XU Magazine - Issue 29 by XU Magazine

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TUTORIALS CASE STUDIES INTERVIEWS NEW APPS NEW RELEASES

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Welcome to issue 29... magazine The independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users

Issue 29 Main Contacts CEO: David Hassall (Co-Founder) Managing Editor: Wesley Cornell (Co-Founder) Director of Strategic Partnerships: Alex Newson Creative Assistant: Hatty Morton 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 AdvanceTrack Making the magic happen

Dext Prepare your workflows for a digital accounting future

Flagship Reporting Using the right technology solution to support your business

AutoEntry Be ESG compliant by ditching the paper

MinuteDock The Building Blocks of Business - What’s Your Time Worth?

infoodle Nonprofit Trends: Embracing Technology Everything your charity clients need to succeed in 2022

MarketFinance Funding your clients’ recovery in the post-Covid world

AEM Algorithm Is your business optimised for cryptocurrency?

INTERVIEW AccountancyManager What’s next for AccountancyManager?

Futrli Future proofing SMEs with prediction software - The only 5-way forecasting solution you can TRUST

Chaser Does credit management improve cash flow? CASE STUDY Navigate VCFO Automated delegation of authority for Paddle Australia: a case study with Navigate VCFO

Xero Xero Ecosystem Survey: Our partners are turning shock into innovation Compleat Software My Finance Journey: From Print and Process to Full Automation

EVENT ICB UK 100 XU Magazine readers can save £15 on their ticket to the Bookkeepers Summit 2021

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

Interview with...

HR Partner Managing Employee Leave the Easy Way

Xero In celebration of our FY22 Xero Award Australia winners

Spotlight Reporting The Business Advisory Iceberg: How much revenue is under the surface? Xero Celebrating 10 years app-versaries with: MinuteDock, simPRO, Unleashed, and Communigator

Senta Seamless integration for a speedier and simpler life ExpenseOnDemand How the new hybrid model is making it harder to monitor bogus expense claims

Float Why Do Small Businesses Use Float?

XBert Surviving the stresstest: how to ensure your business thrives through adversity

What’s next?

Cloudsolve Time is running out on the TradeGecko/QBC retirement CASE STUDY Tidy International Inventory management made easy for oral surgery clinic

WorldFirst UK Growing online with WorldFirst and Amazon

AccountancyManager

simPRO Ready to support your trade clients as they navigate their digital transformation?

Wolters Kluwer Is my website strategy effective? Switch your website from burden to benefit.

2020 Innovation Inside Accountancy Practices - What can accountancy practices gain from 2020 Innovation surveys?

CASE STUDY WorkflowMax The power of putting your people’s wellbeing first with the help of technology

Event...

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46 2021

Bookkeepers Summit

100 XU Magazine readers can save £15 on their ticket

XU are now a CPD Corporate Member We have been working closely with the CPD Certification Service to have our articles CPD Certified. As you are reading through the magazine any article that shows the CPD Certified logo has been approved to count

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towards your CPD points. We are really excited to have been able to secure this for our readers as it means all approved articles can now be used towards your CPD points and building up your CPD register.

Look out for any article that shows the CPD Certified logo. It has been approved to count towards your CPD points!

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120

Updates from Xero What we’ve been working

Updates and new releases from Xero connected apps

on...

122

ApprovalMax Establish a higher level of control with our new Advanced plan

...and finally Xerocon New Orleans 2022: Laissez les bon temps rouler; let the good times roll... soon!

Wolters Kluwer 30+ KPIs the modern accountant should be tracking

102

iPayroll Let’s talk about customer service

104 106

NextMinute Is Cash still King?

Sapaad Discover the New Self-Ordering Paradigm of the Restaurant Industry

108

The Profitable Firm How to test for skills AND values in your hiring process

110

FOCUS: MENTAL HEALTH Tim Hoopmann How business leaders and managers play a vital role in leading the way to healthy work environments

114 118

CLASSIFIEDS Xero connected Apps New to the Xero App Marketplace

122

Updates from Xero What we’ve been working

on...

ApprovalMax Establish a higher level of control with our new Advanced plan

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Issue 29 / 7

Cover Story

Making the magic happen

@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.

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

Cover Story

I’ve previously spoken passionately about the value an accountant brings to clients. But, if we ever needed reminding of what our great profession is capable of, we witnessed it first-hand through the pandemic.

ccountants around the world have supported all their clients through the pandemic. But a new challenge always follows such disruption: pushing forward in a world that is trying to rebuild and move forward. As the world in which individuals and business operate becomes more complex, so do the compliance requirements. And we can be sure that as the world wakes up from the pandemic, tax authorities look at ways to collect more tax, more quickly. New thinking, and energy are required to improve the economy. This means that accountants, who have worked more closely than ever with more clients than ever, must try and keep up this momentum of support and advice. Despite everything that has occurred in the past two years, the most basic of questions is one that you, as an adviser, must ask each and every client: what does the client want to achieve? This is absolutely critical, because the role of an accountant isn’t to merely produce a set of accounts or compile a tax return. The job of the accountant is to ‘change lives’. Compliance work doesn’t achieve that. I have said it before, and will repeat it again: the privileged position I am in today as MD of AdvanceTrack, started with the help of a great commercial accountant who believed this mantra. Preparing the magic formula An entrepreneur usually understands their profitability

even without a formal set of accounts, so keeping them out of jail by filing their taxes each year delivers little perceived value to the business owner. So, what should we be delivering to clients? We see businesses requiring, among others, the following: • • • • •

Bookkeeping Management accounts Advisory services Virtual FC/FD services R&D support

These are just a few of the services that clients are increasingly demanding outside of compliance-driven support. It is worth noting that bookkeeping services are ‘sold’ as part of a wider service - the danger otherwise is that the pricing price paid for it is not commensurate with the value of the other services.

This article is

said before, clients don’t assign great value to this. However, it is necessary to deliver this well and cost-effectively. We believe that, with the right mix of technology and offshore delivery, this can consistently be delivered at approximately 60% of the onshore cost and to a very high level of quality. You may hear claims that outsourcing can drive the cost lower than 50% of the onshore cost. At AdvanceTrack we don’t like to make claims we believe can’t be backed up. With the hidden onshore costs not factored into the delivery we see 60% as a fair marker. Delivering the magic – improving your value to clients The best way to demonstrate that value that can be created is through examples. And here are our top three:

Cast the spell and change lives 1) The virtual finance function Accountants are stating that the biggest change they’ve seen in their recent working lives has been the willingness of clients to talk to them as their adviser. Given that this is happening, you might ask, what is the problem? The problem is two-fold. Firstly, there is the need to upskill the onshore workforce. Again, you might ask: why is this important? Well, for too long, accounting professionals have worked at the coalface and will understandably be missing the experience to manage the closer customer relationship that clients are increasingly expecting. The other problem is that the delivery of compliance services is still resource-intensive, and even this core offering is not often provided consistently. As we’ve

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A virtual finance function is about more than accounts and tax production; it means managing their bookkeeping (among other things). We hear about so many businesses using an untrained bookkeeper. In many instances, it’s a friend or family member providing support. What this means is that there is a sacrifice of personal time to deliver this. This also means that a conversation about the quality of the information is that much more emotional! These ‘supporters’ won’t have the formal training and breadth of business experience that a professional firm can bring from working with multiple entrepreneurs across industries

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Cover Story

and specialisms. Our outsourcing teams have been working with firms to deliver these services, on a dedicated offshoring basis or fully managed outsourced service. This enables the work to be delivered at speed and at scale. 2) R&D Claims Businesses usually equate an adviser delivering value as making them money. R&D claims deliver real cash and are hence valuable – and popular - the world over. Whether a firm has in-house expertise, or brings in expertise to deliver to the client, it is important that the firm delivers the service in a timely and professional manner. Firms able to deliver this have proven invaluable to their clients, so seek out specialists to support you on this if you don’t have in-house expertise.

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Our fastest growing firms include this as part of their service. Combining it with the virtual finance function has really made the firm invaluable to the client business.

relationship for both parties. Fees are, therefore, much easier to discuss, in the full knowledge that they can trust the advice they are being given.

3) Client communication The overwhelming conclusion from the many firms we work with has been this: as the pandemic took hold and beyond, the ability to talk to experienced accounting professionals has been the most valuable commodity.

GIVE MAGIC A TRY...

They had worries and challenges at the start of the pandemic. The calming influence that professionals brought to the situation reassures them that they would be helped. As everyone emerges from the pandemic, the trust that has built up enables them to talk to their adviser in a more open way, with the promise of a deeper and more valuable

Offshore delivery through excellence alongside great onshore customer service are an essential element of the magic the most successful firms are providing. If you’re ready to explore this for you and your practice, speak to AdvanceTrack.

Firms continue to deliver magic across the world. Create the time to help your clients.

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Issue 29 / 11

Prepare your workflows for a digital accounting future

@dextofficial

Dext is the world’s leading pre-accounting tool for accountants, bookkeepers and small business-owners. We digitise receipts and invoices to track, process and manage financial data in real-time so you can work smarter, grow faster and go further.

A workflow is a sequence of tasks that processes a set of data. A typical accounting firm will see a great deal of data stream through their practice each day and utilise multiple workflows to organise and make sense of it all. With a recent update stating that the MTD for Income Tax (ITSA) deadline has been pushed from 2023 to 2024, there’s more time to take the work out of workflows and start automating the menial tasks that tend to hold back progress. Adapting your firm to a fast changing environment is a challenge but one easily overcome with the right tools. We asked our in-house experts at Dext, Katie Hoare and

Paul Lodder, to provide insights into refining and customising workflows with automation.

This article is

s a person considers developing/refining the workflow for their firm, what are the key considerations they need to begin with? Katie: Inclusion of the team and good communication of why you’re making the changes and what you’re looking to accomplish. If you include your team in the journey, you’re much more likely to gain their buy in when then trying to implement the change. Paul: The team needs to understand the benefits of refining the workflow and why it is being changed. Nobody likes change and so team buy-in is crucial and regular communication/updates ensures that the team stays on board and on track. They need to

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understand that there may be some hiccups along the way and that these will be discussed and addressed as necessary. If the implementation does not go according to plan then be brave and fail fast. Re-group and move forward.

share their ideas and thoughts. Giving everyone a voice is important.

What software solutions work best for this? Which Free apps? Which Paid platforms?

Katie: If I was setting up my own firm tomorrow I would use -

Katie: I love a brainstorming act for the initial session, and I’ve found the best software for this is Miro - which you can obtain both free and paid access for. Alternatively, if you’re a google suite user, you can use Google Jamboards for this although the functionality is quite basic. I love Asana for project management, once you have your scope complete and want to get up and running with the project. Paul: Agree with Katie. Miro is brilliant as you can use virtual post-it notes so that all team members have an opportunity to

What does the “tech stack” need to include (start to finish) in order for a firm to have a complete workflow design?

• A quoting/onboarding tool (as I hated having to prepare finger in the air quotes and edit engagement letters) • A data capture tool • An e-commerce platform (because more and more businesses are going on online) • A bookkeeping product - just the one • A quality control tool • Reporting app for management/ advisory insights Paul: First of all you need to identify what is the problem/ pain point you are looking to solve. Break this down as much as possible so that each element

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can be separately considered and reviewed. From there you can then look at what solutions are available which will naturally result in you building a tech stack. I always started from “The Factory” visualisation that I created which is very much the key element that Katie has referred to. Understanding the workflow and the pain points means you can stay focussed and on track. Can you recommend the order of approach in which you would implement a solid workflow plan. ie-step by step of what gets implemented when?

with using the software and will ensure that you are benefiting from all the features in Dext.

Katie: I would start with automating the area that If you are not sure exactly where is currently the most time to start then you could just consuming and which will save focus on one particular area like, us the most amount of time once directors credit card receipts to integrated - often this streamline that is the data capture process and and slow it taking By tool if one isn’t then once that is steady at the start being used, working well move ensures that you build a sometimes it’s the onto purchase very strong foundation bookkeeping app, ledger items. to grow from and will be the stepping stone if there are still a to then accelerate the lot of manual or By taking it slow journey for you digital spreadsheet based and steady at the and your clients. jobs. start ensures that you build a very strong Paul: The first step in making foundation to grow from and your business digital is slow and will be the stepping stone to then steady. When I started the digital accelerate the digital journey for discussions with our clients I you and your clients. always started with Dext Prepare integrated with accounting How does Dext help automate software. I would discuss with a firm? clients and the team that stage 1 was as simple as “Scanning” Katie: Our multi platform product and “Matching”. Scan an invoice can help both at the front end and match to the transaction with streamlining your data on the bank statement - quick capture processes - whether and easy with no manual entry your clients do all the scanning and the time savings are seen or you process them in house, immediately. Dext Prepare will take on the grunt work of all the manual That moved onto “Snapping” entry. We can also automate the and “Matching” whereby I would quality control of the data itself encourage the use of the mobile prior to the accounts and working app to upload invoices/expenses papers preparation work begins, as this brought in further Dext Precision ensures minimal efficiencies and started the amendments and adjustments transition to real time recording. need to be made to the accounts once drafted as you can be Keeping it straightforward at the assured that control accounts start and setting realistic goals are reconciled, dates are locked, gives you time to get comfortable data is accurate, errors have been

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highlighted and the overall quality of your data is in safe hands. Dext Commerce is our secret weapon for digital sales, it automatically fetches your clients’ sales data from multiple e-commerce and point-of-sale platforms. Then splits out transactions, fees, refunds and reimbursements, line by line. Any other words of wisdom on the topic? Katie: This kind of job feels like something that is never top priority and is easily put off until we ‘have the time’ - the reality is that you never will, so make time for it and invest now in automating your workflows for easy wins and long term gains! It’s an investment you’ll be glad you made. Paul: Always have somebody accountable for rolling out a new process or implementing a new solution like Dext. If you don’t have accountability the chances are it will not happen. You need to be able to have visibility of what you are doing. Visibility helps with buy-in across the team. It needs to be measurable whatever you are doing. If you cannot measure it, how do you know that you have succeeded? All three elements are necessary for success.

FIND OUT MORE... To learn more about Dext, click here

Issue 29 / 13

Using the right technology solution to support your business There is no denying that any business looking to successfully scale up must implement the right technology solution.

This article is

e all know that in business time is money. It is so important to have the right technology in place to automate and improve processes. Xero has some 900 app partners so you can be assured there is something there to bolt on to your tech stack. Accountants are more than ever moving to advisory roles these days. This is where the value is added, not in crunching the numbers. Choosing the right management reporting tool like Flagship reporting will not only reduce your admin time and enhance data insights to highlight what really matters to your business. Case Study Several months ago, Tinka Consultancy trialled our app as they were looking for a reporting software solution for their clients. Tinka Consulting is an outsourced accounting team specialising in bookkeeping, consulting, and reporting. The business is headed up by entrepreneurs, Trent Todd and Ryan Pinkerton, both experts in

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@FlagshipReports

Searle Goott, CEO and founder, Flagship Reporting Our company was founded by Searle Goott, an ex. Ernst & Young Chartered Accountant with 30 years’ experience working as a Financial Director for various companies (both enterprise and SME’s). Flagship was born out of frustration with the lack of available reporting tools to enable the automation and customisation of management reports, KPI’s and other key accounting reports.

implementing the right reporting and advisory processes to help growing businesses expand and increase their productivity.

and accurate set of accounts at the end of the month. We deliver this through our finance tech stack which strives to automate the data entry and approvals to What obstacles or difficulties ensure coding is correct. Adding were you having before using Flagship into our standard tech Flagship Reporting stack for clients has provided Adding Flagship We had tried us with the final into our standard a number piece of the tech tech stack for of different stack. We were clients has reporting tools confident in the that were out data capture and provided us with there in the approvals process, the final piece of market. Our now we have the puzzle. experience with automated reporting these tools is that they which can provide a try to deliver “too much” client exactly what they need in one report and were more to analyse and improve their template driven. We found most business. financial visualizations would create more questions than What is your favourite answers. In the end, we ended functionality? up automating our reporting with google sheets. This worked but The ease of creating customer the google sheet visualisations report functionalities with were not perfect and still required comparisons and tracking time to ensure everything categories. properly reconciled back to Xero. Would you recommend Flagship How has using the app for your to colleagues? in your case reporting helped you so far? other businesses In TINKA we provide finance system implementations and bookkeeping services, and we strive to provide an automated

We use Flagship Reporting for all our clients, and I would strongly recommend the product to similar businesses like ours.

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

Working in collaboration with Tinka has been a great experience. We have the same outlook and want our clients to succeed. We want to add value to their business by providing them

with enhanced visual dashboards and key metrics so they can gain valuable insights into their business performance.

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FIND OUT MORE... Find out more at: flagshipreporting.com/booka-demo

Issue 29 / 15

Be ESG compliant by ditching the paper Businesses worldwide are enacting Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) policies. In particular, solutions to environmental issues caused by business are a priority. The world just can’t wait. This article is

gold-standard solution is remarkably close to home: reducing or even eradicating paper use within businesses.

notebooks.

Around 85 million metric tonnes of paper are used worldwide each year.

How to go paperless

If all that were sheets of printer paper in a stack, it would be over a million miles high. If you sat on top of the pile of paper and shone a laser pointer, it would take six seconds until the light reached the other end! And paper manufacturing is a big environmental polluter. The UK’s paper manufacturing industry alone was responsible for 2.23 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions in 2019, prior to the COVID disruption. It’s not just environmental cost. As supply chain prices rise as the world recovers from COVID, stationery’s draining fiscal cost is impacting businesses. Almost £150 million is spent on envelopes in the UK each year, according to the Office for National Statistics. Around £53 million is spent on business forms, and £36 million is spent on

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Surely there’s a better way of doing business for both you and your clients?

Like everything else in working life, the more preparation you take, the easier the process. Here are five real world tips for reducing or even eradicating paper from your business. 1 - Use accounting software Accounting software and cloudbased documents are a huge part of the paperless puzzle. But you really need to proactively make use of all the features on offer to reduce paper usage. Are you sending paper invoices? Do you print every receipt? Move as much of your data entry and accounts to the cloud as possible (all, if you can).

@AutoEntry

Val O’Sullivan FCA, CEO, AutoEntry Val O’Sullivan, FCA, is a Chartered Accountant with experience in a number of varied industries. He joined AutoEntry 3 years ago as CFO and more recently took on the broader role of CEO. Val is committed to building a work class automation product for AutoEntry’s customers.

social networking—grew by just 6.86% in the same period. This all indicates a wider trend towards how acceptable it is, in our post COVID world, to rely on technology much more than before—and ditch the paper. 2 - Train staff and take time to get them on board Going paperless is a cultural challenge as well as a logistical one. Take the time to communicate what you’re doing, communicate to your colleagues the importance of the initiative, and take the time to train them if necessary. The same applies to clients. Help them follow your lead, and informally educate wherever there’s an opportunity. Remember: Less paperwork is good for you, too! Buy-in is an important part of this process. 3 - Audit your paper use

Business on mobile in particular is a boom industry: in the first quarter of 2021, the Amazon Appstore showed a 108.98% increase in download of business apps. By comparison, the second biggest-growing app category—

Research has shown that 20% of print outs are never collected from the printer. They just linger there, until they’re thrown away. Which departments use the

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

most paper and why? Is a hard copy necessary every time? Are printouts handed out at meetings? Does the design department print out individual drafts during the discussion process? If you want to formalise this audit, have your staff put their recycling in a designated container for each department over the course of a week to measure who’s using paper for what. The purpose of this is not to point fingers, but to show room for simple, practicable improvements. This could also function as a tool for getting buy-

in: colleagues might not be aware of the extent of their wastage. 4 - Limit access to printing This one might not suit every workplace, but limiting access to printing can have an immediate effect on usage. If a printer is in a separate room, or even password protected, colleagues might think twice before making a hard copy of every document. We would advise having an alternative infrastructure in place beforehand - such as cloud storage - to minimize disruption.

Remember: Using paper with the goal of recycling it after isn’t an environmentally-friendly solution. This means that two amounts of carbon dioxide are produced, even if it means fewer trees are destroyed. It’s better if that paper isn’t manufactured in the first place. This way, zero carbon dioxide is created via manufacturing. 5 - Replace notepads with note taking apps and software Taking notes in meetings is important, of course. But you don’t have to fill notepads to capture the relevant information. The likes of Microsoft OneNote, EverNote and GoodNotes are as good if not better than notebooks—and they create shareable, online documents for all meeting attendees. If nothing else, the highlights, details and dates of meetings will forever be easier to find. AutoEntry - good for your business... And the planet AutoEntry helps businesses become more efficient and cost-effective and less paperdependent.

FIND OUT MORE... Find out how it can make your working life easier with a free trial: autoentry.com

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Issue 29 / 17

The Building Blocks of Business - What’s Your Time Worth? Deciding on Hourly Rates When Starting Your Business

@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 crew from MinuteDock share their wisdom around figuring out charge rates in the early days of your business...

This article is

any professionals will make the decision, at some point in their career, to go out on their own. For some, it is a matter of job flexibility, for others the move may be based on a desire to start and grow a business, and for some, being self-employed represents the opportunity to focus on a specific niche or area of interest. Whatever your motivation, or inspiration, there is one aspect all self-employed professionals face – determining your service rate. If you’re remaining in a field which you have been active in, you likely have an idea of what your services have been billed at previously and that can provide a good starting point. Even if that is the case, and for those who have no idea about where to start, these tips may help guide you through the process. To start, consider your income goal. Some people would suggest this is as easy as thinking about what you want to earn, the number of hours you can bill, and then simply calculating an hourly rate of service based on this. While the concept may make sense in principle, in reality, it

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takes a little more than that. It’s important to understand that any new business will take time to grow.

any overall budget planning/ rate setting.

Clearly, starting out you can’t expect a small number of clients In starting your business, you will cover all of your costs and want to consider living expenses provide you with a sustainable that must be covered, income on top, how many hours you but you want can reasonably to be sure that It’s important expect to bill as the business to understand that grows, and as starting out, and what an hourly your client base any new business rate based on grows, the bigger will take time to these factors picture has been might be. factored in so that, grow. in fact, your client Next, consider the revenues do directly income you want to have, how cover business expenses many hours you can bill as a more and the income you hope to be mature business, and what that earning. You also want to be sure, hourly rate looks like. In an ideal short-term, that having clients situation, you’ve planned for this isn’t costing you money so that slower start, perhaps cut some means ensuring basic expenses expenses, and the two match up related to each client are covered. fairly closely. If not, you may need Considering market standards to spend some time budgeting is another important facet. As and strategizing before you mentioned earlier, if you’ve actually begin. already been in the business, you may have an idea of what Depending on where your a reasonable rate for service is. business will be, any licensing, If not, calling a few people who equipment needs, or support provide similar services to get a staff requirements, there may be basic quote can be a good way to some overhead associated with start. your business. There may also be fees you must pay in order to Keep in mind that you want to be fulfil your service requirements. comparing apples to apples. That All of these must also factor into may mean looking at smaller,

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

independent professionals such as yourself, rather than larger firms with huge teams supporting each and every effort. Or, depending on your particular situation, it could mean just the opposite. In some, although not all professions, experience can warrant a higher hourly rate. Sometimes this will simply reflect the efficiency bred by experience and the fact that you may be able to complete a task more quickly than someone with less knowledge. Other times, your experience may reflect a greater ability to provide insight into more complex cases. If you find your experience does warrant a higher hourly rate, don’t be afraid to charge what you’re worth - but do make sure you are transparent with potential clients so they

understand why and can be sure they too are comparing apples to apples if they are shopping around. It is also possible, if you are providing a niche service, or expertise in a specialty area, that a higher hourly rate may be warranted. You want to be careful to balance expertise with value however, or you may find potential clients will turn to someone with less knowledge, just to get a better deal. The rate you charge when you start your business, perhaps when it is just yourself working from a home office, may not be a rate that can sustain the business once you need to invest in some equipment or support staff, or a proper office. That means you may have to reconsider your rate

or fee schedule down the road. When this happens, it is important to give consideration to existing clients. Is it possible to keep them on at the same rates, letting them know they have secured a loyalty rate as a thank you? Or do your fees have to be the same for everyone, for whatever reason, and if so, what added value can you offer to existing clients who will be hit by a rate increase? Starting your own business is an exciting time that involves a lot of decisions. Setting an appropriate rate from the start, is a start in the right direction.

