6 minute read

Lead by example

Ever wondered how accountants and bookkeepers manage their own business? It’s natural to assume they have all their ducks in a row and everything must run seamlessly. For the most part this would be the case, but I’m here to tell you that it’s not as easy as one might believe. They are professionals and obviously very talented at the service they provide, but they too have their own set of business challenges and need tools to help with their own financial project management...

@Xero

Ben Richmond, Senior VP of Business Growth, Xero Americas is the responsible for delivering world-class experiences to Small Businesses and Xero Partners in the US as they transition to the Cloud.

There is much to consider

when establishing and running a successful practice. Business essentials such as sales and marketing, premise location and defining a point of difference from the firm down the road are all imperative to success. An important piece of this puzzle though, are the systems and processes that should be adopted right from the get-go.

Xero Practice Manager – was created specifically so that accountants and bookkeepers can lead by example and manage their entire business seamlessly, online. Up until the introduction of Xero Practice Manager to the Xero suite of products, software had historically been more monolithic, cumbersome and costly to implement.

Get practice perfect

I’m an ex-accountant myself and I remember the pressure of being part of a busy practice, whether it was keeping accurate time logs or helping solve client issues. It’s a huge responsibility and you’ve got to walk the talk and demonstrate efficiency. If your practice is operating seamlessly it enables you and your team to take on more clients with minimal effort – resulting in more time to focus on helping run your client’s business which is a win-win for everyone.

Let’s not beat around the bush – when any professional service business is not being run effectively the knock-on effect can be catastrophic to the firm and the clients it is servicing. From experience, this all usually starts off with imprecise timekeeping. Even a few hours a week in lost productivity or unaccounted time can end up costing a firm significant sums in write-offs that ultimately negatively hit the bottom line.

Over the past several years, Xero has helped a number of firms solve the challenge of running a more efficient firm, making it easier for them to build stronger and more meaningful relationships with their clients. Through a combination of industry expertise, practice tools (like Xero Practice Manager, Xero Workpapers and Xero HQ),

we have an artillery to be able to truly partner with accountants and bookkeepers on a global scale. Xero has assisted thousands of firms to achieve their goals faster and more efficiently whilst having some fun along the way.

An eye for detail

Xero Practice Manager delivers on so much more than time tracking. It’s loved by firms of all sizes across the globe because it gives the power back to your team to focus on what’s truly important; serving your clients! Never has it been so simple to dig deeper into the numbers on how your firm is tracking, whether it be WIP, writeoffs or lock-up, the comprehensive report builder function will provide you with a richer set of data than ever before. In business today it’s important to be close to the detail but also elevate the conversation to the big picture when making decisions, and leverage insights from your reporting is a critical part of that.

Breathe easy at month-end and reduce lock-up days with improved client billing workflows. Say farewell to cumbersome reconciliations, transferring information between systems and multiple softwares. Hallelujah!

Future proof your firm

Over the past decade we have One of the benefits of an online solution such as Xero Practice Manager is that updates are rolled out without the pain experienced in a traditional in-house server environment and you are always running the latest version. We’re not tied to our desk anymore and flexible working is not the future, it’s part of our everyday lives - now! As your firm changes and adapts to adjusting client needs, having the right tools in place is important to help make that change manageable.

The right solution for your own clients

Once you’ve implemented and witnessed the power of Xero becomes easy to see the real benefits of having a robust project and job management system in place - there’ll be no looking back. You might even find yourself in a position to advise your clients on the right solution for their own businesses – that’s where Xero can help too.

Xero, the stalwart of simplifying complex financial tasks and giving businesses the ability to collect critical business insights, has delivered on two effective and powerful financial project management tools for your clients: Xero Projects (being launched this month in the USA and Canada) and WorkflowMax. Look out for more information about both these great products.

Join our community

At Xero, we believe in building great tools for small businesses and their advisors. Practice Manager in your practice it

continued to cultivate a strong community which we would love for you to join. The Xero partner program rewards you with a range of benefits (for Silver, Gold and Platinum partners, you even get a complimentary Xero Practice Manager subscription) that you can tailor to your own practice goals. We’ve created it to make you even more successful – no matter what success means to you. If you’re not sure what solution is right for you or your clients, then I urge you to have a conversation with your Xero account manager to determine which one best fits with your requirements.

Building and running any business is tough and an accounting or bookkeeping practice is no exception. Being able to lean on a system that is built specifically for our industry means focus and attention can turn to servicing clients, keeping employees happy and making more on the bottom line. It’s all about being practice perfect and leading the charge with a system that accountants and bookkeepers can rely on, such as Xero Practice Manager. Talk to us about how we can help.

FIND OUT MORE...

xero.com/practicemanager xero.com/projects workflowmax.com

Xero Practice Manager - powerful tools for managing your workload

At the end of the day Xero Practice Manager helps you to provide a better service for your clients. Here’s some features that you and your team will really benefit from:

Simple & flexible time tracking your staff will love! Real time job and WIP tracking

Comprehensive reporting - fully customizable Streamlined client billing - Reduce lockup, turn write-offs into write-ups

Convert WIP records directly into invoices Define your own jobs to manage

workflow - create tasks and manage staff performance and client profitability Keep your data in sync - Xero Practice manager integrates with your Xero practice organisation and Xero HQ ensuring all key data is in sync Run your business on the go - flexibility to do your job, where you want, being natively online and an app for Apple & Android users The cherry on the top? A global team that is here to support you with the next steps for your firm.

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