought of as a mere number or “lead”! • Do not be bound by numbers. Targets are great for goal setting, but if that is all you care about, then leads quickly become scores, ranked as “wins” or “loses,” and you might never have gone through the trouble to find out their name in the first place. 2) You are not... using a cloud-based system Let’s face it, that coffee-stained pile of papers on the edge of your desk is not efficient. You probably spend more time looking for critical lead information than getting any work done. Using a cloudbased system will set you up for success. All your information is in one easily accessible place (you do not have to worry about getting muffin crumbs or grubby fingerprints on their precious account details), making collaboration across your team a breeze. WorkflowMax, a Xero owned online project management

XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users. Find us online at: xumagazine.com

Effortless bookkeeping starts with Xero and Receipt Bank.

#effortlessbookkeeping receipt-bank.com We want to hear from you! Get in touch - email: hello@xumagazine.com

Issue 08 / 123

software, has a great Lead Manager feature. You are able to see lead status in real-time, from a central dashboard, and, to make your life easy (we are all about working smarter, not harder!), you can enter information once and it flows through the entire process, from quoting and job management, right through to invoicing.

page.

3) You are not... making lead management everyone’s responsibility

- For instance, here at WorkflowMax we love featuring our customers in User Stories on the website. Internally, this means we can connect our work with our customers, speak to “real people” and see the impact we are having. Xero does a great job of doing this too. Just check out their Instagram page, featuring awesome small business owners around the world.

Sure, your sales or account team might be the one managing new clients on a dayto-day basis, but everyone plays a part in winning over a new client or customer. So, what can you do?

- Give staff ownership to #champion customers. For example, assign a designated customer champion in weekly meetings, who can be “the voice of the customer”.

• Build a kick-ass proactive culture! Culture is one of those tricky things. It is often fluid and organic, as well as being ever-changing. But you CAN influence its direction, by creating some initiatives that help bring everyone on the same

- Encourage them to take the initiative. If you know the “official process” is going to take forever, and that you may risk losing the client altogether, reach out before it is too late. One person can make a big difference!

Founding Supporters: XU Magazine’s Patrons

• Listen, learn and reassess. When a “lead” goes cold, what do you do? Your customers will more than likely let you know when something is not working. Monitor your communication channels and look out for what they are saying. If they give you feedback, thank them for their time, then try and see where you could tweak your processes. According to Wikipedia, lead management is “a set of methodologies, systems, and practices designed to generate new potential business clientele, generally operated through a variety of marketing campaigns or programs.” Um, what? Remember guys, just bring it back to basics. Act #human, #champion the customer, take #ownership over what you are doing, and listen and learn! To your business success!

Funded on:

124 / Issue 08

XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users. Find us online at: xumagazine.com

We want to hear from you! Get in touch - email: hello@xumagazine.com

Issue 08 / 125

Add-on Directory Bills & Expenses AutoEntry | @OCRexSoftware

MP Travel | @MPTravelPtyLtd mptravel.com.au Nexonia | @nexonia nexonia.com

autoentry.com

PocketSmith | @PocketSmith pocketsmith.com Receipt Bank | @ReceiptBank receipt-bank.com

OVER

FITmyBooks fitmybooks.co.za JetConvert | @JetConvert jetconvert.com.au Movemybooks | @movemybooks movemybooks.co.uk MMC Convert | @mmcconvert mmcconvert.com

Global Leader in Data Conversion

Scan2Invoice scan2invoice.com senddr.com shoeboxed.com Tallie | @UseTallie tallie.com Tripcatcher | @Tripcatcher tripcatcherapp.com Trippeo | @trippeo trippeo.com webexpenses | @webexpenses webexpenses.com

@automatic automatic.com

hubdoc.com inSTREAM | @celaton celaton.com/instream InvoiceSmash | @invoicesmash invoicesmash.com iqBoxy Receipts | @IQBoxy iqboxy.com Keebo | @KeeboUK keebo.com