FIND OUT MORE... Visit our website at: minutedock.com/academy

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Issue 29 / 19

Nonprofit Trends: Embracing Technology

Everything your charity clients need to succeed in 2022

@infoodle

Nadia Wilde, Marketing & Communications, infoodle Nadia’s background predominantly lies in education and administrative work. Last year she pursued her passion for marketing and design and joined the infoodle Marketing & Comms team. She is currently responsible for writing blog articles, sending out newsletters and maintaining infoodle social media channels.

What are the tools that can help not-for-profit organisations execute their strategy, meet goals and create a greater impact? What are the benefits of replacing spreadsheets with more comprehensive and functional software? And, more importantly, how to choose the right solution from an array of existing systems? In this article, we’re answering all these questions for you. This article is

20 / Issue 29

he past few months, when the entire world had to shift, adapt and pivot in response to challenges that came with the COVID-19 pandemic, have also completely changed how charities communicate with their members and donors, manage their volunteers,

and conduct fundraising events. One of the most significant transformations was digitisation of the nonprofit sector. Those organisations that rapidly embraced new technologies proved to be more resilient and managed to not only survive, but perform well during the pandemic

providing essential services and support to their communities. So, what are the must-have tools to ensure efficiency and effectiveness? Contact Management The most important component of running a charitable organisation is being able to build strong relationships with people. This is why it’s wise to invest in a software solution for collecting and storing the contact information of your members, donors and volunteers. A secure cloud-based system helps centralise your information and access it from any location. Look for a reliable database tool that allows you to create segments for managing different groups of stakeholders, run reports to see your members’ involvement with your organisation, add private notes to individual or household profiles, and see the history of communication. This makes it easier to understand your community and find the best ways to serve them.

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

File Storage Apart from collecting contact details of their stakeholders, many charities have a need for uploading, storing and sharing files or documents or managing digital and physical resources that can be rented out to their members or customers. There is a variety of cloud-based file hosting services to choose from, such as Google Drive, Dropbox or iCloud, that allow for easy access and management of files and assets. Project Management We all have moments when it’s hard to stay on top of our workload! With a project management system, such as Microsoft ToDo or Todoist, you can create task lists and set up reminders. Both of these task managers have a simple and clean interface. Create lists and tasks for personal use or share your projects with a group of people. There are multiple other tools that allow you to build workflows and even coordinate the work of your entire team. Try Asana or monday.com to keep your processes well organised and make sure no important deadlines get forgotten and nothing falls through the cracks. Finance Tracking Depending on the type of your organisation, you might need tools to manage the collection of membership fees, donations or pledges, and produce statements and invoices. A reporting tool would come in handy as well, helping you discover lapsed members or donors and get them back into the system. One important aspect to consider here is integration with leading payment processing solutions like Stripe or Ezidebit and accounting software. A fully automated integration with Xero allows you to easily collect payments, issue receipts and run comprehensive financial reports. Having these assists with both processing payments and keeping records of all transactions (which will

be needed at the end of the tax year). Communication In the context of not-for-profit organisations, communication serves multiple purposes, such as growing a community of supporters, advocacy, or fundraising. To save time, utilise an email service provider (such as Mailchimp or Mailerlite) that gives you an opportunity to email your entire audience with just one click. Alternatively, you can email a segment of your audience keeping your communication more relevant. Many services now provide you with beautiful and customisable templates for emails and campaigns to keep your communication on brand. However, the most important feature is access to analytics that show how many people open and read your emails or what links they click on, which helps create better content. Consistently keeping in touch with your stakeholders is paramount, and email service providers can help you not only design, but also automate your communications, making the whole process more efficient. In conclusion, to run a successful not-for-profit organisation, it is important to have a set of reliable tools. However, it could be rather challenging, costly and time consuming to maintain several different systems that might also require integrations. The perfect solution lies in finding

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one software - a complete charity management system that does not require juggling multiple tools. Today is all about streamlined efficiency, so it’s crucial to be able to access all your data and information in one place. Having a robust cloud-based CRM helps charities streamline and simplify their processes, save time spent on admin and take care of their community better. infoodle is a complete management system, designed to fit the needs of nonprofits of all sectors and sizes. It allows you to store unlimited data and keep it secure and protected with permission-based access, attach private notes or files to people’s profile pages, manage workflows, build stronger connections with stakeholders through consistent communication, share resources, track your financial information, manage events and so much more.

Find out more... If you are interested to learn more about the infoodle CRM and accompanying packages, watch a demo on our website or contact our product experts to find out how you can effectively manage your charity with only one system that is safe, reliable, intuitive and available anywhere from any device. infoodle.com

Issue 29 / 21

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Issue 29 / 23 3 Days Ago

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Funding your clients’ recovery in the post-Covid world How to finance recovery once government support is gone

@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.

Government financial support helped many of your business clients through the pandemic. Their business lending and furlough schemes were a lifeline, providing a cash injection when revenues were nonexistent. But what happens now that this support has been removed, or is coming to an end soon? Chris Findlow, Head of Partnerships at MarketFinance, outlines the key options that clients have when funding their ongoing recovery... This article is

etting used to a lack of Covid support

With government-backed Covid financial support all but over, and the Recovery Loan Scheme, due to end on June 2022, the UK’s businesses face a funding dilemma. The CBILS, Bounce Back Loan and furlough schemes are all now closed and part of Covid history. And with most of the Covid financial support, such as business rates holidays, now removed, the funding options available to business owners has decreased considerably. Yet many sectors and companies are still in the intermediate stages of recovery. Additional nongovernment funding is almost certainly going to be needed to help drive growth, expansion and investment in the future of the UK business landscape. So, what can your firm do to help client’s find the best sources of funding as we enter a new year

24 / Issue 29

and a post-pandemic business environment? Knowing what financial support is available Helping your business clients access the best routes to funding is not always an easy task. Sometimes finding the right lenders, choosing products and closing deals isn’t exactly a walk in the park. But accessing funding has been far easier over the past 18 months. With so many state-run schemes providing extra funding, grants and finance options, more avenues were available. With the plug now pulled on most of the key schemes, it’s worth reiterating what governmentbacked schemes are still available now. Current options include: • The Recovery Loan Scheme – the Recovery Loan Scheme (RLS) is available until June 2022 for

UK limited companies that have been impacted by Covid. If your clients fit the eligibility criteria then you need to act fast to get an application in, given the looming deadline. The scheme allows qualifying businesses to borrow up to £10 million in total as term loans, overdrafts, invoice finance or asset finance. Businesses must be ‘viable’ and have a robust business plan for driving their recovery. Terms and repayments are very favourable, compared to the average business loan, so the RLS is a good funding route to explore while it’s still available. At MarketFinance, we’re offering the first six months with interest-only repayments to give businesses an extra boost. • Innovate UK grants – Innovate UK grants are offered by UK Research & Innovation and aim to provide funding for R&D projects and development. Grants are available across a range of different industries, sectors and specialisms.

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These funds finance the underlying expense of running development projects and encourage much needed innovation as a result. If a client qualifies for a grant and successfully claims the available funds, this can be a very welcome cash injection. And, unlike the RLS, there are no repayments to make. • Super-deduction capital allowance – super-deduction isn’t a route to funding, per se. But it is an effective way for clients to cut their corporation tax bill and reinvest that capital back into assets and growth. The super-deduction tax a need to review how it offers allowance allows businesses funding advice to clients. Falling to reduce their tax bill by back into the pre-pandemic ways 130% of the cost of qualifying of relying on bank overdrafts new investments in plant and and loans is not an option. machinery. If clients invest However, if there’s one thing in equipment, plant and we’ve all learned since March machinery assets before 31 2020, it’s that you have to look March 2023 they’ll be able to forwards, not backwards, to get claim up to 25p for every £1 ahead. Innovation and a forwardthey invest. It’s worth noting looking attitude will be key to that hire purchase is allowed success during these challenging under the supereconomic times. deduction rules, With governmentwhich greatly If your firm enhances the hasn’t explored backed Covid financial usefulness of the potential for support all but over, the scheme for offering funding the UK’s businesses cash-strapped advice, now is a face a funding businesses. good time to look at dilemma. • VAT: reduced the benefits. As your rate for hospitality clients’ most trusted – for clients working in the adviser, you’re in a pivotal hospitality sector, the reduced position for helping business rate of VAT is available until owners and management teams 31 March 2022. The reduced devise a meaningful funding rate of 12.5% (rather than strategy. the standard 20% rate) helps hospitality businesses claw back You know every client’s key some of their tax costs. This business goals and you know their isn’t a replacement for good financial situation. The next logical funding, but it is a measure that step is to help them formulate a could well make a difference funding strategy, work out their for cash-poor hotel, cafe and budget needs and locate the restaurant clients. necessary external funding. And with lenders like MarketFinance The myriad routes to external offering ongoing support for finance accounting partners, it’s never been easier to match your clients As we’ve seen, some governmentwith the best funding. backed support is still available, if you know where to look. But Finance options open to you and with the funding landscape now your clients include: returning to a more normal position, your firm is faced with • Invoice finance – where

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cash flow is poor and clients’ recovery is faltering as a result, invoice finance is a good option to explore. Invoice finance lets them advance the funds owed to them in outstanding invoices, providing fast access to liquid cash when it’s most needed. There’s no need for clients to commit their entire sales ledger; they can simply select which invoices to fund. • Asset finance – if clients are looking to make use of the super-deduction capital allowance, access to asset finance is likely to be important. Asset finance provides the substantial funds needed to buy new large-scale assets, like vehicles, machinery or plant. It works by using a company’s balance sheet assets (such as investments or inventory) as security to borrow money or take out a loan. By securing the right asset finance deal, clients can also make use of the superdeduction tax saving, providing a financial helping hand as their business grows. • Flex loans – where clients need access to small-scale loans on an ongoing basis, a flex loan is a great option to consider. Businesses can borrow up to £100,000 of flexible working capital to withdraw whenever they need it. They also have the ability to review and reload their loan balance on a schedule that works for their business, keeping funding available when it’s most needed. • Unsecured business loans –

Issue 29 / 25

where larger sums of money are needed to finance recovery and growth, an unsecured business loan can open up the necessary funds. Clients will need to demonstrate their financial stability to lenders (and have the numbers and evidence to back this up). But loans can be the starting point for transforming the prosperity of a business. Taking out an RLS loan with MarketFinance could give your clients access to between £50,000 and £350,000, with interest payments only for the first six months. There’s no need for a personal guarantee, and interest rates are available between 7.6% to 10.18%, repayable over 4, 5 or 6 years. • Private investment and private equity – where substantial investment is needed in the future of the client’s business, there’s also the option of private investment. Appealing to investors is a tried and tested route to additional capital, but a certain amount of caution is also needed. Holding a funding

round may pull in substantial investment, but there is the question of control to consider. If the business is selling off shares to investors in return for equity, the founders or executive team will have to relinquish some control to its new shareholders. Getting the balance right between retaining control and accessing higher investment is key here – and will mean attracting investors who share the client’s core vision and future goals for the business. The value of adding funding advice to your services Negotiating the twists and turns of the business landscape is always a challenge. But when you work closely with your business clients, your firm can become an integral part of their strategic thinking. Providing the additional value of your professional expertise and commercial knowledge makes a huge difference. And when you work with experienced, flexible lenders,

this opens up a world of funding possibilities for your clients. Take your advice out of the theoretical realm and make a real difference to your clients’ business success through sensible funding advice. Plan out their growth strategy, help them access key funding to kickstart a sustained and stable recovery for their businesses. RLS loans are available from MarketFinance until the scheme ends, currently June 2022. Talk to us about the positive impact that a loan could have for your most ambitious clients.

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

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Issue 29 / 27

Is your business optimised for cryptocurrency? With an increase in cryptocurrency

integration into accounting systems, it

@aem_algorithm

Isabella Sendin, Marketing Strategist, AEM Algorithm Isabella is responsible for creating and implementing marketing strategies for AEM Algorithm, overseeing and directing marketing activities. With a passion for using simple marketing methods and tools to effectively communicate with her audience, she channels this into crafting a successful method of sales at AEM algorithm.

can be hard to grapple with the tools necessary to optimise the process.

This article is

EM Journaler can help you with this! It is the very first in the industry to have a full suite of essential accounting tools that allows for businesses to fully capitalise on the tracking and reporting of cryptocurrency holdings, transactions and tax liabilities. Journaler manages the transaction flows from the moment the cryptocurrency transaction occurs on the blockchain, all the way to reporting it in your Xero file.

but the most prominent aspect is the difficulty surrounding the formulation of a seamless process. While there are plenty of applications designed for individuals, there is a severe lack of integrated tools available

noticed this gaping hole in the market for providing businesses with a simple solution for all the necessities involved in keeping track of their crypto transactions. This is because it is no easy effort, as it requires an in-depth

Cryptocurrency; we’re sure that you’ve thought about it, tried it or considered getting involved. It’s clear as day to observe the continuously unrelenting trend “automate of individuals, the crypto businesses, banks and accounting process governments investing without getting and researching helpful blockchain overwhelmed” solutions, bolstered increasingly by businesses accepting and holding cryptocurrencies. Many businesses utilize Xero or other accounting systems, but can’t find a straightforward means of reconciling and reporting their crypto transaction data. There are countless reasons for this,

28 / Issue 29

to accomodate for businesses. So how have we responded to this? Over the last few years, we have

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

understanding of financial processes, and an intimate knowledge of accounting and cryptocurrency operations. This is why here at AEM, we have spent countless hours exploring the intricacies of the compelling cryptocurrency ecosystem, and worked with Xero accountants to understand their struggles and needs. That’s how we came up with AEM Journaler, which lets you add and view cryptocurrency wallets as well as filter and report on the transactions straight through to Xero. Journaler acts as a perfect add-on, allowing you to quickly automate your crypto accounting process without getting overwhelmed. For many people, the most intimidating aspects of crypto may be the wild price swings, or not knowing if the particular currency exchange rate data is trustworthy. Dealing with extrapolations can

be daunting, and often means building custom spreadsheets, hence not being able to keep all your accounting data in one place. This is why we’ve decided to revolutionise the process and bring in simplicity thanks to Journaler, making sure that the cryptocurrency reconciliations and reporting become a breeze.

FIND OUT MORE... Check out our website for more information: aemalgorithm.io

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Issue 29 / 29 Dan Max

Does credit management improve cash flow?

Increasing revenues is not the only way to improve cash flow.

@chaser_hq

Sonia Dorais, Chief Executive Officer, Chaser With nearly 20 years of experience working in fastgrowing businesses, Sonia is the CEO 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.

This article examines the importance of credit management, how it can improve cash flow, and how it makes managing accounts receivable easier. This article is

very day, we talk to business owners who are struggling to make ends meet. They wonder how they’ll break out of the never-ending cycle of debt and return to prosperity. We recognise this isn’t easy, which is why we’re passionate about credit management. Credit management isn’t just about collecting money from customers or making timely payments; it’s also about lowering risk. Unfortunately, many business owners don’t think about credit management until they’re burdened with bad debt. What is credit management? Credit management involves reviewing and controlling a company’s customers, suppliers, and debtors to maximise income while avoiding bad debts. It’s about understanding how much credit you can offer your customers and ensuring they’re able to meet their repayments. Why does your business need credit management? In a perfect world, businesses would only sell to customers who could pay right away. In reality, it’s common for companies to face situations in which credit terms

30 / Issue 29

aren’t honoured. Recent research shows that the average small business spends at least seven and a half hours each week chasing late invoices. Companies adopt credit management techniques to manage these circumstances.

requires a significant investment, strong cash flow ensures the business has a reliable source of funds.

In this case, good credit management helps companies avoid taking out loans or selling assets to raise money. “Improving your The most important Credit credit control reason for management operations could implementing also creates be as simple as a credit opportunities by employing new management opening up new program is to sales channels (such software.” protect your company as offering trade from financial damages. terms). It allows you Poor credit control promotes bad to monitor customer payment debt and causes financial strain, history, track down delinquent which again can have detrimental clients or work out flexible effects on your company. payment plans. Bad debt is any money not paid back to the company. It’s an important metric for business owners because it directly impacts their bottom line. Each year, approximately 50,000 businesses in the United Kingdom collapse due to cash flow problems caused by overdue invoices. Understanding why your business has bad debt is crucial to avoiding it in the long term. A company that improves its cash flow can invest in its future. For example, if a business opportunity

How credit management improves cash flow Effective credit control can help organisations improve their cash flow by collecting money throughout the year. A company can employ a range of credit management methods to do this, including: • Enforcing stricter credit checks for new customers When your business is struggling, it’s tempting to give customers more time to

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

pay and extend the amount of credit available – but this increases the risk that you won’t get the money back. Enforcing stricter credit checks stops you from entering into a financially draining agreement. • Keeping tight control of supplier terms You need to keep supplier terms and conditions under scrutiny. By checking that suppliers are charging the right amount, you can prevent cash flow problems caused by overpaying for stock or services. • Tracking and collecting outstanding invoices as quickly as possible Take the time to monitor your accounts receivable. Having the information at your fingertips lets you stay on top of delinquent accounts before they become bad debt. The sooner you send out invoices; the quicker businesses can pay their bills. The faster you act, the less probable you’ll write off money owed to you. • Requesting up-front payments from customers It might be necessary to seek payment upfront. If your client doesn’t pay on time, they’re unlikely to have decent cash flow themselves, so the sooner you get paid, the better. If your client requests an early settlement, you might consider whether they need the credit and if it’s worth giving them a discount. Smart solutions to cash flow problems Improving your credit control operations could be as simple as employing new software. A credit management tool allows you to track the financial health of your business. The software will show who owes you money, how much is outstanding and what actions

are necessary. A strong credit management tool targets the root of late payments. It does this using the following credit control systems: Check: Manage customer credit limits to avoid bad debt and risk exposure. In just a few clicks, Chaser can verify any client or supplier’s credit score. This report provides you with all the information you need about your customer’s business details and helps you avoid potential risks.

Chaser handles the timeconsuming task of reviewing each customer and supplier and makes sure you always send the correct email to the right person. Collect: Resolve debts without leaving your desk. Improve your chances of getting paid by providing your customers with instant access to several payment options. Managing supplier relationships gets complicated when your company reaches a certain size. Credit management software can simplify practices by standardising agreements and automating payment processing across vendors.

Track: Create custom reports, alerts, and reminders to keep track of your debtors so “A strong credit you can target Recover: Recover management your collection debts from latetool targets operations. paying customers. the root of late payments.” Custom reports Why wait for money make it easy to when we can collect it keep track of how your right away? debtors are doing with their payments. You’ll gain insight Chaser can identify overdue bills into your accounts receivable and decide what to do next. and grasp your clients’ payment habits. If a customer misses their payment, Chaser will immediately Chase: Recover your money send an email reminder. If they quickly and easily. don’t pay, we’ll refer them to one of our skilled debt managers. By automating the process, you can save time chasing down A typical debt collecting agency debtors. Chaser sends polite, relies on intimidating tactics to personalised reminders for late recover funds. Not only is this or unpaid bills, so they’re at the inefficient, but it harms business forefront of the debtor’s mind relationships. when it comes time to pay. Cont...

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Issue 29 / 31

Our service contacts your customers, continuing the conversation your staff might not have time for. Chaser debt collection specialists are skilled in dealing with the most challenging account receivable issues without putting a strain on your customer relationships. Reconcile: Sync with your accounting system. Chaser reconciles your credit management system with Xero and more. With our credit management software, you can save time on paperwork, invoicing, and tracking payments. Chaser offers precise debt recovery and payment methods while taking charge of your credit control process. This way,

32 / Issue 29

you reduce bad debts while strengthening your relationship with those customers in good financial shape. Conclusion Credit management can help your company stay profitable while allowing you to focus on other areas of your business that need attention. Old debts are unlikely to disappear overnight, but with a solid credit management strategy, SMEs can: • Spend less time on repetitive tasks • Reduce operating costs • Lower the risk of bad debt • Increase cash flow If cash flow is one of your company’s biggest concerns,

credit management is the answer. Credit management helps you understand payment habits and determine which clients are reliable. It’s a complex system that needs constant monitoring and updating to ensure your business is getting paid on time, every time. Small businesses typically have fewer resources for managing invoices. Fortunately, there’s an affordable solution. Chaser accounts receivable software can help you take control of your business’s future.

Find out more... Schedule a demo or a free trial with us today!

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Issue 29 / 33

Case Study

Automated delegation of authority for Paddle Australia: a case study with Navigate VCFO How ApprovalMax saves 28 hours per month for the finance and operational teams of Australia’s peak body for paddle sports.

This article is

avigate VCFO is a Virtual CFO and outsourced finance team provider operating across three countries. They offer businesses of all sizes strategic CFO, accounting, bookkeeping and other finance team services. Navigate VCFO support growing entities and their distributed teams to get their jobs done faster and more accurately. To do so, they apply the knowledge gained from operating finance teams in large groups and setting up really efficient and easy-to-use software. Establishing an efficient accounting system for Paddle Australia Paddle Australia is the peak body for paddle sports in Australia. It’s a multi-entity not-for-profit with head organisations in each state funded by state governments and the national organisation funded by the federal government. When they turned to Navigate VCFO, the first step was getting all of the organisations on board and moved to an agreed combined chart of accounts. As there also were different accounting systems in place, they had to find one suitable for all of them. After going through the options it was

34 / Issue 29

agreed that Xero would be the best choice. Every month Navigate VCFO run more than 80 P&L reports for Paddle Australia which are very detailed because they offer so many programs and subprograms across Olympic and non-Olympic paddling disciplines, paddle education and corporate services . Having introduced Xero and set up all required reports, Navigate VCFO wanted to improve operations for Paddle Australia. They chose EzzyBills for all their entities in Australia to enter incoming invoices into Xero, and ApprovalMax for automating the delegation of authority. As Paddle Australia is a not-forprofit, having the right controls in place is really important. They do have a Delegation of Authority policy but managing it manually was difficult. Before, the finance administrator would get emails from people saying that something was approved and then had to refer to the policy and check what approvals that particular amount required according to the delegated authority. Missing invoices had to be followed up and checking whether an invoice really had been approved properly was quite an effort. Obviously, proving

Alicia MacLeod, Finance Manager, Navigate VCFO Alicia’s role at Navigate VCFO means she gets to fulfil her passion - enabling finance teams to support the business operations teams and let them focus on what they do best. This passion for people and process is coupled with 20+ years of experience across senior operational and technical finance roles. Experience spanning a variety of diverse sectors gives her a unique perspective to be able to assist numerous companies streamline their finance and administration functions.

to auditors that the delegated authority was duly followed was difficult. Automating delegated authority with ApprovalMax With ApprovalMax, Navigate VCFO are able to customise the approval workflow with highly specific rules to be in line with the Delegated Authority policy. Paddle Australia uses Xero tracking codes for their various programs, so in the first approval step there is always the person in charge of a particular program – as long as their personal delegation amount threshold is not exceeded. Amounts over set limits also require the approval of a manager, and so on. Basically, the workflow in ApprovalMax automates the delegated authority. This means the board and auditors can rest assured knowing the right people have signed off the right documents. The new process works like this: an operations team member emails supplier invoices to both EzzyBills and the finance email address (to advise the GL code and tracking categories). Next, the finance administrator opens and checks the draft bills in Xero to make changes if required and clicks on “Save & Submit

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

Case Study for Approval”. In ApprovalMax, approvers are selected based on the predefined workflow. Once the approval process is complete, the finance administrator can pick up the approved bills for the next payment run. Bank approvers find a report in Xero to verify details if required. When approvers want to doublecheck if the goods or services have actually been received, they can reassign the invoice approval to someone who can confirm this, further increasing the control over the whole approval process. Benefits of using ApprovalMax • Approximately 28 hours a month has been saved through the implementation of ApprovalMax across the finance and operation teams • Expenses get recorded quickly, and payments are made on time with certainty • Automated delegation of authority for improved governance • Enhanced coding accuracy: approvers can check the coding before it hits P&L without going

back and forth • The Operations team no longer chase emails for approvals • Relief for the finance team: no missing invoices that have to be followed up, and pending approvals or late approvers are easily visible in the system • No more printing out invoices for the payment run • Audits benefit from clear evidence of compliance with the delegated authority process,

documented in a detailed audit trail stored in Xero • The executive team can approve invoices on the go while out of the office

FIND OUT MORE... Start your free 30-day trial to save time! approvalmax.com

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Issue 29 / 35

Interview

Q& A

What’s next for

AccountancyManager?

