XU Magazine - Issue 26 by XU Magazine

The independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users

ISSUE

magazine

RECEIPT BANK AND XAVIER BECOME

DEXT PAGE 8

ISSN 2054-7226

P LU S L O MORE ADS FROM

Xero Connec te Apps d

9 772054 722009

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Issue 26 / 1

TUTORIALS CASE STUDIES INTERVIEWS NEW APPS NEW RELEASES

Manage your jobs, people and teams remotely with WorkflowMax cloud project management software

Manage remote teams from anywhere using the mobile app, all from one system

Track time, costs and profitability from quote through to job and invoice

Use the staff allocation feature to get more visibility over workflow, team productivity and capacity

Choose from a suite of customised reports for real-time powerful financial analysis

Xero owned and integrated with robust customer support standards, and ongoing product development

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“WorkflowMax offers very good value for money. It does what it says on the box, it’s easy to use and integrates well with Xero. Compared to other systems, it’s got just the right level of functionality for service businesses that make their money from time..” Scott Elder, App Advisor, Australia

Get started with a 14 day free trial workflowmax.com/start

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Issue 26 / 3

Welcome to issue 26... magazine The independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users

Issue 26 Main Contacts CEO: David Hassall (Co-Founder) Managing Editor: Wesley Cornell (Co-Founder) Director of Strategic Partnerships: Alex Newson 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 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 2014-2021. 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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COVER STORY Dext Receipt Bank and Xavier become Dext

11 14

Chaser Why automation is key for effective accounts receivable management

Xero App Partners of the month

10 Years of Spotlight Reporting Celebrating a decade in the accounting ecosystem

Clarity Why your firm needs clarity to thrive

19 24

UPDATES FROM XERO

TUTORIAL ApprovalMax How to improve financial control in not-for-profits

Q&A GoCardless Duncan Barrigan, Chief Product & Growth Officer, GoCardless

CASE STUDY AccountancyManager From KPMG to successful practice owner

ezyCollect The guide to preventing bad debts in B2B

Fluidly How to overcome the obstacles your practice will face in Spring 2021

HR Partner 6 ways to improve your recruiting results

MinuteDock MinuteDock’s guide to time blocking AdvanceTrack Outsourcing Customer service in a digital world MarketFinance Going independent with your app providers

Wolters Kluwer Advisors share figures. Extraordinary ones turn them into insights.

iwoca The payment method that helps your clients sleep at night

CASE STUDY WorkflowMax Add app advisory to your offering and become an even more trusted advisor

62 64

BOOK REVIEW Selling to Serve

Q&A Appogee HR The power of partnerships

66 68

Compleat Software The future is now

CASE STUDY Tidy International ”Nothing gets missed”

Senta Remote working is here to stay - what’s your strategy?

XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.

Meet Dext... Interview with...

ExpenseOnDemand Why businesses need to focus on automation and digitisation in 2021 simPRO Help field service clients simplify financial end of year with simPRO

XBert Making work life easier for bookkeepers in the UK

26 Duncan Barrigan GoCardless

Celebrating...

WorldFirst UK Grow global with WorldFirst: Ecommerce opportunity and innovation in 2021

Finlert Tomorrow’s advisory clients today

Groundplan The untapped potential of your trade service clients

APPS COMPARED Compared: Workflow & PM Accountancy

Float How to choose the right clients for a cash flow service

100

SuiteFiles How secure is your

signing?

ICB Global Why you should hire an ICB accounting apprentice

102

CloudPayroll Managing your employees’ leave

104

Emersion Billing automation - it’s

a win-win!

108 14 Celebrating a decade. Spotlight Reporting turns

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NextMinute Builders can fix anything... except their own business

110

CASE STUDY ApprovalMax Williams, Stanley & Co - Spend control in trying times

112

AutoEntry Customer retention in the time of Covid

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NEW XERO CONNECTED APPS New to the Xero App Marketplace XERO EDUCATION Xero Run a beautiful business with Xero Education Month - Learn more to do more

NEW RELEASES Updates and new releases from Xero connected apps Sapaad Leverage the power of a fully-integrated POS solution for restaurant growth

APP DIRECTORY Over 700 Xero connected Apps

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...and finally Xero adds new matchmaking tool to the Advisor Directory to help small businesses in need find the right expert

FOCUS: MENTAL HEALTH Tim Hoopmann Mental wellbeing: support yourself and small businesses

130

infoodle infoodle Gift Aid Plus: What’s in it for you?

132

EVENTS Terrapinn Digital innovation in Asian Accounting & Finance: A series of events for 2021

134

144

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Praxis Putting Xero at the heart of a new accounting firm

THE ONLY

Point & Click Quoting Software that integrates with Xero

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Electrical

Security

Plumbing

Roofing

Painting

Pest Control

Free trial ›

groundplan.com

XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.

Business where it needs to be POWERFUL SOFTWARE DELIGHTFULLY SIMPLE

Tidy seamlessly connects with Xero:

“

Tidy has been so easy to adapt because of that flexibility to connect to Xero... Anything that can help you to get your work easier, more accurate and faster is welcome.

”

Stefi Larranaga, Contract Administrator, Projects and Designs Engineers

Users of

JOB & PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Try free

INVENTORY MANAGEMENT

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CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT

PROJECT & INVENTORY MANAGEMENT

tidyinternational.com/ Follow us on Twitter: @xumagazine

Issue 26 / 7

Cover Story @dextofficial Paul Lodder, Dext Product Domain Expert, Dext Paul is the former partner at Sagars Accountants LTD in the UK, having managed the digital transformation for their client portfolio. ACCA qualified since 2003, Paul has quickly established himself as a cloud accounting influencer; he’s a regular panelist at industry events, sought after by journalists to provide expert commentary and a featured expert for governing bodies. During his time at Sagars, he managed a substantial portfolio of clients by providing audit, accounting, tax, and business advisory services. Paul joined Dext in 2021 as their Product Domain Expert.

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Cover Story

Receipt Bank and Xavier become Dext Our company is now Dext. A platform comprising two powerful products - Prepare (formerly Receipt Bank) and Precision (formerly Xavier) Dext launches with the promise to make accountants and bookkeepers more productive, profitable and powerful.

ur company is now Dext. A platform comprising two powerful products Prepare (formerly Receipt Bank) and Precision (formerly Xavier) Dext launches with the promise to make accountants more productive, profitable and powerful. How did we get here? A decade ago, Receipt Bank began as a data entry tool used by one of our co-founders Michael Wood who struggled with getting financial documents to his frustrated accountant on time. Wood eventually bought the company who developed the very same data entry tool and Receipt Bank was born. Since then, Receipt Bank grew into more than an admin tool, it became a data extraction market leader, adding data cleaning powerhouse Xavier to the mix in 2020. We began narrowing in on the importance of assured data for accountants and business owners. It was a natural progression to Dext, and we are continuing to grow and learn. What we know presently is that for accountants, inefficient workflows mean missed opportunities to make revenue for the firm and make an impact on your clients. For small businesses, there is no real time picture of business finances now and into the future.

Adrian Blair, Dext CEO, details the steps taken to address these pain points that we heard loud and clear. “The next step for us as a platform was to not only save time but to develop tools that make accounting firms more productive, that means automating time-consuming processes like extracting data, categorising, sorting and organising documents. We have also recognised the critical role data accuracy plays in financial insights and advice the more accurate your data, the better the insight you are able to provide your clients with. Dext aims to turn data into actionable financial insights and do that in a way that allows your business, and the businesses of your clients, to be even more productive and profitable. As Dext, we will keep innovating with the industry and together, as pioneers, work with accountants and bookkeepers to design products with them, for them.” Why we’re Dext Our philosophy is simple. We believe that behind every successful business is a brilliant accountant. Our job is to help brilliant accountants make successful businesses. We

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wanted a name that reflected that mission. Hence Dext. It’s that simple. Dext is a fusion of two words: the dexterity that accountants and bookkeepers bring to their clients’ challenges and the next generation attitude that so many have. Dext in detail Dext is a powerful accounting platform, with a range of features easily adapted to any accounting needs. We’ve also changed the name of our two current products to more accurately describe what they do. Dext Prepare (formerly Receipt Bank) helps you prepare client accounts, make bookkeeping profitable, and free up your best people. Dext Precision (formerly Xavier) gives you trust in your data by spotting errors before they become a problem. Dext Prepare ensures that transactions are processed efficiently and regularly. Using the app and features like AutoPublish, Supplier Rules and Fetch mean the days of manually typing in the data are long gone. The whole process can be fully automated resulting in hours and hours of time saved. This will create capacity to either take on

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Cover Story more clients (without the need for additional resources) or to expand the current advisory services offering. Operating within a “real time world” is increasingly important and so processing the data efficiently allows you to have visibility of the numbers quicker. This will mean that the right business decisions can be made at the right time. Dext Precision is a game changer for accountants. The insights across your client base ensures that you can be confident the data is accurate before starting any work. This will prevent time being wasted when undertaking compliance work but is also key to driving advisory services. By using the “flows” it ensures the team are following an approved approach that maximises productivity, efficiency and profitability. The focus dashboards are tailored to meet your needs which means you will always have your finger on the pulse and so you can truly be a pro-active trusted advisor. Dext Precision does the hard work for you which means you

get better insight and spend more time advising your clients and help them achieve their goals. Better yet, Precision is expanding its capability into QuickBooks Online, so both Xero and QuickBooks users will have access. The perfect solution for accountants and bookkeepers is to use Prepare and Precision together. That will ensure maximum efficiency and productivity.

Dual product users will get a new, single view dashboard bringing useful insights from both Precision and Prepare together in one place.

What’s new

This is only the beginning of Dext’s offerings for 2021. We’ll be delivering new productivity products that give you greater control of your firm, helping you to use your people efficiently and help you deliver more work to more clients.

You still have access to everything you need to prepare your client accounts; automatic supplier and customer rules, bank matching, connections to more than 1,400 suppliers, and now sales invoice uploads direct to your accounting software. You’ll soon see more tools that deliver actionable insights, with the same award-winning assurance, to ensure quality and confidence in your clients’ data. We’re not just delivering more precise data for accounts receivable; we’re also developing our product suite to get data from the receivable and e-commerce side by developing our product.

You’ll also be able to work with more clients through the Dext Connect App. A simple app that integrates the speed and accuracy of Receipt Bank with the security of Sage 50 and Quickbooks Desktop software, seamlessly.

Our focus remains on building efficiencies inside your firm and out into your client ecosystem. The possibilities for Dext are endless and without our community of partners and clients we wouldn’t have the wherewithal to continuously improve our product. So thank you, and welcome to Dext.

FIND OUT MORE... Visit our website at: dext.com

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App Partners of the Month

Xero App Partners of the month

February 2021

December 2020

Xero’s app marketplace has over 800 apps which help small businesses and their advisors reach their goals. Each month Xero celebrates an app partner who stands out for helping small businesses thrive...

Find out more at: rollhq.com

OLL is a simple, easy to use, end-to-end workflow management solution that gives small business owners greater business visibility. ROLL works by centralising leads, project management, time tracking and financial information into a single app. This allows small businesses to track their sales pipeline from a new opportunity to the final invoice, with visibility over how a project is performing at any given time without the need to move across multiple software solutions.

By having one tool to manage these tasks, staff spend less time on unbillable admin, and more time on billable work, meaning greater productivity. A key feature of ROLL is its ability to track the financial performance of the business via its dashboard, including estimated month end and actual month-to date billings, and the total value of the projects in the pipeline. Small business owners can see this all-in-one place, enabling them to make informed business decisions and allocate resources accordingly.

ROLL’s connection with Xero means data can be synced between the two systems. Invoices can be created and sent to customers directly from ROLL, which then syncs automatically to Xero. Contact details also update between the two systems, eliminating double-entry and ensuring information is kept up to date. Interested in trialling ROLL for your business? Trial free for 14 days, no credit card details required.

Find out more at: reducer.co.uk

ero has named Reducer as their App Partner of the Month for being a team that stands out for helping small businesses thrive. Over the past twelve months, small businesses and their accountants have found themselves in dire need of finding two things - time and money. Reducer has worked hard on being able to give accountants and their clients exactly what they need by finding UK SMEs over £1milion in savings in just a few clicks. This has offered a lifeline to

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businesses struggling in the midst of COVID-19. By naming Reducer as their first App Partner of the Month this year, Xero is highlighting the emerging category of smart cost comparison solutions in 2021. Considering that each business will overpay by an average of £4.9k on their bills this year alone, accountants that prioritise cost management will make a significant impact to their clients.

make savings in just a few clicks. To find out how you can start implementing a quick, easy, and free cost management solution for your clients, book in a call with one of our partnership managers at reducer.co.uk

Currently, Reducer is the only product in the app ecosystem that allows users to find, choose, and

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Enable spend control for not-for-profits ApprovalMax helps NFPs to establish authorisation transparency and spend traceability to meet audit requirements. It moves spend approvals outside of Xero and enables a completely paperless multi-layered approval process with clear segregation of duties. Purchase order creation and approval Bill review and approval Bill to PO matching Automated audit trail and audit reports Mobile app for on-the go approvals

Xero Community Rating

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Helping those who help the community: 50% off for the first three months Start a free trial to secure your discount* approvalmax.com/nfp *Offer is valid for not-for-profits until 31 May 2021 for new subscriptions only.

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Issue 26 / 13

10 Years of Spotlight

Celebrating a Decade in the Accounting Ecosystem

@spotlightrep

Richard Francis FCA, CEO, Spotlight Reporting Richard is a FCA and trusted advisor with 20+ years of advisory experience. Richard identified a need to improve analysis and forecasting for his clients that led to him founding Spotlight Reporting – a global company and also the #1 Reporting and Forecasting app in the Xero ecosystem.

Spotlight Reporting turns 10 Richard Francis FCA sums up what it’s like to be in the accounting ecosystem for a decade and what he’s learnt along the way.

erocon 2: February 2011, Taupo, New Zealand

Rod Drury leans over to me as I’m about to go on stage at Xerocon 2 to unveil Spotlight Reporting for the very first time. “Demo it live – no slides!” he says. The thought of doing a live demo makes me want to bring up my breakfast. Why? It’s because it was the “bleeding-edge early stage” of the ecosystem. To help you understand, I was unveiling v1 of Spotlight Reporting in an era when Xero and its entire ecosystem and software teams were small enough to literally fit into a small Wellington bar. I take Rod’s advice anyway, and give the Xerocon crowd a live demo of Spotlight Reporting. It turned out to be a hit and Rod dubbed it “Reporting on steroids”, giving us a big launching pad. Within months, some of the biggest and most progressive accounting firms had signed up and were rocking reports out to customers. This was the very best affirmation I could’ve hoped for.

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Three Years Later – Game On! Things were going very well for Spotlight Reporting and by 2014, we had signed up a few hundred firms. It was great to see CFOs and business owners sharing insightful Spotlight reports, dashboards, forecasts, consolidations, and industryspecific outputs. Customers were seeing new revenue and enhancing relationships with their clients, too.

reach of Xero in order to take it to a broader audience. To achieve this, Spotlight Workpapers became Xero Workpapers and we mixed and matched our Xero and Spotlight t-shirts at various events for two years, much to the bemusement of many punters who would ask, “Weren’t you just on stage wearing a Xero t-shirt?”

It would’ve been easy to stall or flame-out at this point, but we doubled-down and built up teams in Auckland, By now our team had Australia, the UK, grown. Julie and I and the US. We It turned out to be had mortgaged hired rain-makers, a hit and Rod Drury it all and were training and dubbed it “reporting firmly set on a support teams, on steroids”, giving “death or glory” and Customer us a big launching trajectory. We’d Success Specialists pad. done a Seed Round before it was even (and later a Series a ‘thing’. Our HQ A). What’s remarkable team got too big for our was that we were still running seaside villa, which consisted the remnants of our own of eight people working out of boutique practice, while raising converted bedrooms. To cater two small children in these early for a growing team, we moved years. To top it off, we’d started and found a seaside office that developing a fifth app – Spotlight could house 25 staff, and chose Workpapers. It was neat to have to remain in Silicon Petone. Those created the first online workpaper were good times and things went stack, but we knew we needed the from strength to strength – our

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10 Years of Spotlight industry you are serving. You’ll make mistakes, but what’s important is that you keep learning and that you move forward.

Above: Richard at Xerocon

customer base continued to grow and mature, as did our product road-map.

popular reporting and forecasting app for most of the last decade – being your #1 matters to us a lot!

Bringing it into 2021!

What have I learnt?

Ten years after launching Spotlight Reporting at Xerocon 2, I can just about spot Xero Towers gleaming in the mid-afternoon sun across the harbour. Xero has become an international juggernaut and I can reflect back on the Spotlight Reporting journey alongside them with pride. As an ecosystem partner, we fully supported Xero’s “Beautiful Accounting” movement and went in boots and all from day 1. We’ve carved out a foothold as the most

The best journeys don’t happen by luck. As a founder, it takes blood, sweat, tears. You’ve got to give 110% and have great shareholder belief. It also takes 20+ Xerocons, one million air miles, the brain-power and grit of 60 staff in 10 locations, the support of 2,000+ accounting firms, and a LOT of great coffee. You have to forge genuine partnerships and friendships and put heart and soul into the

For Spotlight Reporting, the last 10 years have been revelatory. We’ve won awards and we’ve even had a death threat from someone who couldn’t complete a forecast! We’ve visited thousands of accounting firms and businesses, we’ve shipped hundreds of releases, we’ve written a book that ‘sold’ 20,000 copies (okay – it was free!), and we’ve provided a career trajectory for some wonderful people. But just as importantly, we’ve worked alongside Xero and all of you progressive and dedicated advisors to help our industry make an impact, create change and drive the kind of success that makes communities thrive. I’ve loved (almost) every minute of our first 10 years and know that the next 10 years will be even better.

FIND OUT MORE... Visit our website at: spotlightreporting.com

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Issue 26 / 15

Why your firm needs clarity to thrive

How Clarity, finalist in Xero’s Practice App of the Year 2021, can help you introduce and create a profitable, repeatable and scalable business advisory service for your firm.

ompliance isn’t dead

For years accountants have been told to move from compliance to advisory. “Compliance is dead!” is an often-heard rallying cry. We know this isn’t the case. Small businesses will always need assurance over the raft of constantly changing regulations and legislation. Compliance is here to stay. But for most accountants, a pure focus on compliance services doesn’t deliver sustainable profitability. Combining compliance AND advisory is a path that does work. But it’s not just about more money, it’s also about more impact and more happiness for your clients, team and the firm. So why have firms struggled to introduce business advisory services? Traditionally, business advisory hasn’t properly leveraged the right combination of people, process and technology.

@clarity_hq

Aynsley Damery, CEO & Founder, Clarity Aynsley Damery is a qualified accountant and former CEO of a multi-award-winning niche advisory accounting firm for entrepreneurs in the UK. Aynsley is now the CEO and founder of Clarity - complete business advisory platform for accountants. He has advised thousands of businesses around the world and sits as an advisory board member on a number of companies and charities. He is considered one of the most influential accountants in the UK and has co-authored an international best seller.

Advisory services are often delivered by more senior team members (partners and managers), to top clients and often with a bespoke service. This works well for your toptier clients, who can afford and are prepared to pay for that type of service. Senior team members have limited time, so what happens when we try to introduce more junior members to the equation and offer advisory services, using traditional methodologies, to our smaller clients? The more junior team don’t have the experience, and existing systems and processes are still heavily dependent on timestarved senior team assisting, training or delivering. Smaller businesses are not prepared (or able) to pay the fees associated with a bespoke service. And often, partners assume that smaller businesses, who reluctantly pay for accounts and tax returns, won’t want to pay for advisory

services - even though they do pay for coaches, mentors and business organisations. Finally there is also a lack of understanding of what business advisory is, overcomplicating the process or assuming that firing out reports to already overwhelmed business owners is business advisory. Business advisory made simple So what is business advisory and how does a firm implement or scale business advisory services? This is the exact same framework used by large scale consulting agencies, Big4 firms, small niche advisory accounting firms and pretty much any other business in wealth management, tax, marketing, branding, time management- you name it! Business advisory really is that easy. Within the same platform, you can now deliver all aspects of this business advisory framework. Help your clients understand where they are now Clients don’t get their numbers. Now, your team can quickly understand how a client is performing with the 7 Key Numbers that every business owner should know. Clarity gives you a complete picture of your clients’ profit and loss, balance

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XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.

sheet, cash position, efficiency and effectiveness. These 7 Key Numbers strip back the complexity and help your clients to understand the numbers that really matter. Get your clients thinking about what’s possible Clients rarely take time out to think about what’s possible and where they are heading. Some clients are bogged down in the nitty gritty and just can’t imagine a different future or path. The 7 Key Numbers transform into the 5 Levers of Success. Show your clients what’s possible for their business and how they can get there. Get them to understand what movements in what levers do to their profit and cash position, and agree a better future.

quickly with Funding by Clarity. Measure and monitor results against the plan

Accountants are great at critical thinking. Use your skills to help clients understand the gap and whether closing it is achievable. You can also help clients break down the gap and understand what levers have the greatest impact on their profits and cash flow.

Within Clarity you can measure budget versus actual results on a monthly or quarterly basis against a rolling twelve month or annualised forecast. Use our meeting and agenda systems together with our cutting-edge education platform to engage your team to deliver the same outstanding results every time. No longer is business advisory solely reliant on the partners of the firm. Leveraging technology, with our award-winning systems and processes, makes it possible for more junior members of the team to get involved.

Create a plan

Portfolio view

Planning is critical for success. Now, you can leverage technology to create a plan for every single client. Accountants are great at creating financial plans and with Clarity you can create a twelvemonth financial plan at the click of a button. But financial plans are useless on their own. A Clarity action plan, that relates the levers of success to specific actions and results; creates focus, responsibility and accountability. Accountability is the secret sauce! Studies show that small business owners with written goals, who are held accountable, achieve 78% more. And finally, if your clients need funding to achieve their goals, you can also help them do that

Clarity’s portfolio view makes it possible to see all your clients’ key numbers (in real-time or for a particular month end) on the same screen. Sort, segment, filter and benchmark your clients. Highlight key issues at a glance, such as, cash flow challenges, funding gaps or efficiency problems. Analyse risks in your portfolio and identify opportunities. Connect your email and contact your clients, with high-impact insights to generate meetings, at the click of a button.

Calculate the gap between where they are now to where they could get to.

We make it easy for you to make a difference to the lives of your clients.

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Clarity is more than just software “If you think that Clarity is just a piece of software, you’re missing the point. It’s a mindset, a different way of doing business and a shift in the way we talk about our firm to prospects and clients” Graeme Tennick, Tennick Accountants Clarity combines the power of: • a technology-led platform - to do the heavy lifting; • hi-impact systems and processes - to get the same great result every time for the firm and client; • education, implementation and accountability programmesbeyond advisory, helping you and your firm; and • member events and a vibrant community - empowering your team, firm and clients to achieve success. Next step To find out more about what a difference Clarity can make to your firm and clients, book a call with one of our partner consultants. We’ll show you how some firms are doubling their own profits and those of their clients too!

FIND OUT MORE... Book a call with one of our partner consultants today! www.clarity-hq.com

Issue 26 / 17

Making it easier for your clients to do business anywhere Partnering with WorldFirst can help you and your clients collect, convert and manage payments globally. Seamless Xero integration for easier reconciliation Open currency accounts without the need for local banking relationships Hold funds to pay suppliers, repatriate, and make international payments Speed up your supply chain with faster same- and cross-currency payments Send mass payments from a single transaction Manage currency risk with flexible hedging solutions Dedicated account managers with 24/5 customer service Low, fixed, transparent pricing

Visit worldfirst.com/uk/partners/accounting/ or call +44 (0)207 095 0741 to find out more

Rated ‘Excellent’ on Trustpilot

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Updates from Xero

Steve Vamos, CEO, Xero

What we’ve been working on... B

oosting digitisation across UK and EMEA

We recently became the first accounting software provider to launch an eFiling beta trial with the South African Revenue Service (SARS). For the first time, businesses in South Africa will be able to prepare, store and submit VAT Returns within the Xero platform. This will mean greater efficiency, fewer errors and reduced admin, giving businesses better control over their finances. This new partnership with SARS follows our successful integration with tax bodies in other countries, including Single Touch Payroll (STP) in Australia and Making Tax Digital (MTD) in the UK. We’ve seen first hand how smart and simple integrations with tax bodies have sparked new opportunities for businesses in these regions, and look forward to seeing these benefits extend to

South Africa. We are also set to launch South Africa’s first fully digitised direct API bank feed with Nedbank. Once live, small businesses and their advisors will be able to seamlessly connect their Nedbank account to Xero and import banking transactions automatically and securely from their account each business day. In the UK, we are continuing to build Xero Tax to become the best digital practice management platform for accountants and bookkeepers. We’ll be launching a module for Personal Tax this summer, after comprehensive testing with a number of accounting partners. Other product updates in the UK

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include a new non-MTD VAT Return form in Xero for customers who have not yet signed up to MTD for VAT. It includes all the functionality of the latest MTD VAT Return, including the ability to adjust VAT Returns, track history and add notes. We are also helping businesses adjust to the new Postponed VAT Accounting (PVA) requirements following Brexit. It’s a faster and more efficient way to recover VAT on goods imported to the UK, as customers don’t have to create accounting transactions to populate PVA amounts to the VAT Return. The new feature is available in both MTD and nonMTD VAT Returns for businesses on standard VAT schemes.

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Updates from Xero

Other Xero updates... We’ve made a number of other updates on the Xero platform over the past few months, including:

Global Get notified of duplicate documents in Hubdoc Our latest release in Xero’s data capture tool, Hubdoc, will notify customers of any duplicate document uploads. They can move the duplicate to the trash, or mark it as ‘not duplicate’ if they would like to keep it. This new duplicate detection feature avoids the need to double-check uploaded documents, saving time and reducing errors. Verify a PayPal account in Xero We’ve improved the PayPal set-up experience in Xero. It now only takes a few minutes for customers to connect and verify their business PayPal account in Xero. Their clients can then pay using the ‘pay now’ button on the Xero invoice. Navigate from Hubdoc to Xero

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Submit PDF receipts on the go in Xero Expenses mobile app Employees can now easily upload PDF receipts into the Xero Expenses mobile app and it will automatically extract relevant data from the PDF and create the expense claim. The PDF file will also be attached to the claim as a proof of purchase. They can then review and submit their claim in one click. Search for filter options in reports We’ve improved the way customers use filters in their new reports. They can now access all filters with a single button, and see which tracking categories and options have been archived. We’ll also display which tracking filters have been selected in the report. Custom Chart of Accounts (COA) templates in Xero HQ

The new year is bringing Hubdoc and Xero even closer together. Customers can now navigate directly from Hubdoc to the corresponding transaction in Xero, to streamline their workflow.

Partners can now create their own COA templates in the practice menu of Xero HQ. Once the custom templates are set up, they can be applied to any new clients that are added to Xero HQ (they can’t be used to overwrite an existing client’s COA).

See more information about clients in Xero HQ

See the data that can be shared with lenders

We’ve continued to improve the client list in Xero HQ. Partners can now see their clients’ connected bank feeds, unreconciled items and business numbers at a glance, simply by customising their columns. Our UK partners can also add a column to see which of their clients’ bank feeds will expire and when, as well as quickly see unreconciled lines and financial year-end dates for all clients.

Getting a loan can be the difference between business growth and failure. That’s why we’ve created a new cash validation report in Xero. It allows customers to see the data points they can share with lenders, giving them confidence in the quality of their accounting record. The report shows the degree to which a business’ accounting transactions are driven by verified activity in the bank account.

Australia Automate excess super calculations Advisors can now automatically calculate excess superannuation contributions and Division 293 tax for high-income earners in Xero Tax. The new feature includes a superannuation contributions worksheet, as well as an ‘other amounts that may affect the tax estimate’ section on the Estimate tab. This automation will save time and improve the accuracy of calculations. Get ready for JobMaker Hiring Credit payments Employers can now keep track of what’s required to receive JobMaker Hiring Credit payments, in Xero Payroll. The JobMaker Hiring Credit is an incentive for businesses to employ job seekers aged 16-35, to help the economy recover from COVID-19. Eligible employers can register for the scheme for each additional employee they hire in the 12-month period from 7 October 2020. Automate bonuses and commissions Employers can say goodbye to manual tax calculations on employee bonuses and commissions. Xero Payroll now automates this process and files the data with ATO via STP. We are using the ATO’s most accurate calculation method for determining the tax to be withheld.

XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.

Everything cashﬂow in one place From forecasting to funding, get all things cashﬂow in one place. Add Fluidly to Xero and grow your practice, launch new services and keep clients happy. We know times are tough right now. So as a special promotion, if you sign up in March you get free access to Fluidly for 12 months.

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Issue 26 / 21

Updates from Xero

US View both sides of the accounting journal We’ve added a new column called ‘related account’ in the Account Transactions report. This update gives customers a better overview of their accounts. They can see how the other side of the accounting journal has been coded, and understand the context of each transaction entered into Xero. This feature will be rolled out globally in the coming months.

Access new Schedule C report templates

Report miscellaneous and contractor payments

A new 2020 Schedule C report template is now available in Xero HQ, to help our accounting and bookkeeping partners in the US prepare their sole proprietor clients’ tax returns for the 2020 tax year. Partners will need to download the custom Schedule C chart of accounts in Xero Central before they start.

Our latest 1099 reporting features help customers identify 1099-related transactions made in 2020. They also help generate a 1099-MISC and 1099-NEC report in a single workflow. We’ve increased the rules limit to provide greater flexibility in how customers report payments in different boxes. And we’ve provided the ability to select any chart of accounts (not just expense accounts) when creating 1099 rules.

Xero business update... Xero included in 2021 Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index

accounting and bookkeeping partners, and small business customers.

As part of Xero’s continuing commitment to gender equality, we are proud to announce our inclusion in the 2021 Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index (GEI). The GEI is 380 companies strong, representing 44 countries and regions around the world committed to a more equal and inclusive workplace.

Five technology trends set to shape 2021

Xero expands partnership with Carr, Riggs & Ingram

These are the biggest technology trends she says we should watch that will shape 2021: 1. The rise of predictive insights 2. The digitization of compliance 3. A greater focus on privacy and security 4. A connected suite of business tools 5. The acceleration of open banking

Xero has extended its relationship with Carr, Riggs & Ingram CPAs and Advisors (CRI), one of the top 25 full-service accounting and advisory firms in the United States, which serves more than 100,000 clients. Caring for the mental health of our community Xero has teamed up with Shift Collab to offer a series of mental wellbeing workshops for our

STRAIGHT TO YOUR INBOX! 22 / Issue 26

Xero’s Chief Product Officer, Anna Curzon, says technology has been the backbone of survival for many businesses this year, but that we should continue to prepare for an explosion of digital growth to shape how we live and work in 2021.

Xero appoints Faye Pang as Canada Country Manager

Country Manager. She will oversee the planning and execution of Xero’s go-to-market strategy in Canada, help increase market share, and advance Xero’s position as a leading cloud accounting software provider. New Zealand Prime Minister appoints Xero Chief Product Officer to APEC Business Advisory Council New Zealand Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, has appointed Xero Chief Product Officer, Anna Curzon, to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC). Members of ABAC provide advice to APEC leaders on business priorities, ensuring work is informed by business community perspectives across the Asia-Pacific region. As host of APEC in 2021, New Zealand is also chairing ABAC, so members have a significant role to play. Anna Curzon was previously a member of the Prime Minister’s Business Advisory Council.