24SevenOffice | @24SOSupport 24sevenoffice.com/uk ACT! Link by Xact Software | @Xactsoftware xactsoftware.co.nz AffinityLive | @affinitylive affinitylive.com

arlo.co

Cloud-based expense management One-click integration with Xero

CallPro CRM | @callprocrm

breadwinnerhq.com callprocrm.com/eur CapsuleCRM | @CapsuleCRM capsulecrm.com Carry The One For Salesforce

webrecs.com.au Xpenditure | @Xpenditure xpenditure.com/en

Conversions CONVERSIONS Click 2 Convert | @C2Convert c2convert.com cloudconvert | @CloudconvertSa cloudconvert.co.za ConvertworX | @ConvertworX

www.insightly.com

agilecrm.com Arlo

batchbook.com

Webrecs | @Webrecs

#1 Online Customer Relationship Management for Small and Growing Businesses

Agile CRM | @agilecrm

Breadwinner

Expensify | @expensify use.expensify.com/xero

CRM CRM

getbase.com

webexpenses.com

insightly.com

xpressconvert.com.au

Batchbook | @batchbook

bill.com

Hubdoc | @Hubdoc

XpressConvert

Base CRM | @getbase

Bill.com | @billcom

expensemagic.com

help.xero.com/Network_Highrise Infoodle | @infoodle

zapier.com

Shoeboxed | @Shoeboxed

ExpenseMagic | @ExpenseMagic

Highrise Connector By Xero

Insightly For Xero | @insightlyapp

senddr | @senddirect

entryless.com

customersure.com

infoodle.com

abukai.com

Entryless | @Entryless

crmonline.com.au CustomerSure | @CustomerSure

Infusionsoft By Zapier | @zapier

ABUKAI Expenses | @abukai_news

datamolino.com

constantcontact.com CRM Online

fuseboardapp.com

abacus.com

Datamolino | @datamolino

communigator.co.nz ConstantContact | @ConstantContact

exsalerate.com

Abacus | @abacus

Automatic Mileage Expensing |

Communigator

Fuseboard

.com

approvalmax.com

Exsalerate | @exsalerate

Intelligently Capture Invoices and Receipts straight into Xero

ApprovalMax | @ApprovalMax

5 0 0 ADD-O

To advertise, please email the team at: advertising@xumagazine.com

JunariCRM+ | @JunariCRMplus junaricrmplus.com Legrand CRM | @Legrand legrandcloudcrm.com/home Magnetism magnetismsolutions.com Mailchimp by OneSaas | @onesaas onesaas.com/integrate MailSync | @MailSync mailsyncapp.com Ninjodo | @Ninjodo ninjodo.com OnePage CRM | @OnePageCRM welcome.onepagecrm.com OneSaas for Salesforce | @onesaas onesaas.com OneSaas for Zoho CRM | @onesaas onesaas.com/integrate Pepperi pepperi.com PropertySuite | @PropertySuite propertysuite.co.nz QikBizCRM | @QikBizNZ qikbizcrm.com

convertworx.com.au

126 / Issue 08

XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users. Find us online at: xumagazine.com

Add-on Directory Quick Win Development | @quickwindev quickwindevelopment.com Really Simple Systems | @ReallySimpleSys reallysimplesystems.com/uk SalesSeek | @SalesSeek salesseek.net Your Sales

Always in sync Your Accounting

iSOS

Mentio | @mentiohq

isos.com NetEngine | @Net_Engine netengine.com.au Numernet | @numernet numernet.com nuSoftware | @nu_Software nusoftware.com Open Sauce Systems |

ONECLICK Cash Collection | oneclickcashcollection.co.uk Promptly | @Paid_Promptly paidpromptly.com

satago.com

onesaas.com eBay by Stitch Labs | @StitchLabs stitchlabs.com

redjungle.com

Smudge | @smudgeio smudge.io southgatelabs.com The Logic Studio logicstudio.nz Trineo | @trineoltd trineo.co.nz Trio Technology | @Trio_Tech triotech.co.nz Web Industries webindustries.co.nz