James Byrne

Kevin McCallum

James Reilly

Chair & co-founder

CEO

Product Lead

This article is

XU:

We were excited to hear the news of AccountancyManager’s leadership team expanding! The appointment of Kevin McCallum as the new CEO is especially exciting and we’re sure our readers would love to learn more about him.

JB:

It is an exciting time as this appointment demonstrates our commitment to developing the business and our ambition to continue growing.

XU:

Tell us a little about your background where were you before AM?

KM:

I spent the last 11 years at FreeAgent, in the role of Chief Commercial Officer. In that time I was responsible for a number of

36 / Issue 29

different aspects of the business including setting up and managing the team supporting accountants using the FreeAgent platform, as well as the relationship with NatWest both sides of their acquisition of FreeAgent in 2018. I first moved into the technology space in 2001 when I joined Pegasus Software having worked in business banking with Bank of Scotland for a few years.

XU:

What experiences do you think will help in your new position as CEO?

KM:

I’ve spent the last 20 years working within the accounting software industry, and over that time, I’ve seen the industry develop at such a pace that it’s almost unrecognisable to 2001. The

advent of cloud, mobile and overall drive towards digitisation have all had a tremendous impact on the way accountants work and the services they deliver to their clients, and it’s clear there’s more change yet to come. . Technology is the future, and with my experience to date, I think I can help AccountancyManager continue to do what they have been doing but with just a few tweaks, do it in a more effective way. Why did you choose to join AccountancyManager? What drew you to them as a company?

XU:

KM:

The passion from the team and the enthusiasm from our users. From the outside, you look at AM and you think it sounds like a good idea. It sounds like software that

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

Interview people might benefit from using. But when you’re in the business and you talk to the team, their passion for the product comes through so strongly. The team are inspired by the users and hear the impact the system has on their practices and their own daily lives. For the users, AM is more than an online tool they log into every day, it’s a tool that is integral to their business, a tool that enables them to work more efficiently and to be more productive but possibly most importantly, it’s a tool that gives them back time.

XU:

Is there anything you’re particularly excited for in the new position?

KM:

Fulfilling the potential that AM has. The company has done a fantastic job in developing the software and building a large loyal user base in the last 4 years, but there’s still so much more we could do.

XU:

Are there any changes or new things you would like to bring to AM?

KM:

Wherever there’s news of this nature, the first thought is often to what changes are coming. The first thing to say is that I’m not looking to make any big changes to the company. My objective is and will always be to improve the company and to continue the great work that’s been done up until. Me coming on board also demonstrates that we’re continuing to invest in our team and the future of AM.

XU:

You’ve also recently welcomed Katherine Tenner to the team as Chief Financial Officer. What will Katherine bring to the team?

KM:

I’d say that Kath’s appointment also demonstrates the commitment to the future development of the business. As we continue to grow and make further investment back

into the company Kath’s experience means that we can continue to grow the business in a structured and managed manner.

XU:

Before Katherine, AM didn’t have a CFO. In what way will this new position affect AM?

JB:

I was an accountant before running a software business so CFO was one of my many roles and responsibilities.

KM:

It’s completely normal for entrepreneurs to take responsibility for multiple different aspects of the business when starting up, but over time and as the business has grown, James has been able to relinquish some areas of responsibility by bringing in experienced people in these areas. This started with the first member of staff, was something that was done at the management level and now has progressed to bringing on new a new CEO and CFO.

XU:

Co-founder James Byrne will now be the Chair of AM. Why did you decide to make this change?

JB:

As I’ve built the team, I’ve always looked to hire the best, most qualified people in their specialism. Sales, Marketing, Support, Developers. We don’t aim for the ones asking for the least money, live the closest or are jacksof-all-trades. This approach should be taken across the business at every level - including CEO. Having launched AccountancyManager in 2017 and grown the business to the stage it’s at now, I recognise that there are more experienced people than myself out there. It’s an approach that a number of companies a lot of people have heard of have taken with great success (for example, Ben Francies with GymShark) and I owe it to the business, our staff and our users to always do what’s right for the business.

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

XU: JB:

What will the new position entail?

I’ll be stepping away from the day-today running of the business but I’m not stepping away from AccountancyManager. My focus will be on business strategy and driving the business forward in the direction I believe is right for our users.

XU:

Will you be taking on any new projects alongside AM?

JB:

AccountancyManager is my priority and will continue to be so however, I am involved in several other businesses, such as Accounts & Returns - the accountancy practice that I ran before setting up AM. Nexok - a direct marketing company and Revive Cafe and Bar a new business I set up in Warwick.

XU:

Another change to the AM team is James Reilly, who will become the Product Lead. What were you doing before this role at AM?

JR:

I was previously a business analyst for AM overseeing the delivery of projects and responsible for scoping the requirements.

XU:

Before you joined AM, what were you

doing?

JR: XU: JR:

Business Analyst at Warwick University. What led you to join the team originally?

I was looking for a new challenge in a company where I felt I could make an impact. I was delighted to have the opportunity and given the recent change in role and additional responsibilities I now have, I feel the decision to join was a positive one for myself and the business.

XU:

The new role will inevitably lead to

Issue 29 / 37

Interview new responsibilities - what new things will you be taking on?

JR:

I’m now taking on more responsibility for planning projects and coordinating workload across the development team. Working closely with our VP of development, we manage the team and improvements to the software.

XU:

Is there anything in particular you’d really like to see happen at AM?

JR:

I’m currently working on an in-depth product strategy that will enable us to develop the software further and continue to meet our users’ needs.

XU:

What has been your best experience at

AM so far?

JR:

Seeing and hearing the feedback from users when new features go live. The users have such enthusiasm for the product and it’s rewarding to see the new functionality we provide have a positive impact on their working lives.

XU:

What kind of impact have you all found the pandemic has had on AM?

JB:

When the pandemic started we had to rethink our development strategy for the year. We asked our users what they wanted and needed to keep their businesses running. The result was a record number of new releases, albeit smaller features than we thought we’d be working on but vitally important to our users. We also increased contact with users, they were working harder than ever and we wanted to support them in any way we could. So looking back on that period and the impact, thankfully, we’ve come out with stronger relationships with users.

XU:

With the expansion of the team, we can only assume things are going well at AM. How have the past few years been?

As an industry, I think the pandemic has made tech adoption more widespread. As a result, more accountants than ever are looking for solutions to enable them to work more efficiently, which only benefits their business and, ultimately, their clients.

JB:

XU:

From what started as a good idea in the back office of my father’s accountancy practice to running a team of 36 with over 5,000 users, it’s been quite the ride. The lessons we’ve learnt and the experiences we’ve been through have all contributed to making the business what it is today.

38 / Issue 29

It goes without saying that AccountancyManager has been the greatest achievement of my professional life and I’m immensely proud of what we’ve all achieved together so far.

Have you had to make any big changes to the way your teams work over the past year or two?

JB:

We’ve enabled remote working more, which has allowed us to expand our recruitment pool.

XU:

How will these new team members benefit AM?

KM:

Bringing new people into the organisation allows us to improve our offering in terms of functionality and support continually.

XU:

Do you have any exciting features or plans coming up?

JR:

We’re working hard on improving our workflow offering and reporting aspect of AccountancyManager. We recently sent out our annual user satisfaction survey and where we ask users what developments they want to see this was suggested. As we have aways done, we’ve taken this feedback on board and put it on the roadmap and the team is currently working on it.

XU:

Where do you see the future of AM

leading?

JB:

We just want to continue doing what we’re doing, but just do more of it! As the company continues to expand and take on new users and staff, we’re able to increase the number of new releases, we’re able to support more users and more users enable us to invest more back into the business.

FIND OUT MORE... To find out more about AccountancyManager, please visit our website: accountancymanager.co.uk

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

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

Issue 29 / 39

Future proofing SMEs with prediction software

@futrli

Helen Cockle, COO, Futrli

The only 5-way forecasting solution you can TRUST

As COO for Futrli, Helen has worked with accountants across the globe looking to adopt and scale advisory solutions for their small business clients. Based in Futrli HQ in Brighton, UK Helen works closely with CEO Hannah Dawson who leads the Futrli product team to ensure their products continue to support the needs of firms as both technology and their demands evolve.

Futrli’s latest software, Predict, makes it easy for SMEs and their advisors to create solid and future-focused decisions across the entire business.

t’s been six years since Futrli launched Advisor at Xerocon in Sydney, and since then, the needs of accounting firms have changed. Luckily, so has the software that supports them.

This article is

scaled in most firms since the launch of Advisor, the demand for this “traditional advisory” solution has altered, creating a problem for most firms. Back then, it was the more technologically savvy clients that were adopting Xero/ QBO first. These clients needed this level of complex advisory and, most importantly, would pay firms for it. Firms saw the revenue opportunity, and the drive to deliver more and more advisory services has been high.

An opportunity arose for Futrli, who had already spotted it with the firm’s using Advisor - there was a tipping point where it just became untenable for firms to scale and sell beyond this segment.

Futrli Advisor is an award-winning For firms to support this product for a reason. It’s perfect dominant sector of their portfolio, for management reporting, board the technology needed to evolve. packs, KPI creation, dashboards, It started with simple cash flow and longer-term strategic cash solutions, but these are just for FUTRLI IS THE ANSWER flow forecasting, planning, and SMEs to look at in the short term, modelling. Accountants demand and due to missing calculations this for their bigger or more Today, the number of clients this and data, they were often complex small businesses. And, size and with an appetite for this inaccurate. Without a P&L or THE FIRST it’s 5-WAY FINANCIAL PREDICTION SOFTWARE FORof SMES ANDsits ADVISORS supporting more than 100k level service aroundTHAT just SERVE THEM. balance sheet, however, how do businesses so far in gaining 10-20% of a firm’s total cloud you build advisory value with that funding, expansion, operations, portfolio, meaning that as much client? investor relations, and board as the desire to do more advisory reporting. is high, there isn’t the client base Futrli’s product team knew that USERS CONNECT THEIR CLOUD ACCOUNTING PACKAGES ONCE, AND FUTRLI RETURNS REAL-TIME PREDICTIVE INSIGHTS to target. to truly enable accountants to PERSONALISED TO THE BUSINESS ONCE A DAY OR ON DEMAND. However, as cloud adoption has deliver support to their smaller,

What How

Invoices

Predicted sales

Cash transactions SAGE BC SAGE INTACCT

QB DESKTOP

QB ONLINE

Cloud accounting ledger

Customer payment days

Sales tax

SAGE 50

Account rules

FREE AGENT

Trends

Why

Predicted KPI sets Futrli prediction engine

Predicted spend Predicted tax liability Customer insights Supplier insights

Seasonality

40 / Issue 29

Predicted cash flow - short and long term

Journals

Supplier payment days XERO

Predicted profit

Manual predictions: staﬀ, stock, sales etc.

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

SO BUSINESS OWNERS CAN FOCUS ON BUILDING THEIR BUSINESS WHILE FUTRLI MONITORS THEIR OPERATIONAL AND CASH

non-traditional advisory clients and to generate an ROI; they had to create a product that: • Transformed the complexity, uniqueness, and often irregularity of a small business’s data into an experience that was simple, elegant, and easy to use day-to-day. • Created projections using every type of transaction from the P&L and Balance sheet (invoices, bills, journals, spend/ receive money, e.g.) to ensure operational trends, seasonality, and even Covid-19 effects were detected automatically. • Combined these projections with the impact of due invoices and bills to ensure the short term was also predicted for the SME accurately. • Aggregated payment behaviours so that those due dates weren’t relied upon, but actual payment history overall transactions were calculated daily to ensure the SME’s cash flow was accurately represented. • Calculated future VAT/ GST accurately from actual and predicted data so that they didn’t experience my experience all those years ago. • Any predictions generated would flex and move with a business by automating all of the above and using new data to ensure rolling accuracy, with little or no effort on any user’s part. The solution would not

scale within firms within this significant SME cohort if it did not do this. • Explain each prediction so trust is established and the numbers are understood. • Did not require any set-up, training or implementation. Introducing Predict Futrli Predict instantly creates a rolling 3-year prediction for any business across a 5-year data set. Combining transaction-level predictions across the P&L with all due invoices and bills and balance sheet movements produces an accurate cash flow forecast and the key operational drivers an SME needs to make informed decisions. This is the next generation in forecasting: hybrid 5-way

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

prediction. And this is just the start. A recent release to Predict includes a live hot-linked spreadsheet including PAYE forecasting wizards, loan amortization, invoice discounting and even non-financial drivers. At just $19 USD (£15 GBP / $25 AUD) per month per SME user, finally, technology has landed that fits the accountants’ more generalised needs.

Find out more... Find out more: futrli.com/products/ predict/accountants

Issue 29 / 41

Xero Ecosystem Survey: Our partners are turning shock into innovation @Xero

Nick Houldsworth, Exec GM Ecosystem, Xero

In 2020 we commissioned some research with Lonergan to check in with our ecosystem community to see what challenges, and opportunities, they saw in the market, and how we could better support them. This article is

ur community numbers more than 70,000 users of our API, and over 1000 apps connected to the Xero platform. The Xero ecosystem community surveyed included 1,435 app partners, developer partners, enterprise and financial services partners, alongside accountants/advisors and SMBs that have developed their own integrations or apps in-house. What struck me instantly about these results was two things (both of which I’m extremely proud of): 1) The resiliency of our ecosystem community, during once-in-ageneration negative market conditions; 2) Just how much innovation took a front seat, when our partners could’ve regressed into their shells to ride out the storm. Xero’s ecosystem community

42 / Issue 29

seized the opportunity to do business in new ways. 78 percent of the ecosystem cited ‘being better able to adapt than competitors’ as crucial to success in 2021, while 64 percent of those surveyed felt they had innovated more in 2020 than previous years. Innovation is at the heart of our ecosystem community, and our community has shown remarkable resiliency. Almost three-quarters (74%) of the Xero ecosystem community believe they have identified new business opportunities as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, and 72 percent saw the development of tailored solutions for their customers as a key opportunity area going forward. I especially love the fact that four out of five (79%) in our

community feel well equipped to help their clients in difficulty grow again post-pandemic. I interpret all these results positively, that our Ecosystem team has (hopefully!) done their jobs well and put in the hard yards to support our community. Coming from developer partnerland myself (at Vend) the boffin in me particularly loves this stat: Xero ecosystem community members most commonly describe the relationship between API/platform providers and developers across the industry as positive (33%). This increases to 43% among Xero developer partners and 41% among Xero app partners. This is something we’ve worked so hard on, so thank you for that recognition.

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

52% of those surveyed said access to the Xero platform has been critical to achieving their goals, 39% of partners say the Xero ecosystem represents ‘critical automation’ to them. We’ve worked hard to instil that kind of trust, and hopefully our transparency has also provided the needed insights to keep

our app partners innovating. So thank you to all our partners who took part in the survey, and an extra special thanks also to our partners Syft, Tradify and A2X for providing their own anecdotal case studies for this report, highlighting some of their key wins in 2020. We plan to do this survey every

year, and if you would like to put your name down for the next round — please email api@xero. com.

FIND OUT MORE... You can view the full report here: Xero Ecosystem Survey Report 2021

5-way forecasting you can

TRUST Now with Google Sheets Hotlinks

SignVisitup do.futrli.com thefree: XU Hub: Go to www.xumagazine.com

Invoice discount

Client retainer

Issue 29 / 43

Dan Max

My Finance Journey: From Print and Process to Full Automation

My finance journey starts with the GFC, probably the worst time to be hunting down a career. This article is

y finance journey starts with the GFC, probably the worst time to be hunting down a career. Having completed a diploma in business administration, I found that securing any job was extremely difficult, so I doubled down on my selfinvestment, enrolling in a Business Commerce degree majoring in accounting. Little did I know that the fallout of the GFC would still plague the jobs market and the only accounting roles my experience would allow for would be entry level bookkeeping and accounts payable. My first role was with a small family-owned business that managed their books through Excel. I made it my mission to modernise the business and implement a current accounting package. This was a step in the right direction, but still required manual processing of faded receipts and half torn invoices in a filing cabinet... The role of a bookkeeper is extremely laborious and far from the analytical aspirations that I had after my degree. However, it shone a light on how many businesses operate and the

44 / Issue 29

@compleatp2p

George Gramnea, Enablement Specialist, Compleat Software George is a MIPA qualified accountant and CPA associate member. His experience is in accounting, stakeholder management, software implementation, and streamlining processes. Currently George manages software implementation for new clients at Compleat Software and provides BAS & Tax services on weekends to businesses and Individuals. As a hobby George used to manage an event hire business, organising photo booths, DJs, Bands & A/V hire for weddings, & corporate functions.

challenges they faced.

a lot of flak at the beginning as I had far less experience than After a few years in the job, it anyone else in the team, but I was time to aim higher, so I saw a great opportunity to put landed a job with a multinational myself on the map with the senior organisation. This was surely team and be seen as a leader as going to help me get my foot in well. The issue was thousands of the door for something invoices stacked bigger, and that’s in sorters, and how the role every weekly “I made it my was advertised. payment run, mission to However, I found there were errors modernise the myself back in which sometimes business and a data entry resulted in the implement a position with team staying current accounting little analytical back till 8/9pm package” requirements organising and aside from the few fixing them. I borrowed additional tasks including imaging software from the bank reconciliation and cash flow customer service department reporting. The same scenario that I implemented, which was not designed for AP, but I used played out for my next 3 roles, this along with analytics to scan even though I would go on to be and solve outliers well before a part of teams that implemented the batch was sent for approval, paperless processes and update saving us 1-2 boxes of paper accounting software packages. every week. This was a few In some of these positions I was thousands in cost savings alone. working with individuals that had However, it was not enough to master’s degrees in accounting, land me a promotion. leading me to believe that I would require a PHD in accounting just Eventually I caught a break and to have access to a balance sheet landed an assistant accountant and profit/loss. position with a large healthcare One achievement that I had in one provider, and would you believe it if I told you that data entry was of these roles was implementing still required. This was a multia paperless system. This caught

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

billion-dollar organisation, and I was using an 80’s MS Dos looking system. That’s right, invoices would come in, I would print them, stack them in piles, then send them for MANUAL approval before I would be allowed to enter them in the system using only a keyboard. No mouse. The biggest issue I faced in this role, was that invoices would go missing. I would print and code them, package them in a folder before sending them to the respective manager only to receive a call from the supplier weeks later demanding payment. I had to repeat this task again and again until I realised that I needed to stand over some individuals the head officer in charge to until they signed all the invoices implement a new software in front of me. This was package that would a huge time waster not eliminate the “The biggest for me, especially account system but issue I faced in when I had month work in conjunction end reporting to with it, eliminating this role was organise. printing and manual that invoices keying of invoices. would go The second biggest missing.” issue was the This brings us to the excel based Purchase current position I now Ordering system that some hold, a mixture of project and managers utilised. This was account managing as well as basically an excel document providing training and support to created by a previous accountant, all new users coming on board. for everyone to stay on top of Basically, the same thing I’ve incoming costs. However, the done in the past 4 roles, which is information was always with the implement new processes and respective managers who could software to resolve the chronic never remember or had never mismanagement of financial been given an estimate from information. I have seen the the supplier. When it came to accounting and bookkeeping month end, my Balance Sheet space go from manual data entry reconciliation would fluctuate to automated practices. Keeping violently with no accurate track of spend and invoices is a estimates on expected costs, the lot easier when you know with provisions account was always accuracy, costs that are incoming understated or overstated. and you can plan cash flow accordingly. My nightmare though would soon take a turn when it was In all my previous roles however, I announced that I was to be had to deal with staff at different

STRAIGHT TO YOUR INBOX!

levels who didn’t always see my point of view and one senior manager taught me that it is easier to first get individuals buy in before proposing a change. As change can bring in a huge level of uncertainty to an individual’s daily tasks, bringing them to the table early on is key. This is my current approach now that I take through my scoping and enablement sessions with new clients. AI and automation all in one new system can be daunting and at times seen as a challenge instead of an opportunity. However, most individuals quickly learn that there is time better spent when you have all your data entry done for you, and as a business grows there are always subject matter experts needed.

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Issue 29 / 45

Event

100 XU Magazine readers can save £15 on their ticket to the Bookkeepers Summit 2021 Bookkeepers Summit 2021, an online event

for bookkeepers on 9th and 10th November. Use coupon code XUMAG at checkout.

This article is

46 / Issue 29

ary Turner shares his vision for the future ‘I’ve always found Gary Turner so inspiring and he’s done so much for the accounting & bookkeeping community – I can’t wait to hear him speak for Xero one last time at the Bookkeepers Summit,’ says Certified Bookkeeper Heather Palmer who runs Ascot Bookkeeping & Accounting Ltd. The Bookkeepers Summit is the annual event dedicated to bookkeepers and it takes place entirely online on 9th and 10th November in the middle of Global Bookkeeping Week. Bookkeepers from all over the world are coming together online to socialise, learn, look to the future and have fun. Gary Turner, MD of Xero UK and EMEA, says, ‘After a decade that has transformed the role of the bookkeeper, I’ll be reflecting on the future trends and developments that will shape the bookkeeping industry in 2025.’ Organisers at the Institute of Certified Bookkeepers (ICB), who’ve been hosting the Bookkeepers Summit for the past eleven years, say Gary Turner has never missed the opportunity to speak. ‘This year the Bookkeepers Summit is all about looking to the future. We know the challenges

@ICBUK

Ami Copeland, Communications Director, ICB UK Ami is responsible for ICB’s voice, brand and vision, and managing the organisation’s marketing, events and communications teams. As the daughter of the two co-founders, Ami has been involved in ICB since its inception and committed to helping ICB and its members grow their influence, impact and reputation. Having spent the last two years driving change at ICB she’s interested in the future of the profession, digital transformation, organisational efficiency, customer-centricity, diversity and equality.