In December, we announced Faye Pang as the new Xero Canada

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Issue 26 / 23

Cover Tutorial Story

How to improve financial control in not-for-profits Not-for-profits (NFPs) belong to the types of organisations that most frequently outsource bookkeeping, accounting and finance matters. For delivering such services to NFPs, accounting practices rely heavily on the processes within these organisations and, in particular, the financial controls that have been installed.

hy financial controls are critical for not-for profits

Due to their business model, typical not-for-profits have rather rigid and limited budgets determined from outside the organisation. At the same time, spending needs of NFPs are not that different from those of profitoriented businesses as they too have utility bills, purchase goods and reimburse expenses. However, NFPs are faced with much stricter requirements in terms of authorisation transparency, spend traceability and audits. And, NFPs are generally not very tech-savvy or, for that matter, well-versed in accounting. Most of them have “external staff” who generate expenses or are responsible for authorising spending. How to set up proper financial controls Financial service outsourcing practices serving NFPs need to go well beyond common compliance services and get deeply involved in both defining and enforcing financial controls across the client’s operations. At the very

24 / Issue 26

least this involves: • Working closely with the client to identify how their money is spent. In other words – get a real-life picture of who spends what, when and why. • Set up proper formal authorisation processes that make sure all spending is properly authorised by the appropriate people within the client’s organisation – before payment takes place. • Provide detailed audit trails to document that the implemented approval process has been duly followed. Spend control options: proactive, reactive, hybrid There are several options for controlling spending, with each one focusing on a specific spend stage. Proactive spend control works well when there is a formal buying process, e.g. with purchase orders. By setting up controls around purchase orders (who is authorised to raise them, what goods can be ordered, which suppliers can be selected, etc.) and establishing a robust review and authorisation process, proactive spend control can indeed eliminate, or at least

@ApprovalMax

Konstantin Bredyuk, Director, Product, ApprovalMax With roots in business process management and optimisation software development, Konstantin has undertaken hundreds of product implementations for ApprovalMax clients worldwide. Konstantin has been advising numerous organisations on implementing automation, financial controls and client collaboration capabilities using Xero-based trusted app stacks, with business profiles ranging from SMEs to large accounting and advisory practices.

significantly reduce, unwanted spending before it occurs. Introducing proactive spend control is the right choice for not-for-profits that have many people engaged in similar, regular purchasing activities either in one or multiple locations, typical for educational facilities. Reactive spend control ensures that incoming bills are actually correct and to be paid by the organisation. This is achieved by establishing a transparent review and authorisation process for all invoices to verify details like the amount, supplier payment account, etc. before any money is paid. It also serves as an additional fraud control layer by allowing to filter out fraudulent or erroneous bills. The hybrid approach combines these two options and serves as a comprehensive spend control framework. It enables to check the details of finance documents, to compare what had been ordered in a proactively controlled process with what is being billed and confirms that the ordered goods or services have actually been received. This cross-reference capability is called X-way matching.

XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.

Tutorial Spend management app stack for not-for-profits Establishing proper financial controls may seem tricky but with the right tools any practice can do it. A powerful app stack for NFPs contains three essential components that make spend management effective, efficient and fully digital: • At the core of the app stack is the cloud accounting platform Xero, which also serves as the system of records for all preintegrated apps. This provides a clear financial overview of the whole organisation in real time and enables not only informed decision-making but also simplifies collaboration within the organisation as all people involved see the same figures. A cloud accounting platform can be accessed from anywhere any time. That’s especially important for NFPs because volunteers usually don’t spend a lot of time in the office. With a cloud solution, managers can keep on top of finance, reimburse volunteer expenses or send invoices on the go. • To maximise the time saving achieved by switching to a cloud accounting platform it makes sense to add a tool for digital data capture. Data capture software automates manual data entry from paper into the accounting system with

pinpoint accuracy and organises all data using a mix of AI and human sorting. Document data is captured by simply taking a photo with this app, or by forwarding receipts to a dedicated email address. The tool then extracts the relevant information from the submitted document and allows to review everything before publishing it to the cloud accounting system. • A process automation tool like ApprovalMax moves the approval process outside of the accounting platform to keep external stakeholders out of it. With ApprovalMax it’s easy to set up multi-layered bill and purchase order approval processes, which also provide a record of who approved what. It’s much faster as there’s no need to carry paper documents around or wait for someone’s approval via email. ApprovalMax is also very useful for audit purposes because it automatically creates searchable reports that show a complete picture of all approval-related details, providing both a good aggregated view and the ability to easily drill down for any lowlevel details needed to perform analyses.

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Implementing such an app stack automates time-consuming manual procedures and delivers all data in real time – giving a major boost to efficiency and traceability. Processes that require collaboration can be set up in a way that’s convenient for all participants.

FIND OUT MORE... Find out more about spend control for NFPs in the ApprovalMax playbook: www.approvalmax.com/ solutions/not-for-profits

Issue 26 / 25

Interview

Q& A

Duncan Barrigan

Chief Product & Growth Officer

GoCardless 26 / Issue 26

XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.

Interview

XU:

GoCardless has recently raised $95m in funding. Can you tell us more about it?

DB:

In December 2020 we announced a $95m Series F funding round, led by Bain Capital Ventures. This came off the back of 46% year-on-year growth for GoCardless despite a challenging economic environment. It brings the total we have raised to-date to $240m. We will use the funding to accelerate our open banking strategy, combining the latest technology with our global bank debit network.

XU:

Why is GoCardless so excited about open banking?

DB:

We believe open banking is gaining momentum around the world, particularly in our home market, the UK. According to recent data from the Open Banking Implementation Entity, a nonprofit body created to coordinate the rollout of open banking, 294 regulated providers were in the ecosystem as of December 2020, of which 102  have live offerings in the market. Additionally, over four million open banking payments were made in 2020, up from 320,000 in 2018. In Australia, the newly announced Consumer Data Right and recent developments within the New Payments Platform also indicate open banking is on the rise. Given the maturation of open banking around the world, we plan to release features within the GoCardless offering this year to help merchants and consumers take advantage of these developments. By combining open banking with our existing bank debit network we’ll be able to offer a unique way to take recurring payments: open banking payments will deliver the speed and visibility required for instant payments, and bank debit

payments will continue to improve cash flow and eliminate the need to chase unpaid bills. We’ll be able to target businesses that we haven’t been able to serve up until now - for example, digital subscription services that require a faster way of collecting payments - by using open banking to take an immediate upfront payment and then collect subsequent payments via direct debit. We will also expand into the e-commerce market with open banking. This will provide consumers a simple and secure way to make bank-to-bank payments to merchants they use regularly, and offer businesses a lower-cost alternative to card payments.

XU:

So, what does open banking actually mean for businesses?

DB:

There are a variety of different ways businesses can use open banking. Businesses using open banking instant payments will see a material improvement to their cash flow. Currently, many are unable to use bank-to-bank payments to collect from their customers. This is because they need instant payment confirmation for certain transactions, such as when providing a service outside of their regular scope of work. Companies will only want to start on a project, for instance, after they know the project invoice has been paid. Bank-to-bank payment methods, such as bank debit, currently do not allow instant payment authorisation. As a result, small businesses use more costly options, such as cards, which also relies on the customer to initiate the payment. This means businesses often pay high transaction fees and end up spending valuable time and money chasing late payments. The introduction of instant open banking payments, however, will give small businesses a low-cost

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alternative to cards. What’s more, by combining open banking payments with the GoCardless bank debit network, merchants can use a payment system that allows them to pull money from a customer’s account each time an invoice is due - putting them firmly in control of their payments and reducing the risk of bad debt.

XU:

How will Xero customers be able to use Open Banking?

DB:

We are currently working with Xero to ensure businesses using GoCardless for Xero can access open banking features as soon as possible. The first will be verified mandates, or the ability to ensure customers setting up a new mandate to pay are, indeed, who they say they are. This will help to reduce fraud for both businesses and their payers. Other features, including open banking instant payments, will be released later this year. Ben Johnson, Director of Financial Partnerships at Xero: “Open banking is gaining momentum around the world and the benefits it is expected to bring to businesses, from lowering costs to improving cash flow through immediate payouts, are significant. We’re excited to see GoCardless focus their product development in this area, and as an important payments partner to Xero we’re exploring how this might benefit Xero customers”.

FIND OUT MORE... Visit our website at: gocardless.com

Issue 26 / 27

Case Study

From KPMG to successful practice owner

@accountancymgr

James Byrne, CEO, AccountancyManager During his time as a practising accountant, James identified a range of operational inefficiencies which he knew the right software would solve. Thing was, it didn’t exist yet. Jump forward three years and AccountancyManager helps thousands of practices automate their onboarding, record requests and task lists every day.

arolyn Cullen has been a chartered accountant for 20 years. After qualifying at KPMG Manchester, she spent eight years there in audit, before moving to Swinton Insurance. In 2019, Carolyn founded Monton Green Accountancy Ltd and hasn’t looked back. “It’s the best thing I’ve ever done,” she says, “I absolutely love it.”

Carolyn always planned to work remotely, but not necessarily alongside her husband and two young kids. “I class my two as fairly diligent and reasonably intelligent... With home-schooling, there were no signs of either of those characteristics!” Goodbye, Excel. Hello, AccountancyManager. At Accountex North 2019, Caroline made a beeline for AM’s stand after a recommendation. “I thought I’d give it a go for a few months... and loved it.” “I used spreadsheets to manage deadlines before, but as my client base grew my spreadsheet was getting longer and longer... Now, without AccountancyManager, I’d be sobbing gently in the corner! I would’ve had to have stopped taking on clients much further back.” Automation: A leap of faith worth taking Carolyn put off using automated

28 / Issue 26

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

with help from a former HMRC tax investigator. Carolyn’s idea - and many more new additions are now live. Chancellor announcements: summarised and sent to all Many of Carolyn’s clients have been seriously affected by the pandemic, though none to-date have gone under. Carolyn made the decision early on not to charge for coronavirus-scheme claims and has temporarily reduced fees for some. One feature in AM became everyone’s favourite overnight in March 2020. Carolyn explains. “When the chancellor does a speech, I’ll do a little summary and then use the email-all feature. Clients have said that they really appreciated that.”

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

FIND OUT MORE... Sign up for a 30-day free trial at: accountancymanager.co.uk

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Issue 26 / 29

The Guide To Preventing Bad Debts in B2B Product, sales/marketing and collections are the three key drivers of business growth - however very few businesses focus on collections. The success and sustained growth of B2B businesses can be enhanced through a focus on enhancing collections through a clear credit approval process, automated AR and enhanced bad debt management.

here are three key drivers of growth in a business- product, sales, and cash collection; however, the third one rarely receives the attention it deserves. Businesses often focus on sales/marketing and product – while taking cash collection as a given. The success of many B2B companies depends on their ability to manage the receivables collection function efficiently. And this is a function that deserves more attention, investment, and, dare we say, credit than it usually gets. When you sell a product or perform service on credit, you are also in the B2B accounts receivables collection business. The financial health of your company depends on how well your business can collect on sales. Unfortunately, it is often performed with inadequate forethought to the systems, staff, strategy, and tactics to deliver exceptional results. And businesses find that their customers are using them as a bank, with many overdue invoices impacting the cash flow and growth prospects of the company.

30 / Issue 26

What causes bad debt issues for business? Credit, or rather the lack of creditrisk strategies, can often lead to bad B2B business debts. The problems can intensify with the lack of efficient operating models and insufficient management focus. Lack of credit risk strategies Many businesses do not implement a robust framework for credit-risk assessment. They do not follow the global best practices that reduce customer delinquency and debt collection. Not accounting for credit risk can lead to unhealthy business growth. It expands the customer base but depresses the profitability. Lack of specialized staff for debt collection Most companies do not have a specialized debt collection team, and they mostly rely on external agencies for the same. Some outsource this job to call-center agents who lack proper training to assess a customer’s situation.

@ezycollect

AJ Singh,CEO and Co-founder, ezyCollect AJ is the CEO and Co-founder of ezyCollect. He has a proven track record in start-ups, having successfully founded and sold two businesses in the last 10 years. His business acumen, combined with his passion for technology & innovation, led to the development of the ezyCollect AR automation solution that empowers small and medium enterprises to get paid faster, and enhance their cashflow.

Lack of management focus Top executives seem to be more occupied by transformation, innovation, and digitization that accounts receivables & collection is usually not in the spotlight. Bad debt figures don’t often feature on the agenda, making it harder to improve the situation.

How can one manage bad debts effectively? Debt management is vital to a business as it ensures that the company has enough working capital to reinvest and grow. Effectively managing debt requires some thought and planning and can be controlled with these simple steps. Implement a credit policy Most businesses have an informal arrangement for supplying goods and services. Not having clear, written terms of trade can lead to several disputes creating bad debts. B2B companies require a firm credit policy to ensure their continued growth. Before offering credit to new customers,

XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.

companies should conduct a thorough credit history and business reference check. Avoid pricing disputes Customers are more likely to pay you on time when you provide them with the right information on documents and invoices. Disputes can create bad debts that can significantly impact the business. All your documents- quotations, invoices, contracts, purchase orders, and estimates should refer to your terms and credit policy. Make sure that the invoices and financial statements clearly show the amount due and the due date. Use credit management software solutions Well-maintained information is the key to good debt management. There are many credit management software solutions available in the market that can ease your company’s debt management process. These software solutions can closely monitor your debtors’ ledger and keep track of the outstanding payments. These solutions also offer regular reporting to help identify trends and patterns before they can impact your business’ cash flow. Provide multiple payment options One of the simplest hacks for getting paid outstanding invoices paid quickly is to add a multitude of payment options (credit card, bank transfer, cheques) – from a ‘Pay Now’ button on your invoice to enabling debt financing solutions – where you customers can get the outstanding invoices financed and pay you while they manage the repayments. Implement AR automation Accounts Receivables automation modernizes the accounts receivables process through automatic, electronic systems that

decrease repetitive and timeconsuming tasks. It frees up time for your accounts receivables team to chase payment and get the cash in to mitigate bad debts, rather than wasting time on printing and posting invoices. AR automation improves the accuracy of invoicing details, leaving little to no room for an excuse for late payments. The AR team gets more time to chase payments and handle exceptions making collections fast with less delinquency. Strengthen your delivery systems and implement the practice of keeping signed dockets as proof of delivery. When you automate the AR process, it becomes possible to send invoices ahead of time, discouraging customers from making late payments. It can also send automatic reminders when customers deviate from your trade terms. Review credit limits of your customers Review the credit limits of your customers regularly. Look out for warning signals which could indicate that they may be facing financial problems. Check on all customers, even the longstanding ones, to monitor changes in buying habits or an increasing level of debt. Wherever possible, refrain from doing business only with one substantial customer. Customer concentration risks outweigh the benefits. Be careful of customers who are expanding rapidly as their business growth can

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sometimes affect their ability to pay. Do exercise caution when handling requests for extending credit. Importance of onboarding new customers with comprehensive credit checks The core of a sound onboarding practice is to ensure that potential clients can pay for your goods or services. Implementing complete business credit checks allows you to access a client’s payment history, giving you useful information about their ability to pay, now and in the future. When you know a client’s potential payment pattern, you can make an informed decision if and how you would like to conduct business with that customer. The existing process of getting trade references and having your customers and sales teams fill out forms isn’t the most effective one – you might consider investing in a service or resource that can complete comprehensive business credit checks for you rapidly and help you transact with the right customers for your business.

FIND OUT MORE... Enhance your XERO by adding ezyCollect - our XERO clients reduce their overdue out standings by ~43% within 6 months after adding the ezyCollect app. Start Your Free Trial: offers.ezycollect.com.au/ xero-free-trial

Issue 26 / 31

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

@FluidlyPartners

Caroline Plumb, CEO and Founder, Fluidly Caroline is Founder and CEO of Fluidly, an all-in-one cashflow tool for accountants and small businesses. From forecasting to funding, Fluidly helps you keep clients happy and launch new services. Caroline previously co-founded recruiting and consulting business FreshMinds. Caroline also serves as a non-executive director of Mercia Asset Management, an early-stage technology investor, is a former Prime Minister’s Business Ambassador and received an OBE in the 2016 Birthday Honours list.

Caroline Plumb, Founder and CEO at Fluidly, offers practical solutions to the biggest challenges your practice will face in the months ahead.

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

32 / Issue 26

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

or Uber Eats, can make staff feel appreciated. HR tools can also be useful, by helping you monitor whether staff are taking advantage of annual leave, so you can bring it up and set the right example. A profitable and competitive practice Like your clients, you’ve probably introduced new ways to cut costs and make money over the last 12 months. Perhaps you’re paying less rent – through downsizing, renegotiating your lease or dispensing with your office space altogether. Maybe the cash coming in has changed too, if you’ve settled on a new pricing model or a different way of charging clients. With more accountants offering support online and bundling their services in similar ways, the playing field between practices has been levelled. Traditionally, business owners in London would probably turn to accountants in their local area. But now, what’s to stop them from hiring advisers in

XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.

Newcastle, Newport, or anywhere else in the country? After all, most of their interactions are going to be over the phone anyway. This trend is nothing new. Take Bench, an enormously successful online accounting firm across the pond, which provides both software and access to oneon-one bookkeeping support. Crunch, which is offering a similar service to UK businesses, is also gathering pace. You may not be ready to strip back entirely, but with more practices providing the same services at ever more competitive prices, an online-only model is lighter, more scalable and well worth considering. Growing your practice with new services While the pandemic has dealt small businesses a heavy blow, it’s also made them grasp the cash moving through their business better than ever before. As a result, cashflow and funding services have never been more viable.

At the time of writing, government-backed CBILS loans were still set to end on 31 March. If the scheme does finish as planned, the lending market will change a great deal. As lenders tighten their belts, they’ll continue to favour growing businesses using funding for stock and asset purchases, rather than struggling businesses trying to stay afloat. How much energy should your practice expend when it comes to business finance, especially if funding isn’t your area of expertise? Often, in an adjacent service like this it makes more sense to work with a partner, who can take on the admin, paperwork and compliance risk. We can help here – by searching through lenders to make a recommendation on your behalf, so you can support clients more easily. Getting smarter and more efficient with technology

By streamlining the tools and systems your practice uses, you can free up your team from the drudgery of constantly having to learn new pieces of software. A simpler set-up also creates something more replicable and lightweight, that’s easier to grow. You’re ready to hit the ground running, with your entire team poised to advise clients, rather than a select group of specialists. Fluidly allows you to do exactly that. From forecasting to funding, we give you everything you need to know about clients’ cashflow in one place – so you can support more clients, launch new services and grow your practice.

FIND OUT MORE...

Like the wellbeing of your team and your firm’s profitability, the success of your practice increasingly relies on the tools

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you use to support clients. Too many systems doing too many different things adds cost and inefficiency to your business. Simplifying things reduces this threat.

Visit our website at: fluidly.com/accountantsfunding/

Issue 26 / 33

Ways to Improve Your Recruiting Results

How to hire top talent more efficiently

@HRPartner

Fiona Adler, Director, HR Partner Fiona is passionate about helping small and medium businesses get the tools and know-how to grow and streamline their operations. She has worked with SMB’s for over 20 years - creating and building online solutions that help them operate in the best ways possible. With a background in business consulting and an MBA, Fiona knows there is nothing more important than the Human Resources function.

Learn the recruiting shortcuts to recruiting that will save you time AND help you find the best candidates for your company.

or small and medium businesses, recruiting is one of the most important tasks you can do, but also one of the most time consuming. When you operate with a lean team, every single team member is critical, and we all know how different the outcomes are when we hire an average performer, compared to a top performer.

Good recruiting processes (and systems) and make a huge difference to your recruiting outcomes. Here are 5 easy ways to improve your recruiting results… 1) Start with a Clear and Compelling Job Advertisement Your job advertisement should be factual, but it also needs to convince potential applicants

to apply - especially those that may not be actively looking. Remember, you’re trying to attract a pool of the best applicants possible! It should not be a straight copy of the position description. Be sure to include words and phrases that potential applicants will be searching for as these can make the difference between your ad being seen or being invisible. 2) Put together a Selection Panel Decide who will be involved in the recruiting process for this role. Perhaps you’ll include the line manager, but maybe also some of the colleagues who’ll be working alongside this new hire will also have some good insights to share. 3) Use an Application Form for Efficient Screening Think through some questions to ask on your application form. If you require certain qualifications, or experience, ask for it here. If you require strong writing skills,

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ask them to write a response to something that would demonstrate those skills. A well thought out application form can help you get a lot faster with the initial screening process. 4) Take a Methodical Approach Before publishing your position, decide how you will move candidates through your recruitment process. For example, your stages might include application screening, phone interviews, online interviews, face-to-face interviews, technical tests, personality tests, practical projects, reference checks and more. Keep your candidates organised using a Kanban approach. 5) Use an Applicant Scorecard

role (and also for the company). Have a list of 3-6 key qualities that you and other selection panelists can hone in on when assessing each candidate. This helps everyone stay more objecting and focussed when comparing different candidates.

In Conclusion If you’re recruiting regularly, using an email system quickly becomes a nightmare for processing applicants. It’s too easy to lose track of good candidates and get overwhelmed with which stage everyone is up to.

6) Recruit Fast! The best candidates will always have plenty of options to choose from, so don’t delay or be complacent. Use email templates to make communication fast and easy, and keep candidates informed of where they’re up to. If the decision-makers are not sure, it’s best to encourage them to organise another interview and dive into any areas of concern rather than stall the process (and potentially lose the candidate).

When creating the position, decide upfront on the attributes that are most important for this

Visit the XU Hub: Go to www.xumagazine.com

HR Partner is an online HR platform designed specifically for businesses between 20 and 500 employees. It includes a full Applicant Tracking System (ATS) to make recruiting simple, and also integrates with Xero for tracking employee leave.

FIND OUT MORE... Start a free trial today or request a no-obligation demo. Plus, right now, HR Partner is offering you 50% off for the first 6 months! www.hrpartner.io

Issue 26 / 35

Do you enjoy data entry? Neither do we. AutoEntry leads the industry in automated data entry. Whether it’s invoices, receipts or especially bank statements, we take the pain and hassle out of data entry. We’re especially proud of what we can do with bank statements, there are other automation services on the market, but none automate bank statements like we do.

Find out why AutoEntry leads the industry in automation and how to automate your bank statements with our webinar at autoentry.com/bank_statements_webinar You’ll also learn the numerous benefits of accounts automation, from the immediate and obvious to the more subtle and nuanced.

www.AutoEntry.com

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Automated Data Entry for Accountants, Bookkeepers and Business Owners

NEVER MANUALLY ENTER A BANK STATEMENT AGAIN!

BANK STATEMENTS

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Issue 26 / 37

BANK STATEMENTS

Why automation is key for effective accounts receivable management Businesses waste countless hours each year trying to keep track of and chase their receivables. Meanwhile, they could be saving upwards of 15 hours per week with accounts receivables automation.

n business, it can feel like a constant race against the clock. The last thing anyone needs is to have to chase up late customer payments. The reality is; however, an increasing number of businesses are finding themselves in this position now more than ever. The true lost cost in all of this? Wasted time. Businesses can recoup this lost time by simply automating their accounts receivables. Here’s both the why and the how. When a business provides goods or a service to a customer, but does not ask for immediate payment, this is classed as accounts receivables. It is money that customers owe to a business for goods and services already provided. The money is expected to be paid at a set date in the future, and therefore accountants include it as an asset on the business’s balance sheet. The good vs the bad of accounts receivables The truth: most businesses don’t expect to ever reclaim 100% of these monies. So why do it? Ultimately, it shows that the business was able to obtain

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orders, and successfully deliver them to a customer. Fundamentals for a successful business When the customers are regular and reliable, there is a benefit from selling goods and services on credit, as it acts as a steady income. Businesses can invoice these customers periodically, reducing costs of processing small transactions, and knowing the invoices will be paid. Some other good reasons to sell goods or services on credit are: • Customers are more likely to buy from you if they do not feel obligated to pay upfront • They can be considered as assets which are valuable for business viability • It accounts for items sold (but not yet paid for) on the balance sheet Why can it become a problem? Simply… unreliable customers who don’t pay. Businesses will need to absorb the loss of defaults and therefore need to assume that there will always be a certain amount not received. They need to account for this. When selling to a customer, despite what they say, there is

@chaser_hq

Sonia Dorais, Chief Executive Officer, Chaser With nearly 20 years of experience working in fastgrowing businesses, Sonia is the CEO & CMO of Chaser. Prior to this role, Sonia led the growth of numerous fintechs in both Canada and the UK that specialised in the digitisation and automation of finance and accounting tasks and functions.

no way of knowing if they can (or will) truly pay. Having too many outstanding invoices in the accounts receivable looks like a troubled cash flow. These payments need to clear on time to be an asset. There’s always a risk providing goods and services before payment…it just depends whether it is considered worth it in the long run. Automating your accounts receivables As you can imagine, all of the above takes up countless hours of manually chasing receivables. This is why at Chaser, we aligned ourselves to solving the problem of late payments for businesses through automatic and intelligent email chasers. To date, Chaser has helped users chase over £3 billion in overdue invoices, without losing the human touch. How does it work and what are the benefits? The system works by streamlining all of a business’s chasing activity into a centralised hub. This means they can see every outstanding invoice in one, central location and avoids the risk of chasing too frequently, not at all, or even

XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.

chasing the wrong customer.

invoice reminders to clients.

Amongst many other capabilities, the Chaser keeps a track of contact details for customers, customer conversations and even provides data on customer payment history. We have simple templates and schedules that are customisable to individual needs and are stored within the system itself.

Xero highly recommended that Rosanna try Chaser, and she immediately saw the benefits: “I love how flexible Chaser is. It is easy to use; has great results and I’ve been really impressed by how easy it is to adapt the settings to our continually changing needs. We have saved at least 15 hours per week, and that’s me being stingy”. Chaser has helped Love Brands to maintain its great relationship with its customers.

This makes it as easy as possible for businesses to quickly send emails that get invoices paid. Does it work? Well… let’s take Love Brands as an example Credit Control Manager, Rossana anticipated that the business saved over 15 hours a week by simply implementing our credit control software into their accounting suite. When joining Love Brands, Rosanna very quickly identified that the system for credit control they had in place wasn’t working. Business was doing well, but with a very small team of Credit Controllers, keeping up with invoices was verging on impossible. Rossana asked their existing stock management software provider if they could send automated

We have personalisable invoice reminder templates and schedules which maintain the vitally important personal touch when automating invoice reminders to her customers. Some of the other benefits businesses see are: • Money and time saved on chasing invoices • Recovering more money owed than was ever possible manually • Maintaining that important customer brand and encouraging customer loyalty

the last thing a business wants or needs to do. It’s awkward, takes time and often gets overlooked; leaving businesses hoping that customers will simply just pay. While this might work occasionally, strategically it is not a viable way to run a business if you are offering a “buy now, pay later” service to your customers. At Chaser, we understand that businesses need to operate this way and that invoices can quickly get out of control. That’s why we designed this system. To help businesses keep on top of their invoices, in an easy, reliable and customer friendly way that helps to guarantee payment. If this all sounds like something you need, get in touch and we can get you set up for a free trial. We know you’ll love it. What will you do with all those hours saved?

Chaser helps businesses take back control of their invoicing system.

Find out more...

Conclusion

Find out more about Chaser: chaserhq.com/ integrations/xero

We know that chasing invoices is

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Issue 26 / 39

MinuteDock’s Guide to Time Blocking A different way to approach your work day!

@minutedock

Bryce Armstrong, Customer Success Manager, MinuteDock Bryce is dipping his toes into the cloud-based accounting ecosystem after recently partnering up with his brother Jared, founder of MinuteDock: time management software for professional services.

The team at MinuteDock have seen every kind of time management practice you could think of during their tenure as a top timekeeping service provider. Now they share one of their favourites.

e all know how valuable our time can be as a resource, and it seems like we never have enough of it, at work or at home. Being able to manage time effectively is one of the most important life skills we can develop, and part of this skill is being able to use effective time management techniques and solutions to stop the sands in the hourglass from draining away before we get all the things we need to do finished. Using a time keeping app is certainly the first step towards understanding how we spend our time. Once we do, the right time management worksheet can let us organise and spend our time more efficiently. You might find a

time blocking schedule to be just the tool you need to find time to accomplish all the tasks you need to get done in a given day.

within a given time block, allowing you to create a sense of urgency while you work and a feeling of accomplishment as you complete each time block.

The essence of time blocking as a time management strategy is to break down your day into time blocks and assign specifically how you will use each of those blocks. Breaking your day into smaller segments and knowing exactly which tasks you need to accomplish within the time frame of a given block allows you to put greater focus on managing your time and prevents time wastage. You can give yourself clear and achievable targets to focus on while you work as you can assign certain tasks to be completed

While ultimately the exact specifics of how you set up your time blocks and how you assign the time in those blocks is a matter of personal preference, there are some general ‘rules of engagement’ you should keep in consideration. First, it’s important not to let your time blocks be too big– your time blocking schedule needs to be established in a way in which you can make accurate estimates on what you can get done within each block. A set of blocks which are overly large will increase the number of things you are assigning yourself to do within a given block. You could find yourself halfway through a block realising that you have far too much to get done in your time remaining, causing yourself stress as well as causing your productivity to dive rather than rise. Alternatively, it would also be a mistake to make your time blocks exceedingly small. This would create a situation where you have

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XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.

a number of time blocks in your workday which seems neverending, leave you often without the necessary amount of time in a given block to make sure you can actually complete the work assigned to it, and create a mental environment where it seems like your workload is never ending and you are struggling to accomplish anything of significance. Consider the tasks which comprise a normal workday for you and try to figure out a length of time which you think is suitable to get the entirety of a task accomplished. Finding the right time block length for your workload will let you accomplish meaningful tasks during the day without you feeling burnt out. Rather, you will have the appropriate time to refresh and refocus your mental energy onto the next task. Your blocks should feel something like a race – the finish line should feel both attainable and like a genuine accomplishment.

Using time blocks lets you stay on top of your organisation, preventing you from forgetting tasks or feeling unsure of what to do next. A good time blocking schedule will double not only as a time management/productivity tool but also a general day planner. Being able to see with a quick glance everything you have on your plate for a given day is a benefit which could easily be overlooked. Having goals and putting just a little bit of time pressure on yourself can be a hugely positive thing for your productivity levels. While you will want to be careful not to stress yourself out, you’ll likely find that the sense of accomplishment from achieving a time sensitive target is incredibly motivating and will improve your productivity as well as your general work mentality. Breaking down your day into blocks stops the day from dragging along and lets you feel like you are starting and finishing

a number of things rather than just ‘working’ for eight hours. That sense of completing a given time block will allow you to mentally reset yourself. Assign a 5-minute coffee break between time blocks to refresh and get ready to reapply yourself for the next block. Time blocking can be a hugely rewarding thing to do when you commit to doing it properly. It can change the way you approach your work-day, and help you to maintain your productivity over the course of the day rather than slowing down as you lose energy. Whether it might work for you is something you’ll only discover by trying it out!

FIND OUT MORE... Check out MinuteDock Academy for more great tips: minutedock.com/academy

Help your clients plan for a brighter future Answer your clients’ key cash flow questions with Float.

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Issue 26 / 41

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POTENTIAL FRAUD

3 Days ago

Practice employee bank account same as supplier

AI Audit & Risk Alerts Increase data integrity, reduce manual tasks and the need for rework with our XBert risk alerts.