Debtor Tracking DEBTOR TRACKING Chaser | @chaser_io chaser.io

databuzz.com.au teamdf.com Dynamic Solutions Ltd dynamic-solutions.co.nz EndGame | @GoEndGame end-game.com/xero ExcluServ | @ExcluServ excluserv.co.uk Foundation Data foundationdata.co.nz Harmonic New Media harmonicnewmedia.com Hashbang | @hashbangnz hashbang.co.nz Infopower customintegration.co.nz Interlockit.com interlockit.com

www.satago.com

stitchlabs.com Expandly | @expandly expandly.com ezimerchant | @ezimerchant ezimerchant.com

Sky Collect | @SkyCollect

Intellibook | @intellibookapp

skycollect.com smartAR | @getpaidontime

intellibook.co Loaded Commerce by Carry The One

smartar.co.nz SMS My Debtors | @smsmydebtors

carrytheone.co.uk Magento by OneSaas | @onesaas

smsmydebtors.com Vision6 | @vision6

onesaas.com Magento by Unleashed | @unleashedteam

vision6.com.au XO Cashflow | @xocashflow

unleashedsoftware.com Magento by Zapier | @zapier

xocashflow.com

zapier.com

Documents DOCUMENTS

Magento Integration (Fooman) | @foomanNZ

Boxkite | @getboxkite

Magento by Carry The One

DiGA - Xero Excel Reporting |

xero.fooman.co.nz carrytheone.co.uk MINDBODY | @mindbodyonline partner.mindbodyonline.com

@BiznizBackbone businessbackbone.co.uk

Neto | @netoecommerce neto.com.au

Evernote by Zapier | @zapier

Your invoices paid on time, automatically

www.chaser.io

zapier.com

Check Business check-business.co.uk CreditorWatch | @creditorwatch creditorwatch.com.au Debtograph | @Debtograph debtograph.com Debtor Daddy | @debtordaddy debtordaddy.com EzyCollect | @ezyCollect ezycollect.com.au Funding Gates | @fundinggates fundinggates.com InvoiceSherpa | @invoicesherpa invoicesherpa.com IODM | @IODM_Software iodm.com.au Late Fee Manager | @LateFeeManager1 latefeemanager.com LedgerLive ledgerlive.com

We want to hear from you! Get in touch - email: hello@xumagazine.com

OneSaas for Opencart | @onesaas onesaas.com

Formitize | @Formitize formitize.com/en

OneSaas for WooCommerce | @onesaas onesaas.com

Google Docs by Zapier | @zapier zapier.com

Databuzz | @databuzz Digital Fusion

Complete Cashﬂow Conﬁdence

getboxkite.com

3bit.com

customd.com

webgility.com ecwid by Stitch Labs | @StitchLabs

Southgate Labs | @SouthgateLabs

3Bit Solutions

Custom D | @customdhq

eCC Cloud | @webgility

Red Jungle Limited | @redjungle

Bespoke Integration BESPOKE INTEGRATION

axisdirect.nz

dremus.com eBay by OneSaas | @onesaas

Red Arc Systems

zapier.com/zapbook/xero/zendesk

Axis Direct | @NZAxisDirect

marketplace.cs-cart.com Dremus | @dremus

Satago | @SatagoHQ

opensauce.systems

sixtree.com.au solve360.com

checkfront.com CS Cart by 4Sprung | @cscart

@OpenSauceSystem

Sixtree | @sixtreeau Solve CRM | @solve360

carrytheone.co.uk Checkfront | @Checkfront

@ONECLICK_Apps

redarc.systems Try for free www.salesseek.net/XU

Carry The One

mentio.ca

Opencart by Carry The One carrytheone.co.uk

Hubdoc | @Hubdoc hubdoc.com

osCommerce by Carry The One carrytheone.co.uk

Qwilr | @Qwilr qwilr.com

PayPal by Zapier | @zapier zapier.com

Webrecs | @Webrecs webrecs.com.au

eCommerce eCommerce

Pepperi pepperi.com PrestaShop by Carry The One

A2X Accounting | @a2xaccounting

carrytheone.co.uk

a2xaccounting.com Airsquare | @airsquare airsquare.com Amazon.com by Stitch Labs | @StitchLabs stitchlabs.com Bigcommerce by Carry The One carrytheone.co.uk Bigcommerce by OneSaas | @onesaas onesaas.com Bigcommerce by Stitch Labs | @StitchLabs stitchlabs.com