Gary Turner, Xero

aren’t yet behind us so we’re discussing the skills and tools we’re going to need to ensure bookkeeping practices, and the businesses they support, bounce back stronger and more resilient.’ Tickets are still available: use coupon code XUMAG at checkout to save £15. Please visit: bookkeeperssummit.com ‘The Bookkeepers Summit is not your typical accounting conference! In fact it’s more like a week-long festival,’ says ICB director of communications, Ami Copeland. Having sold the first 500 tickets within hours of releasing them, Ami is confident that bookkeepers won’t be put off by Zoom-fatigue. ‘Bookkeepers are uniquely supportive and welcoming as

a community. That’s why we build a virtual event experience that enables real connections. Yes, you’ll get access to over 30 CPD-accredited sessions being streamed on Tuesday 9th and 10th November, but the really great thing is a week’s worth of networking on the virtual event platform and app, and access to the recorded sessions on-demand for three months.’ Inspiring keynotes, Regulatory Updates and MTD for ITSA Joining Gary Turner on the virtual stage will be a diverse roster of speakers including Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, the first Muslim Cabinet Minister and now successful entrepreneur and member of the House of Lords. Warsi will be discussing the challenges that lie ahead for UK

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

Event

Baroness Sayeeda Warsi

businesses and why she thinks the role of the bookkeeper has never been more vital. James Ashford, hot off the sale of GoProposal to Sage, will have all eyes on him as he delivers his empowering keynote ‘How to ask your clients for more money (and what to say when they say no).’ Practice growth sessions include a workshop on finding and retaining your ideal clients, digital marketing for bookkeepers, one bookkeeper’s story on scaling a business to 1000 clients, and how to transition from a part-qualified accountant to a fully qualified Certified Bookkeeper. HMRC will be presenting on MTD for ITSA and Penalties Reform alongside sessions from other government departments including the ICO, The Pensions Regulator, and Companies House discussing its digital transformations. Rebecca Benneyworth will be joined by other experts to deliver technical workshops covering the Autumn Budget, key tax developments, payroll news, and MTD for ITSA. An education

track will be dedicated to helping bookkeeping students pass exams and supporting AATQB graduates who want to level up to Certified Bookkeeper status to start their own businesses. Software demos are being hosted by AutoEntry, Dext, FreeAgent, Husky, NextMinute, Nomisma, Sage, Senta, Taxfiler and Xero. ‘Our fantastic keynote speakers will be sharing big ideas on running a business, hiring staff, harnessing tech, delighting clients and achieving your own financial wellbeing,’ says ICB’s head of partnerships Sobi Hariharan. Looking to the future, together Bookkeeping influencers like Jo Wood FICB from the Bookkeepers’ Podcast, and Australian Heather Smith FICB, FCCA, FCA will be discussing resilience, technology, and the power of community. ‘There’s a mixture of live-streamed and pre-recorded content and you can interact with every session, see who else is watching with you, send chat messages, post questions and even compete for prizes. You can watch on your desktop or download the app

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

to watch sessions and network whilst you’re out and about visiting clients or just getting on with your life.’ The 2021 Bookkeepers Summit offers an unparalleled opportunity to connect with brilliant bookkeepers and industry thought leaders to uncover tactical advice and proven strategies for your bookkeeping career. Join the community online for TED-style talks, live panel discussions, speed networking, social gatherings, competitions, technology exhibitors, and a whole lot of mind-blowing, lifeaffirming fun. During Global Bookkeeping Week what better way to learn, mingle and have fun and share the joy of bookkeeping no matter what stage of the journey you’re at. Don’t forget to use the coupon code XUMAG at checkout (case sensitive) to receive £15 off your ticket. (Hurry, only 100 coupons available). Terms and Conditions apply, please see bookkeeperssummit.com for more information. Global Bookkeeping Week - Get involved Use the hashtags #BookkeepersSummit and #GlobalBookkeepingWeek to stay up to date and connect throughout Global Bookkeeping Week. You can also download our toolkit with social media graphics and ideas for getting involved. Don’t forget to share them with your clients and employer! Download Toolkit: bookkeeperssummit.com/globalbookkeeping-week

Find out more... Tickets are still available for the Bookkeepers Summit: use coupon code XUMAG at checkout to save £15

Issue 29 / 47

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Issue 29 / 49

Managing Employee Leave the Easy Way Streamline Your Employee Time-Off Requests to make both Employees AND Managers Happier! Learn how to simplify your leave management processes to make things easier for both employees and managers alike.

This article is

ike it or not, leave or holidays are an extremely important part of an employee’s perspective. The way leave is managed (or not managed) has a big impact on their satisfaction and engagement with the company. But at the same time, as companies get bigger, leave management can get complicated! If you or your clients are finding leave management a chore, it might be time for an integrated

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HR system. A leave management system, which is normally included in an HR system, gives both you and your employees more visibility, less admin, and better decision making. Empower Employees with an HR Portal By allowing employees to submit their time-off requests via an employee portal, you give the power back to them. They can easily see their leave balances and the leave calendar to know

@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.

how much leave they have and also, when colleagues are taking leave. This puts an end to the back-and-forth emails asking questions when they have all the information they need at their fingertips. Plus, an employee portal also allows them to update their profile information, view certain files, see the company library, submit forms and more.

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

Setup Flexible Rules for Leave Approvals You can decide to keep things simple by having all leave approvals go to one person, or the employee’s manager, or you can configure approvals to suit your business. For example, you might need multi-tiered approvals for requests to go to one person and then to another if approved, or you might need two out of a select three people to approve requests. You might also have different approval rules for different groups of employees. With a HR system like HR Partner, this is all easy to setup and administer. Increase Visibility of Employee Leave Using a calendar or gantt chart view is the best way to easily see who has requested leave, or had leave approved, and for what dates. This can help when you’re deciding whether to approve new leave requests as you can easily see if it will place too much strain on the business with that employee being away at that time. You can also see the leave calendar for individual employees to better understand their patterns of leave. Plus, you can easily see the employee leave balances, for each leave type, to address any issues - such as employees not taking enough leave, or taking too much! You can filter leave views by department, location, position or other parameters to understand trends and identify the source of any issues. Leave Policies that Fit Your Company With an HR system in place, you have the flexibility to define and

leave setup that works best for your company. You might have several different leave types each with different allowances and accrual methods like upfront or incremental. You can also set waiting periods, reset rules and more. Plus you can make some type of leave hidden from the employee portal (useful for Emergency Leave that you might have as an official policy but don’t necessarily want to promote to employees). You can also have different leave policies applying to different employee groups. For instance, you might have different policies for employees in different locations, as well as different public / bank holidays. Leave Management is Worth Getting Right An HR system that makes leave management easy really is a must-have tool for any business with 20+ employees. If you use Xero for your payroll, a system like HR Partner integrates directly and sends leave to Xero and

keeps leave balances insync. Or, if you use a different system for payroll or outsource your payroll, you can easily manage the leave right within HR Partner. Although employee leave can seem like an administrative headache, it’s so important to keep on top of it, and even more important to make sure that employees are taking the time off that they are entitled to. For optimum performance, everyone needs to regularly step away from work and spend time on other things. In the long run, these breaks will not only improve performance, but also reduce absenteeism and turnover. So, whatever system you use, make sure that it’s easy for both employees and leaders to manage employee leave.

FIND OUT MORE... Book a demo or start a FREE trial at HRPartner.io today. Plus, right now you can get 50% off your first 6 months! www.hrpartner.io

Accounting software with a purpose. Visit the XU Hub: Go to www.xumagazine.com

Issue 29 / 51

The Business Advisory Iceberg: How much revenue is under the surface? The one or two clients asking for advisory services may be an indicator of greater potential amongst your client base.

This article is

hen I first started at Spotlight Reporting as a Sales Development Representative, my primary responsibility was to contact people trialling our software. I would engage with them, discuss their requirements and objectives, and from there connect them with the people and resources they needed to succeed. Very early on, I noticed that there were two distinct patterns among our trialists. Occasionally, I would come across the ideal boutique advisory firm: an accountant who had just opened their own practice and had 20-30 clients all on fixed-rate monthly packages that included a report, a forecast, and an advisory meeting. These accountants typically had a high average revenue per client, far fewer headaches, and a deep understanding of their clients and their clients’ businesses. Conversely, I would also meet with senior accountants or directors from well-established firms, who tell me they’ve been approached by one of their clients with a request for some reports, maybe a forecast. After further discussion, it usually becomes clear that these accountants want to provide more advisory services, but don’t see any potential in their

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current client base that would justify anything more than ad-hoc sessions. Yet unlike the small boutiques, these firms would have around 200 clients.

@spotlightrep

Chris Allen, Account Manager, Spotlight Reporting Chris Allen joined Spotlight Reporting in 2020 as a Sales Development Representative, before quickly progressing to Account Manager for New South Wales, Australia. He works closely with firms who are looking to leverage automation in order to grow their business advisory service offerings.

I’d concluded myself: accountants underestimate the scope for advisory services amongst their own clients.

A succinct way of thinking about it is with the ever-popular iceberg analogy: if one or two of your clients proactively approach you for advisory services, you may conclude they’re the only ones who want them. But in reality, 21% of your clients want business strategy, 17% want business In 2018, NAB released analytics, their “Key Insights 10% want Into the Australian budgeting and These findings Accounting forecasting, 12% supported my Industry” report, want business conclusion: accountants exploring the planning etc. perspectives of They’ve just underestimate the scope SMEs and their never asked you for advisory amongst accountants in for it. their own clients. the context of accounting services. In short: what you In many areas, there see is just the tip of was a large disconnect the iceberg. between what SMEs wanted, and what their accountants thought If this sounds intriguing, there’s a they wanted. For example, while lot you can do as an accountant 17% of SMEs wanted business to tap into the demands of the analytics, only 10% of accountants market: identified that this was the case. Even more startling, while 1. If one or two of your clients 21% of SMEs rated business approach you requesting strategy services as being of business advisory services, high importance, only 9% of make it a priority to deliver. accountants did. Business advisory services are highly valuable, and if your These findings supported what advisory clients are getting I began wondering why there was such a stark difference between the two, and if the latter were actually correct in their analysis of their client base. To supplement my own observations, I turned to the available research.

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

the services they need, they’ll recommend you to other business owners. People love being the one to give a good referral, but they won’t stake their reputation on someone they aren’t completely satisfied with. 2. Be proactive. Those one or two clients are just the tip of the iceberg, and there’s a lot more potential under the surface. Ask your clients for feedback

frequently, and give them the chance to tell you what they want. 3. Market your advisory services to your current clientele. The best way to do this is to give them value upfront for free. You can use a Spotlight Reporting trial to create free management reports for each one of your clients, with very little time and effort. We’ve seen firms have amazing uptake from this tactic.

If you’d like to read the full Key Insights Into the Australian Accounting Industry report, visit business.nab.com.au

FIND OUT MORE... For more advisory insights: spotlightreporting.com

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Issue 29 / 53

Celebrating 10 years app-versaries with: MinuteDock, simPRO, Unleashed, and Communigator

@Xero

Nick Houldsworth, Exec GM Ecosystem, Xero

Xero has more than 1,000 connected apps that help small businesses and their advisors succeed. Many of our app partners have been connected with Xero for more than 10 years, and we’re celebrating a handful of those apps every quarter. Read more about our latest four app-versaries below. This article is

n case you missed it, we’re rapt that 10 years on, we’ve passed a milestone in the growth of our platform with over 1,000 connected apps in our ecosystem. You can check out many of these apps in our new Xero App Store. And to celebrate, we’re featuring a collection of apps each quarter from our app partners celebrating their 10 year appversaries with us. After opening our APIs in 2009 to a handful of developers, we certified our very first app two years later. In those early days, we knew we couldn’t build every niche feature a small business needed to succeed ourselves, so we encouraged other innovators to build them and integrate with Xero, so our subscribers could reap the benefits. We’ve been on quite the journey over the past decade, as our community and the innovation on our platform has grown from strength to strength.

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And with many of our 1,000 app partners being small businesses (or once small businesses) themselves, it’s been amazing to see the power of this community, innovating to help other businesses succeed. To celebrate this incredible milestone, here are four apps that have been transforming the way small businesses work together with Xero for over a decade: MinuteDock With MinuteDoc, it only takes seconds to connect to Xero to make your invoicing seamless and save hours of admin time with easy time tracking. Thousands of professional services worldwide use MinuteDoc to track time for billing, budgeting and reporting. simPRO simPRO is a global leading

provider of cloud-based job management software for the trade and service industry. More than 4,800 clients and 120,000 users worldwide use simPRO to help streamline their entire workflow, providing complete visibility across their workforces with real-time office-to-field connectivity. Unleashed Software Unleashed Software gives businesses the freedom to better make, manage and move their products. Take control of inventory with core features that show what’s in stock – and where – at any time. You can also manage your production with assemblies and batch and serial number tracking – as well as enhance your business with a suite of additional tools. These tools include a built-in B2B eCommerce store, Business Intelligence dashboards,

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

mobile sales app for customer management on the road and much more. Communigator Communigator is a cloud based CRM solution that helps small businesses of all types. From managing holiday parks to botanical stores, Communigator provides the tools to help manage sales, marketing campaigns and even job management. To this day, we’re still on a mission to work with more developers so we can help grow their business and continue to drive innovation. We love working together with our app partners as we forge on with our mission to make life better for people in small businesses. Thanks to everyone

who has helped us reach 1,000 apps over the past 10 years. Here’s to the next 1,000 apps, and many, many decades to come!

FIND OUT MORE... You can check out these apps, and more like them, on the Xero App Store

5-way forecasting you can

TRUST Now with Google Sheets Hotlinks

Invoice discount

Client retainer Dan Max Mike

Issue 29 / 55

Is my website strategy effective? Switch your website from burden to benefit.

@cchaustralia

Stacey Cooper, Website Development Manager - CCH Web Manager, Wolters Kluwer, Tax & Accounting, Asia-Pacific A product professional passionate about designing solutions that solve customer problems and make it easier for customers to achieve their desired outcomes.

According to McKinsey, COVID-19 has pushed companies over the digital tipping point and transformed businesses forever. We accelerated our adoption for digital customer interaction in the Asia Pacific by a whopping 10% last year alone. But the big question is – is your firm part of that shift?

This article is

or some time now, we have watched as our industry regulators have moved online to transform their services for accounting professionals and taxpayers. Driving this shift is the goal to provide industry and taxpayers with a more self-sufficient, streamlined, and transparent experience. Of course, building a website and having your own digital footprint isn’t as simple as logging on and completing a generic template. Accounting professionals are at the coal face of industry every day, acting as the most trusted advisor to businesses and individuals. This means you need an effective website that works across any device, one that can attract clients and be part of your business development strategy. And just like your clients rely on paying for professional accounting advice to keep them on the right track, it makes sense to consider utilising the expertise and experience of website experts to get you online and keep you there. Without a trusted partner to develop your website, you may

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be wasting valuable time and end up with a website that won’t grab people’s attention. Here are the top 5 benefits of partnering with Wolters Kluwer CCH Web Manager: 1. Manage your digital strategy with ease Your firm will benefit from Wolters Kluwer’s deep domain expertise in website strategy and operation. Our specialist website team can design, build, maintain and provide content, tailored for accounting firms. Benefit from our user-friendly website management with the CCH Web Manager Content Management System interface. It means your website will always look great, stay up-to-date, and give you the content your website visitors will value. And we are here to support you once you go live. Our friendly support team is just an email or phone call away. Our CCH Web Manager Client Resource Hub will share easy to follow Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) tips and guides designed to maximise your website’s performance and engage a wider audience.

2. Cost-effective professional design The goal of CCH Web Manager is to create and add value to your website within your budget. When we talk about our predesigned templates and websites, your firm isn’t going to have to sacrifice its identity for a quick start option. For firms looking for custom designs, our in-house web design team will invest time in understanding your brand, budget, and expectations. Plus, they will learn more about who your audience is now and into the future, your goals and uncover the unique differentiators that will keep you ahead of the competition. This means asking plenty of questions to make sure you build a valuable presence online. We will work with you to tailor a fully branded customised website layout to grab those eyeballs – and keep them there. 3. Access curated content and tools Websites are all about having a digital customer interaction. A vital component of this is

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

understanding the content and tools you need today and for the years ahead. This might be harder than you think, especially when you are busy running your firm and trying to stay up to date with everchanging legislation. This is why accessing CCH Web Manager curated content and tools can save you time and money. Everything from starter web copy and templates to a fully customised web presence is available based on your budget. Crafting engaging content takes time. CCH Web Manager will give you the calculators, key dates, and tax facts, to keep your website up to date and relevant. Transforming a static website into a dynamic content driven website will drive conversions and turn prospects into clients. And what’s more, you can extend your digital footprint across your social networks to reach even more people. Publish content and image rich blog posts to make content work even harder. 4. Plan for greater engagement

“The support from the Wolters Kluwer team was fantastic, they made sure we were fully supported all the way to going

live with our new website. They were there for us.”

Search Engine It’s easy to Optimisation Steven Dainty, Grosvenor imagine building Tools, - plus Business Advisers a website is a stats from Google one and done Analytics – help you task, something understand how to the team needs to have target a specific audience the framework and content for and keep them on your site. before it’s designed. But the most genuinely successful websites 5. Set clear security and privacy don’t look at their digital presence boundaries that way. Websites that engage have a content plan that ensures We understand the roles and they remain relevant and deliver responsibilities of website the ROI expected of them. management and that many firms do not have a dedicated CCH Web Manager has made it digital professional managing easier than ever to manage and security – all CCH Web Manager publish web content. Our Content websites are secured with SSL Management System helps you security certificates (HTTPS). We understand how to add, monitor include this with every website and update content to generate subscription. We can help protect the website traffic you need to website visitors’ privacy with our improve your Google ranking and customisable data collection engage targets. Our dashboard, privacy page and easily activated

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cookie notifications, to inform website visitors that your site uses cookies. As your client’s most trusted advisor, you can ensure this trust extends to protecting their data on the web as well. Thinking about how to maximise your website presence? Switch your website from burden to benefit with CCH Web Manager.

Find out more... Transforming websites for accounting practices. Watch the on-demand demo for CCH Web Manager.

Issue 29 / 57

SPECIALIST WEBSITE DESIGN AND MANAGEMENT FOR ACCOUNTING PRACTICES

CCH Web Manager

Designed by professionals all Web Manager sites are fully mobile responsive, have Google Analytics embedded, and allow for easy edits to imagery and content – so when your practice grows, so can your site.  Mobile, responsive custom designs or pre-designed layouts  Turn your website into a resource that can help you better provide information to clients and help grow your practice  Interactive client and prospect information – access to automated tax facts, calculators, and key dates  Easily create and update website content, share to Social Media, to grow your website traffic and business  Dashboards, analytics and reporting

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

CCH Web Manager

Transforming websites for accounting practices

WATCH OUR WEBINAR NOW



For further information contact Follow us on Twitter: @xumagazineus today Issue 29 /  59

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Growing online with WorldFirst and Amazon

As outlined on Amazon seller central, earlier this year, Amazon launched the Payment Service Provider Program as part of their continued effort to make their platform the safest and most trusted store in the world for customers and sellers. Customers who use a payment service provider to receive their Amazon store sales proceeds, must now use an approved Amazon PSP.

@WorldFirstLtd

Simon Smallwood, Head of Partnerships, 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.

At WorldFirst, we are pleased to confirm that we are participating in Amazon’s Payment Service Provider Program (PSPP). Designed to enhance Amazon’s ability to detect, prevent, and take actions against potential bad actors, this program allows Amazon to continue to protect its customers and sellers from fraud and abuse. This article is

ow to tell if your client is using a Payment Service Provider

What are the benefits of using a PSP?

with this application process, while others support creation of local currency accounts.

Convenience Your clients are using a PSP if the bank account assigned as the Deposit Method for their Amazon store is managed by a payment company instead of directly issued to them by a deposit-taking bank. If your clients choose to use a PSP to receive their funds, Amazon will only accept bank accounts managed by PSPs that participate in the Payment Service Provider Program (a ‘Participating PSP’).

Accept multiple currencies By working with a PSP, payments can be outsourced to one company, instead of having to do it yourself. It also eliminates the need for working with multiple payment providers. Open local accounts to collect funds Before accepting payments, a local account is required for the business. Some PSPs can help

PSPs provide support for multiple currencies. This allows fast and secure payments from around the world. For example, with WorldFirst you can open local currency accounts in 10 currencies and start receiving funds from global marketplaces in a matter of minutes. Minimise costs PSPs generally offer better international transfer rates than regular money transfers. With a PSP like WorldFirst, you could save money with competitive FX rates and transparent pricing - up to 80% lower than high street banks. Reconcile payments with ease PSPs provide complete transaction reports for payments.

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

This makes it easier for you to reconcile transactions in the future. WorldFirst also offer Seamless Xero integration. Security Many payment service providers offer high standards of security for PSP payments. At WorldFirst we offer real-time fraud monitoring, blocking and alerts, and we are PSD2 compliant, with 2FA in place. To further enhance your security, we are also integrated with the Authy App for a more secure login. Help your clients streamline international collections and payments with WorldFirst WorldFirst can help you and your clients streamline international payments and collections, allowing you to manage multiple storefronts and payment in one easy to use dashboard.

Collect funds from multiple storefronts With WorldFirst’s World Account, you can manage your international collections. Local currency accounts can be set up in minutes in 10 currencies. These accounts can be used instantly to receive funds from a global marketplace, and circumvent the need for local banking relationships.

Link WorldFirst and Amazon accounts

Repatriate funds World Account allows you to choose the right time to repatriate funds, at a time that conversation rates suits your clients. Alternately, the accounts can be used to hold funds to pay local or international suppliers, removing the need to repatriate funds, only to then make further international transfers, thereby reducing overall FX costs. Manage accounts

Pay international suppliers Whether your clients are purchasing from a major marketplace like Alibaba.com, or direct from suppliers around the globe, WorldFirst offers fast, easy, and secure international payments in 68 currencies, with same day and next day payment options to speed up supply chains.

Switch Amazon payment account in minutes

All of these collections and payments across multiple accounts can be managed via a single dashboard, saving time. WorldFirst also offers seamless Xero integration for easier reconciliation.

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

1. Create local currency accounts Open multiple local currency accounts yourself in the dashboard. Or tell us where you’ll need local receiving accounts and in which currency, and we’ll set them up for you, and send details when they’re ready. Amazon requires proof of account ownership to change the bank account details linked to a marketplace storefront. At WorldFirst, we’ve automated and simplified the process for you, so you can generate an account verification letter directly from your account dashboard in minutes.

Cont...

Issue 29 / 61

Next steps

2. Receive and hold funds Have funds from selling internationally online paid into your local accounts. Keep them there until you’re ready to transfer them home.

3. Bring your money home When you’re ready, log in to your account at any time 24/7 to transfer your money. With our great rates you can bring more of your hard-earned money home.

WorldFirst helps customers move money around the world with simple, fast and affordable FX transactions. Since starting out in 2004, more than 240,000 businesses have utilised our services to send more than £87bn around the world. Today, WorldFirst provides a range of tools and services far beyond global money transfer, with international payment and collection accounts, marketplace integration and hedging products. 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 reduce the costs associated with expanding internationally by diversifying and nurturing their sales channels for growth.