Practice employee Aaron Brown from Fab Accountants has the same bank account details as the contact Ready Industries Pty Ltd in the client file Greater Scapes and Structures. This could be fraudulent activity

DETAILS

RESOLVE

Last viewed by

XBert is

Julie Rogerson

not assigned

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Template Creation

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Julie Rogerson assigned

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Month-end journals missing

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Julie Rogerson

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Issue 26 / 43 1

Customer Service in a Digital World The importance of Customer service and use of technology has never been more important. How important are your values? @AdvanceTrack

Vipul Sheth ACA CTA, Founder and Managing Director, AdvanceTrack Outsourcing 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. AdvanceTrack is a UK Headquartered Accountancy Outsourcing Company with offshore operational centres, delivering services around the globe. AdvanceTrack demonstrates compliance with international security laws including GDPR through certification to ISO27001:2013 and BS10012 audited by BSI. Quality is certified to ISO9001:2015 and Business Continuity certified to ISO22301:2019.

ur approach has always been to support accountants to put their clients at the focus of what they do. This doesn’t mean they need only do it for a short, or interim, period. It is about being consistent in your dealings with clients. You might ask yourself: ‘Why is this important?’ But, think about what happens when a client leaves. They will tell you that it’s because of the price, but it’s usually down to service levels - they use price as ‘cover’ for the real reasons. Clients like to have certainty in their dealings, and feel the service they receive is valuable.

Higher Consumer Expectations Think of your online deliveries. Whether we like doing business with businesses like Amazon or not, they have raised the expectation levels of consumers across the globe. Think back to a time, perhaps not that long ago, say ten years, when you ordered something online. If this arrived a week later, you were delighted. Now, if you’ve not received a confirmation within 24 hours, you’re on the phone or sending the retailer a message asking of its whereabouts. This change in expectation is not just in the retail world. It applies equally to professional services, such as accountancy, tax or bookkeeping. It is important that this relationship is managed well. Consider a retailer. The customer may buy only one item in that category each year, and may not have brand loyalty.

Fig. 1

For professional services, the client returns year after year. They don’t have to, and you have to remember that they are sophisticated consumers. When you consider how

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XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.

professional services businesses are valued, the recurring nature of that relationship is important in the valuation of your firm. In our opinion, it goes beyond that. Successful people tend to surround themselves with people of a similar ilk. If you don’t share that mindset, they will deduce that and take their business to someone that acts similarly. Mediocre is not acceptable to these people. If you are having that regular dialogue with them, they understand first and foremost that you care. They understand you, your people and what drives you. Don’t be scared of showing them what you stand for. Otherwise, you’re just another corporate who doesn’t have the values they share. How has COVID changed your clients’ view of the world? Not every business has been impacted by COVID. But, it’s fair to say, more businesses have been negatively impacted than positively impacted. As a business’s finances are tighter, they will look more carefully at all their costs, including their accountancy fees. My experience in practice was always that if you spoke to your clients regularly about what you are doing for them, there were never any surprises. If there are no surprises, there is a good understanding of what you are doing and what the outcomes will be. This is as important for a client paying £2,000 or £200,000. It is important not to only focus on the £200,000 client. You will have more £2,000 clients than £200,000 clients. Even at big firms, there will be more at the lower end of the scale than the higher end. Keep more of them happy, you will have more advocates for your business, and it’s a lot easier to get them to move up to £5,000, £10,000 etc. than to get £200,000 clients moving up.

Make your service personal

those that don’t display the same characteristics as them.

Talking from personal experience, my parents had regular interaction with their accountant in a pre-cloud world.

Any entrepreneur running a business cares passionately about their families and their businesses. Many employ staff. These staff The key to their relationship was an just want to know they have a job alignment of personal and business that will allow them to run their lives. The entrepreneur wants to goals. This wasn’t an accident on give that certainty, to them and David’s part (their accountant). He their families. Imagine, as that called his entire client base on a entrepreneur if they didn’t have the rolling basis. He didn’t choose to call, or the ability to call one at the expense of speak to someone the other. I recall sitting Successful people … who just was able in his office opposite surround themselves to say: “I’ve looked him as a 17 yearwith people of a similar at your finances old watching him ilk. If you don’t share and with our spend his day that mindset, they will help, you’ll come calling clients all …. take their business through fine”? day - every day. to someone that acts

similarly. When you strip it This gave him insight back, it’s not difficult. into his clients’ lives, which allowed these clients to The impact of the Cloud call him when they needed help. He never charged for that ongoing Digital practices, those operating call, but because he cared enough from the cloud, were best-placed to call, when they had an issue, to handle the unprecedented they didn’t think about who to call. working conditions of the past year. It made that fee discussion a very Unencumbered by servers, or tied easy conversation. to unwieldy software and unwieldy contracts, they have been able to In a cloud world, all that changes is utilise digital tools to serve clients that you have greater information and do it away from the office. to discuss with the client. You still need to make a call. Sending them They are now well-placed to build an email is not enough – it’s too on even closer ties with their clients impersonal and doesn’t elicit a to support them with a range conversation. of forward-facing and businessbuilding services – using tools Has COVID changed the dial? delivered on the cloud. In this COVID environment, the So what should you be doing? firms we’ve seen cope best with COVID were those that followed I can sit here and tell you that this same approach. From the outsourcing and offshoring is smallest to the largest client, they the answer to it all. I won’t. But made that call, to show they cared. if you have the mindset to use Whether it was a first-year trainee your people better and provide who made the call or the managing a more valuable service, then partner, someone at these firms outsourcing and offshoring can reached out at an immediate point make a big, positive, difference. It’s of need and said to them: “We’re a consideration I’ll come back to here for you.” later. The firms that sent their staff home Firstly, you need to look at your on jobkeeper/furlough schemes, client’s journey/experience with who didn’t answer the phones, your firm (see fig. 1). have been the ones that have lost clients to the ones that cared. This is just one example of a typical Why? I go back to the message workflow for a compliance service about successful people; removing

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Issue 26 / 45

being delivered to a client. The more efficient and technologically enabled this process, the more painless that service is. Once the pain has been removed from both the firm and the client, and each party knows their respective responsibilities, it is easier to have an open conversation about them and their business. So, you’ve got the compliance process right, and are prepared to have deeper, more forward-facing, conversations with your clients. How do you do this? The strategic use of offshore resource can help the onshore team deliver service that keeps the clients coming back for more. They will spread the word about what you and your team did for them. Think of online reviews. You hear from 100% of the unhappy customers and a fraction of those that are happy. It means that you are constantly looking to add clients to keep growing. Where

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clients do support your marketing is when you offer a very highvalue service. In other words, you need to wow the majority of your existing client base. This keeps your client fees growing as your clients’ business prospers from your expertise. Our profession changes lives – but not by producing a set of accounts. If you can demonstrate year after year that you’re changing theirs and their families’ lives, they’ll be referring clients on to you constantly. They’ll also be paying you for more services and their existing services.

management and relationships down to team members across the business. This is important in many ways. First and foremost, it gives increased capacity to serve the client base. More importantly, the culture of the business embeds that service ethos from the trainee upwards. We see these people as leaders of the future and able to attract the right talent to the business to keep that going. Driving client service drives better outcomes for clients and staff. AdvanceTrack can help your firm deeply embed this, whilst improving the profitability of the business.

Free up time to be valuable We believe the effective use of offshore delivery through AdvanceTrack’s dedicated offshoring and outsourcing services will free up time in your practice. We have seen the most successful firms moving more client

FIND OUT MORE... Discuss your Outsourcing or Dedicated Offshoring Requirements with an expert: advancetrack.com/start-here

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Issue 26 / 47

Going independent with your app providers

@MarketFinance

Chris Findlow, Head of Partnerships, MarketFinance Chris Findlow is Head of Partnerships at MarketFinance. He’s passionate about helping SMEs get access to funding and working with entrepreneurs to free up more time to focus on growing their business.

The importance of good customer support from your provider

hether you’re setting up a brand new digital accounting firm, or switching to a more up-to-date cloud system, it’s important to choose the right app providers. The choice of cloud platforms, online fintech solutions and accounting-focused apps currently on the market is huge, so picking the best tools for your app stack can be a challenge. But high-quality customer support from your app providers should be at the heart of your decision-making process. Chris Findlow goes through the key attributes to look for in your ideal app providers, and why a trusted relationship is vital. Tech as the foundation for the digital practice The evolution of cloud accounting has come a long way in the past decade. Technology and software applications have become the solid bedrock of many firms operational processes and dayto-day accounting tasks. Xero has evolved from a cloud-based accounting tool into a flexible and diverse cloud platform, with access to a growing number of

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integrated apps. The average Xero practice is likely to have its own tailored ‘app stack’, an integrated and connected suite of apps that provide the functional centre of their business. This tech really is the backbone of the firm. But this dependency on software does create its own issues. If the tech doesn’t work, the practice can’t function, so it’s imperative that you have a mix of app providers who offer a solid, reliable and supportive service. How Xero has inspired the growth of independent app providers The Xero ecosystem is gigantic, with an app store containing over 800+ solutions. There are 19 different function categories and 14 different industry-specific categories available in the store. Many of these are run by thirdparty, independent software providers. Having an open application programming interface (API) has been one of the drivers of Xero’s success as a platform. This open API allows any small software startup to build a useful business app, integrate it with Xero and

share any relevant financial information between both apps. That’s been a gamechanger and has allowed the popularity and growth of many of the apps we see in the standard Xero accounting firm app stack. Solutions like Receipt Bank, Chaser, Tripcatcher, GoCardless (and even MarketFinance) have all benefited from having that straightforward, simple Xero integration in place. But with such a large market of apps to choose from, it’s easy to see how a Xero accountant may be somewhat ‘blinded by choice’ when it comes to selecting the apps for their stack. The importance of customer service, support and software innovation There’s a giant Xero ecosystem of useful business apps and practice management tools to choose from when formulating your ideal app stack. But how do you know if you’ve chosen the right apps for your particular firm? Tech and cloud software are now vital to the efficient running of your accounting practice. So, there’s a real imperative to choose apps that work well and

XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.

support your end goals. For example, your apps need to provide: • Simple, straightforward Xero integration – a good app needs to seamlessly connect with Xero, with the minimum of fuss and reference to their FAQ page. The easier the app is to set up, the less of a hurdle there will be to getting your app stack up and running. • An easy-to-learn user interface – the user interface needs to be intuitive and simple to navigate, so your staff and your business clients can easily start using the app. The last thing you need is a new app with a steep learning curve as this impacts on efficiency. • Reasonable pricing and subscription packages – most cloud-based apps will work on a monthly subscription basis, so you’ll need to factor this cost into your annual budget. Have a look at how many apps you need, and how many you can realistically afford to take on. • Excellent customer support and user feedback – it’s essential to have an app helpline that’s available to help you solve any operational issues, when (and if) they do arise. It’s also a plus if the app’s development team is open to hearing about new ideas for functions, processes and innovative user experiences. This helps to drive development and lets the app grow alongside your firm and the wider user community. Trusting your provider with the smooth running of your practice The need for solid customer support from your app provider can’t be overstated. In the perfect scenario, you’re looking for a software company that offers friendly, human, 1-2-1 interactions with users. You don’t want interactions that leave you feeling like a job number in a customer support queue (as tends to happen with some of the bigger players).

Ultimately, you need to trust your app provider – after all, they’re part of the ongoing success of your firm. A software company could suddenly stop supporting your app, or be bought out by a large tech conglomerate and lose its customer service edge. These eventualities can have a profound impact on the way you run your accounting firm. To improve your relationship with your app providers, try: • Building a solid relationship with your provider’s account manager – get to know your account manager and build up a trusted partnership. This puts you front of mind for beta testing, case studies or events that need an experienced featured speaker. • Attending webinars and events for end users – become part of the user community for each app and dive deep into the ecosystem. The more users and peers you’re connecting with, the more tips, hacks and shortcuts you’ll hear about. • Talking to their dev team – make sure you’ve got a line of communication with the app developers, so you can feedback comments from your clients. This helps to drive innovation in the app and makes the software more tailored to your needs. • Becoming part of their beta test team – most apps will want to beta test new updates and features. By volunteering for beta testing, you get all the juicy new features and functionality before your peers, and can help to steer the development process. How Market Finance supports the Xero app ecosystem

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At MarketFinance, we’re proud to be part of the Xero app ecosystem. Our integration with Xero means a quick and simple process, from application through to funding. That’s been key to our success in helping Xero accounting firms to provide funding to their clients. Connecting your client’s Xero account with MarketFinance means they can apply for various forms of business finance in minutes. We can automatically access the information we need to review the client’s application, all with just a few clicks – and our support team is always on hand to help with any issues or questions throughout the application process. We’re also very happy to support and partner with other providers in the Xero ecosystem. We’ve run and co-sponsored webinars and events for our accountant audience, and support the growth of the fintech and accounting ecosystem for Xero users. If your firm is looking for a simple, elegant way to offer funding services to clients, we’d love to hear from you. As part of your tried and tested Xero app stack, we’re glad to be the funding route of choice for many Xero firms and their business clients.

FIND OUT MORE... Find out more about MarketFinance and how we support your accounting firm: marketfinance.com/ accountants

Issue 26 / 49

Advisors share figures. Extraordinary ones turn them into insights. Wolters Kluwer Tax & Accounting UK has officially launched finsit, its cloud-based financial insights platform, to CCH OneClick customers. With finsit you can ensure your insights not only stay relevant but become invaluable.

ncreased technology automation is rapidly changing the industry. Development at Wolters Kluwer is always driven by our focus on customer success in a changing industry, so we can help you when it matters most during times of uncertainty. With that in mind, we have worked to create a tool that builds insight, both for your practice and for your clients, in an efficient and profitable way. The finsit solution turns complex numbers into visual experiences that make it easier for advisors and their clients to make informed, efficient financial

decisions. There has never been a more important time to show your value to your clients. The platform was developed specifically for accountants who want to strengthen their offerings by exceeding expectations and creating broader value for their clients. Adapting to a changing industry efficiently and effortlessly While the shift to advisory has been in place for some time, the uncertainty brought on by external factors has heightened the demand for sound financial advice from accountants. Brexit, and the aftermath of the agreements, will drive businesses to increasingly look to accountants as trusted advisors to help guide them through new legislation, tax, and VAT regulations. Your clients will be looking for two things as they face this period of change and uncertainty in the new normal. Firstly, data-rich conversations in real time that will allow them to prepare for the unknown landscape before them.

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@wolterskluweruk

Phil Thornton, Lead Technology Product Manager for Digital, Wolters Kluwer Phil is responsible for bringing our digitalisation strategy to market. Phil spends his time working with our customers to understand what becoming a digital practice means to them, what is happening in the market and how to build solutions that will support our customers on this journey. Phil believes that digitalisation will bring about many opportunities for the industry.

Secondly, advice and insight as they navigate the compliance and lockdown incentives put in place by the government. In short, there is an appetite for your expertise. With this heightened demand for your knowledge and demonstrating value, you can make your offering more profitable across your client base. The need for effortless financial reporting has never been more important. You will need to prioritise data analysis over data entry and real-time, datarich conversations with clients over retrospective reports and compliance-led work. This will then allow time for higher-value advisory work. Just as uncertainty has been a catalyst for the rise in advisory services, COVID-19 has become a catalyst for investment in cloud and hosting technologies, enabling secure remote working and business analytics. The next step is to make technology work for your advisory services, making them indispensable. That’s where finsit comes into its own.

XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.

Finsit enables accountants to leverage technology to give real-time and data-rich advice The finsit solution turns complex numbers into visual experiences that make it easier for advisors and their clients to make informed, efficient financial decisions. The platform was developed specifically for accountants who want to strengthen their offerings by exceeding expectations and creating broader value for their clients. This a cloud-based platform for the accounting and auditing professions which gives customers the opportunity to see their finances presented in a visually appealing, digestible format, making it easier to have insight-rich conversations with clients and provide proactive advice.

reporting across all clients streamlined and more consistent from a single location, as you deliver valuable financial insights. You can build loyalty as your practice becomes a trusted partner for your clients’ business growth. You will ensure your insights not only stay relevant but become invaluable, taking the next step into a clearer financial future together with your clients. Finsit offers: • clean, simple visual reports that can be accessed on laptops, tablets, or mobile devices • streamlined reporting processes, helping businesses better understand their company’s financial outlook • full integration with bookkeeping systems Early adopters already seeing results

Finsit is accessed through CCH OneClick, a secure set of cloud tools for true collaboration. Together with CCH OneClick, you can drive business growth for your clients with secure online collaboration and effortless financial insights. Build loyalty, become indispensable With finsit, you can make

Many of our customers have been making use of digital tools, including finsit, not only to boost their agility and efficiency but also to meet the needs of their customers by building out an advisory offering. These early adopters have seen for themselves how finsit enabled growth in efficiencies and offerings to clients. Partner at Reddy Siddiqui, Fozia Muddassir, has been using finsit in the UK as an early adopter. She says, “I value being able to

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access finsit via my CCH OneClick software. It means that I have all that I need in one place.” “When you bring together great accountancy advice and superior software, it’s a real enabler for higher-value work. It makes practices more efficient, more productive, more valuable to our clients, and, as a result gives us greater longevity. This is the direction in which accounting practices should be moving and finsit is a great tool to help us to do that.” James Goodman, Partner at Consilium Chartered Accountants, has also been an active participant in the early adopter program and says the industry is changing and providing insight and advisory services has never been more important. He says, “I think this is how we as accountants need to be positioning ourselves and our services, especially now. Finsit is exactly the tool to help us provide this insight in an effortless manner and remain valuable to our clients.” Suitable for practices of all sizes, finsit is already an established cloud-based service in Scandinavia, having been used by accounting firms in the region since 2006. Existing customers include BDO, Grant Thornton, Aspia and EY.” Matt Crook, Managing Director of

Issue 26 / 51

See effortless reporting in action Your clients will be seeking out advice from accountants with future-proofed systems that produce real-time insights, which will be paramount as businesses prepare for the unknown.

Wolters Kluwer Tax & Accounting UK remarked, “We strive to deliver technology for the real world and have developed a secure platform, tailor-made for the accounting profession. Finsit streamlines the reporting process for our CCH OneClick customers with seamless delivery, helping accountants and their clients better understand their business performance and drive outcomes.”

He continues, “At Wolters Kluwer Tax & Accounting UK, we help professionals to deliver deep impact when it matters most. Finsit provides an opportunity for an accountancy practice to shine, both to existing clients but also to prospects, by providing valuable insight. We look forward to expanding the availability of finsit in the future.”

Our early adopters have already seen the value of using tools like finsit to demonstrate this value. If you want to see finsit in action, join our Director of Product Management, Gareth Cram, who will host a panel discussion with early adopters of finsit, showcasing how it has enabled growth in efficiencies and offerings to clients. Register for the webinar here.

Find out more... Get in touch today for a demonstration on how to become an extraordinary advisor with finsit. Book a demo.

I’ll get my teams hours to you tonight...

Are your tradie clients too slow getting paperwork to you?

Job Management For Builders 52 / Issue 26

www.nextminute.com

XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.

Billing & Payment Automation Do your clients sell complex subscription or usage products? Emersion makes it easy for your team to handle high volumes of complicated accounts receivable work while improving your clients cash flow and profit margins. We can automate the entire billing and payment process for MSPs, Telcos, Wholesalers and Utility Providers and synchronise the data back to Xero in real time.

Reduce your workload Free up your team’s time with automatic invoice generation, dispatch, payment processing.

Streamline billing operations Usage and pro-rata charges are automatically calculated and applied to every invoice.

Collections notifications

Send automated collections notifications for overdue invoices, payment failures and expiring credit cards.

Payment integrations Emersion integrates to local banks and payment gateways enabling multiple payment methods and lower fees than commonly used providers.

Real-time synchronisation Synchronise account, transaction, payment and invoice data from Emersion to Xero in real time.

Online customer portals Empower customers to update their account details, view invoices and make payments online with our online customer portals.

Accounting practices in Australia and New Zealand – join our partner program and you'll receive a referral bonus when a client of yours signs up with Emersion. Visit the XU Hub: Go to www.xumagazine.com Follow us on Twitter: @xumagazine www.emersion.com/xero_partners

Issue 26 / 53

The payment method that helps your clients sleep at night

Learn how iwocaPay is changing accounts receivable for good

@iwoca

Daniella Camilleri, Product Marketing Manager, iwoca Daniella works with the iwocaPay team to help small businesses get their invoices paid sooner by making it easier for their customers to settle up. Coming from consumer fintech, she loves understanding what makes people tick and helping them get the most value out of a product.

When Stuart discovered iwocaPay, he was looking for a way to help his clients stop worrying about cash flow and focus on the future of their businesses.

anchester accountant Stuart Hurst leads the Northern Hub at Accounts and Legal; helping clients set and reach their goals using smart tech integrations to give a service that goes beyond traditional accounting. The challenge Unpaid invoices cause unnecessary stress and cash flow squeezes for

both clients and accountants. Over time, Stuart found himself doing more and more work to help his clients with cash flows especially during the pandemic. For 9 out of 10 of his clients, their payables were ‘massively outweighed’ - sometimes by over six figures - by their outstanding invoices. This was a stressful strain on cash flow. More

importantly, it is an avoidable problem. Generally, clients were taking a ‘hope for the best’ approach to getting paid, reluctant to chase payments for fear of damaging relationships with customers. ‘There’s a tendency to pay who screams the loudest. If you don’t ask for it you don’t get.’ Ultimately it leads to a chain of cash flow juggling, where someone’s waiting to be paid so that they can pay someone else. It’s a lose-lose situation for everyone involved and it needs to stop. The situation was worse for clients who were already giving their customers more flexibility and extended payment terms. It meant they were always footing the bill either by waiting for people to pay and not getting the money all in straight away or by just them not paying it. For clients that were looking to grow rapidly, they needed the cash to invest in their business and reach those heights. ‘Cash flow is the key to expanding, for accountants and their clients! It’s

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XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.

quite exciting to work with clients who are looking to grow and, if the bookkeeping gets bigger and you start doing more strategic stuff, it means with larger fees for you too.’ Stuart needed a solution that would help his clients get the cash they needed in the bank sooner, without relying on them to chase after it. “One of the things that keeps you up at night is the money you’re owed. It’s [iwocaPay] certainly something my dad could have done with 20 years ago, people not paying promptly certainly wreaked havoc on our lives for sure. Especially right now with COVID there are a lot of people under financial pressure.” The solution A simple checkout process that gets clients paid up front while giving their customers flexibility. Stuart has added iwocaPay to his payment tools alongside Stripe and GoCardless. iwocaPay goes beyond facilitating payment and adds a simple checkout to your clients invoices; their customers choose to Pay Now or Pay Later and spread the cost over 3 months. ‘It’s sorted right at the start of the relationship, there’s the invoice and here’s the terms you pay it on. They can decide if you want extra time there and then and then it’s not our clients’ problem if they don’t pay, it’s iwocaPays’!’ Unlike the others, with iwocaPay up front payments are free for your client and their customer. ‘Pay Now is great and it’s free - so it saves a few pennies for those that are really watching the cost and makes paying easier.’ If they opt to Pay Later your client pays a 3% fee (charged at the end of the month) to cover the credit and collections costs, and their client pays interest after 30 days. It’s a ‘pay as you go’ model based on usage, there’s no subscription fees or payment charges. No matter what the customer chooses your client gets paid the full amount the second their customer checks out.

‘From a customer perspective it’s great, I haven’t seen many businesses offer 90 days, and certainly not in such an easy to access way, particularly on the range of invoice value - so even businesses on the smaller side make use of it right up to the larger firms. And from our clients perspective the fact that they can get that money straight away without any risk is really appealing, particularly for those that are working in industries where it can be difficult to get paid or the payment structure is often spread out - it’s a great way of offering customers extended terms but you still get the money right away. It’s one less thing to worry about. You sleep a little bit easier at night, which is a bit cheesy, but true. It’s fit really well.’ Better yet, iwocaPay integrates seamlessly with Xero (with more platforms in the pipeline) making reconciliation effortless. “I love the fact that everythings connected. Xero is my absolute favourite accounting product. It’s our main tool, but you can’t just stop there, that’s just ridiculous in this day and age. Otherwise you’re leaving value on the table.’ With iwocaPay Stuart can get even more visibility into his clients finances, helping him work with clients to create strategic plans and make real improvements - going above and beyond just saving tax money and setting up compliance.

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The pitch iwocaPay’s straightforward setup and hands on support made getting clients on board easy. Some things take a lot of time to explain to customers, even just to get them to understand why it’s useful. Not iwocaPay. ‘It’s not complicated to show someone this, it’s an easy sell, you don’t need proper time to go through details with them, it’s very accessible and it’s a quick win on the payment side of things.’ When it comes to getting clients comfortable introducing it to their customers, iwocaPay has a whole host of resources and support available to them. Your client will get a launch pack and a dedicated account manager as soon as they sign up so they can get the most out of iwocaPay as quickly as possible. Stuart took a systematic approach to rolling iwocaPay out to his clients, focusing on 5-10 he thought needed it most first. ‘Phase one is: who would this make life better for almost overnight.’ He organised calls with them and walked them through the iwocaPay demo journey. After that, look at clients who use more traditional payment methods that come with a standing charge. Next, feature it on your website, blog, newsletter or social media as a ‘new tool in the toolbox’. Stuart even has a mini newsletter at the end of his

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invoices showcasing upcoming features. Sharing videos is something Stuart has found work especially well in the past, ‘clients who I wouldn’t have thought would be interested will see that and contact me about it, so it’s quite nice to do that kind of stuff to to get them to reach out as well.’ Overall, Stuart is excited that his

56 / Issue 26

clients have a new tool to help them get paid. ‘The accounts receivable bit of accounting is always an interesting one because it’s the bit that often gets the least love but is the most important. We still find that asking for money is a bit of a taboo among clients and it’s still difficult for people. We’re always thinking about what actions can we actually take to make something better

- iwocaPay is one of those tools that makes accounts receivables better and as a trusted advisor it’s our job to tell them about it.’

FIND OUT MORE... iwocaPay was built to get B2B invoices paid - find out more: iwoca.co.uk/iwocapay-sellers

XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.

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Issue 26 / 57

Cover Case Study Story

Add app advisory to your offering and become an even more trusted advisor A guide to help your clients be more efficient while boosting the value of your business...

@WorkflowMax

Larissa Paris, Head of Sales - Southern Hemisphere, WorkfowMax I’m the new WorkflowMax Head of Sales and I’ve got more than 16 years of sales and leadership experience in the tech space. I love building high performing sales teams and executing global sales strategies and was pivotal in developing the Xero partner channel in New Zealand. I’m super passionate about how software can make a real difference in the lives of our partners and customers to create more time and space for the really important stuff!

As a trusted advisor, you want to be confident with your recommendations to clients and proactive in helping them succeed. But with so many apps in the marketplace saying they’re the best for small business, how do you know which to get behind and recommend? You become an app advisor!

dding app advisory to your skill set is a powerful way to boost your own knowledge, service offering and revenue while you help clients work smarter. We recently caught up with a Xero partner who is doing all this for his clients and more!

About eight years ago, Scott and his business partner discovered Xero. It was around the same time they were setting up a bookkeeping company that also provided cloud integration app advisory. When they saw what Xero could do, they decided to build their business around it.

right clients too,” says Scott.

Meet Scott Elder, the founder of App Advisor, based in Adelaide, Australia. App Advisor’s goal is to help businesses combine systems, processes and people so they thrive. Scott has a deep understanding of the accounting industry and latest software applications.

Scott says, “We started with two clients who weren’t using Xero so they were our first conversions. Since then, we’ve converted more than 200 companies to Xero and implemented apps that work well with it.”

He thinks WorkflowMax is a great match for professional services businesses. “WorkflowMax offers very good value for money. It does what it says on the box, it’s easy to use and integrates well with Xero. Compared to other systems, it’s got just the right level of functionality for service businesses that make their money from time,” says Scott.

He believes that building app advisory skills can vastly improve the relationship accountants and bookkeepers have with their clients and result in a win/win for both. In fact, Xero research highlights how small businesses grow net profit 23% faster when they’re working with an advisor and 30% faster when using apps in the cloud.

58 / Issue 26

When Scott’s company reached Xero silver partner program status, they were offered Xero Practice Manager (XPM) as their practice workflow tool. They soon found out about WorkflowMax as well, and how it was built on the same back end as XPM but to help small businesses manage jobs and projects. “We liked XPM for ourselves and I knew it would make sense to learn and recommend WorkflowMax to the

Scott did the WorkflowMax online advisor course which included videos, tutorials and a face-to-face meeting to get up to speed. And he got a lot of support from the WorkflowMax team whenever he had a question.

Huge benefits for everyone when apps work together It’s not just small business owners who benefit from combining Xero with WorkflowMax and other integrated apps. Accountants and bookkeepers can see deeper into a business to understand

XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.

Case Study Join our webinar at AU education month: Your guide to becoming a WorkflowMax app advisor On Wednesday 24 March at 11am, we’ll take you through the basics of becoming an app advisor, including: • Identifying the clients you want to target • Creating your pricing model • Profiling clients’ businesses • Mapping apps to requirements • Working with an implementation partner • Following up with clients and identifying new opportunities Register now and we look forward to seeing you! Webinar link: xero.com/au/campaigns/ education-month

what’s really happening and offer informed advice, based on realtime data. Scott says, “You can analyse jobs in WorkflowMax while they’re in progress. And WorkflowMax lets you see the value of past work and what’s in the pipeline so you can help clients set benchmarks and forecasts. WorkflowMax can also be configured to work with systems like Power BI for in-depth business intelligence reporting, plus a range of other apps. These insights are great for an accountant or bookkeeper to know and deliver to a business owner who’s too busy to find and interpret it.” App advisory in action Scott has recently implemented WorkflowMax for Sonnex, an engineering, steel fabrication and profile cutting company that’s based in South Australia. He says, “Working with Sonnex is a great example of how an accountant or bookkeeper with app advisory skills can really save a client time and improve

business processes. Matthew Worrell from Worrell & Co is the accountant for Sonnex. Matthew identified that the Sonnex team could benefit from a job management system to help the business get a better picture of job profitability. Matthew introduced me to the management team at Sonnex because he believed WorkflowMax would suit Sonnex well. I demonstrated WorkflowMax and then implemented the software for them.” The Sonnex team can now see job-by-job how their estimating compares to actuals and analyse profitability at a micro level. They can track each job as it progresses through their facility and update clients in near real time. Sonnex staff now enter time on their phones – a big change from when they used to have to record time and then enter it on job sheets as projects made their way through the facility. So double entry of time has been eliminated. And because invoices are seamlessly pushed into Xero, there are no time delays in invoice production. Many processes have been streamlined so the Sonnex team can concentrate on their projects, not admin. Management has been happy with the process to get WorkflowMax up and running

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and they’re pleased with the information they can now see. Matthew has monthly meetings with them to make sure everything’s working as it should. And he’s been talking about introducing Power BI for a better view of financial and operational performance.