Issue 08 / 127

Add-on Directory Rocketspark | @Rocketspark rocketspark.com

Fundbox | @fundbox fundbox.com

Storbie | @storbiecommerce

bookingbug.com

tradevine.com

briefcase

Veeqo | @Veeqo

zeald.com Zen Cart by Carry The One carrytheone.co.uk

triotech.co.nz Acuity Scheduling | @AcuitySchedulin

BookingBug | @bookingbug

Tradevine | @TradevineTeam

Zeald | @zeald

actionstep.com Active Collab By Trio | @Trio_Tech

axcelerate.com

tradegecko.com

websitebuilder.nz

ActionStep | @Actionstep

aXcelerate | @aXcelerate

TradeGecko | @tradegecko

Web Widgets

Invoicing &&Jobs INVOICING JOBS

myaccountingtoolbox.com

taxjar.com

vextras.com

vinsight.net

Autotask by My Accounting Toolbox

TaxJar | @TaxJar

Volusion by Vextras | @vextras

veeqo.com Vinsight | @VinsightSW

affinitylive.com

synergy8.com

vextras.com

unleashedsoftware.com Veeqo | @Veeqo

AffinityLive | @affinitylive

Synergy 8 | @SynergyEight

Vextras - Kiwi | @vextras

tradegecko.com Unleashed Software | @unleashedteam

acuityscheduling.com

storbie.com

veeqo.com

tidystock.com TradeGecko | @tradegecko

getbriefcase.net

commonsku | @commonsku commonsku.com ConnectWise by Wise-Sync | @wisesync wise-sync.com Copper | @copperproject copperproject.com Corecon | @Corecon corecon.com

financiery.com

128 / Issue 08

XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users. Find us online at: xumagazine.com

Add-on Directory Minutedock | @minutedock minutedock.com

Socket | @socketapp socketapp.com

Avalara | @avalara

JobReady | @JobReadyNSW jobready.com.au

trustfile.avalara.com

Sohnar Limited / TrafficLive | @TrafficLIVE

JobSync | @jobsyncapp jobsync.com.au

trafficlive.com

LEAP | @LEAP4SmallFirms

SpannerPlanner | @spannerplanner spannerplanner.com Streamtime | @streamtime streamtime.net

Sales tax filing made incredibly easy.

synchroteam.com

mailsyncapp.com

Synergist | @Synerg1st

MRPEasy | @mrpeasy

www.trustfile.com

synergist.co.uk

theservicemanager.com TidyBuild | @TidyBuild

tidywork.com Time Tracker by eBillity | @eBillity ebillity.com TimeCamp | @timecamp

Tradify | @tradifyhq tradifyhq.com TriggerApp | @triggerapp triggerapp.com Union Square | @unionsquareltd unionsquaresoftware.com Vinosmith | @thevinosmith

vWork | @vWorkApp vworkapp.com Web EDI | @webedi webedi.co.uk WHMCS for Xero | @edgehosting edgehosting.co.uk

senddr.com ServiceM8 | @ServiceM8 servicem8.com Simple Salon | @SimpleSalon simplesalon.com simPRO | @simprosoftware simprogroup.com Smart Reports smartreports.com.au SmartTrade | @SmartTradeSW smarttrade.biz

Custom Apps for Xero Accountants

Free Trial

25% off your first year with code XU16

BOXKITE

getboxkite.com

totalsynergy.com

vinx2.com

Senddr | @senddirect

Automated Xero backup. No worries.