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)207 801 2388 or email simon.smallwood@ worldfirst.com or visit our website: www.worldfirst.com/uk/ partners/accounting

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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06/08/2021 17:19

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Issue 29 / 63

Inside Accountancy Practices

What can accountancy practices

gain from 2020 Innovation surveys? This article is

t never ceases to amaze me how much information can be gleaned by using research (often in the form of surveys). The information can be so helpful; other than the cost and time needed to get it right, it’s hard to understand why we don’t use this research more often. For example, I can think of three types of surveys conducted over the past 30 years, where we have had the good fortune of working with accountancy firms that have helped forward thinking firms exceed their expectations and become far more successful in the following: 1. Understanding the research behind what clients consider when they are thinking of changing their accountant 2. The key performance indicators of profitability using benchmarking surveys 3. Client satisfaction surveys – “What do most top (entrepreneurial) clients care about when they are dealing with accountants and how do we stack up?” Issues which entrepreneurs consider when they are thinking of changing their accountant has not changed since research shown in the 1960’s. The top three issues which we should question

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and incorporate within our sales and marketing strategy are: 1. Are you specialised in the services that the client wants to buy (could be specialised by industry)? 2. Have you been recommended? 3. Are you showing an interest in the client and/or their business? This research has pointed clearly to the fact that if we demonstrate niche expertise by service and/or by industry, clients will be more interested in working with us. This is one of the reasons why niche marketing has proven to be a most successful strategy for accounting firms. Benchmarking surveys have been used over the years to some limited extent. At 2020, we have worked with some of the most profitable independent firms in the world and when we survey these firms, we begin to understand the factors that contribute to higher profitability and success. The main attributes of profitability include: 1. Fees per partner 2. Fee earners per partner 3. Chargeable hours 4. Recoveries 5. Niches Those firms that have developed

@2020GroupUK

Gordon Gilchrist, Speaker & Writer, 2020 Innovation Gordon Gilchrist is a trained accountant and professional consultant for accounting firms, offering strategic direction across marketing, planning, practice management, mergers and acquisition. He has worked with firms in the UK, Ireland and South Africa since 1989, as well as, three of the Top 4 firms, 75% of the Top 20, and over 2,000 independent firms. He and Ian Fletcher are joint authors of the Croner.CCH book “SME Consulting”.

niches (normally by industry), have proven to be faster growing with increased team loyalty, have created a champion culture, and as a result, have attracted better talent and so the virtuous cycle continues. Client satisfaction surveys have been a flagship service offered by 2020 for over 30 years, whereby we survey the top 50 (entrepreneurial) clients of independent accounting firms. The results have fundamentally never changed in over 30 years and those firms that actually address the top three issues that most clients care about, most of the time are unsurprisingly, the firms that seem to do better in the following: 1. Timeliness. A timely service is not a quicker service but is always on time. This includes responding to emails, telephone calls and social media communications, as well as meeting deadlines (but note, not necessarily the regulatory deadlines). 2. Understanding fees. Firms are beginning to address this better, but still we find a great deal of clients finding that they simply don’t understand where and how the fees are calculated and therefore, are often not agreed in advance which is still surprising to many of us.

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

3. Showing an interest in the clients and not being reactive. This issue relates strongly to the research and what potential clients consider when they are thinking of changing accountants (see above). Overall, if you take these three items and recognise that most clients consider them to be very important most of the time, then client satisfaction, referrals, crossselling additional services and fees per client will be greater. As we have now been through a revolutionary pandemic, 2020 Innovation launched their ‘Inside Accountancy Practices Benchmark Survey 2021’ in October to try and establish the new regime, cultures, and statistics most profitable firms are aspiring to. Whilst the survey is now closed, you will be able to access the data report from the 18th November 2021 and gain insight on the changes and opportunities shaping the industry today. Metrics covered in the report include both quantitative and qualitative data such as the

mix of services offered, clients, productivity, remuneration, equity partners, costs, key challenges, future plans and more! The key findings will be released at the 2020 Annual Conference on 17th November. If your firm didn’t complete the survey you can register your interest here to purchase your copy of ‘Inside Accountancy Practices Benchmark Report 2021’. Note: If you took part in the

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benchmarking survey, you will automatically receive your bespoke report from the 18th November 2021.

FIND OUT MORE... Register your interest to purchase your ‘Inside Accountancy Practices Benchmark Report 2021’

Issue 29 / 65

In celebration of our FY22 Xero Award Australia winners

@Xero

Joseph Lyons, Managing Director - Australia & Asia, Xero

We’ve had the great honour of crowning the Xero Australia Award winners for FY22. After all of the disruption and uncertainty brought on by the pandemic, a celebration of the business community was well and truly deserved. And for many, it’s what made this year’s awards program particularly meaningful.

he FY22 Xero Awards are all about acknowledging the resilience and courage shown by small businesses, sole traders, advisors and app partners throughout the past 18 months. We received a record number of entries this year, representing some fierce competition. So those who took out the top spots should be incredibly proud of their accomplishment, which is no easy feat among such a high caliber of contenders. Although we couldn’t mark the occasion in person due to COVID-19 restrictions, the power of technology and some careful planning ensured our winners were recognised in

announcements across three consecutive days. To catch up on the celebrations, hosted by comedian NazeemHussein, visit the awards website. Now to introduce our Xero Australia Award FY22 winners: • Accounting Partner of the Year: Future Advisory • Bookkeeping Partner of the Year: Vital Accounts • Enterprise Partner of the Year: RSM Australia • Innovative Partner of the Year: YOUtax • Community Partner of the Year: Together Business Australia • Cloud Champion of the Year: All In Advisory • Practice App of the Year:

ChangeGPS • Small Business App of the Year: ServiceM8 • Emerging App of the Year: Azupay • Financial Services App of the Year: Moula • Small Business of the Year: Two Bays Brewing Co • Emerging Small Business of the Year: PlateitForward • Sole Trader of the Year: Apparatus Quo • People’s Choice Award: MKS Gro Congratulations to our award champions and finalists, and thank you for all that you contribute to the world of small business.

Accounting software with a purpose. 66 / Issue 29

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Inside Accountancy Practices

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Issue 29 / 67

Seamless integration for a speedier and simpler life In an increasingly digital workplace, Leigh Wright from Senta looks at how harnessing the power of integration can help you work smarter and make your life easier.

This article is

ircumstances thrust upon us all over the last couple of years meant we quickly learned our Teams from our Zoom, our Slack from our Trello, and not long after we learned to sift out our timesaver tech from our timewasters. The adoption of apps and software has been rapid, and while admittedly it took a global pandemic to revolutionise how we live and work, we’re here now and there’s no going back. So how can you harness the best bits for your business? The next step in this evolution is to curate and control the services

you use, and get them to work as one to deliver tangible and timesaving benefits. The services you use need to play nicely together and need fewer clicks to make the good stuff happen. We think one of the most important aspects of any cloud platform is the ability to integrate with other apps in your tech arsenal. Not just jargon When we talk about integration, it’s far from just another bit of jargon; it’s a simple idea with a big impact. Integration across our practice management software sees the best apps for running your business talk together on one platform. They draw and share information, so you can control all aspects of your business with the minimum of fuss. It means you improve productivity so there’s more time for increasing revenue. And it’s simple to set up too. Systems that don’t communicate with each other result in more clicking in and out, mind-numbing manual and time-consuming processes, and they’re prone to error. We’re over it, and reckon you are too. Allowing business apps to communicate and automating tasks will make life a whole lot easier – and who doesn’t want that?

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@SentaHQ

Leigh Wright, Head of Customer Services, Senta I love the problem-solving nature of software support, paving your own way to out-of-the-box solutions is very gratifying. On top of that, our customers tend to be thoroughly engaged with software so it’s great to feel like you’re helping people who love the product as much as you do!

Here’s the science So how does it happen? An API (Application Programming Interface) lets multiple software programs communicate with each other. When two software programs are connected in this way by an API, they are said to be ‘integrated’. It allows specific requests to be sent by one application, producing a response by another. Senta integrations sees lots of different apps and software, including Xero – view the full list here – work together in perfect harmony. As well as the usual suspects like FreeAgent and Quickbooks, you might find some others you’re not familiar with. It’s worth checking out the likes of MELU (live chat for your website), PracticeWEB (websites for accountants) and Invoco (VoIP phone system). In some cases, you may need to connect another tool that is not listed in the app ecosystem or may need to accomplish a specific task that is not available. Enter Zapier. Zapier essentially acts as a connector or translator between thousands of cloud-based applications. We love it, Senta customers love it, and use it for all sorts of interesting processes. And it’s not just established apps; Senta has an open API, which means anyone can connect to Senta (with our permission!).

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

Integration in action Let’s look at what integration looks like for a few everyday tasks and how they help at different parts of the journey. Our practice management software has easy-to-configure CRM, powerful workflow, integrations, and a user-friendly client portal. You can email clients for mass automated mailouts, or craft bespoke communications and SMS reminders. It allows you to move through your work in the

Case Study: Root2Growth

Embrace the best bits As the world begins to shift back to normal, or the new normal at least, the digital progress we’ve all made has massive potential to help us evolve and run better businesses. Let’s take the good bits forward with us and leave

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

Considering Senta or simply want to find out more, visit: www.senta.co

out there that does the practice management in this way. “We’ve used Senta and GoProposal right from the start of n e Ar man the business. There was no tracking d of clients and engagements in Excel spreadsheets – we started with Senta… I knew what I needed Senta to do. So many practices have the app stack but don’t get the most from it. There’s nothing that can touch what Senta does and the potential that the customisation options give you.”

“We have the Xero Dashboard as the driver for the business, with Receipt Bank doing the bookkeeping, GoProposal doing the initial proposals and Senta managing everything to do with the running of the practice. Senta is integral to the practice now. I don’t think there’s another solution

Find out more...

Rayanne Armand Managing Director of Root2Growth, who operate as a virtual finance department for the building and construction industry says:

the worst bits behind (Zoom parish council meetings, burpees with Joe Wicks, and the phrase “you’re on mute”… we’re looking at you). It’s time to get the best from the tech you rely on – and see the massive opportunity that integration offers.

We don’t just expect you to take our word for how well it all works (although you’re welcome to!). We’re proud to have customers that experience the benefits of integration with Senta day in, day out. For Root2Growth Accounting & Advisory, an Exeter-based cloud accounting firm, the call to use Senta was an easy one to make working life easier and improve client service.

right order, in a streamlined and logical fashion. You can even track your VoIP calls, create a client file, and then use GoProposal to bring the client onboard.

Issue 29 / 69

How the new hybrid model is making it harder to monitor bogus expense claims Scan, upload, review, approve. Expense tracking made simple with ExpenseOnDemand. The pay-as-you-go tool for better expense management. Start Today.

This article is

e recently commissioned a global survey of Financial Directors and leaders which highlighted that 75% would choose to source a relevant tech solution to allow them to automate a process rather than outsource where possible. The results of this survey also showed that millions of firms are expecting to work remotely at some level for the foreseeable future and admit they are more reliant than ever on tech solutions to manage almost every aspect of their business. As business adapt to this new hybrid model, automation has never been more important for both survival and profitability for millions of businesses around the globe. Whether you employ 5 or 200 people, it has become imperative that you source the right tech to automate as many business processes as possible to protect your business and staff for problems that remote working can cause. One of these issues has been the rise in ‘bogus’ employee expense claims and we have published some of the dubious expenses that have been uploaded to our app to illustrate

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how our leading automated tech solution has handled these and flagged these to our clients, saving businesses thousands every year. Businesses around the world are losing billions in employee expense fraud but cutting-edge tech is rapidly putting an end to this spending spree. The data published showed some extraordinary claims including a belly dancer receipt for over £2,500 added to a hotel expense, £950 for a single taxi journey and £800 for a hairdresser. Another client has seen huge savings after a group of employees had been overcharging for business mileage with the total claim reaching £1.2m but once analysed through the app this was reduced to £800k. Another multinational firm quickly adopted the client tracking functionality on the app when their entertainment expenses claims totalled over £2m in 12 months. Employees had to add the names of clients who attended for the claims to be processed and the total dropped by 50% within the

@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.

next 12 months. Over the Christmas period, client and staff entertainment means that there is an influx of employee entertainment claims that can often be hard to monitor. If, therefore, you don’t currently automate your expenses this is a good period to implement an automated solution such as ExpenseOnDemand. Employee claims have always been difficult to monitor and manage especially when you have a larger and now remote workforce. Our cutting-edge tech is helping firms automate processes and easily authenticate claims often saving them thousands or even millions in costs every year. For many years, the ExpenseOnDemand app has been offering our clients around the globe a simple solution allowing employees to remotely upload and claim business expenses from any mobile device, including approving them on the phone. And it integrates within minutes with Xero, to automatically upload all transactions. How cool is that! Our tech solution meant we were,

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

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. Apart from offering over 100 functions to choose from, Xero users can, for example, set up their own approval hierarchy and businesses can build their bespoke subscriptions in minutes, and only pay for functions they use – and not the whole application. Additionally, we offer a simple “pay as you use” pricing model, keeping costs completely manageable and flexible. What do Xero customers say about ExpenseOnDemand “Post COVID the need to automate became really important. Giving ExpenseOnDemand a try was a wise decision as it is a cost-effective and easy to use cloud-based employee expense management system” Archie Sheldon “The price we pay is just a fraction of the cost charged by other employee expense management solutions. It offers a wide range of functionalities at a minimal price” Hazel D’Souza “Easy to use and straight to the point, makes expenses a

breeze. Seamless transfer of data between EOD and Xero help save a lot of time and effort” Usman Siddique - Finance Manager - Salboy For technology to continue to seamlessly support business processes, tech firms 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. The team at ExpenseOnDemand have been adapting our market leading app since the start of

the COVID-19 pandemic and are 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 enhanced, and new functions added, to ensure we can offer our clients solutions that are current and work for them no matter where their staff are working.

Find out more... For more information go to: expenseondemand.com/ expense-managementsoftware

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Issue 29 / 71

Why Do Small Businesses Use Float?

Cash flow forecasting without the pain of spreadsheets

@FloatApp

Mattea McClean, Accounting Education Manager, Float Mattea McClean is a Chartered Accountant and Float’s Accounting Education Manager, who is passionate about helping small business owners unlock the power of cash flow forecasting.

Cloud-based app Float is helping business owners and their accountants harness the power of an accurate cash flow forecast. This article is

ost business owners understand the importance of cash flow forecasting. Yet many view the process of creating and keeping a forecast up-to-date as painful and time-consuming. The frustration of woefully out of date spreadsheets is all too real. And let’s not even talk about version control. Step in Float. Float is a cash flow forecasting add on for Xero that integrates seamlessly with your clients’ accounting software. Visual, easy to use and always up-to-date, Float makes it easy to highlight the value of cash flow forecasting with your clients. This cloud-based app has helped thousands of businesses and their accountants keep track of cash flow. Whether used in times of crisis, or for the scenario planning feature to make big business decisions, many of Float’s loyal users simply cannot imagine running their business without the software. “Float helps me escape

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spreadsheets and helps me understand my cash flow instantly. Before it was all pretty manually updated. The problem that any spreadsheet really has, is that it’s out of date as soon as you’ve built it. A forecast needs to have all the right historical data in it, which a spreadsheet typically doesn’t. “I think the things that Float has helped me achieve in my business is largely from the confidence that it’s given me in the numbers. I’ve found that I can map out different scenarios which are probably a bit more ambitious than I might have done before. Along with knowing what the downside risks are - losing a client or any sort of negative impact - Float leaves me very reassured that my business is in a healthy state.” Nick Boyce, MD and founder of Pollenary digital advertising agency Let’s look at a typical example of how an accountant might use Float with a client: what if your client wanted to hire someone new?

In Float, you can map out the scenario of what adding a new employee looks like on your cash flow graph, so together you can decide which outcome is best for their business. You can run as many different scenarios as you like, such as looking at different start dates or what salaries they could potentially afford to offer until you find the one that works best for you - this means you’re basing your hiring decision on your own, real-time data and getting an accurate picture of what’s going to happen with your future cash. Float also has exportable reports for you to easily share these forecasts and scenarios with their team, business partners or board members and makes cash flow easily understood by everyone.

Find out more... Would you like to try out Float for yourself? Visit floatapp.com and start your free trial today.

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Issue 29 / 73

Surviving the stresstest: how to ensure your business thrives through adversity AI and automation is the key to freeing up billable hours and increasing revenue

Troy Brown, co-founder, XBert Troy Brown founded, ran and managed the finances of a highly successful marketing agency for 12 years. He and his teams delivered projects in Australia, New Zealand, and Asia for blue-chip and government clients. Through first-hand experience understanding the challenges business and finance teams have, he and the XBert Team are working closely with accountants and bookkeepers of all sized businesses to deliver a product specific for their needs.

It’s been a rough two years right across the globe - and bookkeepers

and accountants have been at the coal-face, helping small business stay afloat. But who’s looking after you? This article is

he past two years have been a long and drawn out stress-test for many business owners. For their finance teams, they face challenges on both fronts: helping clients navigate, survive and thrive, while attending to their own business operations. Like any pain-point in business, this double-header pressure on accountants and bookkeepers, has either confirmed their current systems are on point; or made it glaringly obvious some things need to change. When looking at firms and businesses of all sizes that have come through this the strongest and continued to drive efficiency, there is one common denominator: they have embraced artificial intelligence and automation. The industry has moved well past the notion that artificial intelligence and automation would make accounting and bookkeeping roles obsolete. What

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we’ve seen develop over recent years is that humans will always have a place in the workflow process. And that if you’re not embracing these smart tech tools in your business, you’re not just falling behind - you’re doing yourself a disservice. Why should bookkeepers care about AI and automation? Technology helps eliminate the need to spend time on tedious, non-income producing tasks such as manual data entry and review, document collection, and even reporting. And it’s absolutely key to helping scale your business in a sustainable way. If the intense nature of the last 18 months has taught us anything, it’s that embracing AI and automation are the best ways for bookkeepers to free up billable hours and increase revenue potential. This is true for Michele Grisdale of Rainforest Bookkeeping, who tripled her client base in just 12 months by implementing smart automation tools in her business.

“I was working in desktop bookkeeping, using 5 different accounting platforms, was buried in paper and saw no way out,” Michele said. “When introduced to automation, there was a light at the end of the tunnel and I started planning my way out. Within 6 months I had moved all of my one-day a week clients to cloud apps and was ready to take on more.” Using Xero, AI audit and workflow management with XBert, along with Receipt Bank, helped her take on those new clients with ease, while keeping the work/life balance that’s important to her. “Going from one client a day to accessing up to 20 is mindboggling. I can fill 50 hours a week easily but choose not to. Spending time offline with my family and friends is so much more important and with AI and automation, I can make plans and book time away from the office and know nothing is being neglected.”

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

“I know how to do my job.”

base and her business.

A common reason we hear from bookkeepers as to why they have not looked at AI audit or set-up automated bookkeeping workflows is the simple fact: you know how to do it. You’re great at your job. So great, in fact, you know the process like the back of your hand. And you’re a perfectionist, so there hasn’t been a need to document or implement an official workflow.

“Since I have started using XBert, I have started onboarding more clients, because I knew I had the mental capacity to cope with the workload. It was no longer overwhelming, because everything is systematic and organised in the one system. And it’s so easy to see where your staff are up to at any given time,” Sumi said.

This is a fine way to run your business – until it isn’t. If your business goals include being more efficient, having a better work/ life balance, scaling your business or even selling it, it’s time to think about having a safety net across your data and getting those processes and checklists out of your head. When you can begin to automate your data review and your bookkeeping processes, you remove a mental weight. You open up space to breathe. You can start to onboard clients and new staff with ease, rather than with a sinking feeling it’s not being looked after the way you would. And you create an effective and more scalable business. Sumi Sivalingam of First Class Accounts Doncaster says it wasn’t until she got serious about implementing AI audit and automation that she felt 100% confident in growing her client

“If you’re thinking of growing your business and taking it to the next level - and not be afraid to onboard more clients, or even take on more staff - you have the perfect tool to manage your business and manage your staff.” Take the complexity out of compliance A growing business means growing client files. And with the huge shift toward cloud accounting, online services and shopping - the volume of transactions on each client file grows. As the volume of online transactional data increases, so does the potential for fraud, manual accounting error and dishonest payments. This has made compliance a lot more complex – but AI can review the data at speed, in almost real time. Detecting anomalies like duplicate invoices or bills, unusual spending, billing or transactions,

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GST anomalies, coding errors, ABN checks (even across the attachments on your bills and invoices) – these all save your reputation as a bookkeeper, and both you and your clients’ time and money. Not to mention avoiding the headache of finding these at a late stage - or when it’s too late. Sumi finds having a neat and easy-to-find audit trail on every task is another level of security and peace of mind as the business grows. “Having audit that instantly picks up all the discrepancies saves me so much time. It would take me a lot longer if I had to run through the file myself. That’s one of the great highlights.” It’s also an excellent way to keep your head count low and remove the margin for human error. For Michele from Rainforest Bookkeeping, using XBert AI Audit is the equivalent of hiring a Part-Time employee, with added extras. “There is more peace of mind that the checks are being done correctly, and checking data errors the staff members may not consider - for example Payroll settings, duplicate bank accounts, GST registration changes, junior staff birthday and leave settings, lock dates being unlocked.”

Issue 29 / 75

Maintaining work/life balance During times of challenge, that elusive work/life balance so many strive for can seem like a piein-the-sky ideal. But not when you have audit and automation working for you. Zander de Klerk, Managing Partner at Xeta, implemented automation systems from the outset of the firm. In just three years, they’ve managed to triple their business each quarter and grown to the size of a firm 20 years strong. Using smart technology solutions, including Xero and XBert, has been crucial to their ability to deliver high quality results for their clients and scale the business rapidly, all while maintaining work/life balance for their entire staff. “We’ve broken it down into sectional areas; we’ve broken it

down into internal controls... and we have the ability to balance everyone’s workload to make it very easy. When your XBert’s are under control and your tasks are ready and set up the right way that means you can work from the beach...or wherever you want to be, because you’ve got a simple dashboard that tells you what’s working and what’s not working and it’s easy for us to manage our own time.” Using AI Audit means managers aren’t wasting hours on manual checks, and coupled with full visibility across workflows, means employees are empowered to be in control of their workload and clients without being micromanaged. “And if you put all of this stuff together, basically what it comes down to is a happy team, a satisfied team, and it’s a flexible team that can deal with anything as it arises.”

Finding your ideal balance Whether you’re at the start of your journey and building the foundations for business growth, or you’re currently looking to streamline the way you work and manage a team - the first place to look is AI audit and workflow automation. XBert works tirelessly to help you meet your business goals. If you’re interested in how we can help you, go ahead and start a free, no-obligation trial at xbert.io Our customer success team will be in touch to help.

FIND OUT MORE... Learn how AI and automation can work for you, visit: xbert.io

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Issue 29 / 77

Ready to support your trade clients as they navigate their digital transformation? Integrated end-to-end field

@simprosoftware

Mat Wray, Global Head of Partnerships, simPRO Since joining simPRO in 2015, Mat has established strong connections with leading strategic accountants, business advisors and cloud software integrators. As Global Head of Partnerships, Mat spearheads the rapid expansion of simPRO’s Partner Program.

service software is essential for all leading trade businesses

Trade businesses around the globe are turning to digital solutions, but are you ready to support their transition? This article is

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hroughout the past decade, digital technology has taken a leap forward. This shift has been echoed through the trade industry with more and more businesses turning to digital solutions and cloud technology. Gone are the days of relying on paper-based workflows or accounting ledgers. Technology is now a go-to for an efficient and productive business. And, the pandemic has only hastened this movement. In fact, a Business Wire report states that in 2020 the global accounting software market was valued at 12.01 billion U.S dollars. That number is expected to grow to an incredible USD $19.59 billion by 2026.

What does it mean to support your clients as they move to digital solutions?

So as we move into 2022, it’s time to take stock of your business services and ask yourself if you are providing your clients with the support and solutions most relevant to them now for their future success. Or more simply, are you ready to support your clients as they make the move to digital solutions?.

The combination of providing your clients with a range of software solutions such as cloudbased operations management software and cloud-based accounting software allows your business to reap the following three rewards:

In the past, the answer to this question would be “use cloud accounting software”. However, the answer is now a little more complex. Along with the movement toward technology-based accounting, industry-specific management software is also on the rise. This type of software goes beyond just accounting software so that in addition to accounting functions, your clients will be able to manage their workflows and activities. But what’s in it for you and your business? Benefits of creating a digital service solution

1. Strengthen your position in the industry

As a forward-thinking firm, you’ll be highly regarded by your peers and the industry. Thinking outside the box, so to speak, will help you strengthen recognition of your brand and help you stand out in the crowd. 2. Enhance your customer base The more diversity in service offerings you provide, the bigger your potential customer base. By adding a digital stream to your services, you’ll have access to more clients. These potential clients include those that are already using digital solutions, as well as those that may be looking for a firm with digital expertise to help them make the switch to a digital solution. 3. Add value to your services Adding a digital stream to your business allows you to extend your services far beyond just accounting into business advisory. It also puts your business above the competition, allows your clients the peace of mind that you’re providing them with a range of knowledge that doesn’t pertain only to their accounting, but to their whole business.