Above: Scott Elder, Founder of App Advisor

Scott’s advice for getting into app advisory Scott says that if you’re an accountant or bookkeeper who’d like to extend their service offering, you should analyse your interests, your skill set and how much time you and your team have. “You can go as far as you like with app advisory. Understanding and recommending the right apps to your clients is very beneficial on its own. If you enjoy setting up software and training people on how to use it, you can combine advisory with implementation – like we do at App Advisor.” Here’s an example of how Scott has helped a practice get started: “I’m working with a three-partner firm and asked the head of bookkeeping to go into Xero HQ and tag clients with the industries they’re in. She discovered that out of more than 400 clients, they’ve got about 40 in construction, 45 in professional services, a number in agriculture, wine and so on. “With those key industries in

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Cover Case Study Story

mind, she can go to the Xero app marketplace and see which apps would be best-suited to those industries. Then she can spend some time learning about them. To be able to suggest to a client that there’s software that can provide a better solution than spreadsheets and whiteboards is a great beginning.” Scott suggests that you check if apps that you’re likely to recommend have an advisor program. “WorkflowMax has an online advisor course that’s open to Xero partners. It teaches you about the types of clients best suited to the software and how to identify them, and includes useful tools that help you scope and evaluate to make sure you are really recommending a match fit solution. There’s also in-depth reporting training so you can provide your clients with

detailed insights. When you’ve completed the course, you get a free demo account to show to clients, partner points, and a partner discount if you own the subscription,” he says. “You can also talk to app companies about becoming a full implementation partner if that’s where your interests lie – that’s what I did with WorkflowMax, Practice Ignition, Receipt Bank and the other apps we now set up for clients. They gave me the training so I could offer implementation, training and ongoing support.” He explains another avenue as well. “If you want to stick with advisory, you can collaborate with an implementation partner so you recommend an app and then your partner implements it. It’s a good joint venture relationship that gives clients the confidence that

everyone is doing what they do best,” concludes Scott.

FIND OUT MORE... Sign up to do the WorkflowMax advisor course – it’s free: workflowmax.com/advisor See all the apps WorkflowMax integrates with: workflowmax.com/add-ons See all of Xero’s app advisory playbooks: App advisory playbooks Watch the WorkflowMax app advisory webinar: xero.com/au/campaigns/ education-month

Spend control in trying times: how to prevent non-essential spending in a multi-entity hospitality business Read more in our blog! 60 / Issue 26

XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.

Not all practice management software is created equal. Choose Senta to: ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

Customise your practice management system to suit the way you work. Integrate with other apps in your tech stack. Automate your regular email and text comms. Share and sign-off documents with your clients via our client portal. Be part of our community of helpful Sentanauts. Enjoy every new feature we add as part of your monthly subscription.

Visit Senta.co/XUMag21

And now with two months free! Sign up via the link above for a 30 day free trial. No credit card or commitment required. We’ll add two months free once you decide to go live. And we’ll give you all the help you need to get up and running, quickly.

Sublime cloud-based CRM, workflow, email automation, secure document exchange for accountants and bookkeepers.

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Issue 26 / 61

Book CoverReview Story

Book Review:

Selling To Serve XU Magazine’s CEO, David

Hassall, received the revised and updated edition of

James Ashford’s book - a bestseller on Amazon! David reviewed this

practical guide on how to ensure that you’re not being a busy fool...

ritten by James Ashford (owner of pricing, proposal and engagement letter software GoProposal and the accountancy practice MAP) this is a real-life guide on how to ensure that you’re building a profitable business and not just dealing with the chaos that each day might bring when you open up your phone, tablet or laptop. Selling To Serve was initially released in 2016 with the fourth edition released in 2021. The updates have brought some concepts along further but this latest read now also

Get your copy on

Paperback, hardcover and Kindle editions available.

62 / Issue 26

looks to tackle some real life issues that may be affecting your practice, such as Covid-19. The thing that has always attracted me to this book is that it’s tangible and practical advice by someone who is actually doing it on a daily basis with their own clients and team. So many accountants and bookkeepers end up managing chaos and dealing with surface issues, essentially treading water, rather than dealing with core issues and developments

meaning that progress is very rarely or never made. If you look over the past 5-10 years there have been so many things in society that have been questioned and ultimately changed. ‘It’s always been done this way’ and ‘that’s just the industry that we’re in’ are no longer acceptable. The accounting and finance world feels like one of the places in which we are going to see lots of changes and breaking away from these industry stereotypes. The concepts that Ashford covers in this book are nothing new: making profit; reducing stress; feeling valued; having more time. Why then is it so difficult for this industry to obtain one or more of these, especially over a prolonged and sustainable period of time. It seems that 99% of it comes down to mindset and confidence. In this book Ashford has carried out an excellent job of detailing how to harness that mindset into creating the tangible results for your business.

XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.

Book Review I struggled to pull out many things that are missing from this book. However, one of the things that I would like to have seen more of is how to take these principles and work with others in your team to carry them out. A big principle of the book is that ‘you’re not running an accountancy firm; you’re running a business’ and a business that is looking to grow well needs to have people in the right positions. To build a truly scalable business you need to be able to identify others that can not only carry out these

principles but also manage them and ensure others are following, implementing and improving them. You may have hundreds of clients screaming for your attention or have only just started out. Wherever you are in your practice journey, I would urge you to stop and dedicate time to this book and the follow up process. You may not feel like you have time to breathe with so much to do, but stopping to build new systems into your practice could be much

more valuable than trying to get through the hundreds of items on your to-do list before midnight. The methods and implementation detailed in this book may not be the exact pathway for you, however I believe that the principles are for everyone in business.

Listen! Hear an excerpt from the book

Our verdict:

What are others saying?

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Issue 26 / 63

Q&A

Q & A: The Power of Partnerships How HR Tech is helping Archangel Accounting support their clients through remote working & beyond Julia Jones has been a qualified chartered accountant for over 20 years

@AppogeeHR

Stuart Keeble, VP Partnerships, Appogee HR Stuart is a veteran of the IT industry and one of the founders of Appogee HR. He has worked in the partnering ecosystem for the past 20 years and sees huge potential in the synergies between the flourishing HR “software as a service” ecosystem that Appogee HR belongs to and the Xero partner community with their role as trusted business advisors.

and founded Archangel Accounting in 2007. Archangel provides finance and accounting functions to small businesses globally and have seen their clients go from strength to strength through Xero and Appogee HR. Here, our VP Partnerships Stuart Keeble interviews her.

Thank you for joining us today Julia! To kick us off I’d like to know more about how you started to get involved in HR Tech?

Happy to be here! As part of Archangel Accounting I look after companies and act as their CFO, HR often comes my way as companies that I work with often don’t have their own internal HR person due to their size. Where I can see there’s an opportunity I do like to use software to ensure their core business needs are met, and HR is definitely one of those. I look after companies’ payrolls so it’s important for me to find a solution which integrates with Xero, but also we need a platform which can support all companies’ employees, new starters and their records.

What impact from your customers perspective does using HR tech such as Appogee HR have, and how is it received by clients?

Really well! Right from the start of the employee journey, the onboarding portal really takes away the admin as it guides new starters through all of the documents they need to provide so we love it, firstly, from

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an onboarding perspective. We’re also using it for keeping all the company’s documents and policies in place, especially reviewing versions or having employees acknowledge, for example, handbooks etc. and we love it for just making sure our clients are on top of all things HR. Appogee HR offers a really good performance review feature too, which we used for the first time after it launched last year, and it just went really well. Everyone especially liked the 360 feedback! Instead of using a lot of paper to complete all of these exercises, like we used to do, HR tech automates everything and then has a really strong audit trail which is so important from a compliance perspective.

How have your customers been impacted by the pandemic and how have HR tech tools helped?

A lot of my clients facilities were closed in the early phases of the pandemic, particularly those using university labs. They adjusted by introducing working from home practices and a phased return to laboratory working when facilities were open and it was safe to do so. HR software is particularly helpful

here as having procedures such as health and safety policies within the labs is often a primary concern. Being able to share health and safety documents via the company documents portal, as well as being able to confirm who’s acknowledging those procedures has really helped in getting the labs to reopen, and then stay open, safely.

How have you found working with clients from home?

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

How do you help your clients get started with Appogee HR?

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Q&A

The clients I use Appogee HR for are biotech startup’s where you are introducing practices and procedures from scratch. It was great to be able to use Appogee HR, alongside Xero to ensure we had good HR functionality from the beginning. The fact that they also work together eliminates the need for me to use anything additional in order to really get my clients going with their people management needs.

So, being familiar with just one HR software package can help?

Yes, absolutely! When I have a company in need of an HR system, and where I am asked to assist with HR, Appogee HR is always perfectly set up to support their needs and as I’m able to use it so well I can really ensure they’re getting the most out of it. From a set-up and configuration perspective it’s good that I’ve got to know Appogee HR as software packages can sometimes need a little bit of work. I know with Appogee HR it’s well worth taking the time to set it up for my clients needs so they can really get the most out of it. Other software packages which come “off the shelf” and aren’t so customisable often don’t quite fit the bill in terms of really adding value, and there’s a lot more in Appogee HR that you can tailor to fit the client.

How is the Xero integration with Appogee HR particularly helpful?

The real benefit for us is that by using Appogee HR for onboarding together with

the Xero integration employee pages are created directly in Xero which does really help in terms of admin reduction. I’m looking forward to seeing how that evolves in the future as well as you’re both so closely aligned with trying to make things easier for small businesses and the integration between Appogee HR and Xero is a huge benefit as they work so well together without me even having to manage them too much.

We’ve recently launched time tracking, project recording and location recording. Do you see this helping with clients’ needs?

Recording time spent on various projects will almost always be important to us for the future as it’s part of the nature of what we do. Exporting the data on this for reporting will be especially important as we do the R&D tax credit each year and get cashback from HMRC, so capturing time spent on projects will work really well for that. Regarding recording the location of workers I can see how this could be beneficial

for industries looking at hybrid working, particularly if employees need to request a day to work from home on write-ups or anything else that could be done more effectively in the remote working environment. For safety reasons making sure you can manage office capacity and record who has been in the office on certain days, will definitely be useful too. There is no doubt that partnerships are really beneficial to businesses and their clients, as we navigate through tricky times. Finding these mutually beneficial business relationships can really help companies embrace hybrid working, payroll issues and people management admin for a brighter future.

FIND OUT MORE... Find out more about partnering with Appogee HR at: appogeehr.com/ partnerships

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Issue 26 / 65

The Future is Now Preparing for better times

Today, whilst we can, there is no better time to prepare our businesses so that we can maximise all of the commercial opportunities that follow every downturn.

@compleatp2p

Neil Robertson, Executive Chairman, Compleat Software Neil Robertson is Executive Chairman of Compleat Software. A 39-year veteran of the financial software marketplace, Neil has a long track record of building disruptive start-ups into successful businesses, including his time as CEO EMEA of Great Plains where he built the business outside of the USA from 1995 - 2001. Compleat is no exception and perhaps the most disruptive of them all.

reparing for better times

There is a glimmer of light on the horizon, welcoming the inevitability of the new postvaccination dawn and the new world order that awaits us. Today, whilst we can, there is no better time to prepare our businesses so that we can maximise all of the commercial opportunities that follow every downturn. A different world We have all learned both the advantages and disadvantages of remote working. Almost all of us want the ability

to do both, splitting our week in line with our preferences and commercial practicalities. So much so that we would seriously consider changing our job for the flexibility, the monetary savings on commuting costs, but most of all, the additional free time it offers to do what matters most to each of us. Whilst there is still financial uncertainty, what can senior finance managers do today to prepare their businesses for the good times that we know are coming? The first step is to start thinking about how you can make a real difference to everyone outside of the finance department! How can you reduce the bureaucracy, make the complex

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and tedious simple, provide real time information that makes a real difference, save their time, and reduce their costs? Best of all, can you achieve all that whilst simultaneously gaining much greater fiscal control and delivering financial transparency for everyone in the business that needs to know? The answer is accounts payable and purchasing automation – designed for the whole business You could start by removing all of the paper invoices and make invoice approvals simple and easy from any device, anytime, anywhere. It will save between 65% - 90% of the time this currently consumes in manual bureaucracy.

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Real time spend information to everyone that needs to know Accounts Payable automation gives instant access to the spend information for every supplier, every invoice, and every line item to everyone that needs to know, not just for the invoices being processed, but for every historical invoice, including their payment status. Not only would this stop all the continual interruptions from internal queries (wasting everyone’s time), it also enables people to use historic spend information to check pricing on what they need today, whether from existing suppliers or their competitors to reduce costs. Buy more online Better still, every business should buy much more online – and everyone outside of finance will be delighted by the decision. It is faster, more convenient, offers a wider choice and is almost always cheaper, delivered when you want it and where you need it. If the pandemic taught us anything, it is how to get the best value buying online for ourselves. Integrated online buying within an accounts payable automation project makes this both possible and practical – with one additional huge advantage. It enables finance to control spend on every order before it has been placed and then automates almost all of the accounting processes of invoice capture, match, GL coding and approvals. Budget management If you use budgets, the benefits to the budget holders are even greater. Every budget holder can see exactly where they are in real time, not based on

cash accounting within their spreadsheets (that never reconcile with the management accounts), but pulled in real time from the accounting software, then adds the committed and accrued spend from transactions in process. Budget holders can also create “soft commitment” place holders for future spend, instantly seeing the impact on available budget and optimise both HOW and WHEN that spend takes place to deliver the maximum value whilst staying within budget. Bottom line, it enables budget holders to save a huge amount of time running their spreadsheets, enabling them to plan better and become stronger financial managers to the benefit of themselves and the business. Finance is not an island Every business proposition invariably leads with saving time and saving money and this is no different at that basic level. What is fundamentally different is finance’s old-school bureaucratic and manual processes are inhibiting and hindering the rest of the business, both in the time wasted that should be spent on more important work and the total lack of the real time information that would enable those of us outside finance to do a better job. Wherever we may be, whenever

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we need it. Next generation senior financial managers The days of “information is power providing I have it and you don’t” are being consigned to history as digitally enabled financial managers ring the changes. The old excuses of people outside finance being incapable of making good financial decisions is a direct reflection of being forced to work in the dark. Deliver them real time information about their spend and their budgets and they will become much stronger financial managers, achieving more, often with less. To conclude If finance wants better visibility and better controls over spend, then start the process based on how you can help the rest of the business, because when you do, everyone uses the software all of the time and finance gets everything they want from automation by default and the business achieves a great deal more.

FIND OUT MORE... Visit Compleat Software’s website to learn more about improving your life through finance software: compleatsoftware.com

Issue 26 / 67

Case Study

”Nothing gets missed” Accurate time tracking ensures consulting engineering firm, Projects & Designs Engineers, always deliver on time and on budget.

@tidyint

Michelle Nicol, Chief Storyteller, Tidy International Michelle is a copywriter, trainer and brand storyteller who helps businesses tell their story through words that attract attention. A former BBC journalist, she loves nosing out a great story and sharing her writing expertise through training and workshops.

Famed for its long sandy beaches, top surfing spots and almost 300 days of sunshine a year, Australia’s Gold Coast and the metropolitan area around Brisbane have long been hugely attractive places to live, work and visit. Consulting firm, Projects & Designs Engineers, are well placed at the heart of this growing community with their structural and civil design and engineering business. We speak to contract administrator Stefi Larranaga about how they deliver projects that keep customers coming back.

t takes a dedicated team of structural and civil engineers and drafting technicians with many years of industry experience to carry out the highly detailed projects undertaken by Projects & Designs Engineers. Their work drawing up plans, submitting applications for Council project approval and overseeing construction on numerous site visits, combined with a customer promise of guaranteed turnaround times has earned them a reputation for delivering on time and on budget. So, it’s important that they keep track of their time, as Stefi Larranaga explains: “As soon as I receive a job, it goes straightaway to TidyWork - that’s how we start allocating time. One of the reports that we use a lot is the project statement. That shows us our time and milestones and other things like how much we invoice, how many hours we spend on drafting and engineering time, if we have meetings, how much time we allocate to that. We look at every

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single time on the job.” Managing workload from quote to completion Projects & Designs Engineers work on a wide variety of residential projects ranging from high and mid-rise apartments to luxury residences and commercial properties used for child and elderly care. They recently completed work on a house that sold for $A 27 million. With such large budgets and crucial deadlines, Stefi explains how every minute managed in TidyWork counts: “By allocating time into TidyWork rather than using spreadsheets, there’s about 10 hours’ time saving a week between the whole team since using TidyWork. We have been using it for more than 4 years. We use it to allocate the time of full-time employees and external subcontractors who work remotely.” Accounting for every minute It’s the expertise of the engineers

and the time they spend working on projects in the office and on clients’ sites that’s the keystone to the business of Projects & Designs Engineers, so it’s important that nothing is missed. Stefi explains: “We make sure that we invoice everything. Because we are a business, we should be profitable. And if you don’t keep track, if you don’t look at the time, it’s just it’s not going to work.” “Before in Excel it was hard to track. So that’s why we like TidyWork. You can see if you’re spending too much time on a job. You can see how the job’s going, if it’s profitable, if it was quoted too low in comparison with the time they’re spending on it.” With such large engineering and construction projects, it’s almost inevitable that not everything will go exactly to plan. Stefi says it’s important that they use software that adapts to their needs and can help them account for project changes: “Our structural and civil engineers design to the best of their knowledge and to comply with Australian standards

XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.

Case Study and practices. But sometimes when they go to site there are challenges - perhaps they cannot find the exact materials, so they have to come up with a solution. Those are some of the challenges of the industry. They do make sure that everything is up to scratch with the structure.” Adapting to new software Initially, Projects & Designs Engineers worked with Robert King, Director of Integration Kings. “By allocating time Integration Kings is into TidyWork a partner of Tidy rather than using that help small spreadsheets, there’s businesses move about 10 hours’ time to cloud-based saving a week between applications to the whole team since ultimately run Others like me using TidyWork.” more efficiently came to the office. So and improve their I was particularly busy profitability. Stefi says it was here working in the office and a great way to introduce new getting everything organised.” software to their company: While some of their larger “We adapted very quickly. We’d projects were put on hold for never go back to using Excel again a while, their reputation for for time sheets. Rob was great, he reliability and quality of service was super patient. He came here meant that the company picked to the office and first he trained up a lot of renovation projects me and then he trained the guys.” as local residents sought out engineers to help with How business changed in 2020 improvements to their homes. Like millions of businesses around the world, COVID-19, has meant changes to ways of working and doing business at Projects & Designs Engineers. “This year, has been a particularly challenging year, says Stefi. “Back at the beginning, in March, April, when things were starting to get complicated, we took some days off just to see where things were going. And then some of the guys decided to work from home.

Now, Stefi says that construction is returning to Queensland: “Many people from New South Wales and Victoria are moving back. And even expats from Dubai and other parts of the world, they’re coming back and they’re buying properties. The property market here is so hot at the moment. Everyone was expecting that the market would drop. As it was really uncertain at some point, but now it is a stronger market.”

Adapting for the future Thanks to their experience adapting to the changing economic landscape, Stefi believes that Projects & Designs Engineers is well placed to continue applying its skills and experience to delight commercial and residential customers with new buildings in future: “Sometimes change is good, but it’s also difficult to get used to new things. And actually, Tidy has been so easy to adapt, because of that flexibility to connect to Xero. Anything that can help you to get your work done easier, more accurate and faster is welcome.”

Above (L-R): Stefi Larranaga (Contracts Administrator), Stan Irwin (Draftsman), Ricardo Ramirez (Director - Civil & Structural Engineer), Kevin Prubant (Structural Engineer), Jay Hoogervorst (Principal-Structural Engineer)

FIND OUT MORE... To find out more about how you can make your business Tidy, visit: tidyinternational.com/ solutions

NEW FEATURE! Scheduled summary emails to approvers

NEW

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Issue 26 / 69

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Issue 26 / 71

Remote working is here to stay - what’s your strategy? James Kilford of Senta explores the different strategies accountants have employed to manage remote and flexible working.

@sentaHQ

James Kilford, Founder, Senta James is one of the founders at Senta and drives the company vision and product design. He is a techie by trade, not an accountant, but knows just how valuable a good accountant can be. James is chief advocate for Senta clients - he is always talking to practitioners, finding out where they are going, what they need and how Senta can do things better.

The pandemic has created disruption even for firms who had experience, policies and workflows in place that enabled remote working. In this article, James Kilford explores how technology can support your team to deliver great service and manage all that life throws at them.

emote working is here to stay

Buffer’s new ‘State of Remote Work’ survey found 97.6% of those asked would like to work remotely - at least some of the time - for the rest of their career. Some 41% said that ‘collaboration and communication’ was the thing that had changed most about how they worked, since working remotely. Putting a long-term and sustainable strategy into place for your practice in terms of tech infrastructure, client service and team management/ communication is therefore critical. You may have been operating with remote working or with a hybrid approach for the last year. So what has been learned by accountancy practices during this time?

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Cloud is key Firstly, and key, is working in the cloud. Using an online platform to manage workflow and processes, while capturing and disseminating client information, has made the past 12 months manageable for firms.

“Without it, we wouldn’t know where we were,” Sarah says. She can use the system to track workflow several times a day – a vital tool when walking around the office to catch up with the team is not possible. It’s a statement borne out

Tailored Accountancy MD Sarah Taylor says that using Senta for task

management has been critical in operating in a purely remote working environment.

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Senta’s strategy for remote working... At Senta, we’ve always accepted that people have responsibilities and things they want to do - outside of work. Flexible working is at the core of what makes us Senta. We know our clients are feeling under pressure too, so here are some tips to help you manage workflow and support your own clients and people: • Set clear expectations Set clear parameters and expectations for how you will work with clients now, and plans for the future collaboration and communication. Be proactive - tell them what they can expect. • Clear staff expectations Does everyone understand the most important tasks and who is on them? The Senta job lists can help with this. • Staff wellbeing must be front of mind Listen to them, be proactive in offering support, work together to find solutions for any issues that may arise. • Group conversations Group meetings can sometimes be overwhelming, so we suggest little and often, and keep them really focused. Use this time to share updates and project manage client work. • Security Working in the cloud is in itself a secure practice, but consider the physical aspects: do you have an up-to-date data policy? Does your team know not to store data on their computer but to leave it in the cloud? Are work laptops and PCs up to date, encrypted and using strong passwords?

in our research of our other practice clients. 85% of clients said Senta has been even more useful than normal, and they’d configured Senta to help with new work like CJRS, CBILS and other government schemes. Half said the relationship with clients was even stronger than pre-pandemic.

• Define and manage your practice workflow Do you understand how your people and systems undertake tasks, and in what order? It can seem a big task at first - we always recommend sketching out a map of your processes. But don’t think you need to solve your workflow problems in one hit. Taking a longer-term view of continuous process improvement will really help you get started. • Is your tech stack right? The right mix of tech should accelerate your practice, not hinder it. Examine how many of the apps you’re using every day can integrate. Logging in and out of systems all day can be frustrating and time consuming. • Team training What is your remote training plan? Do training requirements change or is it the same training but merely modified i.e. how do you replicate daily face-to-face learning experiences? • Don’t forget to have fun! Giphy and emojis can make a world of difference on instant messaging. Likewise impromptu team calls to talk about the latest meme, recipe, or weekend plans make everyone feel a bit more connected.

VAT,” explains Sarah. “We all know where we stand and don’t miss deadlines.” Sarah has been sensitive to the potential of home working to create additional demands on the team, and additional stress. But the use of Senta to manage jobs, and in the cloud, has meant that where required, her team has worked flexibly. “One of the team works ten hours for us, and not always on the same regular days, so it’s really important that Senta keeps me and her updated with where work is,” Sarah explains. While the platform supports workflow, Sarah has looked to be proactive in checking in with her team to gauge and manage stress. “I manage that situation and have the conversation consistently: are you OK? People can find it hard to switch off.” Managing tasks makes time to reflect We all know of practices that are at breaking point. Helping small businesses manage trade and customs post-Brexit is important and time-consuming, on top of self-assessment season and continued lockdown. Talking to our clients, as I do every day, I’ve found that the best firms give their teams precious time to think - not just by combining workflow and automation, but by empowering them to adapt their working life.

Task transparency, team responsibility The way in which Sarah uses Senta to achieve this broad view of her practice is through a dashboard. “I use Senta to create a ‘jobs board’, where I can see where every piece of work is, who’s working on what – and then drill down to specific batches of tasks i.e. personal tax returns or

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Find out more... Don’t just take our word for it. Try free for 30 days - and get an extra 2 months free by visiting: www.senta.co/XUMag2021

Issue 26 / 73

Why businesses need to focus on Automation & Digitisation in 2021 CEO & founder of ExpenseOnDemand, Sunil Nigam, discusses

the importance of SMEs adopting automation and digitisation and shares his thoughts and insights into how firms are

@ExpenseOnDemand

Sunil Nigam, CEO & CoFounder, ExpenseOnDemand We launched ExpenseOnDemand in 2003 with a vision to enable companies & their employees globally to focus on their core job by offering a smart, simple & intuitive expense management solution. We continually update our technology to make our solutions current and affordable to everyone. When not at work, you will catch me mentoring young entrepreneurs, debating Indian history & global economics, reading a book, or cooking a meal for the family.

preparing for the ‘new normal’ and offices reopening.

or many years the ExpenseOnDemand app has been offering our clients around the globe a simple solution allowing employees to upload and claim business expenses from any mobile device. This helps them to automate their expenses process in a paperless & contactless environment. Our tech solution and ‘Pay as You Use’ model meant we were, therefore, perfectly placed to help our clients when the pandemic struck in early 2020 as their staff dispersed from offices and worked from home due to global lockdowns. Since the outbreak, businesses have had to adapt quickly to survive, manage their day-today processes and ensure their staff can work seamlessly whilst working remotely. This adaption was possible by sourcing tech solutions to automate and digitise parts of their business which had not been updated for years. The pandemic has caused a technological revolution as certain technologies which used to be convenient preCOVID have now become essential tools. Businesses

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cannot survive without. Zoom calls, Slack chats and Team meetings. These have become a key part of our working day, and so many other technologies have adapted quickly to the ‘new normal’. In a matter of months these solutions have advanced in what would have taken years and this has solidified what we now all know that we don’t all need to sit in the same office from Monday to Friday. We spoke to Hriidayesh Gupta from IntelliTicks, a client of ExpenseOnDemand, to find out how they have adopted technology to help them during the pandemic. “At IntelliTicks we have worked with ExpenseOnDemand for some time now helping set up their Chatbot both on the website and inside their app. The team had a single objective with their requirements for the bot – to provide the customer with a great experience when it came to support. In the process, we got the chance to understand the ExpenseOnDemand platform and found it very easy to use. I would highly recommend ExpenseOnDemand to businesses using paper wanting to automate their expense process.” We recently surveyed global

Financial Directors and leaders to highlight how they are coping with the pandemic and also their predictions for the next 12 months. The majority of financial experts expect automation to be more important than cash flow in 2021, which shows how highly businesses believe implementing and automating their systems is for their future success. This shift in priorities also shows some levels of optimism as businesses seem to be coming out the other side of the pandemic and now focusing on not just surviving but what tech they need to thrive. Our survey also revealed how businesses around the world feel about their current office set up and how and if this was set to change in the post-vaccine world. The results were surprising with 40% of all businesses globally stating they would be adapting their workplaces. 22% of all the firms surveyed stated they would be moving to a smaller office as most staff would be working from home at least part time while 18% confirmed they were looking to set up a network of regional offices instead of having a central head office.

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These results varied hugely across regions with 82% of businesses in Europe, which has been hit particularly hard by the pandemic, stating they will be either reducing office size or moving to regional offices meaning only 18% of European firms will remain in their current offices. African and Indian businesses, however, showed a completely opposite trend with the vast majority expecting to remain or return to their current workplaces. Jon Butterworth, Healthier Weight added, “We have been using ExpenseOnDemand as our Employee Expense Management solution for quite some years now. We have found that the app works well & addresses our requirements. The team were very interested in my feedback and took time to come out in person to Birmingham to get it. Pricing is great, as we only pay for what we use – nothing more, which helps us plan the cost for the service. I have an option to trial any new function and

turn it off all on demand. Would I recommend it to SMEs – Yes.” For technology to continue to rapidly impact business processes many firms will need to collaborate and offer open APIs to allow seamless integration and for multiple software’s to be able to talk to each other. This has been happening across many sectors, such as, FinTech for years as accounting, expenses and internet banks integrate to allow a completely coherent solution for businesses. Lidia Budean, Kelly telecommunications company, added: “As a telecommunications company, our employees are out on the road building networks. We were dealing with a lot of paper until we moved to ExpenseOnDemand. It is very easy to review, approve and pay expenses. Also, the cloud application has helped our employees to capture their receipts with quick reimbursements which

makes them happy. Having used the ExpenseOnDemand for several years now. I would recommend it to anyone wanting to automate expenses and go paperless – absolutely yes.” The team at ExpenseOnDemand has been adapting our market leading app since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and we have been working hard to make it easier for finance leaders and staff to manage expenses in the new normal, especially with so many employees working from home. Our systems are continually being updated and developed to ensure we can offer our clients solutions that our current and work for them no matter where their staff are working.

Find out more... For more information go to: expenseondemand.com

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Issue 26 / 75

Australia’s big exhibition and conference for the fast changing world of business and money

Introducing #ABExpo 2021 conferences: Business Advisory, Tax Today, Practice Management, Progressive Bookkeeping, AI & Automation, Treasury & Cash Management, Payroll & HR Tech, CFO Summit, Wealth Management and Funding & Cashflow Join us, get your free ticket now at www.accountingbusiness.com.au 17-18 November 2021 | ICC Darling Harbour, Sydney

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XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users. For exhibition and sponsorship opportunities please contact Linh Le: linh.le@terrapinn.com

“Latest information on developments in processes and technology as well as thought-provoking webinars on soft and hard skills; inspiring and re-energising,” - Sandra Matiszik, Client Services Coordinator, Panorama Business & Financial “So many great presentations. It was the best experience I have ever had. I felt like a kid in a candy store!! Thank you,” - Craig Bullock, Principal, Craig Bullock Chartered Accountants “There's a lot of different speakers and all in one spot to cover CPE, new products & services we are often too busy to pursue on our own,” - Marie Savva, Director, Mayball Holdings “The content was more than worthwhile for my practice – by far the best event of the year” - Dennis Wright, Principal, Dennis K Wright & Associates “Life changing breakthroughs and systems to enhance and improve our service offering as Accountants,” - Phillip Mogedi, Accountant, Freshee

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Follow us on Twitter: @xumagazine Issue 26 / 77 For speaking opportunities please contact Elizabeth Paterson: elizabeth.paterson@terrapinn.com

Help field service clients simplify financial end of year with simPRO

@simprosoftware

Mat Wray, Global Head of Partnerships, simPRO Since joining simPRO in 2015, Mat has established strong connections with many strategic accountants, business advisors, and cloud software integrators. simPRO recently named Mat Wray Global Head of Partnerships as simPRO continues to expand their brand new Partner Program.

Discover how simPRO’s cloud-based job management software can

help you and your clients share financial information easier and prepare for the end of the financial year in no time.

o matter how you feel about the financial end of year, it’s vital that you gather clients’ financial information to get a clear picture of business performance over the past year and help them set strong goals for the future. Like most businesses, your field service clients will need to look at their profit and loss reports, bank statements, payroll reports, tax documents, and more. Compiling all of these documents can be a challenge, given that field service businesses often work in disparate systems and may be using outdated methods (like spreadsheets) to track work. This makes it difficult for the business to present financial information to their accountant. Become a simPRO partner for a smoother financial end of year As you work to help your field service clients manage their finances and make data-driven business decisions, it’s essential to ensure that they have the right field service management software in place to stay organised month-to-month. A great field service management solution helps your clients

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efficiently manage jobs, projects, and maintenance contracts, as well as keep track of all administrative processes and financials year-round. From initial request for a job to final invoicing, with simPRO, your clients can streamline workflows, automate processes, connect the office to the field and gain essential business insights.

Quickly gather and organise all financial records from one place Paper-based invoicing and statements from suppliers and accounts are easy to lose track of. simPRO eliminates paper-based payments with interconnectivity between simPRO and Xero.