tomahawk.co.nz

VINx2 | @vinx2

repairshopr.com

MyFirmsApp | @MyFirmsApp myfirmsapp.com

Total Synergy | @totalsynergy

vinsight.net

RepairShopr | @RepairShopr

getboxkite.com

timecamp.com Tomahawk / Resbook | @TomahawkNZ

Vinsight | @VinsightSW

qwilr.com

mydesktop.com.au

Boxkite | @getboxkite

tidybuild.com TidyWork | @TidyWork

vinosmith.com

Qwilr | @Qwilr

mrpeasy.com MyDesktop | @MyDesktopAPI

The Service Manager | @theservicemgr mobileezy.com

ledgerbackup.com MailSync | @MailSync

Synchroteam | @synchroteam

Mobileezy | @MobileezyAust

leap.co.uk LedgerBackup

Work[etc] CRM | @WORKetc_support worketc.com WorkflowMax | @WorkflowMax workflowmax.com

www.myfirmsapp.com

Business Oxygen Lite businessoxygen.com.au

OneSaas | @onesaas onesaas.com

ClubHub | @ClubHubSSL clubhub.co.nz

Onsight | @Onsight_App onsightapp.com

CoverKit by NZI

OzBiz Solutions | @OzBizSolutions

nzi.co.nz

ozbizsolutions.com.au

Csv2Cloud | @csv2cloud csv2cloud.com

PennyPipe | @PennyPipe pennypipe.com

ePrint MIS | @eprintmis eprintmis.com

PocketRent | @PocketRent pocketrent.com

Eventbrite by OneSaas | @onesaas onesaas.com

PocketSmith | @PocketSmith pocketsmith.com

Eventbrite by Zapier | @zapier

Podio by Phases

zapier.com

xepod.net

Expense Check | @expensecheck expensecheck.com.au

Podio by Zapier | @zapier zapier.com

ezyVet | @ezyvet ezyvet.com

Progressclaim.com | @progressclaim progressclaim.com

Farmflo | @farmflo farmflo.com

PropertyTree | @PropertyTree propertytree.com

Flowrev | @flowrev flowrev.com

Re-leased | @re_leased re-leased.com

Workshop Software | @workshoponline

Re-View | @Re_viewsoftware

workshopsoftware.com.au

re-view.com

ZeroTime zerotime.io

Other Other A2X Accounting | @a2xaccounting a2xaccounting.com

AUTOMATE MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTING revenue costs

Ag Profit | @AgProfitAus agprofit.com.au

Real Estate Investar | @reiaustraila realestateinvestar.com.au Rerun | @Rerunapp rerunapp.com RightSignature | @RightSignature rightsignature.com SafeGuard My | @safeguardmy safeguardmy.com

Arlo arlo.co

SmartBiller | @smartbiller smartbiller.co.nz

Google Calender By Zapier | @zapier

SAT FXOnline | @satworldwide satfxonline.co.uk

zapier.com Imporex

Sendle | @sendle

imporex.com.au

We want to hear from you! Get in touch - email: hello@xumagazine.com

sendle.com

Issue 08 / 129

Add-on Directory Sharesight | @Sharesight sharesight.com

Eazycollect | @eazycollect eazycollect.co.uk eWay | @eWAY_ eway.io Ezidebit | @Ezidebit ezidebit.com.au GoCardless | @GoCardless gocardless.com

stripe.com Square | @Square Sharesight Pro | @Sharesight pro.sharesight.com.au Stryke Tax | @stryketax stryke.com.au

Make sure you get paid on time, every time with the GoCardless for Xero app gocardless.com/xero

swipehq.co.nz transfermateonline.com

synergy8.com tax1099.com

sush.io Swipe HQ | @SwipeNZ Transfer Mate | @TransferMate

Synergy 8 | @SynergyEight Tax1099 | @efile1099

squareup.com Sush.io | @sushio

IntegraPay | @IntegraPay integrapay.com.au

TransferWise | @TransferWise transferwise.com uCollect | @ucollect_biz

Track1099 | @Track_1099

ucollect.biz

track1099.com

timesheets.com.au

transfermateonline.com

iPayroll

Trustworks | @trustworksnz

ipayroll.co.nz

trustworks.co.nz vinosmith.com

Business payments made simple.