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

If your clients are using both cloud-based operational and accounting software, you’ll also be able to provide them with more in-depth advice about how to succeed in business. This is because you’ll have a full overview of their business and related data so you can easily see where they are making and losing money. What you need to do to get into digital service offering If you are thinking about adding to your current services with digital systems, there are a few things to consider. 1. Ensure you have your cloudbased accounting system sorted Is your team currently working with a cloud-based accounting system? If not, this is the first step. To extend your services beyond just adding cloudaccounting, you first need to understand cloud accounting. Once you have a thorough understanding of at least one cloud accounting software, then you can move toward adding other software to your tech stack offering. 2. Identify your niche If you specialise in working with clients from one industry this will be easy. Work mostly with doctors? Then your niche is medicine. Work mostly with field service businesses? Then that is your niche. Identifying your niche will help you identify which software options to add to your tech stack. It’ll also help you narrow down the best options for your customers. Besides, you don’t want to be recommending software that isn’t up-to-scratch. This gives you time to do your

due diligence before you recommend a software. 3. Choose the software Once you’ve identified your niche, you can then narrow down the software to recommend your clients. Do your research. What are your clients looking for in a business management software? What pain points do they experience? Once you have answers to these questions, research your options and identify which software helps solve these pain points. An easy way to do this is to make a list. Then, for each software, run down the list adding ticks and crosses where a software provides (and doesn’t provide) a specific feature. This will help you visually identify the best option for your clients. Still stuck? Ask an expert! simPRO Partner, App Advisory Plus, helps accountants find the right technology for both your business and your clients. They’ll help you design the best app stack,

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save unlimited app stacks and generate white-labelled app stack recommendation reports which you can provide to your clients. Asking the experts also has other advantages. App Advisory Plus helps you integrate your onboarding and service delivery systems for your clients. This means even where there are no native integrations, they’ll help you integrate your software! Thinking about adding to your accounting services and specialising in accounting for field service clients? simPRO partners with a range of accountants, business consultants, wholesalers and cloud-based software platforms to provide a comprehensive service offering to customers and partners alike.

FIND OUT MORE... Visit the simPRO Partner Page and enquire today to learn more.

Issue 29 / 79

Time is running out on the TradeGecko/ QBC retirement Help your clients take action and

realise the potential of their business with a replacement solution

QBC is retiring and your clients will be forced to migrate to new software. Cloudsolve can help you lead the way...

This article is

re your clients feeling left in the lurch by the impending retirement of TradeGecko? They are not alone. After only 2 years under the banner of QuickBooks Commerce (QBC), at a reported purchase price of $80m, TradeGecko is being retired from the QuickBooks portfolio, effective July 1, 2022.

The indisputable facts in the matter for anyone outside of the US are: • If you are a TradeGecko/QBC customer, even if you want to stay you can’t. • This is irrespective of whether you integrate with Xero or with QuickBooks Online. Yes, even if you’re a QBO customer - you are Bringing in a done!

consultant is a smart strategy, given the

So, given there’s no say in the matter, definitive death of how do you, as a QBC by July 1, trusted Advisor, turn that frown upside 2022. down for your clients? How is this an opportunity for you, and how do you help them see this forced transition as an opportunity for them?

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You don’t have to be expert in systems and processes – that’s the first key point. Bringing in or recommending a consultant is a smart strategy, especially given the definitive death of QBC by July 1, 2022. Even for a small business transitioning fundamental business systems and processes can take between 3 – 6 months from start to finish. So, time is absolutely of the essence – taking action next Easter will mean they are likely to miss the boat! What are the benefits to you, the Advisor? • You’re already trusted by them. They listen to you and chances are that whilst they understand the ins and outs of the bigger operational business picture, they need you for their bookkeeping and accounting for a reason! • They will love you because you enabled them to achieve a seamless software transition when they thought it was going to be an unwanted, onerous and stressful task to get done. There’s nothing wrong with your client feeling gratitude and appreciation! • They will be thrilled to watch

@CloudsolveAU

Rhys Roberts, Director, Cloudsolve Rhys Roberts believes that witnessing the transformation achieved for product-based businesses through systems improvement is incredible. As a Cloud Integration industry leader with more than 25 years’ experience in the retail, manufacturing, accounting and technology sectors, his expertise is second to none. The unique combination of both accounting and manufacturing industry experience skills that led to Rhys forming Cloudsolve. A business for businesses, dedicated to improving efficiency, cashflow and profitability through system integrations.

their business improve & grow! Consequently, you will be able to generate more revenue providing advisory services and spending less time on mundane tasks. • By helping them plan their cashflow and forecast the growth from the investment in change, you’ll be an integral part of the process (which as we all know is excellent for client retention). • Introducing new systems creates a new area of work for you as an advisor. Helping them through the transition, is seriously good kudos. You can increase your advisory services (& rates). You will find clients willing to pay for great solutions, as they will be making extensive savings elsewhere! Where to begin? I always start with an open discussion. 1) What are your plans for the business in the foreseeable future? 2) Now you can dig into this a bit deeper. The client will (hopefully) know that there is no app with an identical feature set to QBC. Understanding their plans helps

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

you to identify their needs, only then is it possible to pick the right app for the client (or perhaps a combination of apps), both now and for the years ahead. Armed with these insights you’ll be well on the way to being able to recommend the best solution to replace QBC (which remember is not an option – less than 9 months from now that app will cease to exist). 3) Now explore what else they would like: now you’re moving off QBC what would you change if you could? What works well and what doesn’t with your current processes? 4) Again, there is so much to discuss here – what are the current bottlenecks in their business, what is being done manually, what are their major pain points? Encourage them to take a moment to think objectively about their business. Get team members involved. What works, what doesn’t? No system is perfect but making a list of the pros and cons of what features you like, love and loathe is helpful.  Of course, include the ‘must haves’ and the ‘nice to haves’ on the list and create a wish list. (Although in my experience the wish list should not be a deal breaker!) 5) As the trusted advisor, you can help offer solutions and recommendations to make the transition as smooth as possible. We regularly partner with accountants and bookkeepers to ensure your client gets the best possible outcome. So, what specifically can you do to best help your client? • Most important, bring in an expert. Cloud Technology specialists such as Cloudsolve help guide businesses to the right solutions. • We can help you / your client select the best apps to fit your client’s business needs. We have extensive experience and depth of knowledge to analyse your client’s requirements and recommend the product(s) that will deliver for them. • Running a cloud implementation project requires a detailed

understanding of the selected apps and experience of project management, change management, user training, data migration, app integrations, and more. • We can train your client’s team on how to use their new apps, and provide training to your team so you can continue to support them. You can’t beat peace of mind! • DIY implementing is very frequently a false economy: it will take longer, often leads to less successful outcomes and introduces a significantly higher risk of failure. An issue we deal with almost weekly is a client who has self-selected and selfimplemented the wrong app! • Right now there is a very real element of time pressure as QBC will be switched off on July 1, 2022, like it or not (any client in denial about this is in for a rude awakening)! What options are in the market? Before you go down the rabbit hole there are several software solutions available in the market for businesses currently using QBC.  There are off the shelf retail products like Unleashed, Dear Systems, Cin 7 and others for businesses typically with revenue from $1m - $20m. Sitting just above these is LOCATE Inventory which does an excellent job for businesses experiencing rapid growth from small to mid-market should be at a price way below that of an ERP solution. It is also built from an accounting first perspective, so you will love it as much as your client does, and best of all LOCATE runs as an add on for Xero. Compliment these with Big Commerce or Shopify, and clients have access to a solution that can not only replace QBC, but also turbo charge their business growth. Cloudsolve has extensive experience in the implementation of inventory systems and can help your clients through this transition effortlessly. The implications for you will be that

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you become even more valuable to your client, increase your earning potential, and open up new options for advisory services. What do you have to lose? Act now before time runs out. We are offering complimentary system discussions, so please book a time as soon as practical to get the ball rolling.

FIND OUT MORE... Book a complimentary System Discussion for your client.

Issue 29 / 81

Case Study

Inventory management made easy for oral surgery clinic

@tidyint

Robert Tighe Robert Tighe has been working with words for 18 years, initially as an award-winning journalist and more recently as a content writer and ghostwriter helping businesses tell better stories. As well as writing articles, case studies and blog posts he also works with founders, owners and consultants on their Origin Story.

How do you track and manage supplies and equipment efficiently and accurately in a fast-paced clinical environment? Tidy knows. This article is

hen Tauranga Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery (TOMS) went looking for inventory management software for their clinic, they didn’t expect to find the perfect solution on their doorstep. “We were amazed to find a company in Tauranga that was able to provide us with everything we needed and more,” says Dr John Bridgman, who founded TOMS in 2004 with Dr David Chrisp. That company was Tidy International. Tidy provides cloud software solutions to companies all over the world from its headquarters in Tauranga to manage inventory, streamline processes and improve efficiency. Stickers and spreadsheets Since 2004, TOMS has grown to become a three-surgeon clinic supported by three reception staff, twelve registered nurses, and one practice manager/ accountant. TOMS provides specialist oral surgical services that include removing impacted wisdom teeth and dental implant surgery. Dental implants are small and

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difficult to keep track of with many different variations, sizes, and materials. Before working with Tidy, one of the nurses used drawers, stickers, folders, and several different Excel spreadsheets to monitor implant inventory. Updating the spreadsheets was a manual task that involved eyeballing the number of implants in each drawer to work out how many implants the surgeons were using, what stock was low, and what needed to be ordered.

technology to help us out.” TOMS trialled other apps and systems to keep track of their implants before turning to TidyStock, one of Tidy’s flagship cloud software applications. “Implants are a critical part of our business so we have to make sure we have stock on hand when we need it,” says Bridgman. “The system that Tidy designed for us is simple to use, it’s cost effective, and everyone sees the benefit of it. Not only does it save our staff time, it’s also much more accurate.”

“We split our implant stock between two different surgeries in the same building,” says Integrated solution Bridgman. “In the past, when one surgery ran out, we could get Tidy employs bioengineers who the implant we needed from the understand clinics and medical other surgery, but it made technology. They it much harder to work spent time on site We no longer out what our actual to understand use any other stock level was. TOMS’ specific spreadsheets and challenges Also, with the old system, we had a and get a clear it has improved few hiccups where understanding our efficiency we found implants of their existing significantly. had expired because processes. Tidy then they had become came up with a solution non-sterile, or we ran out of to streamline the implant stock of a particular implant we inventory management process. needed for a procedure and had to use something else instead. This solution leveraged the So, I figured it was time to turn to existing functionality of TidyStock

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Case Study

TOMS uses technology to empower patients.

software to make it easy for TOMS to do stock reconciliation, stocktaking, and ordering new implants. All the dental implant codes and expiry information is now stored in one place. The system is integrated with Xero which makes it much simpler now for the surgeons at TOMS to keep account of the implants used. Suppliers can also send their invoices directly to TOMS using Xero. TOMS’ accountant, who often works remotely, no longer needs to sort through paper invoices, shipping notes and hand-written backorders. The new system has streamlined the communication process with suppliers as well as simplifying the inventory management process. Previously, one of the nurses was responsible for the implant inventory taking up a considerable amount of her time. Prior to implementing TidyStock, the siloing of the information meant other members of the TOMS team were out of the loop when it came to the implant inventory. Now, all of the nurses can use Tidy to update the inventory and place orders without manually checking the stock of the implants in the drawers. Tidy keeps track of what was ordered last time and how quickly the stock is being used up so it removes the guesswork from inventory management. Preset reorder levels mean the clinic never runs out of implants.

Improved efficiency

manage our stock and integrate it with the rest of the practice.”

“Things usually get worse before they get better when you start working with new technology, but TidyStock was remarkably easy to integrate into the practice,” says Bridgman. Sarah Bell, a registered nurse at the clinic, was the project manager who first recommended Tidy to Bridgman and she’s been impressed at how quickly the team embraced the new technology. “The comments from our team who use Tidy every day are a very simple and obvious measure of success,” says Bell. “They tell us all the time: ‘This is much better than the way we did things before.’ It has changed how we do our inventory management.” Tidy worked closely with the TOMS team to come up with solutions to scan the implant barcodes and track patients’ medical histories. “I liked the fact that the software was flexible to our specific needs,” says Bridgman. “There were a few bugs that needed to be smoothed out, but we’ve been very impressed with Tidy and the work they’ve done. We no longer use any other spreadsheets and it has improved our efficiency significantly. Now we know what stock we have in the practice and what we need to order, we’re also looking to use it to refine how we

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Future plans TOMS plans to manage all of their ordering through TidyStock. Currently, they use it mainly for the 200 or so different implants ordered through one company but the masks, drugs, IV equipment and other essentials used in the clinic are not on Tidy yet. That’s the next step. TOMS is also working with Tidy on a new cloud-based practice management system that will integrate with TidyStock. “The aim is to have everything in one place so we won’t have to use multiple programs like we currently do,” says Bridgman. “We will be able to easily access all the patient details and interactions with the clinic including the consultation process, the surgical process, an inventory of all the implants and other materials used in their surgery and any post operation details. Tidy will be at the heart of our practice.”

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

Issue 29 / 83

Spend less time chasing and entering data, and more time building meaningful relationships with your clients.

XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users. sales@autoentry.com | +44 0203 3933058

84 / Issue 29

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Issue 29 / 85 www.AutoEntry.com

Cover Case Study Story

The power of putting your people’s wellbeing first with the help of technology How you can adopt a wellbeing-led performance strategy using apps like WorkflowMax and Everperform. As the General Manager of WorkflowMax, I know how critical technology is to running a business. In addition to supporting everyday operations, technology can also help managers support their team’s mental health and wellbeing. This is something that’s never been so important with the intensity of work skyrocketing due to remote working.

n fact, a recent survey by Visier, a company specialising in people analytics and planning, showed that up to 89% of employees have experienced burnout in the past year. As a leader, it’s super important to be aware of the signs of burnout and adopt strategies to support your team, not to mention yourself.

This article is

Here’s how the World Health Organization defines burnout: Burnout is a syndrome resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed. It is characterised by feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion, increased mental distance from one’s job or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one’s job, and reduced professional efficacy. According to an article by Dr Bryan Robinson in Forbes, “Burnout isn’t the same as stress, and you can’t cure it by taking an extended vacation, slowing down or working fewer hours. Once burnout takes hold, you’re out of gas, and you’ve given up all hope of surmounting your obstacles.” I’ve talked to small business owners about burnout and stress and how it’s hit them and their teams – especially when they’re working remotely, there’s heaps of uncertainty and volatility, and

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business is generally disrupted by the pandemic. All these reasons make it really important to create a positive work environment and support your team wherever they are. Good communication and technology can both help. With the right technology in place, you can gain insight into staff member wellbeing, so you know when to have conversations to keep people engaged and motivated, and how to take preventative action before burnout takes hold. Communication is key Before getting into my favourite topic of technology, I wanted to reiterate how critical good communication is to fostering wellbeing at work. My team is split across four countries and I make sure to regularly check in with each and every one of them. I let them know my door is always

@WorkflowMax

Koren Wines, GM, WorkflowMax With over 20 years’ transformational leadership experience in the tech space, I’m bringing people together to harness their individual strengths, along with our product, to deliver high impact solutions for our customers. I’m super passionate about business and technology and I love how technology can revolutionise a business and drive purpose, success and change lives for the better.

open and no topic is off the table. These catch ups are over and above our normal communication methods including updates on Slack, all-Xero meetings, weekly leadership syncs and team building sessions. If you haven’t already, ask each person in your team how often they need to check in to set them up for success. Then set up regular video chats to connect, clear roadblocks and align priorities. While you might never intend to take an ‘out of sight, out of mind’ approach, people tend to feel disconnected and unsupported if they’re not getting the regular opportunity to share and receive feedback. How Everperform can help you manage better On the topic of technology to help with wellbeing success, I recently caught up with Daniel Spitty, co-

Join our webinar - 16 November at 11.45am (AEDT) To learn more about WorkflowMax and Everperform, come along to our live, virtual event on 16 November at 11:45am AEDT. Our panel of organisational wellbeing experts will answer

your questions and give you actionable advice on how to improve wellbeing within your business. Register now and we look forward to seeing you!

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

Case Study

Dan

founder and CEO of Everperform. need to make better decisions. We had a Q&A on how the right Everperform is about creating tech stack can help you lead a awareness and fostering the remote team more effectively. whole person to reach their full He told me that many potential, not just looking businesses already at their current output. collect a lot of data about how staff are KW: I know you’ve performing. They just looked at wellbeing need the right apps to in professional find the insights in this services firms. What p data and facilitate timely i t t y , E can you tell us about m r verp erfo action and communication. them? That’s where Everperform comes in. DS: Yes – it often comes down to simple, consistent behaviours. KW: So Daniel, what is We’ve analysed 500,000 data Everperform exactly? points across 59 professional services firms, collected DS: Everperform is a platform continuously over 12 months, and that helps businesses measure, found that there are four main understand and develop areas which had a strong, positive people. It syncs with apps like influence on performance. Those WorkflowMax and Xero to give four areas are getting fresh small business owners smart air regularly, thinking clearly, insights into performance across allocating required time to focus their companies. Everperform on what matters, and dealing can be really instrumental with distractions and refocusing in helping managers identify quickly. employees’ strengths, create development plans and make With the correct apps in place to staff feel really engaged through help prioritise work and promote more meaningful interactions. efficient workflows, these areas Managers can also use it when can be really well supported. they need to have those timely conversations to try and catch I’m often surprised by some patterns of poorer wellbeing and of the insights we uncover. lower levels of engagement. One firm discovered that they reduced the number of hours One of the best parts of spent in formal catch ups, yet Everperform is the ‘pulses’ or employee engagement increased. surveys that you can send to That’s because the data that staff regularly. These pulses let Everperform provided helped you track staff wellbeing and get them have better quality, more feedback from your team. focused conversations in less time. In Everperform, you’ve also got a ‘Performance Passport’ that gives KW: How does integrating with individuals a holistic view of their WorkflowMax help Everperform performance. It shows where users understand insights and they can improve and where they make changes within their excel, and helps make the links business? between factors that influence performance. DS: When you connect your WorkflowMax account to KW: What inspired you to Everperform, your data gets create Everperform? matched against your employees and assigned as individual KPIs. DS: Everperform was inspired by You can set targets against every sports psychology and a desire to employee and view their trends, modernise the way we manage compare KPIs and get a better our people, by using data on lead view of performance, including indicators to give the insights we wellbeing. For instance, you ie

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can measure employee lead indicators against their active jobs, billable hours, non-billable hours and total hours. This information lets you see what aspects of performance are impacting your client value, revenue, efficiency and more. KW: What advice would you give to readers who are concerned about looking after their employees? DS: If you want to perform at your best, then you need to think and feel at your best. Things like belonging to a purpose, and being proud of the work that you’re doing and the impact you’re making, helps you to reach your personal potential. Achieving these four things, wherever you work and whatever you’re doing, is the criteria for getting the best out of yourself. And if an employer can foster that for each of its people, then the scoreboard will look after itself. We see a lot of managers and leaders who are afraid of getting it wrong. Our suggestion would just be to ask the question, whether it’s through Everperform or just a conversation, because that shows your team that you care. The ways you can utilise data you already have in WorkflowMax, and then complement it with Everperform is really helping to solve a lot of the critical issues that most industries are facing at the moment around burnout and attracting and retaining talent. There are so many effective new ways to help leaders help their people through what we call ‘wellbeing-led performance’. So take the first step, and keep it simple. It can be as simple as just starting to get that feedback from your team.

FIND OUT MORE... To find out more about WorkflowMax, please visit: workflowmax.com

Issue 29 / 87

Get a rebate on an Alibaba.com membership of up to 3,999 USD*. To find out more about this exciting opportunity, call us on 020 7801 2388 or email us at ukpartnerships@worldfirst.com.

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88 / Issue 29

Updates from Xero

Xero News October 2021 The latest in product, ecosystem, partnerships and business at Xero

Updates from Xero we’ve been working on What we’ve What been working on... Deep dive

Steve Vamos, CEO, Xero

Xerocon returns in 2022

erocon returns in 2022

After a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic, we’re bringing Xerocon back for our community in the US and Canada. The conference, to be held in New Orleans in May next year, will provide a much-awaited opportunity for accountants and bookkeepers to connect with their peers, colleagues and the broader community, to celebrate their accomplishments, and learn more about the latest Xero tools and features.

After a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic, While virtual events have helped sustain the community we’re bringing Xerocon back for our community over the past few years, we’re excited to have everyone In the spirit of resilience, we have relief and development This article is in the US and Canada. The conference, to be held in New physically come together in 2022. also established a fundraising organisation that responds Orleans in May next year, will provide a much-awaited In the spirit of by resilience, we have also established a campaign Americares to people affected poverty opportunity forwith accountants and bookkeepers to connect fundraising campaign with Americares to support the with their peers, colleagues and the broader community, to support the people and or disaster with life-changing people and communities impacted by Hurricane Ida, to celebrate their accomplishments, communities impacted byand learn more medicine, supplies themedical California wildfires, andand other natural disasters. about the latest Xero tools and features. Hurricane Ida, the California health programs. Xero has also pledged to match up to US$20,000. Coined by some as ‘Coachella for accountants’, Xerocon Americares is a health-focused relief and development wildfires, and other natural organisation that responds to people affected by has been one of our true passion points and an incredibly disasters. Xero has also pledged unique way for us to bring the Xero community together poverty or disaster with life-changing medicine, to match over the years.up to US$20,000. medical supplies and health programs.

Americares is a health-focused

Coined by some as ‘Coachella for accountants’, Xerocon has been one of our true passion points and an incredibly unique way for us to bring the Xero community together over the years. While virtual events have helped sustain the community over the past few years, we’re excited to have everyone physically come together in 2022.

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Issue 29 / 89 XERO N EWS — O C TO BE R 2 0 2 1

Updates from Xero Purchase orders in the Xero Accounting app

Other Xero updates... Users are now able to view any purchase orders created via their desktop in the Xero Accounting app. Under the purchase tab, users can see everything that’s in draft, awaiting approval, approved and billed, offering them better visibility of what they’ve purchased.

We’ve made a number of other updates on the Xero

Purchase orders in the Xero platform Accounting app over the past month, including: Users are now able to view any purchase orders created via their desktop in the Xero Accounting app. Under the purchase tab, users can see everything that’s in draft, awaiting approval, approved and billed, offering them better visibility of what they’ve purchased.

Global

Font size of reports in Xero HQ

A new Square + Xero integration has arrived, giving Toggle BAS amounts businesses the ability to easily reconcile Square sales

Practice users can now change the font size of PDF reports in Xero HQ. We’ve introduced Easy payments using Square + a new feature that gives users Xeropayments using Easy Square + Xero the ability to increase the font to pay with Google size of text blocks, tables, grids, AMore new Square + Xero integration A new Squareways + Xero integration has arrived, giving Pay businesses the ability to easily reconcile Square We’ve made it even easier for customers to pay an sales online invoice schedules and report rows. Users has arrived, giving businesses in Xero, capture point-of-sale transactions, accept through Stripe. Now, customers will have theand option to make can now see four font sizes and the ability to easily a payment usingon any credit or debitreconcile card saved to their Google Square payments Xero invoices (where available). Account – supported everywhere Google Pay is available. get a preview of how it will look in Square sales in Xero, capture the report. point-of-sale transactions, and accept Square payments on Xero Tailored Account Transactions invoices (where available). reports

in Xero, capture point-of-sale transactions, and accept Square payments on Xero invoices (where available).

Based on customer feedback, we’ve made changes to whether unfiled amounts appear when running a report in the ‘new’ BAS, and made it easier to remove them completely. Using the new unfiled amounts toggle, users can remove any unfiled amounts from their BAS. When switched off, unfiled amounts from the activity statement period aren’t included in that or any future return.