This means that clients can send invoices directly through their By becoming a simPRO accounting system, making it accounting partner, you’ll gain easier for them to collect payment access to valuable reports to and easier for you to access prepare for the end of payment records, the financial year. all from one place. You’ll also further You also reduce “A great field service build trust and your time spent management solution credibility with cross-referencing helps clients track your field service financial all administrative clients, enhance transactions processes and your customer and reconciling base, and become accounts. financials year-round.” a trusted field service accountancy Day-to-day, your client expert. can transfer customer and supplier information, track Most importantly, simPRO acts as supplier and contractor invoices, a single source of truth by which and make payments quickly, you and your client can accurately all syncing directly to their measure financial health and accounting package, such as Xero. make key business decisions for the upcoming year. All from one This means that your clients get holistic view. a real-time view of business cash flow, setting them up for success. They can avoid any surprises and

XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.

quickly know how and where to find the records needed to gather so you can prepare profit and loss reports or tax statements.

of the year’s cash flow data in one central place.

No more headaches during financial year end with simPRO

One tool to keep track of stock

Cloud-based field service management software like simPRO also helps your clients say goodbye to duplicate data entry via data automation. With workflow triggers and automated actions, clients get more accurate data resulting in fewer redundancies at the end of the financial year for you to sort out.

simPRO’s inventory management software gives your clients greater visibility over the materials they have in stock and their location. They can easily assign items to jobs, manage storage locations and generate reports, including a stock take. simPRO software also provides accurate stock value, which leads to more accurate counts.

With simPRO and your expert advice as their accountant, you can complete financial year-end reporting efficiently, and before they know it, your clients will be onto the exciting task of planning for next year.

simPRO also features a Square integration. This helps limit the number of unpaid invoices you, the accountant, need to chase in the lead up to the end of the financial year, and you can easily prepare their tax returns with all

Your clients can also plan what inventory they might need to replace or repurchase, which you can then build into financial planning for the following year.

FIND OUT MORE... To learn more about the simPRO partner program, visit the simPRO website

Dext makes accountants more productive, profitable and powerful.

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Issue 26 / 79

Making work life easier for bookkeepers in the UK A feature rich tool packing a punch on the fintech scene in Australia, is heading to the UK.

@XBertapp

Troy Brown, co-founder, XBert Troy Brown founded and ran a highly successful marketing agency for 12 years before moving on to do the same with a digital agency for eight years. He and his teams delivered projects in Australia, New Zealand, and Asia for blue-chip and government clients. After understanding the challenges business and finance teams have, he and the XBert Team are working closely with bookkeepers to deliver a product specific for their needs.

Troy Brown talks all things XBert and how their users are driving the roadmap...

hen you consider all the things the finance industry has come up against since the start of 2020: lockdowns and a move to working remotely, struggling businesses, the need to pivot to online solutions, stimulus packages and the management of them – it’s been tough. With all the added responsibilities, the workload for bookkeepers and accountants has increased exponentially, but the day-today tasks haven’t let up. In our conversations with hundreds of bookkeepers and accountants, we discovered there are some common pain points and we at XBert could help alleviate them. It’s been our focus to work alongside the people on the ground, to ensure we’re offering a product that’s practical, intuitive and really does make work life easier. This is where we’ve come to – but it’s just the beginning. We have an extensive development roadmap ahead of us.

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Do more, in less time Diane McCaffrey from BYO Group has freed up hours each week using XBert. “We love perfect, and XBert helps us do things faster and know it’s right.” Right now, XBert is unrivalled in its AI-audit risk alerts. Our mission is to help bookkeepers have the cleanest set of books, at any given time, for smarter advice and decisions in business. When you can trust the data is accurate, you can add meaningful value to your clients and take your business to the next professional level. Bookkeepers have moved from being data entry professionals and into a more advisory role – with this evolution of the industry, technology can be a bookkeeper’s best friend. Using the latest in data science, AI and machine learning to analyse your accounting software, flagging any issues, inconsistencies and errors as they arise, XBert reduces your manual task load

while giving piece of mind the data is accurate and up-to-date. Our unique product has over 50 XBerts (eXpert Business alERTS) integrating with a task automation tool built exclusively for bookkeepers and accountants. Our passionate users have requested 50 more that are currently in development. The days of spending hours on managerial tasks like checking your teams work (or your own!) are gone. As Brendan Lucas of Hopscotch Accounting explained: “XBert is the gatekeeper for human error” and we couldn’t agree more. With our AI-audit trawling the data relentlessly, there is less self (or team) review needed which also means less rework. You’ll never have any nasty surprises come End of Financial Year again. Know what needs to be done, by when – across your whole team The feedback we were getting was there is no app developed

XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.

specifically with bookkeepers in mind. There are loads of products on the market for accountants and practice management solutions for finance firms – but nothing that nailed down on the exact processes, workflows and schedules bookkeepers deal with. So that’s where we’re focused. We know many bookkeepers are jumping in and out of many different apps to manage their daily tasks, communicate with their team and collaborate with clients. Our practice management solutions are designed to streamline that whole process so you can do as much as possible, within one system. That starts with our task and process automation, with Templates & Client Schedules for all the regular processes within a practice. You can create Templates for all your common workflows and customise them on different schedules for differing client types. Most recently, we added the ability to attach files and photos to a Task or Client schedule and we’re also working on email integration which isn’t too far off. XBert’s analytics and BI reports are designed to help bookkeepers add to their service offering, without a whole lot more leg work. As mentioned earlier, bookkeepers are moving from simply being data entry professionals to trusted advisors. These reports give you access to more than 50 metrics on your client’s business at the click of a button and enable you to spot trends, areas for improvement and growth to discuss with your client. These features are revolutionising the way Australian bookkeepers work – and we know it’s going to be a game changer for those in the UK too. But that is just the beginning. Accountants love it too because now when they get the data, it’s so much cleaner. It’s also the perfect tool to have in place for the firm, especially if they in-house bookkeepers. It’s a great way to help manage and

collaborate with the team, as well as streamline workflow and create efficiencies. What our users say: “XBert, Xero, Xeta = 3X the power of your old accounting firm! We tried XBert out on a Friday morning, and after a couple of hours moved our entire firm across - every single client. We shelved our previous project management and practice tools, and began our business anew with XBert. It is flexible, powerful and genius when it comes to managing your clients. The AI tools help keep your client files perfect, and the notifications help manage a large team of people across a massive portfolio of clients. We cannot recommend XBert enough.” - Zander De Klerk, Xeta.com.au “We love perfect and XBert helps us do things faster and know it’s right! XBert is vital to our integrity portfolio to deliver a high standard of service and create meaningful value for clients.” – Dianne McCaffrey, BYO Group “The efficiencies and savings allow more time for value-adding and advisory work. The Chrome extension that XBert created is an amazing tool that allows us to easily identify an issue and create a task for another team member, all whilst working within Xero.” – Liam McNamara, JacquillardMinns “XBert eliminates that non-billable time I used to waste, and I know I’m

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providing the cleanest set of books. It’s a really exciting app built for professionals. With Xero and Receipt Bank, I was able to go paperless, now with XBert CONNECT, I can manage work from anywhere.” – Michele Grisdale, Rainforest Bookkeeping “We are now managing our monthend checklists through XBert, with the helicopter view reporting so useful for me as a partner. We are now getting our staff to use this as their daily ‘hub’, from dealing with Xero coding issues to checking which organisations have unreconciled items.” - Brendan Lucas, Hopscotch Accounting UK – we’re coming for you! We’ve been working extremely hard behind the scenes to spread the XBert love into the UK. We’ve already got some users feeding into our development roadmap and it’s looking great. If you’d like to part with us, and be part of bringing one of the leading bookkeeping productivity apps into the market, please get in touch!

FIND OUT MORE... Visit our website at: www.xbert.io

Issue 26 / 81

Grow global with

WorldFirst: Ecommerce opportunity and

innovation in 2021

In 2020, ecommerce become more important than ever. The adoption of digitisation was not only a great opportunity for SMEs, but also their accountants, bookkeepers and advisors.

n 2020, ecommerce became more important than ever. With government enforced lockdowns meaning people have to stay at home, the coronavirus pandemic led to a significant shift in consumer behaviour, as more people turned to online services to acquire what they needed. This change in consumer behaviour inevitably pushed UK SMEs to rethink their business models and pivot to a digitalfirst approach. This adoption of digitisation was not only a great opportunity for SMEs, but also their accountants, bookkeepers, and advisors. Despite the unprecedented events of last year, Satista research reports that ecommerce retail is forecast to reach

$6.54 trillion by 2022. With the pandemic driving ecommerce last year, 2021 is set to follow suit, but with so many global ecommerce stores, competition can be tough. This means brands will have to think carefully about how they pivot to a digital-first strategy. Getting started selling online If you are thinking of selling online for the first time, there are a number of important factors to consider. First of all, you will need to determine if you are going to sell via a marketplace like Amazon, or via your own online specialist storefront. You will also need to consider localisation, if there is enough demand for your product or category in your chosen market, and cross-border shipping options.

@WorldFirstLtd

Simon Smallwood, Accounting Channel Lead, WorldFirst UK Before joining WorldFirst Simon worked for a number of years with an SME and Accountancy focused Fintech business, having previously spent 8 years working for an Internationally focused UK based SME that he co-founded and is still running today. This provides Simon with a great insight into the benefits technology can bring to SMEs in managing their finances and the opportunities for Accountants, Bookkeepers and business owners alike.

Here are some key steps in starting to sell online via a marketplace: 1. Product restrictions: there are some restrictions to selling certain products through online marketplaces, so it is worth checking what they are first. 2. Selecting a selling plan: there are typically two options – will you opt for a basic or a professional plan? Remember, each has different benefits and cost implications. 3. Register your products: to register your products you’ll need to provide personal and business information along with additional details. The final step is to provide bank account details to complete payment transactions. 4. List your products: how you list your products is dependent on what selling plan you opt for. 5. Start selling: once your products are listed, you can get ready to start selling. For more information, take a look at the WorldFirst guide, ‘How to start selling on Amazon’. Which online marketplace should you sell on? As ecommerce sectors become increasingly global, more and

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XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.

more businesses set their sights on overseas expansion. With 58% of UK SMEs using online marketplaces such as Amazon, it can be difficult to decide which platform is best for your business, but WorldFirst can help alleviate some of the pressure. WorldFirst partners with major marketplaces and ecommerce service providers on a global scale, allowing you to grow your small business into a global enterprise. With flexible local and cross-border payments and risk management solutions such as forward contracts, you can collect, convert, and manage international funds with ease. Our collaboration with these online marketplaces could increase opportunities for the international expansion of your business. A list of major marketplaces can be found on the WorldFirst website. The WorldFirst ‘Meet the Marketplace’ series can offer additional insights into which type of Marketplace is right for your business. Each marketplace partner is carefully selected by WorldFirst to ensure they can cover a breadth of global seller preferences including location, category, suitability, and reach. Marketplace Partners featured in December 2020 and January 2021 included: • OnBuy • Fruugo • Worten • Ozon • PcComponentes • MoreCommerce Meet the Marketplace video series can be accessed for free here. This resource is being added to constantly. How can WorldFirst help? Driven by their mission to make it easy to do business anywhere, the WorldFirst payment platform is enabling customers to collect, convert, and make payments locally, all around the world. Since 2017, WorldFirst have provided their customers trading on ecommerce marketplaces with dedicated solutions to help their businesses thrive

by taking a customer-centric approach. Designed with SMEs and online sellers in mind, World Account enables you to receive international funds, and make same-currency and cross-currency payments faster and easier, giving you more control than ever before. Hedging currency effectively For anyone who is involved in sending or receiving goods from overseas, this kind of movement can have serious implications for their business. This is one of the key reasons more and more businesses are looking to manage their risk with the right kind of hedging strategy. When it comes to protecting yourself in the currency markets, especially when importing or exporting is concerned, navigating exchange rate fluctuations can sometimes be a tricky business. WorldFirst allows SMEs to forward buy currency, locking in an exchange rate at a given point in the future. If you or your client are looking to mitigate exposure from an individual contract, WorldFirst’s team of dedicated relationship managers can discuss the risks and benefits of the different options available to you. A trusted partner WorldFirst understands the level expertise an accountant can bring to SMEs, that’s why WorldFirst partners with accountants to help

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their clients save time and money. With many years’ experience working with SMEs who are selling internationally on global marketplaces, WorldFirst has the knowledge and expertise to help accountants, bookkeepers and their clients succeed in the global marketplace. Here are some of the ways they provide support: • Save SMEs time and money when paying international suppliers via our transparent pricing structure. • Provide robust hedging solutions to help protect a client’s profit margins. • Combining technology with fantastic personal service, to find the most suitable solutions to streamline their payment flows and business processes. • Customers are able to connect Xero to their WorldFirst currency accounts to seamlessly reconcile their transactions.

FIND OUT MORE... For more information on how your accountancy or bookkeeping practice can benefit from partnering with WorldFirst or how we can help your business contact the Accounting partnerships team on: +44 (0)207 095 0741 or email Simon Smallwood on: simon.smallwood@ worldfirst.com or visit our website at: worldfirst.com

Issue 26 / 83

Why you should hire an ICB accounting apprentice W

ant to add a breath of fresh air to your team? Someone you can mentor and shape to your business? Then it’s time you consider taking on an ICB apprentice! Typically spending four days of the week in the office and one day away on governmentfunded training, apprentices can mean a win-win situation for everyone involved. The apprentice gets to learn invaluable skills in a job they’re passionate about whilst earning a salary and qualifications. Your business benefits from a digitally-minded and eager-tolearn employee whom you can shape into the perfect member of your team. ICB awards three accounting apprenticeships that you can choose from to suit your business: Accounts/Finance Assistant Apprenticeship (Level 2), Assistant Accountant Apprenticeship (Level 3) and Payroll Administrator Apprenticeship (Level 3). Save on Costs and Wages Hiring an apprentice for your business is a great way to save money, in addition to introducing new skills and talent into your team. Realistically, any new employee should undergo training but, with an ICB accounting apprentice, you’ll have access to government funding

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and grants to cover most of the cost. Smaller businesses (with an annual pay bill under £3m) can get up to 95% of training costs paid by the government for new recruits or existing staff and there’s an additional incentive payment when you hire an apprentice before the end of March. As part of the government’s plan to boost economic recovery, you’ll receive a monetary incentive of £2,000 if you hire a new apprentice aged 16-24, or £1,500 for new apprentices above the age of 25, between 1 August 2020 and 31 March 2021. You can find out more about this here. You can apply for this payment until 30 April 2021 and it’s in addition to the £1,000 employers already receive for hiring certain youngsters into apprenticeships. Over 59% of apprenticeship employers say training an apprentice is more cost-effective than hiring skilled staff. The average apprenticeship completer will increase business productivity by £214 per week. “Your apprentice can be completely tailored to suit your business- it’s the best way to gain homegrown talent!” Mark Bremner, Business Director and CEO of MBKB

@ICBUK

Iris Christofides, Social Media and Digital Marketing Executive, ICB Global Having worked at ICB for over a year, I am passionate about copywriting, graphic design, and driving the ICB forward. At ICB, we’re committed to upholding the standards of the bookkeeping profession, passionate about helping businesses succeed and determined to operate for the benefit of the many not the few.

For more information on an apprentice’s wage click here. Boost Your Productivity Whilst you might worry that training an apprentice is too timeconsuming, 78% of employers report that apprenticeships help them improve productivity. ICB Apprentice of the Year, Maddi Cooper, from Dudley accountants Whitley Stimpson Ltd knows first-hand that apprentices are eager to learn and want to do everything they can to support your business. It’s a win-win situation; you’ll encourage their growth, and, in turn, you have a hard worker on your team ready to help at any time! “I enjoy that you get to learn about new legislation, furlough during coronavirus, payment, redundancies... I just love that there’s so much to learn!” Maddi Cooper, ICB Apprentice of the Year 2020 Knowing that your apprentice is combining your guidance with 20% off-the-job training can provide you with the reassurance that they’re gaining a broader knowledge of their subject, underpinned by the National Apprenticeship Standard and examined by ICB, which acts as the End Point Assessor. “People can be set in their ways, but

XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.

Reasons To Employ An ICB Apprentice An amazing way to save money and enhance your business Money Saving The average apprenticeship completer increases business productivity by £214 per week. 59% of employers say training an apprentice is more cost-effective than hiring skilled staff.

Boost Productivity 78% of employers report that apprenticeships help them improve productivity. 69% of employers believe that apprenticeships help them fill vacancies more quickly.

The Best Way to Gain Homegrown Talent The greatest benefit of hiring an apprentice is that you get to shape them and their skills to the needs of your business. 86% of employers said apprenticeships helped them develop skills relevant to their organisation, whilst 74% of employers said apprenticeships helped them improve the quality of their product or service.

Gain a Loyal Employee Over 90% of apprentices remain at their company after completing their course, meaning you’ll have gained a loyal employee you nurtured from the beginning of their journey. 80% of employers report that apprenticeships reduce staff turnover. Lea rn m o r eFollow a t: us on Twitter: @xumagazine w w w . bo ok k eep er s . o rg . uk /a pp rent i c eship s WWW.ENTREPRISESCANADA.CA

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Issue 26 / 85

An ICB Apprentice Is...

Hardworking

Boosts Your Productivity

Eager To Learn

Driven Cost-Effective

Passionate

Confident

Modern Mindset

Productive

A Team Player

Great Work-Ethic

Great Communicator

Loyal

Homegrown Talent

Talented Government Funded

Tailored To Your Business

Digitally Literate

Find out how you can hire an ICB apprentice here. ICB apprenticeship assessments and qualifications can be completed online and fitted around the needs of your business. Speak to us today, or visit our website, to find the ideal route for upskilling yourself or your workforce as Certified Bookkeepers and Payroll Agents.

Enthusiastic Interpersonal Skills

www.bookkeepers.org.uk/apprenticeships

a new apprentice is there to learn from you. Young people tend to also be more digitally minded, having grown up using computers and the internet, which is always a useful asset.” Ashley Wood, Dudley College The Best Way to Gain Homegrown Talent The greatest benefit of hiring an apprentice is that you get to shape them and their skills to the needs of your business. You’ll be training and mentoring someone who could be a complete beginner, which means you can mould them into your perfect employee. Whether you’re employing someone in their first role or upskilling an existing employee, the goal of an apprenticeship is to create a work and learning environment that is beneficial to both employee

and employer. 86% of employers said apprenticeships helped them develop skills relevant to their organisation, whilst 74% said apprenticeships helped them improve the quality of their product or service. In addition to this, over 90% of apprentices remain at their company after completing their course, meaning you’ll have gained a loyal employee you nurtured from the beginning of their journey. “Running the apprenticeship scheme allows you to train an individual not only in the legislative requirements but also to mould them into your processes and protocols so they become qualified and experienced in exactly how your business works so they fit into your visions and values.” Mark Bremner, Business Director and CEO of MBKB

Find out how you can hire an ICB apprentice... If you’d like to find out more about hiring an ICB accounting apprentice for your bookkeeping business, ICB can put you in touch with an Accredited Apprenticeship Provider to discuss the process in more detail. The Accounts/Finance Assistant Apprenticeship (Level 2), Assistant Accountant Apprenticeship (Level 3) and Payroll Administrator Apprenticeship (Level 3) take between a year and a year and a half (minimum) to complete, and your apprentices can be fast-tracked into ICB membership once they’ve graduated.

NEW NEW FEATURE! Workﬂow export: audit-ready description of the approval workﬂow Read more in our blog!

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#TheFutureIsNow www.compleatsoftware.com

AUTOMATE YOUR ACCOUNTS PAYABLE OPTIMISE YOUR ONLINE BUYING PERFECT YOUR PROCESSES WORK FROM ANYWHERE SAVE TIME & MONEY FOCUS ON WHAT REALLY MATTERS TO YOU

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Issue 26 / 87

Tomorrow’s advisory clients today

@FinlertApps

Pete Horder & Nathan Harper, Co-Founder’s, Finlert Pete and Nathan are focused on creating easy to use, simple products, that are heavy on benefit and light on your organisation.

Introducing a new affordable way to be across all of your clients, all of the time Advisory services can put considerable resource and cost pressure on firms, this can lead to the service only being for select clients. By broadening the service base, firms have a considerable opportunity ahead.

ccountants know that their ability to provide a client the right advice at the right time can be the difference between them flourishing or failing. But how can business advisors help clients achieve their goals if they don’t have regular exposure to their financial operations? Finlert has created its latest product OverSight, to give business advisors a commerciallyviable umbrella across their entire client base. It torpedoes management time and enables advisors to maximise business opportunities and better manage risk. In one easy to use dashboard, OverSight offers you access to all of your clients, all of the time. By presenting lead indicators for all clients, OverSight supports

the regular servicing of premium This means it can be used as a clients, but also enables easy daily monitor or even an end of reference to the financial position period tool. of clients not serviced as regularly. For the business advisor Let’s walk through this provides upsell some features… opportunities, Thresholds enable happy clients Comparison advisors to set and increased periods the tipping point client loyalty and at which a client advocacy. Data from all metric needs clients is great, That client who is a but without attention. start-up today, could context it can just be one of tomorrow’s be numbers on a page. most profitable advisory clients. Comparison periods highlight where differences in the numbers What is Oversight? are either positive or negative compared to a like period. In simple terms, OverSight is a dashboard which will display Tags + owners metrics from all connected Xero files. The customisable overview Assigning Xero files to tags and or analytical view has metrics an owner within OverSight allows related to Cash position, AR / AP, data to be shown as needed for payroll, and organisational data. an individual practice. Common examples are to create tags for things like industry and service package. Then with a few clicks you can see the status of all retail clients on a quarterly package who are assigned to you. Thresholds Thresholds enable advisors to set

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XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.

the tipping point at which a client metric needs attention. This can be for a single client, or a specific group.

operational tool, to define their own version of client health and even kickstart new advisory services and offerings.

Other use cases

More to come

As well as advisory services, some clients have leveraged OverSight to streamline end of period operations, as a bookkeeping

Like all great SaaS platforms OverSight is continually being improved based on client feedback. Keep an eye out for

new integrations and partnerships in the near future.

Find out more... Sign up for an XU magazine special 30 day trial: www.finlert.com/xu-mag

Less admin, more family time Automate your admin with the UK’s leading onboarding and practice management software and achieve the work life balance of your dreams. Sign up for a free 30-day trial accountancymanager.co.uk 01926 355366

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Issue 26 / 89

The Untapped Potential of Your Trade Service Clients The challenge for trade businesses is to deliver quotes quickly, without sacrificing accuracy.

@groundplanestimating

Brad Halcrow, Head of Digital Marketing, Groundplan With an extensive background in tech startup marketing, Brad has joined the team at Groundplan to take their online presence to the next level.

For plumbers, electricians, industrial cleaners, painters or any trade service-based business, generating tenders, estimates and quotes is non-billable time that has no guarantee of a return.

tate of Play

The construction industry has shown no sign of slowing despite global events. The work is there and there’s a lot of it.

to be profitable. Accountants are in the ideal position to advise their tradie clients on how to streamline their estimating process. Out with the Old

Now more than ever the construction industry and it’s associated trades require speed and accuracy to generate quote and estimates to win jobs and make sure those jobs are going

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When a trade business is asked to supply an estimate or a quote for a project, floor plans are supplied for the dwelling to be quoted.

For many, still to this day, a huge A1 printer swings into action. The plans are laid out on a large table and a collection of highlighters are used to count and measure the materials required and, the associated labour costs. The Digital Potential The takeoff process in the digital age simply requires the user to upload a floor plan, then

XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.

mark and trace each item to be included in the quote. As the user is counting and measuring items on the plan, Groundplan is generating a worksheet table of data.

ability to calculate all the figures associated with each item into every click.

implementing a robust digital infrastructure that enables him to scale.

Award-Winning Example of the Digital Advantage

The resulting numbers can be adjusted before exporting to a spreadsheet, or one of our growing list of integrations, including Xero.

Sam Ackland, founder of Build Clean based in Adelaide Australia is a leading example of how a trade business owner can fully utilise the potential of the digital age and the competitive advantages on offer.

Sam can collaborate with not only his own team but an outsourced workforce located anywhere in the world.

Without Groundplan there would be no away we could scale up.

The Time-Saving Potential We all know that systemising a business to avoid double handling is paramount to efficiency. What if every powerpoint included the cost of materials, labour and markup?

Recently awarded Young Entrepreneur of the Year by Business SA, South Australia’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry and peak employer body.

Groundplan gives estimators the

Sam attributes his success to

Give your trade service clients the gift of time, while achieving superior accuracy directly into Xero. Every enquiry includes a free online demo with one of our in-house trade experts.

Find out more... Signup for a Free Trial: groundplan.com/signup

PRODUCT UPDATE! Two-factor authentication is now available to users

NEW

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Issue 26 / 91

Apps Compared

Compared:

Workflow & PM Accountancy Brought to you by Feature

+ Description

AccountancyManager

Communications Send email

Send bulk email

Send text messages

Client tasks/requests

Send clients tasks for them to tick off

Email placeholders

Use fields from contact record for composing email

Receive email in app

Receive emails directly in the app, no forwarding to BCC.

ü -

Assign email to team

Assign email to existing work

Create task from email

Automatic client reminders

Automatic records requesting

Multiple recipients for automatic communications

Job notes

Client timeline

Stores all forms of communications related to the client

Job timeline

Stores all forms of communications related to a specific job

@ team members

Mention team members in relation to email, tasks, notes etc

Internal notifications

About things related to your work & clients

Add company

Add a new company to your contacts via the integration

Add people

Add directors as company contacts

Add people - Main contact

Add the main director as a contact

Add people - All contacts

Add all directors as contacts

Companies House & HMRC

Proposal to strike off notification

Sync due dates of jobs with Companies House dates

Submit 64-8 Agent Authorisations

Contacts Types

Seperate contacts by client type

Client groups

Associate clients with other related clients

Accounting specific fields

i.e. company number and tax references

Custom fields

Create custom fields to use for storing further information

This information was true and correct at the time of publishing. New releases happen all the time. Please contact the app for the latest release information.

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Apps Compared

For more information, please visit:

Pixie - usepixie.com Senta - senta.co XBert - xbert.io

AccountancyManager - accountancymanager.co.uk Glide - whatsglide.com Karbon - karbonhq.com

Glide

Karbon

Pixie

Senta

XBert

ü ü

Erratum: In the last issue of XU Magazine (Issue 25) we compared Integrated Forecasting apps. We can now confirm that Spotlight Reporting DO have the following features: P&L Only (listed under the ‘Type’ heading), 12 Month, Financial Year, 24 Month, 36 Month (listed under the ‘Forecast Period’ heading), Foreign Currency Transactions (listed under the ‘Forecast Transaction Options’ heading) and Xero HQ (listed under the ‘Xero Integration’ heading).

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Issue 26 / 93

Apps Compared Feature

Description

AccountancyManager

Documents Secure document request and exchange

Client portal - Included

For clients to access documents

Client portal - Via 3rd party integration

For clients to access documents

Client timeline document search

Search the client timeline for documents

E-signature - Included

Sign documents online

E-signature - Via 3rd party integration Global search for documents

Use the global search function to find stored documents

Storage - In-app

Storage - Against clients

Storage - Against jobs

Storage - Google Drive

Storage - Via 3rd party integration

Forms Internal / external completion

Can be completed by the client or by a staff member

Client only

Conditional questions

Show some questions based on the answers to others

Populate contact fields from form data

Answers questions populate fields of the contact record

Proposals & Engagements Proposals (not via integration)

Engagement letters (not via integration)

AML checks

Submit anti-money laundering ID checks and credit screens

AML risk assessments

Capture risk related information on each client

Professional clearance letters

Email templates for sending professional clearance letters

Practice - Work KPI

Top-level view of all of the work in your company

Practice - Email insights

Top-level view of email metrics within your firm

Practice - Staff utilisation

See % time staff allocated to work

Practice - Customisable dashboard

Set metrics to see from predefined choices or create own

Practice - Turnaround time

Average time taken to get from point a to point b

Practice - WIP

See allocated time and budget progress against a job

Reporting -

Practice - Partially invoice WIP

Practice - Write off WIP

Practice - Job profitability

Practice - Client profitability

Practice - Client sales

See sales data on each client from your own books

Practice - Client fee forecasting Clients - See client’s own financial data

Connect to your clients’ books, and see their financial data

Clients - View client performance metrics

Clients - Client performance metrics notifications

Time & Resource Manual time entries

Add in time entries manually for any date

Bulk time entries Time clock

ü -

Built in start/stop timer

Time clock - Via integration

Time approvals

Time required in minutes

94 / Issue 26

XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.

Apps Compared Glide

Karbon

Pixie

Senta

XBert

MyDocSafe

Xama onboarding

Visit the XU Hub: Go to www.xumagazine.com

Issue 26 / 95

Apps Compared Feature

Description

Staff scheduling

Allocate staff time to upcoming work

AccountancyManager -

Automatic / manual / pool allocation of jobs

Time & budget estimates

Billable and non-billable time Charge out rates

ü Set charge out rates for each member of staff or type of staff

User

Work and Work Templates Statutory deadlines

Target deadlines

For completion of work, in addition to statutory due date

Work sections

Group tasks and subtasks together under a section

Work tasks Task dependencies

ü -

Task start is dependent on a previous task

Role based task allocation

Visual, process flow configuration tool

Loops, paths, branches

Predefined pocess logic - i.e. branches/loops

Filtered workflow logic

Only create tasks when filters apply

Workflow automations

Update job status, due dates, assignee, send email

Work subtasks

Work statuses

Work templates

Kanban board

Drag and drop interface for jobs

Overview filters

Filter by contact type, work type, due dates, assignee etc

Native Xero Integration Contacts

Invoices

Zapier Integration Contacts

Planned Q2

Jobs

Planned Q2

Other Integrations GoProposal

Planned Q2

Practice Ignition

CCH

Digita

Xavier Analytics

GoCardless

Open API Open API

THE AUTOMA EXP 96 / Issue 26

XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.

Apps Compared Glide

Karbon

Pixie

Senta

XBert

Partial

User

Zapier

ATION PERTS Visit the XU Hub: Go to www.xumagazine.com

Issue 26 / 97

How To Choose The Right Clients For A

Cash Flow Service The first step in successfully launching a new service is identifying the right clients to get started with, but what should you take into consideration when choosing those clients?

itching and delivering any new service to your clients is much easier when you can identify which clients will quickly see the most value from your new offering, and that’s especially true when it comes to a cash flow service. Identifying specific characteristics and mindset in a client will help you hone in on where cash flow forecasting can make the greatest impact - for both your clients and your own business. The key to incorporating cash flow advisory into your service offering is to start simple. Starting with a small sub-section of clients with similar problems will help you learn and iterate on the process required to roll out the service to more clients. There are four main areas which should be considered when choosing the right clients for cash flow:

• Challenges and pain points - is the client worried about upcoming cash gaps? Or do they already spend a lot of time forecasting in a spreadsheet? • Bookkeeping - are the client’s accounts up to date? Do they benefit from regular reconciliation and timely data entry? • Mindset - does your client have a long-term vision for their business? Are they openminded and ready to invest? • Characteristics - do they embrace technology? Are they open to your advice and responsive to emails? By assessing new and existing clients on these criteria, you’ll be able to quickly and easily pinpoint clients that will get the most from your cash flow service. To help with this process, we’ve created a free guide called the Ideal Client Profile that outlines these areas in more detail. This checklist acts as a guide for our partners to use when deciding which clients to approach with a cash flow offering. One Float partner that’s seen great success from using the Ideal Client Profile is bookkeeper

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@FloatApp

Colin Hewitt, CEO and cofounder, Float Colin is the CEO of Float, an operational, visual and easyto-use cash flow forecasting solution for Xero. Colin started Float in 2011 after running a creative agency and feeling the pain of forecasting the business’s cash manually in a spreadsheet. Float is now used by thousands of businesses and accounting firms worldwide, with the vision of putting cash flow awareness at the heart of every business.