VINx2 | @vinx2 vinx2.com

integrapay.com

imspayroll.co.nz Intertec TimePro

TransferMate | @TransferMate

Vinosmith | @thevinosmith

IMS Payroll

Direct Debit, ACH & Credit Card collection for Xero invoices - automatically NZ, AU, US, CA, UK, EU

www.ucollect.biz Payroll & HR PAYROLL & HR Automated Data Processing Inc. | @ADP adp.com Boomr - Employee Time Clock |

@BoomrApps boomr.com CloudPayroll cloudpayroll.com.au

payrightaway.com.au Payment Express | @PaymentExpress paymentexpress.com PayPal | @PayPal paypal.com PayPal by Zapier | @zapier

New Zealand www.ipayroll.co.nz sales@ipayroll.co.nz

zapier.com Simplepay.ca | @simplepaycanada

Australia www.cloudpayroll.com.au sales@cloudpayroll.com.au Crystal Payroll crystalpayroll.com Deputy | @deputyapp deputy.com Employment Hero | @EmploymentHero

paidpromptly.com

employmenthero.com

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130 / Issue 08

XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users. Find us online at: xumagazine.com

Add-on Directory Tower Systems | @TowerSystems

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132 / Issue 08

XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users. Find us online at: xumagazine.com

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Issue 08 / 133

...and finally

The value of FREE services Words: Jeannie Doherty, Owner and Operator, Cloud 9 Bookkeeping Jeannie is a BAS agent, cloud integrator and business all-rounder. She owns and operates Cloud 9 Bookkeeping + Strategy on the Gold Coast in Queensland and has a team of 9. She is a selfconfessed software nerd and keen futurist who loves the ever changing economic landscape. She was raised by successful Aussie entrepreneurs, is a little bit of a workaholic and also a busy mum. @a_cloud9

If you don’t pay then you don’t pay attention... Offering services for free, or telling clients “that’s free of charge” or “I’ll do that for free,” can seem like a simple way to add value (or to market yourself.) But is it doing more harm than good? Over the years, I’ve used this technique; but in recent times (after lots of listening and learning) I’ve realised that ‘free’ generally gives the perception of ‘worthless’. Further, I also find that if you don’t pay, you don’t pay attention.

I also think that “everything has the value we put on it”. So I’ve replaced FREE with INCLUDED when I’m not affixing a monetary value to an item. For example: Xero set up, Xero subscription, financial reports, and more, are ‘included,’ rather than free. Inclusions (rather than free-bees) will also raise the value of services like Xero training. For example: where you might have asked £125 per hour for a 1-2 hour Xero training session, you can package that up into “Xero training session, plus 3 months unlimited telephone and email support from the team” for £375.

I also think that “everything has the value we put on it”.

Think about your own perception of FREE. I’m personally quite sceptical of FREE services, and I usually find they’re inferior and a waste of my precious time. 134 / Issue 08

Inclusions can sky-rocket the value of your service, whereas freebies don’t add value at all.

Strategy is another service I include in my value price agreements. From monthly meetings to workshops just for my clients, it’s ‘included’, never free. Inclusions can sky-rocket the value of your service, whereas free-bees don’t add value at all.

XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users. Find us online at: xumagazine.com

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Issue 08 / 135

Good data gives accountants and bookkeepers the edge. And we’re going to prove it.

Receipt Bank doesn’t just do data extraction. We give practices the tools they need to become efficient, scalable and profitable. Now we’re putting our partners to the test with the Effortless Bookkeeping Challenge. The Effortless Bookkeeping Challenge is a chance for forward-thinking firms using Receipt Bank to see what they can achieve with the right data – including turnaround times, client delays, time to reconciliation and more. It’s also an opportunity to anonymously benchmark your practice against competitors in your area. Register for the Effortless Bookkeeping Challenge by heading to: info.receipt-bank.com/ebc If you’re not already a Receipt Bank partner, stop bookkeeping in the dark. Get in touch today to see how you can make bookkeeping profitable.

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136 / Issue 08

XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users. Find us online at: xumagazine.com