Canada

Control invoice fields based on preferences

More ways to pay with Google Pay

Our enhancements to Account We’ve made it even easier for customers to pay an online invoice Transactions reports reduce through Stripe. Now, customers will have the option to make a payment the using manual any credit or debit cardneeded saved to their work toGoogle pull Account – supported everywhere Google Pay is available. and organise data, so users can exclude archived accounts and show opening balances on P&L accounts. It also shows accounts with no transactions in a specific period.

Australia

Easy payments using Square + Xero

Every business creates invoices slightly differently, so we’ve redesigned the invoice table in new invoicing to show more ailartsuA New sales taxwhich return fields at aprovincial glance. This allows users to control fields are shown or hidden when creating or editing their invoice. reports

More ways to pay with Google Pay

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Last year, Xero brought several enhancements to GST/HST We’ve made it even easier for returns for Canadian subscribers. customers to pay an online We’re now excited to announce Control that our Canadian customers can invoice invoice through fields Stripe. Now, on preferences create provincial sales tax return Search improvements for bank based customers will have the option Every invoices slightly differently, rules tobusiness makecreates a payment using anyso we’ve reports for British Columbia (PST redesigned the invoice table in new invoicing to show more credit or debit card their fields at a glance. This allows userssaved to controlto which fields are return), Manitoba (RST return), shown or hiddenAccount when creating editing their invoice. Saskatchewan (PST return) and Bank rules make bank Google – orsupported adanaQuebec C (QST return), providing reconciliation easier. Users can everywhere Google Pay is greater sales tax reporting now search for specific bank rules available. xat selas laicnivorp weN XE RO N E WS — O C TOB E R 20 21 across Canada. to fin and manage the right one in stroper nr3utcoverage er seconds. Once set up, bank rules Control invoice fields /TSG ot stnem ecnahne labased reves thguoron b oreX ,raey tsaL ot deticxe won er’eW .srebircsbus naidanaC rof snruter TSH automatically categorise preferences laicnivorp etaerc nac sremotsuc naidanaC ruo taht ecnuonna transactions that occur on a ,)nruter TSP( aibmuloC hsitirB rof stroper nruter xat selas euQ dna )nruter TSP( nawehctaksaS ,)nruter TSR( abotinaM regular basis. Everycebbusiness creates invoices egarevoc gnitroper xat selas retaerg gnidivorp ,)nruter TSQ( .adanaC ssorca slightly differently, so we’ve Purchase orders in the Xero redesigned the invoice table in Accounting app new invoicing to show more fields at a glance. Users are now able to view any This allows users purchase orders created via their to control which desktop in the Xero Accounting fields are shown app. Under the purchase tab, or hidden when users can see everything that’s in creating or draft, awaiting approval, approved editing their and billed, offering them invoice. better visibility of what they’ve purchased.

90 / Issue 29

1 2 0 2 R E B OT C O — SW E N O R E X 5 XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.

Simplifying the way everyone buys & pays. Invoice Automation | Online Buying | Purchase to Pay | Digital Procurement

Trusted by 500+ customers across the world including...

Full integration into any ERP & the world’s most popular marketplaces...

Empowering businesses to achieve the extraordinary. To achieve the extraordinary go to: www.compleatsoftware.com

#TheFutureIsNow

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Issue 29 / 91

Xero business update...

Updates from Xero

Global

Spotlighting the good days and bad days of small business

New series hosted In apodcast new social series called ‘Good byDays, CEO Bad Steve Vamos Days’, we explore

Xero joins The Climate Pledge We’re proud to have signed The Climate Pledge and stand alongside other sustainably-minded companies that are committed to reducing carbon emissions and consciously managing their environmental impact.

leaders. Xero’s CEO, Steve Vamos, talks to chief executives, founders, and entrepreneurs in a series of eight interviews. Listen to the first episode with Stripe president and co-founder John Collison.

the realities of small business ownership as told by seven different Xero customers around the world. They candidly describe the challenges they’ve faced, but also the meaningful moments that remind them why they started their business. View the launch video, and stay tuned for more episodes each week.

What Led You Here is a business leader podcast which aims to inspire small business owners by delving into the experiences and learnings of successful business leaders. Xero’s CEO, Steve Vamos, talks to chief executives, founders, and entrepreneurs in a series of eight interviews. Listen to the first episode with Stripe president and co-founder John Collison.

Xero joins The Climate Pledge We’re proud to have signed The Climate Pledge and stand alongside other sustainablyminded companies that are committed to reducing carbon emissions and consciously managing their environmental impact. New podcast series hosted by CEO Steve Vamos What Led You Here is a business leader podcast which aims to inspire small business owners by delving into the experiences and learnings of successful business

and drive cultural transformation. The Lifecycle of an Invoice research report has been developed to inform the inaugural meeting of Xero’s task force. The task force will discuss the findings and come up with practical recommendations for government and key stakeholders.

US US firm selects Xero as a preferred accounting platform X E RO N E WS — O C TOB E R 2 02 1

Late payments task force Late payments are a huge pain point for many of our customers. In fact, 47 percent of small firms cite cash flow issues and late payments as two of the biggest obstacles to their growth. To help combat this, we’re bringing together experts in behavioural change, language, and business to discuss the complex reasons behind late payments and provide new theories on how to break the cycle

Bernard Robinson & Company (BRC), one of the top ranked CPA firms in the United States, selected Xero as one of its preferred cloud accounting platforms. As a full-service firm, BRC serves privately-owned businesses, corporations, families and high net-worth individuals, and non-profit organisations of varying sizes and stages. With the adoption of Xero, the firm will integrate the cloud accounting platform into its technology stack, helping them better advise clients, access real-time financial insights and make well-informed business decisions.

Read all 29 issues online www.xumagazine.com

92 / Issue 29

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Issue 29 / 93

Establish a higher level of control with our new Advanced plan The new ApprovalMax Advanced plan has additional

features to improve processes for spend control and

@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 consulted multiple organisations with profiles ranging from SMBs to governments and industry tycoons. His unique industry knowledge and expertise cover both the finance and the technology fields.

supplier vetting, as well as helping AP and AR approvers do their job more efficiently.

This article is

he Advanced plan: for a higher level of control and increased efficiency

does, the more difficult it gets to authorise every single invoice that comes in.

ApprovalMax is focused on increasing team productivity in accounting and enhancing client collaboration by automating the approval process for AP and AR. It replaces paper and email-based approval routing with fully automated and easily configurable approval workflows. Our key functionality includes flexible approval rules of any complexity, an option to authorise requests from the email notification, automated tracking of all approval-related activities with audit trails and detailed audit reports. The mobile app facilitates the review and approval of bills and expenses on the go in real time.

Our new Advanced plan addresses these challenges. It allows you to establish a higher level of control for the company as well as increase process efficiency by providing approvers with the right tools to let them focus on what’s really important.

We constantly communicate with our customers and therefore know that some of them are looking for a higher level of control when it comes to approvals. Many organisations with strict budget policies have to validate spending against budgets, and also need to vet their suppliers before ordering goods or services. Obviously, the more purchasing an organisation

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New features of the Advanced plan OurAdvanced plan has a good set of features. These new features are also available with our Premium plan. Budget Checking The Budget Checking functionality improves spend control and saves time because approvers get a clear real-time overview of all budgets impacted by the documents they are approving. They can view the respective budgets right next to the documents waiting for their decision. Budgets are synchronised in real time and approvers can see which documents have already affected a specific budget.

ApprovalMax uses account codes and document dates to pull the relevant budgets for each of the line items in a document under approval. Supplier Approvals The Supplier Approval workflow automates the supplier/vendor vetting process, which often involves various departments such as finance, legal, and security. That’s why organising it in a way to get all necessary approvals and the new suppliers confirmed on time can require a lot of effort. With this new workflow, Requesters enter the supplier data and then the supplier approval request goes automatically through all required steps while timely notifications are sent to the relevant approvers. Once an approval is complete, all steps are logged in an automatically generated audit trail. Auto-approvals When there are lots of expenses of various types, it doesn’t make sense to approve regular or minor expenses manually - no matter how easy approvals with our mobile app are, approvers still

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need time to go through all the invoices. Even worse, it’s harder to focus on those documents that do require attention when you’re already tired from going through plenty of “no brainer” ones, like utilities. The Auto-approval feature saves approvers a lot of time and helps them focus on what’s really important because all documents that meet the conditions you

specify in the auto-approval step will be authorised automatically and not assigned to anyone.

to ApprovalMax, just start a trial you’ll get access to the Advanced plan features.

How can I try out these features? If you’re already a customer, your organisation’s administrator or account owner can switch the trial for our Advanced Plan on directly in the product or upgrade your organisation. If you’re new

FIND OUT MORE... Learn more about ApprovalMax Advanced plan here: approvalmax.com/xu29

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Issue 29 / 95

30+ KPIs the modern accountant should be tracking KPIs don’t begin and end at turnover, return and profit. They tell a clear story of your business. This article is

ost accountants love numbers and mapping data. You advise clients on a financial, tax and organisational level. But do you look at the numbers and data within your practice? Wolters Kluwer Tax & Accounting UK has created the ultimate KPI list for the modern accounting practice. To get the full picture you will need to consider tracking the number of readers of your newsletters, the speed at which a set of annual accounts are prepared, or the average costs per employee, to name a few. Some KPIs are important for every company and organisation. There are industry or sector-specific KPIs that might be crucial for one company, but no use at all to another. This list strikes a balance between these foundation KPIs and accountancy-specific KPIs. Financial KPIs Financial KPIs say something about the financial success of a company. Net profit is not the only indicator here. You can also track the speed with which invoices are paid, and profit per client or department. 1. Percentage of clients with recurring revenues vs. transactional sales This KPI compares two business models. A transactional business model assumes the number of hours spent, multiplied by rate. A recurring

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business model is based on a subscription form. 2. Client lifetime value The client lifetime value (CLV) combines the expected duration of the relationship with the expected financial value. In practice, calculating the CLV can be difficult. It is often assumed that all clients are equal in terms of cost, but this may not necessarily be true. To paint a more accurate picture, filtering by segments is an option. 3. Client profitability score Again, not every client is the same. The formula here is the difference between the income and the incurred costs, related to a specific client in a specific period. 4. Average turnover per client per segment/department The CLV and client profitability score can both also be determined by segment or department. That way the numbers you are tracking are put into perspective, by placing clients with the same value or costs together in a segment. 5. Average number of days that an invoice is open How long does it take a client to pay an outstanding invoice? The shorter the lead time, the better. This ultimately improves your cashflow. Depending on the results, consideration can be given to additional checks, rewards or automated reminders. 6. Time of payment within the invoicing process The average number of days

@wolterskluweruk

Wolters Kluwer Tax & Accounting UK Wolters Kluwer are experts in providing software and services to tax and accounting professionals who work in complex, compliancedriven environments. We help our customers make critical decisions every day by providing expert solutions that combine deep domain knowledge with specialised technology and services.

the invoice is open can also be plotted against different moments within the billing process, such as before the reminder, after the reminder, after the last reminder or once the invoice has been forwarded to a collection agency. Again, the faster the better. 7. Sales growth rate Profit generation is the main goal of a commercial organisation. The revenue growth percentage looks at the ‘top line’. The percentage of the current quarter can be compared to the last quarter, or the same quarter last year. This gives a good picture of the company’s performance and can be compared to the competition. 8. Turnover per employee By measuring the productivity of your employees for a longer period, you get a grip on how this can improve. The productivity of your employees is best determined by comparing it with other accounting firms. Productivity Productivity translates to the amount of work put into an achieved result. 1. Employee client rate The number of clients per employee shows how efficient your team can be. Does your team feel overworked? Do you need additional help? If you have an acceptable employeeclient ratio, nothing needs to

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change. 2. Number of billable versus non-billable hours per employee The number of billable versus non-billable hours per employee is perhaps the most obvious KPI for mapping productivity. The ratio between time spent on clients and on other tasks says something about the time commitment and productivity of employees. 3. Average number of consultancy hours per employee How many hours does an employee spend advising clients? This shows the productivity and billable hours of your employee. It might also give you an idea of how much advisory time you could be billing for. 4. Average number of consultancy hours per client While the previous KPI indicates the productivity of the employee, this one shows a client’s need for advice. This offers opportunities for upselling. Possible problems are also detected when the number of consulting hours for a client suddenly rises or falls. 5. Average number of hours spent on an annual account The preparation of annual accounts has a maximum period of five months after the end of the financial year. This can serve as a benchmark for the speed at which a set of annual accounts are prepared. 6. Average processing time per invoice or receipt How long does it take your employees to submit an invoice or receipt? The speed that invoices are processed says something about the skills and productivity of the employees. Make informed business decisions with a complete view of your accounting KPIs and metrics, anywhere, anytime. Marketing There are a lot of KPIs that can be devised that relate to marketing. From the number of followers on LinkedIn to the average reading

time of the newsletter, everything can be measured. These are marketing related activities that are commonly used within an accounting firm. Newsletters 1. Number of newsletters sent The number of newsletters sent is a good start, but often not enough. It only gets interesting if you look at your delivery or bounce rate. How many newsletters have or haven’t been delivered? This tells you something about the quality of your contact data. 2. Open rate In general, a good open rate is between 15% and 30%. 3. Click rate The click rate represents the percentage of people who clicked on a link, out of everyone who received the newsletter. 4. Click-through rate The click-through rate (CTR) indicates how many people have clicked on a link, out of all the people who have received the newsletter. Website 1. Number of (unique) visitors The number of unique visitors to your website is a good indication of the discoverability of your website. If people are making multiple visits, this shows that your website is likely to be of interest to them. Updating content helps with

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increasing new and returning visitors. 2. Average time on your website How long does a visitor spend on your website? The longer they stay, the more relevant your website content is. Maintaining applicable and upto-date content helps. 3. Conversion rate on website By conversions we mean downloads, newsletter subscriptions, completed contact forms, sales or demonstration requests. If you have a low conversion rate it is possible that, for example, the call-to-action buttons don’t stand out enough. Or possibly that the leads on your website are not yet ‘warm’ enough to take action. 4. Penetration rate The penetration rate shows the relationship between the market potential and the current demand. The rate is calculated by comparing the number of buyers of the product against the total number of potential buyers. For example: how many clients do you give advice about pensions to, and how many more could you potentially give this advice to? Relationship Management In short, relationship management means the maintenance of existing clients. The target is to ensure client satisfaction and loyalty. Cont...

Issue 29 / 97

General 1. Average number of client visits per year A certain number of client visits or conversations ensures that you and your client remain aligned. To guarantee a good client relationship, it is important to keep an eye on this contact level. This KPI can be further specified according to the number of client visits and calls per period and/or per employee. 2. Client share The client share is determined by the number of services you provide to the same client and shows how proactive you are in the way you deal with clients. A low client share means that you likely only provide one key service. A more varied amount of services should result in a higher client share. 3. Average time taken to respond to or email a client Response time is an indicator of good service and account management. If a client emails you, it is not expected that days or weeks will go by without a response. Client satisfaction 1. Net Promoter Score The Net Promoter Score (NPS) measures client loyalty. The NPS is based on the likelihood that a client would recommend your company to someone else. 2. Client retention The retention rate indicates

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how a practice deals with its clients. This metric measures the loyalty of clients based on actual actions (such as extending a contract or purchasing more hours), rather than factors that try to predict future loyalty, like the NPS. 3. Churn rate Just like the average time that a client is with you, the churn rate indicates how likely they are to stick with you. Mapping client turnover helps to distinguish between voluntary and involuntary client churn and shows whether you should implement initiatives to win back clients who show signs of leaving. New Business In addition to serving existing clients well, the goal will always be to bring in new clients. The growth of your new business can be measured in various ways. 1. Number of new clients per year The easiest way to map out new business is through the number of new clients. 2. Number of new clients per relationship manager, per period The growth of new clients can also be tracked per relationship manager, per period. These KPIs can also be used to measure the productivity of these employees. 3. Conversion rate The conversion rate reflects how good you are at cashing in on potential opportunities. How many leads are going from Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL) to Sales Learn more Qualified Lead (SQL), and who will become a client? The basis for measuring the conversion depends on your goals and when to define a lead as a lead. Are they a lead after they download a brochure, sign up for the newsletter, or complete a contact form? 4. Conversion rate from quotation to new client Another version of this KPI is measuring the conversion rate

of quotation to client. How many offers are accepted? 5. Number of days that a quotation is open There is a good chance that you have attached a validity period to your quotations. This term can be used to monitor the acceptance or rejection period. 6. Number of contacts for agreement This KPI can help you monitor the effectiveness of your sales process. 7. Acquisition costs per lead By charting how high the costs per lead are, you can see the extent to which the costs are justified for bringing in new clients. Viewing the cost per lead is a good indicator of likely future earnings. The focus should be on costs per qualified lead or the leads that meet the criteria to become a client. Calculate the cost per lead by dividing the full costs of the marketing campaign or sales efforts by the number of qualified leads they provide. 8. Number of leads from existing clients How many leads do your existing clients bring in? This is another form of lead generation, otherwise known as client advocacy. It is also an indicator of your reputation with current clients. In Conclusion All the KPIs listed here are there to help you make better-informed business decisions with a complete view of your accounting KPIs and metrics, as well as metrics to help you understand the impact of your marketing and productivity. Imagine having the information at hand on how to boost your productivity or catch a client before they ended their contract. Well now you can!

Find out more... Contact us for more information on how you can make your data and insight work for you.

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Issue 29 / 99

If the only update your software gets each year is price, it could be time to switch Switching is easy, liberate your software with CCH Accelerate With Wolters Kluwer you can have a seamless system that makes better use of your time and budget. Plus we’ve made switching easier and quicker than ever before. Transform your practice with our new product bundle CCH Accelerate

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a value-driven package which more than covers the cost of implementation

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an easy onboarding process, including flexible staff training and eLearning

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When you have to be right.

No need to just take our word for it. “Choose the CCH Central suite and, like us, you’ll never regret it. You’ll receive every support from Wolters Kluwer to make the move, and you’ll soon be experiencing new levels of efficiency and productivity.” Business Orchard

Instead of asking what the cost of switching your software is, ask yourself - what is the cost of not switching? Visit wolterskluwer.co.uk/switching or email cchsoftware@wolterskluwer.co.uk

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Issue 29 / 101

Let’s talk about customer service This article is

ife has become so busy that we are trying to squeeze more into our working day and waiting for a response to an email query can add extra stress. Sometimes with email responses it is not uncommon to find there is no answer to your specific question but instead you have been directed to a help article or the company’s FAQ page to sift through for an answer to your query adding even more stress, frustration and taking up valuable time. Customers expect to be treated with respect by a knowledgeable subject expert who understands and meets their needs and requirements at all stages of their transaction. Over time ‘good customer service’ has become a buzz phrase used by companies to emotionally connect with their customer base. What does that really mean, is it hard to achieve

and should we be aiming for just good customer service or raise the bar to excellent? Many of us feel more compelled to share an unsatisfactory customer service experience we have experienced rather than share our excellent customer service ones. A bad service experience from a company can be long remembered and the good service you once received easily forgotten. At CloudPayroll and iPayroll we understand our customers are individuals with varying requirements and we pride ourselves on adding value by helping all customers effectively and efficiently in the manner that best suits them i.e. over the phone or via email. With payroll queries, often there is a high level of urgency for answers. We understand the need

Elaine Kirk, National Sales Manager, iPayroll Elaine has more than 35 years’ experience in payroll and related fields.

for urgency as you may need to close the pay run the same day the question arises. We will never direct you to our FAQ or help pages to find an answer, although we do have both if this is your preferred research method. Our dedicated support teams are subject matter experts, who are a phone call or an email away, for your questions – frequent or otherwise. When CloudPayroll and iPayroll receive a request for a free demo, we set up a personalised one to ensure it matches your business requirements. We also set a convenient time over the phone, zoom or in person for the demo giving you the opportunity to ask questions on the spot. CloudPayroll and iPayroll take customer service seriously as we value our relationship. We pride ourselves on delivering an excellent customer service experience throughout all interactions from the Implementation Team setting up your organisation through to the free ongoing support provided by our expert, friendly and knowledgeable Support Team who are just a phone call or email away should you need them.

Find out more... Request a demo: secure2.ipayroll.co.nz/ free-demo

102 / Issue 29

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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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Issue 29 / 103

Is Cash still King?

Tradespeople are notorious for working in a cash economy, but what is the real cost to their businesses? This article is

or the longest time, tradespeople have operated in a cash economy. Whilst cash is absolutely a legal form of tender, we all know it is illegal not to declare it at tax time. In 2015 the New Zealand Inland Revenue Department (IRD) surveyed tradespeople and found that 25% of building & construction work being completed, in Auckland alone, was under the table. This triggered the launch of the “under the table” campaign, which is still running to this day.

Jump over to Australia and in 2017 the Australian Employees will Taxation Office go looking for (ATO) audited the entitlements 10,000 businesses, they are missing and recouped out on. over $200 million in undeclared cash earnings. These businesses were a mix of beauty services, cafes & restaurants, and tradespeople. Both the ATO and the IRD give business owners a chance to dob themselves in, before they get caught. They both promise lighter penalties to those who own up to their wrongdoing, and to me, that should be a good indication of

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how seriously this is treated. “But they will never catch me”, I hear you say? These days, everything leaves a digital trail, so even if a job is paid for in cash, there is some kind of digital record to offset it. Whilst doing some research, I found some good examples of how businesses get caught not declaring their cash: • Businesses depositing undeclared cash into bank accounts. • Purchasing materials with credit or a bank account but using these materials for a cash job. • Paying employees with undeclared cash, but the employees lodge their tax returns and declare the income. • Specifically for tradespeople, paying subcontractors with undeclared cash, but that subcontractor • is declaring their income. • Purchasing large assets using cash. It makes sense, tradies go on-site to do a job, the customer leaves cash on the fridge, tradie pays their subbie with the cash and pockets some for themselves. The cycle goes on and it’s been this way forever. These days more and more

@NextMinuteApp

Emily Mason, Partner Manager, NextMinute With 8+ years in the cloud accounting space (4 within a firm and 4 in SaaS) Emily sees NextMinute as a hidden gem in the industry. Helping Bookkeepers & Accountants better service their Trade & Construction clients with a digital toolbelt.

people no longer carry a wallet, let alone cash. So unless your clients also operate in a cash economy, cash may not be convenient for them. I know personally, if a tradie did some work at my house and wanted me to pay cash, they probably wouldn’t be getting paid. Not because I don’t want to, but I would be lucky to find a 20 in an old purse. So if cash is an inconvenience for the customer, the best solution is to provide more payment options. The pros for the customer, work may be done quicker or cheaper. I am sure we have all heard “Pay cash and I’ll knock a bit off for you”. But the cons, there is no proof of work. Either to cover themselves when something goes wrong or to use when claiming property in their tax return. In 2017, 77% of tax evasion in Australia came from cash-inhand wages, so not only are these businesses jeopardising themselves but also putting their employees at risk. Paying employees cash exposes businesses to a higher turnover of staff. At some point, everyone looks for stability in a job. Employees will

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go looking for the entitlements they are missing out on, like paid leave and superannuation or Kiwi Saver. The business then has to go through the process of re-hiring, which is never a small feat and is a costly exercise. And how do you tell your staff where to be, who the client is, what needs to be done, just the general organisation when there is no record of the job. Overall, none of this information is being tracked anywhere. Maybe in someone’s head. Paper trails are hard enough but no paper trail at all, there is no possible way of accurately understanding if these businesses are profitable. To get a bank loan at a minimum you require a P&L and balance sheet. Some even require a projected forecast into the future to ensure you will be able to maintain the repayments. If a business cannot provide this, there is no way they will be getting that new ute. Even insurance becomes harder. Insurers require turnover, employee numbers, and specifically for tradespeople, they would also need a record of the subcontractor payments. If a business has not declared their full revenue to try and save a quick buck, they will run the risk

of being underinsured.