Jenny Neale. The guide helped Jenny identify one particular client that could hugely benefit from cash flow forecasting, and she managed to secure a £100 per month retainer for the service. “(The checklist) helps me feel confident about giving the right support to clients who need it, and gives me clarity as to who would benefit from this most,” Jenny said. “For my practice, delivering a cash flow service has given me something more to offer. It’s a way I can demonstrate to my clients how well I know and understand their business and help my clients with their pain points before they happen. It helps us to plan ahead with our clients and I’ve found that reinforces the trust they have in us and the work we do for them.” At Float, we offer a range of support to our accountant and bookkeeping partners, including the Ideal Client Profile.

Find out more... You can download your copy of The Ideal Client Profile for free at: floatapp.com/ideal-client

XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.

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Issue 26 / 99

How secure is your signing? What you can do to improve your practice’s signing...

With so many options for signing documents online, it’s important to consider the tools you’re using and whether

@SuiteFiles

Jemmah Revell, Marketing Coordinator, SuiteFiles Jemmah is a Marketing Coordinator for the SuiteFiles team, passionate about all things content and digital, you will mainly see her across our blog, socials, and events (when they’re back). She began her SuiteFiles journey two years ago while finishing up her degree in Marketing and International Business, we’re now happy to have her full time at Suite!

they provide the security features your practice or small business needs.

igital vs E-signing

Many small businesses are unaware of the legal differences between e-signatures and digital signatures. The laws vary from country-to-country but in Australia and New Zealand we follow a minimal approach to

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digital signing, called an open legal model. This model lets nearly all documents be signed with a simple electronic signature!

trail, there are high levels of authenticity, it secures a document and is legally binding. This differs from an e-signature in

The key features of a digital signature include signature encryption and linking to the original signee, it holds a data

XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.

that the document is only verified instead of secured, the signature is non-encrypted, it’s typically simpler to use but less authentic, there is no guaranteed data trail, and the intent to sign is what creates the contract. The main benefits of using a digital signature are around security, ensuring the person signing the document is the signee, and being able to back this up with an audit trail can be essential to the document holding up in court. If your business is set on using e-signatures, one way to have this document hold up in court is by gaining consent before using an online signature and be able to reasonably identify them. This shows the signee knows they entered a contract by symbolising their agreement. Common Signing Methods

the handwriting and signature matches the clients and without reasonable doubt you would assume this is who has signed the document. This method offers no security in the form of an audit trail or encrypted signature. It also offers only one authentication method of email, which is often not enough.

Having a digital signing feature, our sales team often hears all the Another common method is using different ways small businesses free tools. The small business are currently signing will upload their documents. These document to a free Our digital different methods online provider, signing feature are often used create their offers encryption, because they signature, paste it authentication, and are the simplest, on the document, provides a full are typically free, then send it off to and don’t involve their clients. This audit of each the client learning poses the same document. any new technology security risks as the so takes less time to previous method but implement. includes a third party who may not be trusted, nor does it offer The traditional ink signature the confidence of a handwritten is one a lot of businesses are signature. still using. This usually involves printing the document, manually The most common method we signing it, scanning it, then see is using a free tool to turn a emailing it to their client who will Word Document into a fillable do the same. The time sunk into PDF, the signees will then type this process, the expectation of their name into the document, clients to have access to printers and this will act as a signature. and scanners, and the manual This method is also sent via email follow ups required to get this so poses the same security risks signature back manually are often as the above methods. not considered. The learning curve of a new technology usually SuiteFiles Digital Signing takes far less time than the manual processes seen here, Our digital signing feature offers not to mention the difficulty of encryption, authentication, and following this process while social provides a full audit history of distancing. This method offers each document. Our approach medium security; you can see complies with both tiered and

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open digital signature legal models. The SuiteFiles signing feature works by automatically turning any document held in SuiteFiles into a signable PDF file, you can then drag and drop your chosen fields (signing, date, and text fields). The document is now ready for signing, you add your recipients or save the file into your clients shared folder. If you’ve added recipients, they will receive a link to sign the document in the browser, the signed document will then automatically be saved back to the original location with a signed copy sent to each signee. If you’ve chosen to save the document to a shared client folder, you can add the recipient’s email address so they receive a notification to login with their Xero, Google or custom credentials to sign the document. The completed document will be automatically saved back to their shared client folder. This year we’re focusing on adding enhancements to a number of features, including digital signing. We’ll be making this a simpler process for both SuiteFiles customers and end users, as well as adding even more security features.

FIND OUT MORE... Get to know our digital signing feature here: www.suitefiles.com/ features/digital-signing

Issue 26 / 101

Managing your employees’ leave T

here can be a great level of confusion for employers regarding their employees’ leave balances and entitlements. As an employer it is important to determine if your employees are employed as casuals, permanent full time, or part time – WHY? If casual, they could be entitled to a higher hourly rate, normally through casual loading and will only get paid when they work. It is very important to refer to their award and the additional loadings to be paid outside normal hours. Casual employees will only accrue Long Service Leave. As a permanent employee, leave is accrued on all ordinary hours worked. CloudPayroll allows the business owner to make an informed decision to pay leave based on an employee’s leave balance. Importantly, the employer must keep a record of hours worked, the accruals and when leave is taken by an employee. When an employee leaves their employment, they

may have an outstanding leave balance that is required to be paid as part of their termination payment. CloudPayroll accrues leave on actual hours worked and can easily set up other leave accrual rules if employees receive 25 days or 30 days a year. Pay elements would be added to the employees’ template and the accruals would reflect the 25 days a year rather than the normal 20 days a year. Monthly payrolls CloudPayroll makes management of monthly payrolls easy. It will automatically calculate and apply 1/12th of an employee’s annual salary each month. For example: for a full-time employee working a 38-hour week, on the template we would add 164.66 hours to be paid. For a 35-hour working week we would add 151.66 hours to be paid. The number of working days in each month do not alter the pay each month, e.g. February will be paid the same as March.

Joanna Cruickshank, National Sales Manager, CloudPayroll. CloudPayroll is a standalone payroll system suitable for 1 – 1000 employees. Joanna, is passionate in helping people get the best payroll solution for their organisation.

We are often asked what an employee starting employment part way through the month should be paid? The two most common methods are: 1. Pay the employee based on their actual hours worked in the first month x hourly rate 2. Deduct the hours not worked from the monthly hours they would have worked x hourly rate Time in lieu Some awards and registered agreements allow an employee to take paid time off instead of being paid overtime pay. This is also known as ‘time in lieu’, time off in lieu or ‘TOIL’. CloudPayroll allows employers to record additional hours worked as Time in lieu. Employees may apply to take time in lieu through CloudPayroll’s Employee Kiosk, on any PC, Mac or mobile device. No excel spreadsheets required!

Find out more... Interested to know more, call CloudPayroll to arrange a free demonstration for you and/or your clients. See for yourself how the Leave Management features can benefit your clients, saving them considerable amounts of payroll administration hours and reducing errors from manual calculations and record keeping. cloudpayroll.com.au

102 / Issue 26

XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.

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Issue 26 / 103

Billing Automation - It’s a Win-Win! An automated billing platform like Emersion will help your team to manage complex billing processes while also helping your clients to improve profitability and reduce cash flow volatility.

f you’ve ever worked with MSPs, telcos or utility providers, you’ll have an idea of just how difficult it can be to manage complex billing through Xero. This often means manually adding usage and prorata charges to invoices, which is time consuming and can lead to errors. The larger the customer base, the more difficult this is to manage. This is where a business automation platform like Emersion can help. Emersion can take the stress out of your billing process. By synchronising with Xero in real time, we are able to automate the entire accounts receivable process

including invoice generation and payment collection. This will save time and reduce the need for costly re-work. At the same time, we’ll help your clients to improve profitability, lower their operating costs, reduce volatility in their cash flow and minimise their exposure to reseller debts. It’s a win-win! Here’s how we do it: Improved cash flow through billing automation Emersion automates the entire billing process from receiving and processing usage, to prorata charges calculation, invoice generation, payment processing,

@emersionbilling

Paul Dundas, CEO and Founder, Emersion Paul Dundas is the CEO and Founder of Emersion, a business and billing automation platform for Telcos, MSPs, utility providers and wholesalers. He has more than 20 years of experience working in the Telco billing space and has helped hundreds of businesses in Australia, New Zealand and Singapore to streamline their billing operations.

reconciliation and collections. This minimises the work for accounting and bookkeeping teams and means that your clients’ bill runs will go out on time, every time. Automated collections notifications reduce your clients’ average invoice payment time and can even automatically apply late payment fees to encourage prompt payment of all accounts. Emersion bills in real time and supports sending multiple invoices for the one payment period, so your clients can charge for ad hoc services when they happen and any other subscription services at the end of the billing period. At the same time, they can opt for shorter billing periods often leading to improved cash flow. Minimise exposure to reseller debts Often when a company is reselling services (such as voice, data or energy), they are liable for any usage charges, regardless of whether their end users have paid their invoices. Emersion’s service management functionality helps to minimise your clients’ exposure to reseller debts. With service management, your clients’ can limit this exposure by setting a maximum amount of

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XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.

time that an invoice can remain unpaid before the service is suspended. If the end-user has failed to make a payment by this point in time their service is automatically marked as suspended until payment is made and no further usage fees can be generated. Lower operating costs through business automation Emersion can automate entire business processes including billing, collections and reporting. This will help your team to work more efficiently. At the same time, we can also automate your clients’ with provisioning and order management processes which will save time and improve customer experience for their end users. Minimise Fees Payment fees add up. There are ways you can minimise the amount your clients end up paying including: • Working with the right providers - Many of Emersion’s payment integrations have lower fees than commonly used providers like Stipe and Paypal. • Fee routing - By integrating with multiple payment merchants, your clients can route payments through whichever provider has the lowest fees for certain transaction types such as credit card or direct debit via bank account. For instance, if payment provider A offers a flat fee of 2% per transaction, and payment provider B has a fee of 2.5% for AMEX transactions, and 1% for every other transaction type we are able to

route the AMEX transactions through Provider A, and all other transactions through provider B. • Adding a payment surcharge to invoices - You can automatically add a payment surcharge to certain transaction types, passing the fee onto your client’s end users. This combination of lowering fees and on-charging transaction costs improves the margin on every service sold and is especially helpful when your clients are selling lower margin products like internet, mobile phone or energy plans. Maximise share of wallet Usage and pro-rata charges calculation happens automatically in Emersion, which means you’ll never leave money on the table. In addition to this, our contract management system is able to calculate and apply break fees for early termination of a contract. In addition to this, Emersion’s smart invoice templates can be customised to display advertising that can be used to upsell, crosspromote or incentivise longer

contract terms, ensuring the maximum share of your clients’ wallet possible. Contract Management Emersion stores information about your customer’s contracts, including the products and services that are included and when the contract expires. We can automatically calculate any break fees for existing a contract early, and Partner with Emersion today We’re looking to partner with accountants and bookkeepers all around the world and are prepared to pay a generous commission for every client your business refers to us. Click here for more information about joining Emersion’s partner program.

FIND OUT MORE... Click here for more information about joining Emersion’s partner program: emersion.com/xero_ partners

GREAT NEWS! ApprovalMax is the New Zealand Xero App Partner of the Year 2020 Read more in our blog! Visit the XU Hub: Go to www.xumagazine.com

Issue 26 / 105

Advisors share figures. Extraordinary ones turn them into insights. Increased automation and tech is rapidly changing the industry. With finsit you can ensure your insights not only stay relevant, but become invaluable. Discover the tool that turns financial data, into powerful infographics, improving presentation, understanding and financial decision making. With finsit you can transform the way your clients see their business and your advice.

Book a demo

106 / Issue 26

XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.

See finsit in action

Join our Director of Product Management, Gareth Cram who will host a panel discussion with early adopters of finsit, showcasing how it has enabled growth in efficiencies and offerings to clients.

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Issue 26 / 107

Builders can fix anything… except their own business Help builders get the right tools to run and organise their business

@NextMinuteApp

Emily Mason, Partner Manager, NextMinute Emily Mason is the newly appointed Partner Manager for NextMinute in Sydney, Australia. With 8+ years in the cloud accounting space (4 within a firm and 4 in Saas) Emily see’s NextMinute as a hidden gem in the industry. Helping Bookkeepers & Accountants better service their Trade & Construction clients with a digital toolbelt.

NextMinute job management software is the new kid on the block, helping bookkeepers help their tradie clients fix and run better businesses.

ave you ever been on your trade clients website and been amazed by their advertised work, but then been into their Accounting Software and thought, “what the...?” 9/10 times, they have called on the help of their partner, mother or sister’s best friend’s cousin who used MYOB once 20 years ago to get set-up. You have to start

108 / Issue 26

somewhere, but I am sure every bookkeeper has experienced the long-term frustration from subpar setup. Chart of Accounts are incomplete, 1000+ unreconciled items, business accounts used for personal expenses and the only receipt you can find is for a chocolate milk and meat pie from the servo. Tradies are out fixing everyone else problems, but who is fixing

theirs? 50% of their work is on the tools and the other 50% is from their mobile phones, so to achieve the best results, your process needs to fit this mould. NextMinute works on both IOS and Android devices, allowing access to the job information needed from anywhere, with any device.

XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.

Once onsite, the team can open a job or task and start a timer, recording timesheets into NextMinute directly from the mobile app. A GPS pin will drop when the timer starts, so the boss has peace of mind even when they’re not on site. The NextMinute timesheets can then sync straight into Xero for payroll. Most tradies glove boxes are full of receipts, so by suggesting ReceiptBank or Hubdoc, they can use their mobiles to get the data entry sorted. Once the receipts are in Xero they can be imported to NextMinute so they can be oncharged to the associated jobs. Labour rates and other job related expenses can be automatically marked-up, allowing for accurate costs to be captured on the client invoices. Invoices can then be sent directly to the customer via NextMinute and will again sync back into Xero.

job costing and expected revenue. Tradies tend to not worry about costs, but if you can show your clients the monetary benefits from having good processes, it will also help when it comes to plugging any revenue leakage - allowing them to continue spending on the important stuff, like Friday beers and pizza for the team. Your clients wouldn’t put a roof up with no walls, just like you wouldn’t prepare BAS without finalising the bank reconciliations. These guys didn’t become builders to sit behind a computer, we want to improve the collaboration between you and your clients, so that you can focus on helping them fix their businesses. You are in a prime position to help tradies run their business just as well as they can build.

All of this is wrapped up into a neat financial report showing the

FIND OUT MORE... Learn how NextMinute is helping builders fix their businesses: www.nextminute.com/ fixingthebusiness

CONNECTED APP

Powerful Management Software for Charities, Churches & Community groups Reach more people Develop more committed members Increase donations

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Phone: NZ (+64) 07 579 3085, UK (+44) 0161 738 1437

Issue 26 / 109

Case Study

Spend control in trying times How to prevent non-essential spending in a multi-entity hospitality business

James Couch, Director at Williams, Stanley & Co With nearly a decade of experience in the finance industry under his belt, James commands comprehensive expertise in supporting clients and businesses on an international scale.

Williams, Stanley & Co is a UK-based accounting practice focused mainly on the hospitality industry, with 90 percent of their clients being restaurants, bars and pubs. They provide accounting, bookkeeping and business advice services.

he growing need for spend control: a case study with a hospitality business Spend control is all about getting a real-life picture of who spends what, when and why. Formal authorisation processes ensure that any spending is properly authorised by the appropriate people. Moving such processes to a digital environment facilitates efficiency and transparency, which is not only good for all types of businesses – depending on its maturity, scale and type, every single one will experience this necessity eventually. For many hospitality businesses it became a lot more urgent to establish spend control during the COVID-19 pandemic. Bars and restaurants worldwide are having a tough time: the lockdowns, finding new ways to keep going, for instance, by switching to delivering, and probably the most frustrating aspect of all – the uncertainty, as no one can predict when the conditions are going to improve. Cutting and controlling expenses is even more crucial in the current circumstances. Purchases that are not essential for now can be postponed and only the best suppliers with the best prices will be chosen, but there still will

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be expenses. And these must be tightly controlled. One of the hospitality clients of Williams, Stanley & Co decided to implement spend control when the COVID-19 pandemic hit: with furloughing and the overall situation, they have to look very closely at their spending and approve everything properly so that they always know exactly what’s happening on their bank account. Before, they had an email approval process in place. However, when this client started to approve every single expense it became extremely complicated: for every approval, individual invoices had to be downloaded, put into .zip files and sent to a specific person because they wanted approvers to have copies of all invoices in front of them. We knew that there is a much better way of doing this, and implemented ApprovalMax. Approval workflows for bars and restaurants This client is a group of companies, and 9 out of 10 use ApprovalMax. Each one is getting tracked separately. All of them use the bill approval workflow; the approval rules for the bars differ from those for the restaurants.

At the moment, the bars have a more complex approval system. In the first step, the General Manager approves all invoices. In the second step, the Operations Manager authorises all invoices that exceed 250 pounds. Invoices with an amount higher than 500 pounds go to the Finance Director; and if the amount is more than 1,000 pounds, they’re routed to the Company Directors. In this last step it is sufficient if either one of the directors approves. When setting up an approval workflow in ApprovalMax, it’s possible to define who approves what – for example, but not necessarily, based on the invoice amount. To achieve a more granular approval workflow and split the responsibility between approvers, Xero tracking categories are useful. Alternatively, approver rules can depend on the respective accounts (GL codes). This flexibility enables businesses to set up approval workflows of any complexity, with the right people authorising the expenses they are responsible for. Audit trail functionality for internal reporting and control Although this hospitality business doesn’t use the audit trail feature

XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.

Case Study

for external audits, they find it extremely helpful for internal reporting and control. Before implementing ApprovalMax, it was difficult to check whether something had been properly approved before it was time to pay. And searching for approvals in email chains was certainly not efficient. Now, they open the audit trail and see exactly who approved when, and who initiated

the purchase. Mobile app and email notifications for better control over approval processes Our practice employees work in the ApprovalMax web interface when they set up or edit a workflow. The client uses the mobile app in general, and the web interface when there are

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a lot of pending approvals. The automated email notifications work perfectly, they prompt the managers to get going and make their approval decision.

FIND OUT MORE... To find out more visit: approvalmax.com

Issue 26 / 111

Customer Retention in the Time of Covid

@AutoEntry

Jenny Fogarty, Director of Marketing, AutoEntry Jenny has been working for AutoEntry for five years, during which time she was instrumental in shaping the company’s messaging. As director of marketing, Jenny has used online marketing endeavours, public events and emerging and traditional communications techniques to help the company grow in local and international markets.

How accountants can keep customers loyal and win new business...

t’s fair to say that the past 12 months have been turbulent for accountants and their clients. With Covid, Brexit and their accompanying disruption, accounting firms must carefully consider how to win new customers, retain their existing ones and stand out with their service offering. Here are some practical steps practitioners can take to get ahead and carve their niche… Reconsider your billing Fixed billing and/or hourly rates have been the industry standard for as long as there’s been accountancy. While it is often the agreed upon approach, it actually harbours many disadvantages for accountants and it can fundamentally inhibit growth. This is because it presents a conflict between generating profit, providing value for money, and working more efficiently. A better approach is value pricing, which assigns the price of a product or service according to its perceived value by the customer. It doesn’t calculate prices by the hours taken to deliver the

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service, or existing market rates. By removing the focus in billing from timesheets to providing business value, you’ll benefit from increased revenues and deeper client relationships. This is both more lucrative for you and fairer for the client: in many cases, they’d rather receive money-saving insights than billable hours. Track the right KPIs 2020 has been a year for reassessment for most businesses. So this is a good time for firms to reassess their metrics and how these might have changed in recent months. Take a look at the following metrics, alongside traditional financial measures, to ensure your practice is capitalising on opportunities in a timely manner: • Churn vs. new sign ups: Insight can be a key differentiator when competing for and retaining clients. These clients leave service providers for all sorts of reasons, but if firms are able to track customer wins versus losses, they’ll gain a better understanding of the correlating factors which

underpin these peaks and troughs. As retaining customers is typically much less expensive than acquiring new ones, this insight will help management to hang on to more clients for longer. While this can be done manually, specialised data analytics solutions can effectively map the customer journey. • Account management: Capacity vs. demand: It might seem counterintuitive to spend time and money on new hires to remain competitive, but as firms take on new customers, it’s important to have enough employees to share the load and give each client enough time and attention. This will be especially important when offering costly advisory services, where clients will expect attention to detail and personalised service from the team. If you’re not expanding your team, at the very least consider the time commitments of a new consultancy client. • Service delivery cost: Phasing out services is a big decision, but it’s worth examining what’s working and what’s not, especially in changeable economic climates. Examine how much time is taken to deliver certain services,

XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.

especially those which are admin heavy, compared to the profitability of these services. Consider what functions are draining resources, and if these can be phased out. • Customer satisfaction: Satisfied customers underpin growth and stability, and it’s possible to quantify how satisfied customers are and if they’re likely to recommend their services to others. One well established way to do this is via a Net Promoter Score (NPS) survey, through the likes of Survey Monkey. These surveys can be automated and sent throughout the year, providing recipients with questions to answer on a scale of one to ten. This data can then be analysed and set against external benchmarks to give firms a clearer indication of their performance and what needs improvement.

valuations and strategic advisory. The latter of which is becoming increasingly lucrative, as more businesses seek out the counsel of their accountants to more effectively manage risk and monitor the health of their business. And with automated data entry software, accountants are spending more time on insight and analysis and less on manual data entry.

Become a one-stop shop

For instance, strategic advisory work can offer high margins so customers who request these services should be prioritised - as well as ‘quick wins’ i.e. when it’s obvious at first glance how value could be driven for a prospect.

Businesses, naturally, have multiple needs, and they sometimes have to rely on numerous accounting practices to meet all of their requirements. So practitioners should consider expanding their remit beyond core accounting and tax services to ensure customers don’t have reason to stray. Providing firms have the appropriate authorisation, additional services they could offer include those related to probate, as well as business

Identify your ideal customers While, understandably, firms might be reluctant to turn down any new contract, the reality is that some customers are both easier and more profitable to work with than others. Accounting firms should consider what their ideal customer looks like in terms of size, sector and the services they require, and target customers based on these attributes.

Accountancy is a servicebased business with human relationships at its core. A lack of rapport or too much time spent chasing payment can often make a particular project more complex than the fees are worth. Therefore, those clients who have a flexible outlook, positive attitude and who pay on time should (in

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an ideal world!) be the only ones firms choose to work with. Strengthen your marketing A strong marketing strategy, effectively implemented, can more than pay for itself. Marketing doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive, but firms must craft their ‘brand’, so prospects can identify what their practice offers and how it’s unique. An accountancy firm can build their following on Twitter and LinkedIn, by posting quality content and targeting businesses in the local area through sponsored campaigns and possibly advertising via Facebook Ads Manager. Don’t be intimidated if this is new to you; B2B social advertising is user friendly. A well maintained company blog will do wonders for search engine optimisation (SEO), and firms can also publicise case studies here as well. Practitioners could offer free consultations for new customers, and speak at industry events to build their profile. If possible, they could consider launching an online learning platform as a lead generation tool; posting webinars and tutorials on topical issues such as tax deductions or working in the cloud. Save time by automating activities Just about every aspect of

Issue 26 / 113

immediate ways accountants can put automation into practice, is through the elimination of manual data entry. AutoEntry helps users do exactly that, by capturing and analysing scanned and photographed bank and credit card statements, bills, invoices, receipts and more.

your practice will benefit from some form of automation, so every department should be investigating these opportunities. For instance, a CRM solution such as Salesforce collects client data from telephone and email communications, helping to streamline customer engagement. Elsewhere, automated onboarding tools simplify processes such as issuing proposals and creating invoices. One of the most effective and

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AutoEntry helps users to work smarter with its broad range of features. For instance, AutoEntry captures tax summaries by default and if requested, full line item details including description, quantity and unit price. AutoEntry also remembers how users categorise expenses, such as the relevant supplier account, nominal account and tax code without ever creating duplicate supplier accounts or posting duplicate invoices in accounting software. AutoEntry even matches invoices to purchase orders. Looking ahead Recent months have shown that agility and innovation are

not just valuable, but essential. Companies that embraced the cloud, remote working and automation were preparing for Covid without even knowing it. When it comes to surviving as a business, providing excellent service to clients is key, but making sure your practice thrives in a competitive environment takes strong leadership and meticulous planning. Accounting firms should continuously evaluate their performance, and reflect on client feedback in order to refine their service offering.

FIND OUT MORE... AutoEntry helps accountants and bookkeeping professionals around the world stay competitive by providing cutting edge data entry solutions. Xero Magazine users can avail of a special offer of 50% off for the first three months.

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New Xero Connected Apps

New to the Xero App Marketplace New App shout-out Are you a new Xero-connected App? Let other Xero users know... email alex@ xumagazine.com

Brixx brixx.com

contacts, log activity and increase productivity.

Brixx business modelling software looks past short term cash flows, creating 10 year financial forecasts, to visualise the impact of your decisions on the future growth of your business. Developed for any business, our unrivalled time-based modelling tool unlocks the ability to build a unique, dynamic model of the future.

Coral coralhq.com

Cash Flow Frog cashflowfrog.com A simple yet powerful cash flow forecasting and scenario planning tool for Xero. Stop wasting your time on endless spreadsheets, real-time auto-generated forecasts based on your Xero account. Visualize your historical and future cash flow and simulate what-if scenarios. An effortless way to make the most of your cash flow. Causal causal.app Causal makes your financial planning automated, collaborative, and beautiful. Build financial models effortlessly and share them with visual, interactive dashboards that everyone can understand. And connect your models directly to your accounting data in Xero to automatically track budget vs actuals and build rolling forecasts that don’t require any manual work. CircleLoop (app-based telecoms) circleloop.com

Please note: this is not an exhaustive list of new Apps in the Xero App Marketplace. You can see all Xeroconnected Apps at apps.xero.com

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A powerful and flexible cloudbased phone system for modern businesses. It runs in simple apps and is accessible anywhere. 50+ features including virtual numbers, cloud-calling and call analytics. And it integrates seamlessly with Xero, and other tools you love – sync

Macro analytics for ecommerce sellers. Compare your Xero data anonymously with other sellers to pinpoint your biggest area for improvement in seconds. Eazy Contracting eazycontracting.com Business Software written by Engineers for Engineers. Eazy Contracting is a SaaS Operations & Field Service Management Application that lets you focus on your Contracting / Trade business while we take care of what happens in the background. FeeSynergy feesynergy.com.au FeeSynergy is the #1 provider of integrated debtor management software and finance solutions to hundreds of accounting firms in Australia and New Zealand. Our flagship FeeSynergy Collect platform automates collection processes, engagements letters, direct debits, fee funding and payment gateway FeeSynergy Collect is the complete solution for all Xero users. IncoDocs incodocs.com IncoDocs is a cloud based export document management system that simplifies creating sales and export documentation used in global supply chains. Users create Proforma & Commercial Invoices and other shipping documentation and syncs with Xero to eliminate data re-entry. IncoDocs allows teams to go paperless and work

remotely with success. MidexPRO midexpro.com MidexPRO is the cost effective, Practice Management software servicing the Medical community. Entirely Cloud based and mobile optimised, MidexPRO deliver all you need to run your Practice. Suitable for individual/group Consultants and Secretaries. Building a bespoke system to suit your needs, securely accessible Worldwide. Contact MidexPRO for a FREE 30day trial. Motorcentral motorcentral.co.nz Motorcentral DMS software allows car dealerships to keep track of their vehicles, contacts, opportunities and sales as well as stay on top of those day-to-day administrative tasks associated with running a successful dealership. It’s a must-have tool for any dealership that wants to sell more cars, spend less and work smarter. Quick Consols quickconsols.app At Quick Consols, we have developed an affordable, efficient, and easy to use group financial reporting tool with a specialist focus on automating group consolidations, annual statutory financial statements and comprehensive financial reporting with full ERP integration. Rotaready rotaready.com Developed specifically for hospitality, leisure and retail businesses, Rotaready helps you schedule rotas, manage your HR, record attendance and approve timesheets for payroll. By bringing together your wage

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New Xero Connected Apps costs and revenue, along with our industry leading AI-driven demand forecasts, you can optimise your labour spend and make better business decisions. Smoothlink smoothlink.net

rates, penalty rates, leave, RDOs, breaks etc. No more excel sheets, manual calculations or the risk of mistakes in overtime calculations. Paydays can be happy days for accountants too!

data services and embedded networks. By connecting Utilmate to Xero, you’ll automatically receive customer payments and post end of month journals.

Tally Street tallystreet.com

WOWinflow by WOW Intelligence wowintelligence.com

Smoothlink’s integration is the hub that sits in between your Procore and Xero accounts. Our integration allows a live two-way synchronisation of all your financials between the two platforms. Financial synchronisation includes all critical data and attachments. Our integration is designed to seamlessly eliminate human error where possible.

Get a 360 degree view of the customer lifecycle. Know your most valuable customers and those who present the most risk. Built for B2B companies, Tally Street analyzes sales invoices and payments in Xero. Results are automatically sent to you and can be synced to Google Sheets, HubSpot and Salesforce.

The ‘click & go’ add-on that learns the real payment patterns of every customer and warns you the moment there is a change. WOWinflow automatically prioritises your Credit Control activities, accurately predicts when customers will pay you, and provides the earliest warnings possible to avoid bad debt.

SyncEzy syncezy.com

Utilmate utilmate.com

Our simPRO to Xero payroll integration allows your accounts / payroll team to instantly import timesheets from simPRO into Xero. Timesheets are synced to Xero while also calculating overtime

Utilmate is a cloud billing solution that takes care of all your utility invoicing, collections and CRM. Ideal for utilities, strata/ body corporates, HOA, building managers, billing agents, retailers,

"I can honestly say this is most valuable resource I have right now and will repay itself hundreds if not thousands of times over!" David Shannon

Available at Coming soon

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Issue 26 / 117

Xero Education

Run a beautiful business with Xero Education Month Learn more to do more Xero is offering Education Month throughout the year to support small business, accountants and bookkeepers. You can register here.

ou might not know this, but there is a whole team at Xero whose mission is to ensure everyone connected to them is successful – Customer Success. A big part of this mission involves education and the empowerment it can create for our new and existing customers. We firmly believe that there should be no barriers to education, it should be available for all. The team is thrilled to be able to launch Xero Education Month across the globe in 2021. The goal is simple- to empower you to make the most of Xero and run a beautiful business. We started in New Zealand, the United Kingdom and EMEA in February and will be live in Australia across March. The rest of the globe will be launched throughout the year. All sessions are completely free and you can catch anything you missed or want to tune in on again the month following the event on Xero Central. Education Month is about connecting with our community Education Month has been an incredible opportunity to connect with our wider Xero community

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and share expert tips and tricks. From webinars, eLearning, videos, certifications, articles and live events, where possible, there is something for everyone. With this in mind we also opened up Education Month beyond our Xero customers to encourage anyone, who is curious about our products or about how to run a beautiful business, to join in the experience. We approached planning our content a bit differently this year too, giving people the opportunity to “choose their own adventure” across 9 themes from the Xero product through to wellbeing and leadership. No matter what stage you are at in your learning journey we wanted to ensure you would gain value across the month. For our Partners, accountants and bookkeepers Every quarter we have an amazing opportunity to connect with our Partner community at Xero and share with them what’s new within the Xero product and how they can get the most of it to bring value to their clients. We have expanded on this idea across Education Month to bring our Partners not only what’s new

@Xero

Vikki Bean, Director of Education and Delivery, Xero Vikki is responsible for strategic education and customer success initiatives for Xero accountants, bookkeepers and small businesses. She is passionate about delivering a best in class education experience, creating skilled and independent Xero users. She qualified as a Chartered Certified Accountant in 2007 and was previously the Managing Director for the Accountancy and Law School at BPP Cambridge.

but also more advanced tips on how to make the most of the platform beyond day to day tasks. Covid-19 showed the world how critical it is to be able to operate your business from anywhere. In our “why cloud, why now” webinar you can learn how to help your customers overcome the challenges of moving to the cloud. Not to mention a few other great sessions such as “how to build lasting client relationships” and “showcase the power of Xero to potential customers” and much more. These webinars are designed for everyone, so share this with your team to help them get a better understanding of how Xero helps power small businesses around the globe. Run a beautiful business With themes such as “beautiful business” and “wellbeing” our webinars throughout the month cover all areas to support being a small business owner, sole trader or an accountant or bookkeeper. Hear from Xero’s leadership team as they talk about “What leadership in 2021 looks like” and what they learned throughout

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Issue 26 / 119

Xero Education

2020 and how they are using those lessons to lead even better in 2021.

building positive workplaces, how to manage high performing teams and stacks more.

“Leadership is about change. It is about supporting change for the better. When you look at it, it’s not technology that’s driving change, it’s people who are. The organisation itself doesn’t change unless the people change. Leadership is really about deeply considering and caring about the impact on people and how they can come on that change journey, contribute to it, and be supported through it” says Steve Vamos.

Xero Central We are hosting all of our sessions on Xero Central which is Xero’s one stop shop for support, community and education. So whilst you may be signing up to an Education Month session you also have the opportunity to explore other pieces of education, join in a community conversation, or raise a case with our support team. Xero Central gives you access to 24/7 information.

You can also catch a workshop about business viability or join us for sessions on work life balance,

Join us to learn more during Education Month Kickstart 2021 by gaining the skills and knowledge you need to build your business with Xero. If you’re in Australia, register now. We’ll be opening registrations for Asia and the US shortly, with Canada to follow later in the year. For NZ or UK/EMEA you can check out the full recordings of Xero Education Month throughout March here. We look forward to welcoming you to one of our webinars.

GREAT NEWS! ApprovalMax is the New Zealand Xero App Partner of the Year 2020 Read more in our blog! 120 / Issue 26

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Issue 26 / 121

New Releases

Updates and new releases from Xero connected apps New feature shout-out

AccountancyManager accountancymanager.co.uk

Chaser chaserhq.com

HR Partner hrpartner.io

Are you a Xero-connected App? Got a new feature or update you’d like to share with the Xero User community? Email alex@ xumagazine.com

AccountancyManager is providing the option to white-label the client portal. This means the URL will show the practice’s name: portal. yourpracticehere.co.uk. Users will also be able to remove references to AM and update the portal with their branding to give clients a more consistent experience. AM have also partnered with PracticeWeb, an award-winning digital marketing agency to provide users with a trusted provider for their digital marketing needs.

Chaser releases Payment Portal for easier, faster payments from your customers. Chaser now provides all of your customers with a dedicated payment portal containing all information on their paid and due invoices, and offers multiple payment options to suit your customers’ needs in one location. Seamlessly connected to your Chaser and Xero account, the Payment Portal facilitates faster payments and saves you significant time on admin.

HR Partner now supports booking interviews for your candidates and selection panelists.

AppogeeHR appogeehr.com

Emersion emersion.com

We have launched a new Time functionality to our suite of solutions. Customers can now record employee locations and manage capacity to help with reduced office space and track and trace requirements. Time tracking capabilities to keep track of hours worked against planned schedules, with clear timesheets. Record time worked against activities, projects and customers can now also be tracked, all from one simple location.

Emersion is pleased to be in the final stages of integration to Salesforce. This will mean companies will be able to synchronise data from Salesforce to Xero through Emersion.

iwoca iwoca.co.uk

ezyCollect ezycollect.com.au

Once you’ve added iwocaPay to your Xero invoice branding themes, your customers will have the option to Pay Now or Pay Later - no matter what they choose you’ll always get paid up front. iwocaPay and Xero sync automatically, so you don’t have to spend time matching payments to invoices once it’s paid.

ApprovalMax approvalmax.com • ‘Export workflow’ feature allows generating a PDF document with a text description of a workflow. This feature makes audits easier and provides a convenient way to review and analyse workflows to understand whether the controls have been set up correctly. • It is now possible to save time when creating a new bill by copying a purchase order. • Scheduled summary emails to approvers to organise approvers’ work efficiently.

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ezyCollect’s new online credit application process addresses some of the key issues with the existing paper based forms which rely on references provided by customers. The online application integrates with your existing accounting platform, gives you business credit risk scores - Late Payment Risk scores and Payment Failure Risk scores based on real time inmarket data, such as customer’s existing payment behaviour and data from illion. You can prevent unpaid invoices at source with Credit Applications from ezyCollect.

infoodle infoodle.com infoodle Gif Aid package now has an upgraded version, Gift Aid Plus. Apart from helping you file claims to HMRC, the new package has the added benefits of running reports that provide a better understanding of your organisation’s transaction history and designing your own statements that can be emailed to donors.

You can now link iwocaPay to Xero and add the iwocaPay checkout to your B2B invoices.

Sapaad sapaad.com Sapaad Cloud POS & Restaurant Management System improved the usability and performance of its fully-integrated online ordering & home delivery solution. With Sapaad.Online, restaurants can create their own online channel in minutes, built with a beautiful web and mobile ordering experience, online payments, order tracking, and more. With Sapaad Connect, restaurants can manage orders from leading online food delivery platforms easily in Sapaad

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New Releases Cloud POS for effortless menu management and order fulfilment. Senta senta.co Senta is supporting accountants and bookkeepers to step up and take on the advisor role with their clients via a new feature - available to all Senta users today. The new advisory feature integrates with Quickbooks and Xero to enable accountants to proactively monitor end-users’ financial performance. Accountants are kept notified of changes to key metrics that are going to impact on businesses – enabling them to take the appropriate action and give relevant advice. simPRO simprogroup.com simPRO’s first update of 2021 enhances both Form Builder capabilities and top simPRO reports. Users can add more custom fields to quotes and invoices created using Form Builder, and new updates to the Recurring Jobs Due report and Asset Labour Planning report help owners better meet both business needs and customer requirements.

Spotlight spotlightreporting.com/ consolidated-forecasting The team at Spotlight have launched Consolidated Forecasting – the next evolution of forecasting in the cloud which allows you to harness the power of Spotlight’s 3-way forecasting tool. Easily consolidate up to 75 entities to enable clients and stakeholders to make confident decisions across multiple entities. SuiteFiles suitefiles.com After a rebrand of the business in early December, we’ve been focusing on reflecting this through the product with a number of visual and functional enhancements. Most of our product is now displaying our new logo, colours, and shapes! The most exciting enhancements have been around our focus on security in all areas, Search feature filters, and our GreatSoft integration template update.

expiry date functionality. Go to the releases section of our website where the power of this functionality is explained. • Tidy is also pleased to announce the release of our new online help, TidyDocs TidyDocs is part of our ongoing support for you and your business – helping you find the answers you need without delay. Wolters Kluwer wolterskluwer.com/en-gb/solutions/ basecone Basecone is a 100% cloud solution for invoice capture, processing, approving and booking of sales and purchase invoices. Now seamlessly integrated with Xero – experience true accounting magic. Scan it, get it recognised, approve it and book it with the easiest automated workflow around. Take full control over your document flows. Meet tax requirements without storing a single piece of the paper. Approve or reject your supplier invoices anywhere, anytime.

Tidy tidyinternational.com • Tidy has further enhanced its feature-rich batch and

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Issue 26 / 123

Leverage the power of a fullyintegrated POS solution for restaurant growth

@SapaadPOS

Karina Rapose, MarCom Manager, Sapaad Karina Rapose is a Product Specialist at Sapaad, a leading cloud-based restaurant POS and delivery management system that empowers restaurateurs worldwide to drive business growth and enhance customer experience with the power of the Cloud.

Whether you run a cafe, QSR, cloud kitchen, or anything in between, discover why moving to an integrated restaurant management system is imperative not only to streamline operations but also to power growth.

fully-integrated POS system is the holy grail of the F&B industry. From managing all your in-store and online sales channels in one place, to an automated kitchento-doorstep order fulfillment workflow. Plus, total control of your inventory and accounting, and access to customer insights and live analytics–all in a centralized platform. There are numerous ways an all-in-one solution can help you maximize profitability, minimize inefficiency, and take your restaurant business to the next level. Multiple Revenue Channels in One Centralized POS Arguably the biggest advantage of an integrated POS system is the ability to manage and fulfil orders from multiple sales channels in one place. Be it walk-in, takeaway, dine-in, or even selfordering. With contactless ordering being a fixture in the ‘new normal’ dining scene, leading POS providers offer in-built solutions for self-ordering and QR code ordering, without the hassle and IT headaches

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of partnering with third-party systems.

instantly flash on an elegant screen above your counter. It’s great for quick and easy service!

And if you’ve set up your own online store or are partnered Centralized Menu Management with third-party food ordering platforms, you can manage them With a robust integration, you all centrally. When a customer can manage your menu centrally places an order through your including update items, prices and website, Facebook or partner availability for multiple outlets in store, it arrives directly into your real-time. POS, meaning you no longer have to maneuver multiple tablets to Furthermore, connecting your run your in-house and online partner stores to your POS can be stores. Eliminating manual achieved within data entry and the risk minutes. You of incorrect orders. can sync your From managing POS menu to sales channels, Total your respective to total control Automated partner menus of inventory and Order Journey with a few clicks. accounting–all in Menu items one centralized A fully-integrated selected, along solution is designed with their images, platform. to work seamlessly descriptions and with add-on modules in modifiers, instantly reflect your operations for streamlined on your partner store. communication and workflow. Orders are automatically routed For updating a menu item or to your kitchen display system marking it unavailable, and adding and your delivery management store configurations or discounts, system for complete visibility of you won’t need to contact your the order journey and unrivalled provider. This can easily be done data integrity and accuracy. straight from your POS in real time so it’s always up to date; When an order is ready, you can minimizing effort and maximizing have generated token numbers resources.

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100% Delivery Efficiency Control An efficient delivery management system gives you real-time insights into your entire order cycle as it happens – placement, preparation, pick-up, and delivery. You can monitor every stage, identify bottlenecks, and optimize operations. Order details and driver information are visible at a glance. You can identify driver availability, assign them to orders and track deliveries, not only by your own delivery driver personnel but also by third-party logistics and delivery partners. Powerful & Accurate Inventory With a robust POS that works in sync with your back office, you can gain total control of your inventory, build recipes and subrecipes, and get real-time visibility into your food costs. When an order is placed, ingredients instantly deduct from your inventory, so your stock levels are always up to date. And if you’re running low on stock below the re-order level, you can generate Purchase Orders directly from your POS. In addition to receiving and transferring stock between locations, running digital stock takes, and accounting for wastage. In-built Comprehensive Customer Database Customer data is incredibly valuable to better understand, communicate and engage with your customers. With multiple sales channels, managing multiple databases can be overwhelming. A powerful integrated solution ensures your entire customer database can be managed in one centralized CRM. When an existing customer orders over the phone, online or through your third-party partner store, their profile is automatically updated in your CRM. Should a new customer order, a new profile is instantly created.

Insights such as order history and preferences allow you to target customers and keep them within reach. Thus improving customer engagement and, ultimately, retention. LIVE Dashboard Analytics & Insights With a future-proof integration, data from all your sales channels are in sync with your POS. You can get insights and analytics of multi-channel performance in one powerful LIVE dashboard, eliminating end-of-day manual reconciliation.

In conclusion, the efficiency and growth of your restaurant business is directly proportional to the level of optimization of your resources, manpower, productivity, communication, workflow, and operations. Undeniably, a complete onestop solution with a plethora of offerings under one pane of glass is an effective and future-proof strategy to accelerate growth, especially in the post-pandemic world. And it’s those restaurants that embrace the myriad benefits of a fully-integrated POS solution that are positioned for longstanding success.

Best-selling items, popular delivery areas, item profitability, outlet profitability, inactive customers, are a few of the many insights you gain – even on the go. With comprehensive reports and a daily business summary, you can identify and analyze trends, compare in-house and online store performance, and make informed business decisions. Seamless Integration with Xero Leading POS systems are integrated with cloud accounting software like Xero. This means that daily sales data from your POS are automatically synced to your Xero. The out-of-thebox integration simplifies and streamlines your restaurant accounting and removes the need for manual entry and end-of-day reconciliation.

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FIND OUT MORE... To find out more about Sapaad Cloud-based Restaurant POS & Delivery Management System, visit us at: sapaad.com

Issue 26 / 125

Focus: Mental Health

Mental wellbeing: support yourself and small businesses I

t is now 2021 and while I may have felt that things would get back to normal after 2020, I found the coronavirus pandemic has changed forever the world, my life and the way I live and work. I realised it is not about 2020 is over and done with and now I can get back to normal. 2020 happened but it was now is the past. I managed to get through the challenges and chaos that was thrown my way. I built resilience. I was grateful for being in a place that was safer than most. Putting 2020 into better context helped me address the year and move forward. I now look at 2021 as also being a year of difference. However, I will be in better frame of mind to deal with it and the continuing change. I am constantly working on better mental health for myself. I make this a priority in my life so I can then go about supporting others round me. In 2020 I had the pleasure of continuing my volunteer work with Beyond Blue. One of the great joys in my life. I am blessed to have the opportunity to volunteer with amazing people who are doing such valuable work for Beyond Blue. A significant

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development for small business by Beyond Blue was the launch of an online training course to help small business advisers provide mental health support to business owners impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. I was very honored to be part of the development and then the promotion of this amazing course. The free Mental wellbeing: support yourself and small businesses course was launched at a time when two thirds of Australia’s small business owners report the pandemic has negatively affected their mental health. The course is available nationwide thanks to the support and expertise of Beyond Blue’s Supporting Partners Xero and Go1. Evidence shows many small business owners seek advice and support from trusted advisers including accountants, bookkeepers, tax agents, industry associations and representative bodies who are often the first to notice when a client might be experiencing mental health issues. However, advisers also say they

Tim Hoopmann, Speaker and Trainer Experienced founder with a demonstrated history growing small business. Strong entrepreneurship and professionally skilled in Business Planning, Cloud Technology, Sales, Marketing, and Operations Management. A passion for helping small businesses use technology as a key enabler to increase productivity and decrease costs. A volunteer speaker for beyondblue, an Australian organisation that works to raise awareness of anxiety and depression, reduce the associated stigma and encourage people to get help.

want to know more about the signs to look out for, how to start a conversation with a client they are worried about, and how to connect small business owners to appropriate support. The course, which can be accessed by all business advisers in Australia on Beyond Blue’s Heads Up web site, covers four key topic areas: • An introduction to mental health and how to recognise when someone needs support • How advisers can look after their own wellbeing in the workplace and at home • How to have a conversation with a small business owner you are worried about • How advisers can proactively support small business owners The course is amazing and a great resource to have for you and your teams. It’s a resource that you return to whenever you need to learn a little more about how to take care of yourself and then how to support others. It talks about how advisors should look after themselves first, so they are in the best position to support others. It’s interactive and easy to navigate. It was some excellent practical examples. It has reference to resource materials

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Outsourcing... Or Dedicated Offshoring but not as you know it Whatever your experience has been with outsourcing or offshoring, we want to challenge that. Outsourcing is not about handing over some compliance work: It’s about changing the nature of the interactions you have with clients. Our world-class processes, powered by our custom-built project management system allows you to help your clients better. Wherever you are in the world, we can support your firm in delivering more. Why wait? Book a call with an expert to discuss your outsourcing or offshoring requirements www.advancetrack.com/start-here/

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Issue 26 / 127

Focus: Mental Health plus where to direct small business owners for additional support. It’s an awesome guide for everyone. A must complete for any small business, including advisors. WHY ARE BEYOND BLUE TARGETING BUSINESS ADVISERS? • The free course was launched last year in September at a time when two thirds of Australia’s small business owners report the pandemic had negatively affected their mental health • Small business owners are time poor, and evidence shows they often seek advice and support from trusted advisers including: - Accountants - Bookkeepers - Tax agents - Industry associations and representative bodies • These advisers are often the first to notice when a client might be experiencing mental health issues. • Advisers have told Beyond Blue they want to know more about: - The signs to look out for - How to start a conversation with a client they are worried about - How to connect small business owners to appropriate support • Advisers have also told Beyond Bleu that the number of small business owners seeking support for non-businessrelated issues has increased during the pandemic and this training is needed now more than ever. • Of course, Beyond Blue are not expecting advisers to become counsellors by any means, but they have a strong relationship with their clients and can help support them through difficult times. • The Mental Wellbeing: Support yourself and small businesses course supports advisers to play this important role. WHAT ARE SOME OF THE ISSUES AFFECTING SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS?

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• Working long hours, cash flow issues, social isolation and balancing work and domestic responsibilities are some of the challenges small business owners face. Not surprisingly, these factors can also affect a business owner’s mental health and wellbeing. • The fallout caused by COVID-19 has exacerbated these stressors while adding enormous uncertainty. • People who contact Beyond Blue say the pandemic’s effect on employment and income is a cause of stress. • We’re seeing businesses face the immediate financial stress of closing down or trying to manage with reduced turnover. • Many are applying for government assistance, often for the first time, and dealing with the emotional impact of what’s happening. • There’s worry about job loss or a significant reduction in hours. • Many business owners who are able to keep trading have reported losses in revenue and increased expenditure due to hygiene, cleaning and PPE requirements. WHAT ARE SOME OF THE SIGNS ADVISERS SHOULD LOOK OUT FOR? • In terms of personal signs, examples include changes like: - Becoming impatient, irritable, or angry - Looking tired - Being negative and not solution oriented - Speaking about themselves in a derogatory way • In terms of business challenges, signs might include: - Cash flow challenges - Having trouble paying wages or keeping up with accounts for suppliers

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•

establish a routine as best you can. Keep regular sleep patterns and make sure you get enough rest. Look after your physical health, and find a way to stay active if you can. The news can get a bit much at times – take regular breaks from screens and social media. Try to do something each day that makes you feel good.

The course is available free of charge across Australia and aims to provide small business advisers with the skills to support the mental health of small business owners. It was launched at a crucial time for business owners who are doing it tough due to the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic. To access the free Mental wellbeing: support yourself and small businesses course, visit bb.org.au/advisers. Xero partners can access the course on Xero Central. I encourage all advisors to complete the course, share with your teams and learn how to take better care of yourself. Then learn about how best to support small business owners. It is a great resource to be shared with small business, encouraging them to complete the course, learn and utilise the resources.

WHAT CAN SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS DO TO IMPROVE THEIR MENTAL HEALTH? • Make sure you are getting accurate information from credible sources. • Try and structure their days and

XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.

Accountants are more than just number crunchers – you’re trusted advisors. And we’re here to help you support your clients with the right business finance, that works for them.

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We offer a range of business finance solutions, including Business Loans, Invoice Finance and Revolving Credit facilities. marketfinance.com/accountants Visit the XU Hub: Go to www.xumagazine.com

Issue 26 / 129

infoodle Gift Aid Plus: What’s In It For You? How charities can increase their cash flow with Gift Aid

@infoodle

Dave Jurgensen, Customer Support, infoodle Dave is a jack-of-all trades that has worked in a number of different industries, from Film & TV, to IT, to Education. With a strong focus on training, and bridging the gap between ages, cultures, and backgrounds. Dave helps get you up-tospeed with infoodle quickly and confidently.

Gift Aid could be a source of added revenue for many nonprofit organisations - yet claiming it can be an administrative nightmare. Thankfully, we have a solution that allows you to streamline and simplify this process, making filing Gift Aid claims fast and easy.

s mentioned above, Gift Aid is a vital source of revenue for UK charities. It provides a 25% uplift on eligible donations to the nonprofit organisation when claimed from the HMRC. The challenge with Gift Aid is to organise the paperwork with efficiency so that the organisation - or their bookkeepers - isn’t weighed down with the effort. So, how can the task be made seamless, thereby ensuring the claims are made frequently and the organisation’s cash flow is improved? Use reliable tools to simplify the process Doing your bookkeeping using Xero means that you have a straightforward tool for managing your day-to-day accounting and periodic reporting requirements. Add infoodle to the mix, and you have a powerful system to ensure your Gift Aid can be processed, at minimal cost. HMRC requires strict formats – infoodle ensures these are correct, giving you clear warnings before there is any problem. infoodle also has specific features to ensure

130 / Issue 26

seamless integration with Xero. As an accountant, you can carry on your day-to-day bookkeeping in Xero knowing that infoodle is working in the background to pull the data required out of Xero at the appropriate time. infoodle intelligently uses the data items to bring together a claim, ensuring that the right people with the right approval are being used - and the right transactions are utilised to ensure the claim is accurate. It does all this for you, you simply review the claim. After the data has been transferred to infoodle and reviewed, your claim can be submitted. Once set up, it only takes a few clicks to prepare and file your claim, no spreadsheet manipulation required! Get your donors’ permission to claim Gift Aid on their donations In contrast with many other countries where donors receive tax relief directly into their bank account, the UK nonprofits can make claims for tax returns on donations made to them, making their fundraising efforts go further.

The infoodle Gift Aid Plus package, which was recently introduced to the market, provides you with a new feature of running reports. Reports give a comprehensive overview of your organisation’s transaction history. While before you were only able to view how many donors donated and how much of those donations are Gift Aid claimable, now it is possible to access more data concerning the donor community, their permissions around Gift Aid and the financial donations they have made. Strengthen ties with donors by using statements Statements are a powerful ally in your organisational admin life and can help build stronger relations with your communities, customers, and donors, as well as save you potential headaches down the track when it is time to file your claim. With infoodle Gift Aid Plus, charities are now able to take their communication with donors to the next level by providing them with regular updates on their donations. Statements can be customised, so organisations can design their

XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.

own adding their logos and other brand elements. Sending out Statements is a great way to keep in touch with the people donating to your organisation. Open and consistent communication builds trust, keeps the donors thinking about you and your cause, and results in more donations being made.

Bringing all the required information together can be time consuming, inaccurate and frustrating, which is why some nonprofits put off or avoid claiming Gift Aid. Using infoodle Gift Aid Plus and Xero can be the first step to making the bookkeeping process easy, so you can file your Gift Aid claim more

frequently and accurately, thus increasing the income of your organisation.

Find out more... For more information go to: infoodle.com/gift-aid-plus

Are unpaid invoices stressing you out? Reduce your overdues and enhance your AR function with ezyCollect, a smart AR automation app for Xero.

Our Xero clients typically see a 40% reduction in outstanding overdues within the first six months.

What Xero users love about ezyCollect: � Automatically record payments against customer invoices in Xero with Payment Write Back � Add a ‘Pay Now’ button and allow customers to pay multiple invoices with SimplyPaid* � Customise credit terms based on Customer Risk Ratings � See an overall record of your customer communication in one place with Centralised Customer communication history

Enhance your Xero subscription with ezyCollect and put an end to unpaid invoices. Go to www.ezycollect.com.au/xero for your XU special offer or call us on 1300 780 524 (in Australia) Visit the XU Hub: Go to www.xumagazine.com Xero Marketplace Rating

Issue 26 / 131

Events

Digital Innovation in Asian Accounting & Finance: A Series of Events for 2021

The Accounting & Finance Show Asia rolls out a whole series of virtual and in-person events for the year ahead

@accandfinshow

Laura Binns, Project Director, Accounting & Finance Show Asia, Terrapinn Asia Laura joined Terrapinn in 2018 and launched the first edition of the Accounting & Finance Show Asia. The show works to drive up the adoption of digital technologies amongst SMEs and accounting firms in Asia. With the show now in its fourth year, Laura and the Terrapinn team are now extending the event into a whole series running throughout the year.

The events of the past year have rapidly accelerated business technology adoption across Asia. Across the region, cloud technologies have gone from nice to have to must have and companies are discovering the power of mixing and matching solutions to meet their various business needs.

ith more companies proactively looking for digital solutions than ever before, the Accounting & Finance Show Asia has expanded into a series of events in 2021 to bring together the buyers and the solution providers from across the region. Following a year of unprecedented disruption, in which the Accounting & Finance Show Asia events ran online for the first time, the Terrapinn Asia team will bring together the best of both in-person and virtual while rolling out two new launch events. The virtual experience In the absence of face to face events, Asia’s virtual shows have proven extremely popular with attendees and solution providers alike. They have enabled accounting and finance teams to

132 / Issue 26

learn about the latest solutions in the market and keep in touch with how other businesses have been able to automate and streamline through their digitalisation. Terrapinn’s market-leading virtual event platform offers a fantastic user experience for attendees while enabling accounting software and app solution providers to demonstrate their solutions, network with attendees and connect with qualified buyers.

and more comprehensive service to your clients and how to enhance your overall practice management.

When?

16 June 2021 What’s the format? Virtual Event Who should attend? Partners, Accountants, CPAs, & Bookkeepers from accounting and bookkeeping firms across Asia

First up in June: Digital Practice Summit Asia The 2021 series will kick off with the Digital Practice Summit Asia. This one day virtual event is designed specifically for those working in companies that provide accounting and bookkeeping services. The conference agenda will be crammed with insightful sessions on how you can leverage digital technologies to increase your efficiency, provide an improved

XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.

Events Next in July: The return of the Accounting & Finance Show Hong Kong The Accounting & Finance Show Hong Kong will return for its third year in July, running as a two day online event for the accounting and finance community in Hong Kong. The conference agenda will look at the latest digital developments and bring together 80 expert speakers to share their experiences and outcomes of adopting new digital tools over the past twelve months.

When?

28-29 July 2021 What’s the format? Virtual Event Who should attend? Both the finance teams of SMEs and enterprises and those working in accounting firms from Hong Kong

The final launch: The Accounting & Finance Show Malaysia The last of the virtual events in the 2021 series will be the Accounting & Finance Show Malaysia. This new launch event is designed to bring together the diverse accounting and finance community from around the country, whose businesses are digitalising at speed. The conference sessions will bring together a range of local case studies and technology experts to reveal the potential opportunities created by implementing digital

Get involved

tools and tech.

When?

12 October 2021 What’s the format? Virtual Event Who should attend? Both the finance teams of SMEs and enterprises and those working in accounting firms from Malaysia

The return of the flagship event: The Accounting & Finance Show Asia Our flagship event, the Accounting & Finance Show Asia, will return at Suntec Convention Centre, Singapore as an in-person event. With 150 expert speakers joining us for a wide range of insightful presentations and engaging panel sessions, this will be the first chance the community will have had to meet face to face for over a year and a half! For anyone not able to attend in person, a whole host of content and networking functionality will also be available online.

When?

If you’re a solution provider or a Xero app partner and you’re looking for opportunities to build your brand, generate leads or grow in the Asia market reach out to Laura today to find out more about how you can get involved. Hear from our attendees on why they return to our events year after year... “Interesting, relevant sessions that include practical advice and information, making the time spent attending very much worthwhile!” CFO Scout Asia “There is a great improvement on each show you conduct. This is really a grand success” - Manager, Finance & Accounts, TTK Services

21-22 Sept 2021 What’s the format? In-person at Suntec Convention Centre, Singapore Who should attend? Both the finance teams of SMEs and enterprises and those working in accounting firms from across Asia

Visit the XU Hub: Go to www.xumagazine.com

If you’re an accounting and finance professional or a business owner operating in Asia, you can sign up to attend all the events in the 2021 Accounting & Finance Show Series for free. Grab the rest of your team and sign up! If you’d like to share your experience of implementing digital solutions within your own business, get in touch to find out more about speaking opportunities at the events.

Find out more... If you would like to be involved in one or more of the 2021 events visit: www.terrapinn.com/ AttendAFShowSeries2021

Issue 26 / 133

Putting Xero At The Heart of A New Accounting Firm How tech has helped Praxis deliver outstanding client service

Christopher Blunn, cofounder and partner, Praxis Christopher Blunn is cofounder of Praxis, a Londonbased cloud accounting practice that opened its doors to clients in October 2020. Christopher is a huge advocate for Xero and the positive impact the ecosystem has on the firm’s client service.

Christopher Blunn, co-founder of Praxis, looks at the challenges of starting a new accounting firm and how the ever-growing Xero ecosystem is at the heart of their service-driven firm.

Below: The whole Praxis team from their first Welcome Day back in October 2020

ero as the main hub of the new firm

When Alex Shall, Pete Heslington and I set up Praxis back in October 2020, we had a very clear goal for the firm. We’re all driven by providing the best client service, and technology is such a big part of that client service these days. We’d all seen how easy cloud has made it to collaborate with staff and with clients, and as young and techsavvy professionals, we were keen to embrace this. So, with Praxis, we wanted to take those cloud tools and apps and use them

more efficiently – and Xero was always our choice of platform for doing this. When we first set up Praxis as a firm, we knew that Xero had to be the central hub. We’re using a suite of cloud solutions which are all integrated with Xero, and that’s making it easier to work anywhere and to engage with clients. There are so many benefits of being in the cloud, once you get through the initial teething issues. I would say that maybe 90% of our clients are now on Xero, and we’re already a Silver Partner with Xero, which is pretty good for a new

startup firm. Running the practice on the Xero platform When we started looking at practice management solutions, we knew that one must-have was that it must integrate with Xero and the wider ecosystem. As a firm, we use Xero Practice Manager for our work in progress (WIP) and billing, and Accountancy Manager for our practice management, with everything integrated with the main Xero accounts. Accountancy Manager is the best practice management offering out there, in my opinion, and works perfectly with Xero. If we raise a bill in Xero it appears in Accountancy Manager and you have that brilliant integration between both solutions. We had a lot of initial questions and feature requests for the Accountancy Manager team when we first started, but ‘out of the box’ it can do all the things we need as a practice. We use it mainly for holding client data and sending out things like engagement letters. All our engagement letters go out electronically – there’s no paper or printouts of old-school

134 / Issue 26

XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.

signatures – so it’s a fully digital process. Accountancy Manager is also linked to our HMRC account and you have a Companies House link in there too, so there’s a huge amount of connectivity there. The benefits of integration and an open API Having the Xero open API makes such a difference. It’s created a huge ecosystem and it’s been invaluable for us when choosing our apps and cloud tools. We use Receipt Bank and HubDoc for the automated bookkeeping side of things, and we also use Silverfin for the workflows internally. Silverfin pulls the data straight in from Xero, which is a huge help, and you can also get quite sophisticated reporting out of Silverfin too. Because of that direct Xero integration, the data doesn’t need any filtering or mapping to make it usable, and that saves us such a lot of time. Everything branches out from Xero and that’s meant our clients getting used to working in the cloud too. Most of our clients are relatively tech savvy, but Xero is so intuitive and easy to use, so most clients have no real issues getting up and running. Streamlining and automating the key processes We use Xero for our own practice accounting at Praxis, and we raise all our invoices in Xero too, with our WIP in Xero Practice Manager. Everything gets pulled into the accounting software, and that means that invoices don’t get missed, are easier to track and are easier to pay for the client. It makes our lives much easier and improves the client service side of things. We have more time to talk to clients and do the advisory pieces because we aren’t wasting time on low-level admin anymore. Previously, it was a much more laborious process to raise an invoice, with lots of different steps to complete. Now, I can raise the invoice myself in a couple of

minutes. In Xero, the invoicing is so well formulated, so I can send the bill straight out and speed up the payment process. The little automated nudges for overdue invoices are also great, and you generally only have to get manually involved in a few minor things. One of the great things about Accountancy Manager, from a workflow perspective, is all the potential for automation. We can automatically remind clients about tax deadlines, or the need to sign outstanding paperwork etc. We can even generate a tailored tax reminder email with all the tax numbers in there and with the tax manager’s name in the email. It’s very much a tailored, personal email – but automated. The software does all the hard work for you and that’s an incredible timesaver. The future path for Praxis We’re still only a few months old as a firm, so we’re still bedding things in and looking for other ways to save time and effort. If you’re going to make automation work, you have to set these processes up, get it right once and then reap the benefits forever. There are lots of things we can still automate, so those efficiencies will just get better and better. We’re really starting to see the benefits of the automation, but we’ve probably only scratched the surface, to be honest. There’s always an opportunity to replace

Visit the XU Hub: Go to www.xumagazine.com

a manual process.