So how do you know the real cost to the business? You don’t.

A profitable business is an asset in itself. But it is only as valuable as the proof that can be provided. If the business owner decides it is time for retirement having a profitable business, that is all above board is an easy sell. A profitable business that is under the table… Well, let’s just hope they know the right people who are willing to take on this liability. And lastly, I know this is a bit PC, but they really are only ripping themselves off. We pay taxes so the roads we drive on are pot-hole free, the school our kids go to has good facilities and when we get sick, we can go to the hospital.

I get it, the thought of setting up a legitimate business is daunting and it just seems easier to run cash. But it is not worth the risk. All it takes is a good business advisor or accountant, some education and, in my opinion, 3 basic softwares - Xero, a receipt capturing software and, NextMinute.

FIND OUT MORE... To find out more about NextMinute, please visit: www.nextminute.com/ partner-with-us

Need to make payroll profitable? WHITE LABELLED PAYROLL

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www.payrollbee.co.uk • hello@payrollbee.co.uk

Issue 29 / 105

Discover the New SelfOrdering Paradigm of the Restaurant Industry From an independent cafe to a QSR chain, discover how digital self-ordering kiosks and QR code ordering solutions facilitate multi-channel revenue, operational automation, and a beautiful customer experience.

This article is

ver the past decade, there has been a paradigm shift in the F&B industry – not only in the way restaurants serve their customers but also in the way customers would like to be served. Technology solution providers have been quick to innovate solutions that adhere to this evolving behaviour while disrupting the industry.

Digital self-ordering offers guests the ease and convenience of ordering independently with just a few taps. Kiosks allow guests to skip lines, and simply order and pay in minutes, on a beautiful, intuitive interface. Through QR code ordering, guests can scan a QR code at Kiosks and QR code the counter or ordering empower at their table merchants with new to browse a digital menu, revenue channels and and order and future-proof business pay directly on solutions. their own phones. Contactless, hasslefree! While these selfordering solutions weren’t entirely new, there’s no denying that the pandemic was a catalyst that accelerated their popularity and growth in demand. Leading POS systems offer a fully-integrated solution to automate the merchant’s operational workflow – from order placement to fulfillment. Plus, they facilitate the ease of opening a new revenue channel

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in a matter of minutes, and saves time and costs. Furthermore, these solutions have a high focus on the customer experience, empowering guests to be in total control of placing and customizing their orders. Create a beautiful ordering experience With digital self-ordering channels at your restaurant, you can empower your customers to place orders independently and customize them at their own pace and liking. They can order and pay with just a few taps on a beautiful and intuitive Kiosk. Or can scan a QR code to browse your digital menu, and order and pay from the convenience of their own phones. No menu cards or paper receipts; no contact, no hassle. It’s quick, convenient, and contactless. Reduce waits times and bust queues Bust queues at the counter during busy hours by offering guests the ease and flexibility of selfordering. Let your customers avoid crowds and skip long lines to place orders quickly and conveniently at their fingertips. Give them the assurance of safe and socially-distanced ordering, while reducing wait times, increasing overall customer satisfaction and keeping them coming back.

@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.

Increase throughput and speed of service With faster turnaround times, you can serve more guests in less time. Restaurant self-ordering solutions tremendously increase speed of service. Thus increasing your sales and throughput. Plus, your customers will love being in control of their ordering experience–from placing and customizing orders to fulfilment. It’s a win win. Improve order accuracy and efficiency Self-ordering significantly reduces the risk of errors. With guests ordering independently through the Kiosk or on their own devices, there’s no backand-forth with cashiers. This saves time, eliminates the risk of missed orders, and improves order accuracy and customer satisfaction. Empower staff to add more value to your business As customers place orders on their own, your cashiers can focus on the overall customer experience. Free up staff from manual order taking and empower them to add more value to your business by channeling their efforts towards tasks that boost sales and customer experience. Plus, save big on labor costs. With self-ordering solutions, you can

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serve more customers in less time without the need to increase your headcount, and keep your labor costs and operating expenses in control. Maximize revenue with strategic marketing levers Grow your restaurant revenue with strategic marketing levers, advertising opportunities, and more. Increase average check size with intuitive upsell and crosssell prompts such as upgrades, extra paid toppings, combos and add-ons. Drive sales with fun and effective ads displayed during checkout to promote a new item or introduce a special offer. With a custom idle screen image, you can strategically display eye-catching offers and promos to attract customers and elevate in-store branding. Automate operations with a one-stop solution Leading self-ordering solutions are fully-integrated with the POS and complete restaurant management suite for an automated operational workflow. Orders placed on the Kiosk or through mobile phones are sent directly to the Kitchen Display

System (KDS) and Token Screen for effortless order fulfilment. It also works in sync with the Inventory system, so stock is automatically deducted in real time and is always up to date. And if you need to update your menu or mark an item as unavailable, you can easily make changes in real time. Gain business intelligence & analytics With a one-stop solution, sales data from your self-ordering channels are in sync with your Dashboard. You can get insights and analytics into your restaurant’s multi-channel performance in one powerful LIVE dashboard, eliminating end-ofday manual reconciliation. Best-selling items, item profitability, outlet profitability, are a few of the many insights you gain – even on the go. With comprehensive reports and daily business summary, you can identify and analyze trends, compare in-house and selfordering channel performance, and make informed business decisions.

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Seamlessly integrate with Xero Leading restaurant management systems are integrated with cloud accounting software like Xero. This means that daily sales data from your POS and self-ordering channels are automatically synced to your Xero accounting system. The out-ofthe-box integration simplifies and streamlines your restaurant accounting and removes the need for manual entry and end-of-day reconciliation. So you spend less time on your accounting, and more on growing your business. To summarize, digital selfordering through Kiosks and QR codes is more than just a trend of the new normal F&B landscape. Not only does it align with the ever-evolving consumer behaviour for its unparalleled flexibility and convenience, but it also empowers merchants with new revenue channels and futureproof business solutions.

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

Issue 29 / 107

How to test for skills AND values in your hiring process While hiring is exciting and motivating, it is also a physically, emotionally taxing process. And it can cost you financially in a big way if you hire someone you think is amazing, and discover later they weren’t a fit.

This article is

es, they need to have the right skills: but hiring on skills alone is not enough to build the right team. It’s not merely worker bees you need: it’s human beings who fit your firm, who have their own personalities and perspectives and creativity, and truly care about your clients. You need a hiring process to test for both skills AND values. Let’s presume you’ve identified your firm values. Putting nicesounding words on your website is not enough: values must be lived and breathed by your team and clients. If “values” are words like integrity, respect, passion, excellence…what do they MEAN? What does it look like to serve clients with passion? How do your team members show respect to each other and to everyone they meet? You won’t be able to hire people based on vague words like ‘excellence’. You, and the potential team member, need to know what you expect and how they will be evaluated based on this. You literally need to hire and fire on these values: so everyone

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@weare_pf

Karen Reyburn, Owner, The Profitable Firm Karen has, all her life, combined two skills which originally seemed at odds: her creativity, and her skills as an accountant. As it turns out, the combination of those two skills has resulted in the creation and success of PF, the creative agency working exclusively for and with accountants. Karen is a qualified accountant herself, a Certified Public Accountant (CPA). She has worked as an auditor, a marketing manager in an accounting firm, a wedding photographer, and a consultant to accountants. She now leads PF, a virtual company with a global team serving accountants anywhere on the globe.

needs to be clear about what they actually mean in real life. In real work.

skills and values in your next hire. As you go through this process, look for these flags:

It’s also tempting to “trust your gut” when it comes to hiring: but that doesn’t help you build a process which runs without you. Yes, listen to your gut: and also investigate your gut to determine what it’s telling you. What exactly feels right, and what doesn’t? What little things seem too small to make a fuss over, and yet give that niggling feeling? Every win, and every fail, helps you build your hiring process. What didn’t you check for? What did you discover later? How might you have tested for this during the hiring process?

• Red flag: Big problem. A fail on the skills, anger or defensiveness or blame, unwillingness to honour your process. If there’s a red flag, they’re out. • Pink flag: Slight thing which gives you a little niggle, but it’s not fully investigated and there may be reasons for it. File this away, and if there are no more pink flags, they’re good. If pink flags pile up, they become one big waving red flag and they’re out. • Green flag: Specific values or skills fits which get you excited about this person. Remember your professional scepticism: one green flag does not negate a pile of pink flags or even one red flag. Don’t be so desperate to hire you ignore the signs.

Hiring is not the time to give candidates the benefit of the doubt. This is the time for them to prove themselves to you. And reviewing an online resume and talking to them for an hour is not nearly enough to determine if this person will fit with your team and clients day in and day out, month after month, year after year. Below are some ways to test for

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Now let’s look at specific ways to test for skills AND values within your hiring process: 1. Look at the values. What questions can you ask to uncover these? Not “Do you have integrity” or “How do you show passion in your daily life?” - they’ll merely try to tell you what you want to hear. Ask questions which require telling stories. Giving examples. Expressing emotions. For a value of “Responsibility”, you could ask what they loved or hated about their last job. If they explain how difficult it was, how they were misunderstood and had a bad boss, it’s a pink flag. If they say there were some tough things, and express what they learned and how they’ve begun applying that in their life, that’s a good sign. 2. What skills test (or tests) will you require? At what stage in the process? What is a pass, and what is a fail? What do you do with applicants who fall between the ranges? Many firms have demo bookkeeping or accounting work they set up for an applicant to complete over an identified time period. This tells you not only whether they can do the work, but how efficient they are and what they notice along the way. Their passing the skills test doesn’t make the full and final decision, but it’s another flag one way or the other. 3. What more can you ask for besides a CV or resume? At PF, we ask for a 3 minute video submission from all applicants. No CV, no resume, no LinkedIn profile. We don’t want a piece of paper saying how great they are: we want people who know themselves and are

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comfortable enough to talk to us. You might feel nervous about this (what if they don’t like video? what if they’re an amazing person but just aren’t comfortable on video?), but the people who are keen and are really interested in working with you, will make the effort. The point is not the greatest video of all time: it’s to help get a sense of who this person is before you look at skills. 4. How will you involve the team? Hiring people isn’t merely the job of the owners or partners: after all, the existing team will be talking to this new team member day in and day out, sending emails and messages, sitting with them in meetings, hearing their perspective, and spending time with them outside work. Holding a group interview as a part of the hiring process has a double benefit: your team get to see what this person is like, and the candidate gets to see what kind of a team they might be joining.

5. Review for patterns: Check for patterns at every stage. What flags did you see? How many? What did that tell you? What did your team see? What little comments did they make? Did they try to circumvent your process in any way? Look at the big picture: not merely one ‘green flag’, one exciting thing which made you think “they’ll be the best team member ever”. Your process won’t work perfectly the first time, and you’ll need to keep adjusting from what you and the team learn. As you go, you’ll learn more about yourselves and your future team members, and will become better collaborators, communicators and decision makers. And you’ll consistently hire people who are right for you, and you for them.

FIND OUT MORE... Get help with your hiring in PF Lab: wearepf.com/pf-lab

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Focus: Mental Health

How business leaders and managers play a vital role in leading the way to healthy work environments During the past two years COVID-19 has changed the face of our work life. It has been incredibly challenging and very disruptive

for business owner and their employees. It has now never been

more important as leaders or managers to keep your workforce

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.

mentally healthy. Here are some key strategies for creating a healthy work environment now and into the future. This article is

orkers across Australia have experienced a change to their employment due to coronavirus. For some, it has meant coping with increased pressure as a frontline worker. For others, it’s meant adapting to working from home, which can affect mental health. Either situation provides its own levels of stressors. Associate Professor Karina Jorritsma, lead researcher of Curtin University’s Thrive at Work Wellbeing Initiative, says the shift is presenting the nation with an empowering opportunity, one that some businesses are already capitalising on. Business owners, individuals and teams are taking stock, using this time to ask, ‘Why do we do things the way we do?’ They are recognising that how and where we work can buffer the impact workplace demands have on our mental health. Particularly considering COVID-19 has presented many new demands and required an immediate change to the way we work. We have experienced many new

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ways of working over the past 20 months. This provides business owners and managers the opportunity to think differently on how they set up work environments and teams moving forward. This will lead to more creative thinking and innovative solutions for working. A greater awareness of the role of work on our mental health is developing due to the challenges coronavirus has thrown at us. It is not just in the sense of offering support to employees who need it. It is also acknowledging the importance that productive and meaningful work has for mental health and wellbeing. There are some major effects of coronavirus that are expected to be long-lasting – it is likely that a growing number of employees will continue to carry on working from home. This will provide a new “norm” for working and gives employees options that can have a positive impact on their team’s mental health. Using an integrated approach Employers have legal obligations

to support mental health in the workplace. This has never been more apparent, and many business owners are taking the lead here as they ensure the health and safety of their teams during the challenges of coronavirus. A great work environment can influence mental health in a very positive way. Businesses can take advantage of it by using an integrated approach. Combining a genuine focus on wellness within the workplace together with productive and meaningful work. This provides employees and teams with fulfilling roles and greater job satisfaction. As a business starts to learn more about this, there’s often an ‘a-ha’ moment when leaders realise that they’re already using many of these tools – they just haven’t brought it all together under the umbrella of a mental health and wellbeing strategy. So, don’t feel daunted. You can incorporate what your business is already doing to support wellbeing as well as strengthening your approach using the three pillars of the integrated approach. These are:

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Focus: Mental Health Promoting healthy and thriving workplaces This means creating conditions that allow employees to perform, connect with each other and grow. While workplaces have been impacted differently by coronavirus, it’s useful to look at the specific changes your business has experienced and consider how that’s impacted the demands employees are experiencing. Then you can assess which strategies or resources could buffer or help to reduce those demands. One way of promoting healthy workplaces is by asking teams to complete a personal wellness plan. This will help them take time to assess what stressors impact them and how they can develop strategies to manage the ongoing stress. A workplace wellbeing plan is also helpful in showing the teams your business is conscious of the importance of a healthy workplace and have thought about actions to help and support teams. Beyond Blue provides excellent wellbeing plans for individuals and businesses. Protecting workers from risks to mental health Work design – which is the content and organisation of someone’s work tasks, activities, relationships, and responsibilities rather than the aesthetics of a workspace – is key here. Think role clarity, recognition, feedback, and task variety. Being clear with teams about their accountabilities and responsibilities is key. When it’s done well, it protects workers

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Additional resources • This simple checklist from Beyond Blue aims to measure whether you, as a small business owner or manager, may have been affected by depression and anxiety during the past four weeks. • Creating a wellbeing plan is one way to make sure you have the strategies in place to look after your employees’ mental health and wellbeing – and your own. from exposure to psychological hazards by addressing them before they arise. Supporting workers experiencing mental health challenges This includes having leaders who are educated to monitor mental health, as well as taking steps to remove barriers around seeking mental health support, offering Employee Assistance Programs (EAP) and accommodating employees’ return to work. Taking a leadership role in your business provides safety and security for all employees. There are many resources and information to assist business, leaders and managers in this area making it easier to understand and implement. HeadsUp – the mentally health workplace alliance with Beyond Blue provides excellent resources for employers, employees, managers, and small business. What to do as an employee While it’s business leaders who are responsible for creating a mentally healthy workplace, every

Beyond Blue’s Workplace wellbeing plan helps small business owners who employ staff. • HeadsUp provides excellent resources for Healthy Workplaces for Small Business including looking after yourself as a small business owner and educational and training for managers and leaders.

individual can play their part. We all need to take responsibility for our mental health and wellbeing. Taking actions each day that help us maintain a sense of balance in our personal and work lives. Exercise, sleep, diet is important, as are work boundaries and taking regular breaks to ensure we manage the varying levels of stress in our lives. Other approaches include job crafting, which is when an employee takes steps to shape the way they work. Job crafting involves an employee themselves shaping the way they do their work, in a way that makes their job more engaging and meaningful. It occurs when an individual alters aspects of their own tasks to improve the fit between their work and their individual preferences. Once we are aware of the different aspects of work that are important for our mental health, there are a lot of things you can do, including asking yourself questions like: • what can I do to mix up my job and get more variety? • asking for more feedback • asking for role clarity

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If the only update your software gets each year is price, it could be time to switch

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Issue 29 / 117

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

Avaza avaza.com A unified work management solution that includes project management, resource scheduling, time tracking, expense management, invoicing and powerful reporting - all in one place. Sync your invoicing in Avaza with your accounting workflows in Xero. Client Diary clientdiary.com An uncomplicated, affordable appointment booking software that focuses on ease of use, providing access to powerful tools. Take care of your bookings, transactions, customers, marketing, team, reports, deposits, vouchers, messaging & stock management all in one place for a single set low price. Datapel Cloud.WMS datapel.com A practice warehouse & manufactoring workflow with advanced inventory management that seamlessly integrates your warehouse operations and Xero data. Achieve best practice for your industry.

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

Hindsight hindsightapp.com Start the day with a clear, up to date overview of the most important client issues, risks and opportunities. Reduce the noise

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generated by too much data, get alerted and surface the exceptions and issues most vital to address. Help your clients foresee problems before it is too late. Maralytics maralytics.com Maralytics is an innovative program that tracks, measures, and reports all types of marketing activities, making it uniquely effective in monitoring the value of your activities. Know what is converting by seeing sales, profit, ROI% (return-on-investment), customer traffic numbers per campaign or channel in multiple formats on an easy-to-use dashboard. Mshop App mshop-app.com An advanced e-commerce platform for the creation of branded online shops and mobile apps for small and medium businesses of all retail industries. Mshop is easy to operate, with no transaction fees. Sync your member, order and purchase data with Xero. Create your own brand - sell it to the world!

domestic or international VAT, create weekly or monthly invoices for each payment gateway and more. Spherics spherics.io Spherics is a cloud-based platform that combines technology and climate science expertise to allow businesses to understnad their carbon footprint. It automates the collection of expenditure data and other business activities to calculate in line with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol. Make zero net a reality, quickly and affordably. Xenon Connect xenonconnect.com Xenon Connect analyses your Xero data and detects issues with the bookkeeping that require attention. From duplicate bills to unexpected tax codes, our ever-increasing number of data checks ensure that your Xero account data is accurate and up to date.

Open Payout openpayout.com Open Payout automates Etsy and WooCommerce accounting with zero configuration. Immediately open your payouts and invoices in Xero without setting up account and tax mappings. Easily group your sales by country to calculate

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New Releases

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

AEM aemalgorithm.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

AEM Journaler’s newly introduced upgrades now provide a more comprehensive range of features, including: importing transaction files, recognising all the existing cryptocurrencies and setting up journals to reporting holdings and tax liabilities. The package now offers a fully comprehensive reporting integration to add to the existing bank feed, and invoices integrations that have only just been introduced as part of the Xero marketplace release. ApprovalMax approvalmax.com ApprovalMax introduces a new Advanced plan for establishing a higher level of control. The additional features will improve the processes for spend control and supplier vetting as well as help AP and AR approvers do their work more efficiently. The new plan includes budget checking capability for approvers, a new workflow for Xero contacts (suppliers) approval, and a possibility to set up an autoapproval step. Chaser chaserhq.com Chaser released a new credit checking feature that helps businesses make more informed decisions on who they choose to do business with and how they do it. The feature is part of Chaser’s growing suite of tools to help businesses better manage their customer relationships, providing them with the insights they need to support business growth. Learn more. ExpenseOnDemand expenseondemand.com New function releases help

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customers with better expense management: 1. Configure Approval Rule - 1st Level Finance Managers can assign Approvers to Claimants manually/automatically 2. Universal importer Ability to setup new subscription in minutes using Universal Importer 3. Approver now on web Approvers can approve expenses using both mobile/web platforms 4. Multi Country Multinationals, whose business activities spread across multiple companies can use app to manage expenses Infoodle infoodle.com We’re incredibly excited to announce that the infoodle Email System upgrade is here! The new Email Designer and advanced Analytics are everything you need to create, grow and understand your audience from infoodle - the same platform that you’re already using to manage your charity, church or community group. Watch this video highlighting the most exciting feature. Sapaad sapaad.com Sapaad Cloud POS & Restaurant Management System introduced awesome new self-ordering solutions. With Sapaad Kiosk, you can create a self-ordering channel in minutes to give customers a quick and convenient ordering experience. Sapaad Direct lets guests skip long lines and scan a QR code to Order & Pay on a digital menu—from the convenience of their own phones. Bust queues and reduce wait times. Increase revenue, free up staff,

save costs, and improve efficiency! simPRO simprogroup.com Data Feed Update - Streamline repetitive and manual tasks for your field service clients with simPRO’s Data Feed AddOn update. This add-on scans emails, attachments and other business documents and creates corresponding actions in simPRO. The latest Data Feed update includes the ability to: • Assign multiple field staff from a feed • Manage sites and zones more efficiently • Utilise feeds to their full capabilities • Maintain and update site information with ease Spotlight spotlightreporting.com Spotlight Reporting has brought new innovation to reporting with Tracking Category Reporting (including Tracked Budgets). Tracking Category Reporting gives accountants and CFOs the power to use existing data to create sharper insights. Import tracked budgets directly from Xero and measure the isolated business performance of departments, cost centres, locations—the options are endless! Get granular with your data, without having to touch a single spreadsheet.

Tidy tidyinternational.com Tidy has introduced the ability to automatically generate purchase orders for all the materials required to construct an assembly. Additionally, there have been

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New Releases significant enhancements made to Batch functionality including Batch tracking. In early October, Tidy released the second version of its public website. The new website provides visitors with a modern, pleasant, and intuitive user interface. Product features are stacked in columns making comparison between plan options easy. Wolters Kluwer wolterskluwer.com/en-au/solutions/ cch-web-manager

CCH Web Manager - Designed by professionals, all sites are fully mobile responsive, have Google Analytics embedded, and allow for easy edits to imagery and content – so when your practice grows, so can your site. WorkflowMax workflowmax.com

to your original quote. You can add new merge fields into your custom print templates that will pull in detailed information on your invoice about: • Quoted/estimated amounts • Previous invoice amounts • Total claimed amounts • Total unclaimed amounts or balance remaining

The latest release of WorkflowMax is out now! Now your invoices can show even more detail about a job or project’s progress compared

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Issue 29 / 121

...and finally

Xerocon New Orleans 2022: Laissez les bon temps rouler; let the good times roll... soon! I

This article is

f I can think of one word to describe the last 19 months, it would be resilience. As a community of advisors and small businesses, we supported each other, and we endured. I’m thrilled to announce that after a two year hiatus, we’re bringing back Xerocon, this time to the great city of New Orleans from May 25-26, 2022 at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. We hope you’ll join us, at what some have affectionately coined as the ‘Coachella for accountants and bookkeepers’, to reconnect with other forward thinking professionals, to celebrate accomplishments, and to learn more about the latest

Xero tools and features. It’ll be a well deserved break after tax season, and we can’t wait to host you. Find out more about the event and how to purchase your ticket here. We’ll continue to update you on the agenda, speakers and entertainment over

the coming weeks. Known for its festive spirit, live music, unique heritage and traditions, New Orleans also embodies resilience and perseverance. We witnessed the recent devastation from Hurricane Ida, and our thoughts are with those affected, and with the communities who are rebuilding. We’ve established a fundraising campaign with Americares to support the people and communities impacted by Hurricane Ida, the California wildfires, and other natural disasters. Xero has also pledged to match up to US$20,000. Americares is a health-focused relief and development organization that responds to people affected by poverty or disaster with life-changing medicine, medical supplies and health programs. If you are interested in contributing, you can donate here.

Tony Ward, President (The Americas), Xero

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Stay tuned for more on Xerocon, and we can’t wait to see you next May.

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Issue 29 / 123

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 transactions you have with clients. Deliver magical service using our world-class, custom built project management system allowing you to help your clients better. Click on the link below Book a call with an expert to discuss your outsourcing or offshoring requirements www.advancetrack.com/start-here/

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