Above (L-R): Alex, Chris and Pete

Where will we be in a year? In terms of being a cloud practice, we want to get to a point where we have a proper cloud tax offering. That’s out of our control as there isn’t anything that completely fits the bill on the market at present. We’re keeping our eye on Xero Tax, as that could be a perfect add-on for limited companies where we already do the accounts in Xero. Silverfin is allegedly launching a corporation tax function, linked to Xero, and we’ve found a good company secretarial cloud offering too, which will make a big difference. We want to get to a point where we can run the entire practice in the cloud, with software that integrates with Xero. We’re doing pretty well for four months in and we’re harnessing everything that we can do in terms of achieving that cloud goal. It’s been hard work getting Praxis off the ground over the past few months, but it’s also been a lot of fun too. I think we’re well on the way to becoming the lean, efficient Xero-based cloud practice that we set out to be – so we’re excited to see where things will go from here.

Find out more... You can find out more about Praxis is at: www.praxisllp.com

Issue 26 / 135

App/Service Directory

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

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dext.com

EzzyBills | @EzzyBills ezzybills.com Hubdoc | @Hubdoc

Making accountants more productive, profitable and powerful.

hubdoc.com Hurdlr | @hurdlr hurdlr.com Lightyear | @lightyearco Basecone | @Basecone

lightyear.cloud MileIQ | @MileIQ

get.basecone.com/xero CitrusHR | @citrusHRconsult Senta | @sentahq senta.co

mileiq.com Nexonia | @nexonia

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nexonia.com/xero Pleo| @pleo

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receipt-stash.com Reducer | @ReducerUK

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senddr.com #TheFutureIsNow

Shoeboxed | @Shoeboxed shoeboxed.com

Invisible Business Solutions | @ invizbiz authorisedcloudintegrator.com.au LimeCloud | @LimeCloudLtd limecloud.tech Maze Digital maze.digital Waypoint | @We_Are_Waypoint wearewaypoint.com

Conversions Click 2 Convert | @C2Convert c2convert.com cloudconvert | @CloudconvertSa cloudconvert.co.za ConvertworX | @ConvertworX convertworx.com.au/xero-conversion FITmyBooks fitmybooks.co.za Jet Convert | @JetConvert jetconvert.com.au Movemybooks | @movemybooks movemybooks.co.uk MMC Convert | @mmcconvert mmcconvert.com XpressConvert xpressconvert.com.au

CRM 24SevenOffice | @24SOSupport 24sevenoffice.com

Bills & Expenses

Xpenditure | @Xpenditure

Accelo | @accelo

xpenditure.com/en/xero

www.accelo.com

AutoEntry | @OCRexSoftware

Zahara | @ZaharaSoftware

autoentry.com

136 / Issue 26

zaharasoftware.com

XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.

App Directory AccountancyManager | @accountancymgr accountancymanager.co.uk

SyncApps by Cazoomi | @Cazoomi cazoomi.com Syngency | @syngency syngency.com Vision6 | @vision6 vision6.com.au Workato | @Workato workato.com/xero

xploite.com

3bit.com/xero_solutions.aspx axisdirect.nz

databuzz.com.au Defsys | @defsys defsys.com.au

onesaas.com/integrate Piesync | @PieSync piesync.com/xero ProspectSoft | @ProspectSoft prospectsoft.com PropertySuite | @PropertySuite propertysuite.co.nz QikBizCRM | @QikBizNZ qikbizcrm.com

triotech.co.nz/xero Web Industries webindustries.co.nz Zynk zynk.com/solutions/xero-integration

Debtor Tracking Armatic | @armaticio partners.armatic.io/xero Chaser | @chaser_hq chaserhq.com

Get paid faster with human-like receivables automation

ezidebtcollection.com.au ezyCollect | @ezyCollect ezycollect.com.au

get.basecone.com/xero Boxkite | @getboxkite getboxkite.com DiGA - Xero Excel Reporting businessbackbone.co.uk

Formitize | @Formitize formitize.com/en

eCommerce a2xaccounting.com/xero

ARE YOU TIRED OF CHASING OVERDUE INVOICES? Automate your AR with ezyCollect

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

netengine.com.au/xero-integrations numernet.com

Basecone | @Basecone

Airsquare | @airsquare

NetEngine | @Net_Engine Numernet

Documents

A2X Accounting | @a2xaccounting

Interlockit.com

macbusiness.co.nz/xero-integration

xocashflow.com/Xero-Integration

i2B | @i2B_Limited

customintegration.co.nz

isos.com

vision6.com.au XO Cashflow | @xocashflow

xero.com/uk/google

Infopower

Macbusiness

smsmydebtors.com Vision6 | @vision6

Hubdoc | @Hubdoc

end-game.com/xero

interlockit.com

satago.com SMS My Debtors | @smsmydebtors

fyidocs.com

Ezi Debt Collection

iSOS | @isos_uk

mentio.ca/xero Satago | @SatagoHQ

Google apps for work

teamdf.com dynamic-solutions.co.nz/xero

ledgerlive.com/xero Mentio | @mentiohq

FYI | @fyidocuments

debtze.com/xero

EndGame | @GoEndGame

iodm.com.au LedgerLive

zapier.com

Digital Fusion Dynamic Solutions Ltd

IODM | @IODM_Software

Evernote by Zapier | @zapier

Axis Direct | @NZAxisDirect

coherent.net

magnetismsolutions.com

trineo.co.nz Trio Technology | @Trio_Tech

3Bit Solutions

Databuzz | @databuzz

Mailchimp by OneSaas | @onesaas

southgatelabs.com Trineo | @trineoltd

Custom Integration

customd.com

Magnetism | @MagnetismXRM

smudge.io Southgate Labs | @SouthgateLabs

zapier.com/zapbook/xero/zendesk

Coherent | @CoherentSoft

legrandcrm.com

redjungle.com Smudge | @smudgeio

Zendesk by Zapier

bluehub.co.uk

Legrand CRM | @LegrandCRM

Red Jungle Limited | @redjungle

xactsoftware.co.nz Xploite | @xploiteapp

Custom D | @customdhq

insightly.com

nusoftware.com

Xact | @Xactsoftware

BlueHub | @Blue_Hub

Insightly For Xero | @insightlyapp

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InvoiceSherpa | @invoicesherpa invoicesherpa.com

carrytheone.co.uk Checkfront | @Checkfront checkfront.com

Visit the XU Hub: Go to www.xumagazine.com

Issue 26 / 137

App Directory Connex

Validus

TradeGecko | @tradegecko

jmawebtechnologies.com CS Cart by 4Sprung | @cscart marketplace.cs-cart.com Dear Systems dearsystems.com

Tradevine | @TradevineTeam

onesaas.com stitchlabs.com

waddle.com.au

vinsight.net

Inventory

Invoicing & Jobs

Vextras - Kiwi | @vextras

CIN7 | @Cin7online cin7.com

Volusion by Vextras | @vextras vextras.com

eCC Cloud | @webgility webgility.com

DataQlick | @DataQlick

zapier.com/apps/xero

dashboardstream.com

Zen Cart by Carry The One

ecwid.com/xero

DEAR Inventory | @DearInventory

carrytheone.co.uk

ecwid by Stitch Labs | @StitchLabs stitchlabs.com Expandly | @expandly

dearsystems.com

Financial Services

ezimerchant.com

Farmflo | @farmflo

Equifax | @equifax

EZ Rent out | @EZRentOut ezrentout.com/xero

Fishbowl | @fishbowl

Everline | @everline

fishbowlinventory.com

everline.com

Handshake | @handshake handshake.com/integration/xero Intellibook | @intellibookapp intellibook.co/features/Xero MINDBODY | @mindbodyonline partner.mindbodyonline.com Neto | @netoecommerce

Hike | @hikepos

Financiery | @financiery

hikeup.com/xero-pos-integration

financiery.com

MRPEasy | @mrpeasy

Fundbox | @fundbox

mrpeasy.com

fundbox.com

simPRO | @simprosoftware

Fundera | @fundera

simprogroup.com

fundera.com Funding Options | @FundingOptions

neto.com.au zapier.com rocketspark.com/nz/xero/ Sendle | @sendle

FundTap GetCapital | @Get_Capital

pipemonk.com stitchlabs.com

aroflo.com Ascora | @ascoraapp ascora.com.au B2BGateway | @B2BGateway

buildxact.com.au chargebee.com/integrations/xero Cliniko | @Cliniko

liberis | @LiberisUK

cliniko.com/xero TidyBuild | @TidyInt

MarketFinance | @MarketFinance

tidyinternational.com TidyStock | @TidyInt

marketfinance.com

Shopify By Tradevine | @

tidyinternational.com

Clio | @goclio landing.clio.com/xero Co-construct | @coconstruct global.co-construct.com Commusoft | @Commusoft

TradevineTeam tradevine.com

commusoft.co.uk

Squarespace | @squarespace

Copper | @copperproject

squarespace.com

copperproject.com

TaxJar | @TaxJar

Corecon

taxjar.com TidyCommerce | @tidyint tidyinternational.com/ecommerce

BUSINESS FINANCE MADE EASY

corecon.com

STOCK MANAGEMENT

marketfinance.com

tidystock com TradeGecko | @tradegecko

moolahsense.com Moula | @MoulaMoney

tradegecko.com Unleashed Software | @

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POWERFUL eCOMMERCE

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xero.com/uk/financial-services/ofx SmartBiz Loans | @SmartBizLoans smartbizloans.com tradelock.co.uk

unleashedsoftware.com Veeqo | @Veeqo veeqo.com

TradeLock | @TradelockCover

coreplus | @Intracore coreplus.com.au CurrentRMS | @currentrms current-rms.com Cushion | @cushionapp

MoolahSense | @MoolahSense

138 / Issue 26

appsforops.com AroFlo | @aro_flo

Chargebee | @chargebee

liberis.co.uk

Shopify By Stitch Labs | @StitchLabs

approvalmax.com/xero AppsForOps | @AppsForOps

buildertrend.com/xero

kabbage.com

Shopify by Pipemonk | @pipe_monk

apparelmagic.com

BuildXact

getcapital.com.au

Kabbage | @KabbageInc

shopify.com

affinitylive.com Apparelmagic | @ApparelMagic

britebiz.com/xero-crm-integration

iwoca.co.uk/xero

Shopify | @Shopify

acuityscheduling.com

BuilderTREND | @BuilderTREND

iwoca | @iwoca

sendle.com

AcuitySchedulin

b2bgateway.net

fundtap.co.nz/xero

Rocketspark | @Rocketspark

triotech.co.nz Acuity Scheduling | @

BriteBiz | @britebiz

fundingoptions.com

PayPal by Zapier | @zapier

actionstep.com/xero Active Collab By Trio | @Trio_Tech

ApprovalMax | @ApprovalMax

farmflo.com

equifax.com

ActionStep | @Actionstep

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evopos.com expandly.com

credi.com

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Veeqo | @Veeqo veeqo.com/integrations/xero

eBay by OneSaas | @onesaas

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validus.sg

tradegecko.com

Vend xero.com/uk/marketplace/app/vend

cushionapp.com Dentally | @DentallyApp dentally.co/integrations/xero DonkeyBean donkeybean.com EMAC | @EMACsoftware emac.com.au Emersion | @emersionbilling emersion.com

XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.

App Directory Okappy | @ok_appy Order Space | @orderspace

Automated billing for MSPs & Telcos www.emersion.com/xero_partners

etz Technologies | @etzTechnologies

orderspace.com/integrations/xero

Experieco

Traffic Live deltek.com TriggerApp | @triggerapp

Patchability time.patchability.com pay RIGHT AWAY | @PayRIGHTAWAY payrightaway.com.au Preno | @prenohq prenohq.com/xero ProWorkflow | @ProWorkflow proworkflow.com Quotient | @QuotientApp

etzpayments.com

Tradify | @tradifyhq tradifyhq.com

okappy.com

quotientapp.com/integrations/xero

experieco.com Fergus | @FergusApp

vworkapp.com WHMCS for Xero | @edgehosting

fergusapp.com Foodstorm | @FoodStorm

edgehosting.uk/whmcs-xero-addon Work[etc] CRM | @WORKetc_

foodstorm.com Formitize | @Formitize

support WorkflowMax | @WorkflowMax

FreshBooks | @freshbooks

workflowmax.com

onesaas.com/integrate/xero GeoOp | @GeoOp

arlo.co Arthur Online | @ArthurProperty arthuronline.co.uk Avalara | @avalara trustfile.avalara.com Backupmybooks | @backupmybooks backupmybooks.com BizEquity | @BizEquity bizequity.com/xero Blendo | @blendoapp blendo.co Boxkite | @getboxkite getboxkite.com Business sorter | @BusinessSorter businesssorter.com/xero Chata.ai | @thechataHQ Cloudbusiness | @CloudBusinessLt cloudbusinessllc.com Controlc control-c.com/landing-xero CoverKit by NZI

geoop.com GoProposal | @GoProposal goproposal.com

Qwilr | @Qwilr

It’s a match made in heaven.

ServiceM8 | @ServiceM8

getharvest.com

cradle.io/integration/xero Curve | @imaginecurve

servicem8.com

i2B | @i2B_Limited

Simple Salon | @SimpleSalon

i2b-online.com

imaginecurve.com Customer Lobby | @CustomerLobby

simplesalon.com/xero

iCOS LIVE | @iCOSLIVE icoslive.com

simPRO | @simprosoftware simprogroup.com

InvoiceTracker by eBillity | @eBillity invoicetracker.com

SmartTrade | @SmartTradeSW

invoxy.com

smarttrade.biz

iTrade

Synchroteam | @synchroteam

itrade.net

synchroteam.com

Kickserv | @kickserv

The Service Manager | @

kickserv.com/xero

theservicemgr

LEAP | @LEAP4LawFirms

theservicemanager.com TidyBuild | @TidyInt

leap.co.uk Loc8 | @Loc8com

Start your FREE trial: workflowmax.com/xero

Smart Reports | @smartreports smartreports.com.au

Invoxy | @invoxy

nzi.co.nz Cradle | @letscradlenz

qwilr.com

Harvest | @harvest

tidyinternational.com

loc8.com

customerlobby.com EntryRocket | @entryrocket entryrocket.com

Workshop Software | @ workshoponline workshopsoftware.com.au XEDI | @xediLtd xedi.com

Manufacturing AroFlo | @aro_flo aroflo.com Tidy Enterprise | @TidyInt tidyenterprise.com

MinuteDock | @minutedock

minutedock.com MyTrucking

aider.ai/partners/xero Arlo

chata.ai

worketc.com/new_landing/xero

formitize.com

aider | @AskAider

imporex.com.au

| @MyTrucking

InView

mytrucking.com/integrations/xero NextMinute | @NextMinuteApp nextminute.com

CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT tidybuild com

JOB MANAGEMENT

FOR BUILDERS www.nextminute.com

PROJECT & INVENTORY MANAGEMENT tidyenterprise com

TidyEnterprise | @TidyInt tidyenterprise.com TidyWork | @TidyInt tidywork.com TimeTracker by eBillity | @eBillity ebillity.com Total Synergy | @totalsynergy

inviewapp.com JobReady | @JobReadyNSW jobready.com.au Kitomba | @Kitomba kitomba.com LEAP | @LEAP4LawFirms leap.co.uk

Other A2X Accounting | @a2xaccounting a2xaccounting.com/xero Ag Profit | @AgProfitAus agprofit.com.au

LeaveCal finlert.com/leavecal-xero.html Office 365 | @Office365 xero.com/uk/office-365 OneSaas | @onesaas onesaas.com

totalsynergy.com

Visit the XU Hub: Go to www.xumagazine.com

Issue 26 / 139

Rerun | @Rerunapp

Payments

rerunapp.com

Authorize.Net | @AuthorizeNet

satfxonline.co.uk

reseller.authorize.net

Shieldpay | @shield_pay

Bill and Pay | @BillandPay

shieldpay.com

billandpay.com

Stripe | @stripe

Bill.com | @billcom

Square | @SquareUK

Chargebee | @chargebee chargebee.com/integrations/xero

Outsourcing AdvanceTrack | @AdvanceTrack advancetrack.com

squareup.com Transfer Mate | @TransferMate

Chargify | @Chargify

transfermateonline.com

chargify.com/xero

TransferWise | @TransferWise

Checkeeper | @Checkeeper

transferwise.com

checkeeper.com/xero

uCollect | @ucollect_biz

CheckVault | @CheckVault

ucollect.biz/xero

checkvault.com.au

WorldFirst | @WorldFirstLtd

CreDec | @CreDec

deputy.com Employment Hero | @ EmploymentHero employmenthero.com enableHR | @enableHR enablehr.com.au Ento | @entohq

stripe.com

bill.com

ento.com Gusto | @GustoHQ zenpayroll.com Happy HR | @happyhraus happyhr.com HR Assured | @HRAssured hrassured.com.au HR Partner | @HRPartnerApp hrpartner.io

worldfirst.com

credec.com Debtor Daddy | @debtordaddy debtordaddy.com/xero Directli | @Directli directli.co.uk

A smarter way to collect, convert and manage payments globally.

DPS Payment Express | @ PaymentExpress

paymentexpress.co.uk EazyCollect | @eazyCollect eazycollect.co.uk

Find out more at worldfirst.com

EzyCollect | @ezyCollect

IMS Payroll

ezycollect.com.au Worldpay

tax1099.com Track1099 | @Track_1099

SAT FXOnline | @satworldwide

Deputy | @deputyapp

eWay | @eWAY_

imspayroll.co.nz

business.worldpay.com

eway.io

Payroll & HR

Ezidebit | @Ezidebit

appogeeHR | @AppogeeHR

ezidebit.com.au GoCardless | @GoCardless

appogeehr.com

gocardless.com

Intertec TimePro timesheets.com.au iPayroll ipayroll.co.nz KeyPay | @KeyPayApp keypay.co.uk

IntegraPay | @IntegraPay integrapay.com.au InvoiceSherpa | @invoicesherpa

EASY TO USE HR SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS TO SUIT YOUR BUSINESS

invoicesherpa.com

Microkeeper | @Microkeeper microkeeper.com.au MyPAYE | @MyPAYE mypaye.co.uk

iZettle | @iZettle

OnPay | @onpay_payroll

izettle.com

onpay.com

Kwanji | @KwanjiX

Parolla | @ParollaPayroll

kwanji.com

parolla.ie

OFX xero.com/uk/financial-services/ofx Pay RIGHT AWAY | @PayRIGHTAWAY payrightaway.com.au

WWW.APPOGEEHR.COM/XERO citrusHR | @citrusHR citrushr.com/xero

Payoneer | @Payoneer

pages.paychex.com/xero Payescape | @PayescapeUK payescape.com Payment Evolution | @payevo

CloudPayroll

Paychex | @Paychex

cloudpayroll.com.au

PayPal | @PayPal

paymentevolution.com PayrollBee

paypal.com

payrollbee.co.uk

PennyPipe | @PennyPipe pennypipe.com/info/xero Pin Payments | @PinPayments pin.net.au

New Zealand

ipayroll.co.nz

Plooto | @PlootoInc app.plooto.co POLi Payments | @POLiPayments polipayments.com Receivabl | @receivabl_es TOA Global | @TOAGlobal theoutsourcedaccountant.com

140 / Issue 26

receivabl.es

Australia

cloudpayroll.com.au Crystal Payroll crystalpayroll.com

XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.

Vend | @vendhq vendhq.com Zilch Consulting | @zilchconsulting zilchconsulting.com

Professional Services

Figured | @figuredapp figured.com Financial Driver | @FinancialDriver financialdriver.com Finlert | @FinlertApps finlert.com

AppsForOps | @AppsForOps

panalitix.com

bglcorp.com

qvinci.com/xero Recount

informdirect.co.uk instafile | @InstafileApp

recount.com/xero-homepage-uk Ranqx | @ranqxHQ

instafile.co.uk Link Solutions | @LinkSolutions

ranqx.com Report Amigo | @reportamigo

linksolutions.co.nz

reportamigo.com/xero Float | @FloatApp floatapp.com

Angeloop | @AgProfitAus

benchmarking.com.au

savvyreports.com

Real-time cash flow confidence

bpmglobal.com

spotlightreporting.com Flowrev | @flowrev flowrev.com/xero Fluidly | @Fluidly fluidly.com/xero

Brightgauge | @BrightGauge brightgauge.com/xero Bstar | @BstarAustralia bstar.com.au

spotlightreporting.com

btcsoftware.co.uk Businessbackbone | @ Thomson Reuters | @

BiznizBackbone businessbackbone.co.uk

TaxAccountingUK tax.thomsonreuters.co.uk Unleash

calxa.com Carbon Analytics | @co2analytics

Try Sapaad for FREE www.sapaad.com Shopify | @Shopify shopify.com Square | @SquareUK squareup.com/gb The Good Till Company | @ TheGoodTillco thegoodtill.com Tower Systems | @TowerSystems towersystems.com.au

#1 Reporting & Forecasting app in the Xero Ecosystem

Btc | @BTCSoftwareUK

Calxa | @calxa

Connect Xero and Sapaad Cloud POS for a total business solution.

simplenumbers.me

Spotlight Reporting | @spotlightrep

bizequity.com/xero

BPM

gregcrabtreecpa

simplycashflow.com/xero

bizeo.com.au BizEquity | @BizEquity

blinkreports.com

scottsaddins.com Simple Numbers | @

Simply Cashflow | @simplycashflow

Bizeo | @bizeo

Blink Reports

saasabi.com/xero

Scott’s Add-ins

agprofit.com.au

Benchmarking.com.au

Saasabi | @Saasabi Savvy Reports

agprofit.com.au

asset.guru/xero

OneStopReports

QVinci | @Qvinci

Inform Direct | @InformDirect

Asset Guru | @Asset_Guru

numerable.io Onestop reporting | @ onestopreporting.com/xero

BGL Corporate Solutions | @BGLdot

Ag Profit | @AgProfitAus

myown-cfo.com Numerable | @NumerableSW

Panalitix | @panalitix

appsforops.com

Reporting

My Own CFO | @myown_cfo

co2analytics.com/xero

Futrli | @Futrli futrli.com

Castaway | @CAforecasting

Infoodle | @infoodle

castawayforecasting.com

infoodle.com/xero

joiin | @joiinreporting joiin.co Klipfolio Dashboard | @klipfolio

unleash.us Wink Reports ;) | @WinkReports winkreports.com/connectors/xero Watchful Eye | @watchful_eye_sw watchfuleyesoftware.com XBert | @XBertapp xbert.io

klipfolio.com Maus | @MAUS_Software maus.com.au Momentum atsora.com/xero My Cash Flow app | @ MyCashFlowAppSa mycashflowapp.co.za My work papers | @myworkpapers myworkpapers.com

Dedicated to making work life easier for bookkeepers. AI-POWERED PROCESS AUTOMATION AND RISK ALERTS

www.xbert.io

fathomhq.com

Visit the XU Hub: Go to www.xumagazine.com

Issue 26 / 141

App Directory Zivora | @ZivoraApp zivora.co

TidyWork | @TidyInt

Practice Management

tidywork.com

Zoho | @Zoho

2shakes | @2ShakesNZ

zoho.eu

2shakes.co.nz AccountancyManager | @

Time Tracking

accountancymgr

Active.collab | @activecollab

accountancymanager.co.uk AccountKit | @AccountKit

activecollab.com/add-ons/xero

JOB MANAGEMENT

AppsForOps | @AppsForOps appsforops.com AroFlo | @aro_flo

tidywork com

TimeTracker by eBillity | @eBillity

Exsalerate | @exsalerate exsalerate.com/xerointegration

timecamp.com

EzzyBills | @EzzyBills

Timely

ezzybills.com

gettimely.com/timely-xero

GoProposal | @GoProposal

Timestamp | @timestampio

goproposal.com

timestamp.io/add-ons/xero Total Synergy | @totalsynergy

My Own CFO | @myown_cfo myown-cfo.com

tradifyhq.com Total Synergy | @totalsynergy

NowInfinity | @Now_Infinity

Tsheets | @tsheets

nowinfinity.com.au

tsheets.com/xero WorkflowMax | @WorkflowMax

Quick Win Development | @

Xero HQ

quickwindev

Boma | @Boma_Marketing

quickwindevelopment.com

bomamarketing.com/xero

Spotlight Reporting | @spotlightrep spotlightreporting.com Suitefiles | @SuiteFiles suitefiles.com Xero Workpapers | @Xero xero.com

fathomhq.com

Year End

Futrli | @Futrli

Wolters Kluwer | @wolterskluweruk

futrli.com

quickwindev quickwindevelopment.com Patchability

Practice Ignition | @ignitionapp practiceignition.com

workflowmax.com

Fathom | @fathomhq

Outlook Int.Tools - QWD | @

My work papers | @myworkpapers myworkpapers.com

totalsynergy.com

use.expensify.com/xero

nextminute.com

Mogul | @MogulDigitalNZ mogul.nz/xero

totalsynergy.com.au Tradify | @tradifyhq

Expensify | @expensify

NextMinute | @NextMinuteApp

Doc2Data | @doc2data doc2data.com

ebillity.com TimeCamp | @timecamp

datamolino.com

nexonia.com/xero

class.com.au DataDear | @DataDearApp datadear.com

Datamolino | @datamolino

Nexonia | @nexonia

account-kit.com Class Super | @Class_Ltd

Hubdoc | @Hubdoc

cchoneclick.co.uk

hubdoc.com Practice Ignition | @ignitionapp practiceignition.com Spotlight Reporting | @spotlightrep spotlightreporting.com Suitefiles | @SuiteFiles suitefiles.com

time.patchability.com

Tools to digitalise your practice wolterskluwer.co.uk

Manage, edit, share & sign all your business documents. 30 DAY FREE TRIAL

www.suitefiles.com

tanda.co

142 / Issue 26

XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.

2021

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

Introducing our series of events online and offline

16 June 2021 | Live Online

28-29 July 2021 | Live Online

The online technology event of the year for accountants in practice

The largest virtual event of the year for accountants and finance professionals in Hong Kong

Get your free pass at www.terrapinn.com/AttendDPSum mit2021

Get your free pass at www.terrapinn.com/AttendAFSho wHK2021

21-22 September 2021 | Suntec, Singapore

12 October 2021 | Live Online

The largest technology event in Asia for accountants and finance professionals Get your free pass at www.terrapinn.com/AttendAFSho wAsia2021

The online technology event of the year for accountants and finance leaders in Malaysia Get your free pass at www.terrapinn.com/AttendAFSho wMY2021

Get involved now at Visit thewww.terrapinn.com/AttendAFShowSeries2021 XU Hub: Go to www.xumagazine.com Follow us on Twitter: @xumagazine Issue 26 / 143

...and finally

Xero adds new matchmaking tool to the Advisor Directory to help small businesses in need find the right expert Customers matched with accountant or bookkeeper based on industry, maturity and growth expertise

ero’s Advisor Directory was built to help small businesses find a Xero certified accountant or bookkeeper in the same city or region. As the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way businesses and accounting and bookkeeping firms think about how and where they work, Xero has evolved the Advisor Directory to include a new matchmaking tool to make it easier for small businesses to find the right advisor. It takes into account industry, business maturity and regional ambitions, not just their physical location. While businesses can still use the Advisor Directory to search by location, the new tool will give those who sign up a tailored list of potential individual advisors, curated by Xero’s matchmaking algorithms. Once connected, advisors can focus on providing small businesses with the professional advice they need to bolster their cash flow, build on new financial opportunities and find the right business and technology tools to operate effectively.

(1) The Next Chapter For Small Business, a commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Xero, October 2020

144 / Issue 26

Professional advice from accountants or bookkeepers is often one of the biggest factors in the success or failure of a business. During the past 12 months alone, the impact of the pandemic has seen an estimated 26% of small businesses shut their doors according to a global OECD survey.

Rachael Powell, Chief Customer Officer, Xero

Yet a Forrester Consulting study commissioned by Xero found just 26% of small business respondents consulted these trusted advisors since the outbreak of COVID-191. Those businesses who thrived in 2020 were most likely to trust advisors compared to those who struggled. This latest tool in the Advisor Directory, which connects to thousands of accountants and bookkeepers globally, lists individual advisors, and markets their unique expertise and skills to potential clients. By matching small businesses with the right accountant, not just the right firm, the directory is making it easier for accountants to build their practices, demonstrate their unique expertise, and focus on helping their clients grow.

Rachael Powell, Chief Customer Officer at Xero said, “Finding the right advisor is one of the most important decisions a business owner can make, especially if they are looking to grow or make it through tougher periods.”

“As businesses navigate difficult economic circumstances around the world, we want to make it easier for them to get professional accounting advice based on factors like their location, industry, maturity as a business, and growth ambitions. By using smart technology and enabling a human connection between the two, we believe that we can support deeper and long lasting relationships that allow small businesses to get on with running their business,” Powell added.

XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.

Visit worldfirst.com/uk/partners/accounting/ or call +44 (0)207 095 0741 to find out more

Rated ‘Excellent’ on Trustpilot

Visit the XU Hub: Go to www.xumagazine.com

Issue 26 / 145

Receipt Bank and Xavier are now Dext,

and Dext is so much more.

Dext makes accountants more productive, proﬁtable and powerful.

Visit Dext.com to find out more. 146 / Issue 26

XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.

XU Magazine - Issue 26

Articles inside

Praxis Putting Xero at the

EVENTS Terrapinn

infoodle infoodle Gift Aid Plus

FOCUS: MENTAL HEALTH

Sapaad Leverage the power of

XERO EDUCATION Xero

NEW RELEASES Updates and new

CASE STUDY ApprovalMax

NEW XERO CONNECTED APPS

CloudPayroll Managing your

Float How to choose the right

SuiteFiles How secure is your

Groundplan The untapped potential of

Finlert Tomorrow’s advisory

WorldFirst UK Grow global with

simPRO Help field service clients

ExpenseOnDemand Why businesses need

XBert Making work life easier for

Senta Remote working is here to

CASE STUDY Tidy International

Compleat Software The future is now

iwoca The payment method that

BOOK REVIEW Selling to Serve

Q & A Appogee HR

CASE STUDY WorkflowMax

Wolters Kluwer Advisors share figures

MarketFinance Going independent with

AdvanceTrack Outsourcing

Chaser Why automation is key

ezyCollect The guide to preventing

Fluidly How to overcome the

CASE STUDY AccountancyManager

Q & A GoCardless

TUTORIAL ApprovalMax

COVER STORY Dext

Clarity Why your firm needs