magazine The independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users ISSUE32 COVER STORY Isn’t life strange? Not a pilot, dancer, or a #IWantToBeAnAccountantfootballer...An Accountant! Xero PLUS MORELOADSFROM Connected Apps TUTORIALS CASE STUDIES INTERVIEWS NEW APPS NEW RELEASES AnAccountant#IWantToBe 9 772054 722009 32 ISSN 2054-7226
2 / Issue 32 XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users. Trial Wo r k flo w M ax f ree f o r 1 4 d ays w o r k flo wm a x .c o m /s t a r t S u p e rc h a rge y ou r clients’ profitability with WorkflowMax Tr y th e e n d -to - e nd j ob m an a ge m e nt s o f t w a re that ove r 1 0,000 b usin e s s e s love .
Issue 32 / 3Visit the XU Hub: Go to www.xumagazine.com Follow us on Twitter: @xumagazine Juliet Hyatt-Brown from Lautrec Consulting Engineers work with WorkflowMax implementation partner Josh Licence from BlueRock Digital Juliet Hyatt-Brown Lautrec Consulting Engineers J os h Licenc e BlueRock D igi ta l Boost the va lue of you r a dv iso r y bu s ines s an d ge t c e rt ifie d wo rkflo wma x .c o m/a dv is o r We emp ower our c lien ts wi th technol ogy tha t drives tangib le impac t in their b usiness pe rf ormance and rea l-time un ders tanding f or ou r adviso rs. So fo r us , W orkfl ow Max was an ob vi ous choice when it came to smal l business job and prac tice managemen t.
4 / Issue 32 XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users. magazine Issue 32 Main ContactsCEO: 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: ‘Xero’www.xumagazine.comisatrademarkofXero 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 2014-2022. 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: Office 1, Brunswick House, Brunswick Way, Liverpool, Merseyside, L3 4BN, 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 itsThecontributors.independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users 8 COVER AdvanceTrackSTORY Isn’t life strange? Not a pilot, dancer or a footballer... An Accountant! 14 INTERVIEW Steve Vamos, CEO, Xero 24 Aider Aider’s Advisory Intelligence Platform: the upand-coming SaaS product that is empowering advisors 28 ApprovalMax How Wilder Coe Automated Their Client’s Approval Processes with ApprovalMax 34 Burdi The Line-Item Revolution – The Tradie Perspective 36 HR Partner 5 Ways to Manage Absenteeism in the Workplace 40 NextMinute The nuts & bolts of Insurance for Tradespeople 44 Finlert Simple solution to LEAVE a Complex Problem Behind 46 Annature Annature eSigning & ID Verification platform - the ultimate digital accounting business tool 48 vWork Explore the Benefits of Linking Xero with vWork 50 Satago Why you should reconsider Invoice Finance for your clients - And the common misconceptions explained Welcome to issue 32... 52 Scott’s Add-ins Use Excel to Power Advisory Services 54 SuiteFiles Sharing client files securely - How to keep the files your clients entrust you with safe 56 Pin Payments Maintaining business growth during challenging times 58 GoProposal 4 AML traps, and how to avoid them 60 Zahara How to future-proof your accounts payable process for a looming recession 62 AccountancyManager MTD for ITSA: Don’t just survive – thrive 66 Wolters Kluwer How Australian firms can easily create and share marketing content Join our newsletter for regular updates and also be one of the first to know when a new issue of XU Magazine is released. xumagazine.comSTRAIGHTTOYOURINBOX! 8
Issue 32 / 5Visit the XU Hub: Go to www.xumagazine.com Follow us on Twitter: @xumagazine INTERVIEWS... 70 Chaser Harnessing the power of fintech to improve cash flow and efficiency 72 MarketFinance How to manage cash flow during uncertain economic times 76 AutoEntry Basis period reform: Do you have the tools you’ll need? 80 WorkflowMax Recession planning: 8 strategies for surviving an economic downturn 84 Spotlight Reporting Cash flow forecasting: Finding clarity within uncertainty 86 OllieINTERVIEWBeale Xero’s Youngest Certified Advisor 92 Datamolino Are you making these bookkeeping automation mistakes? 94 TOA Global Talent Shortage Easily and Quickly 96 Qicworks Thinking outside of the box - why construction software might be the answer you are looking for DIDKNOW?YOU Look out for any article that shows the CPD Certified logo. It has points!yourcountapprovedbeentotowardsCPD 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 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. 98 Ignition Increasing revenue through advisory services - An Accountants guide 100 WorldFirst UK International accounting extras: the benefits of WorldFirst dedicated relationship management 102 Dext Standardising VAT Returns – Tips and Tricks for the Modern Accounting Firm 106 UPDATES AND NEW RELEASES from Xero connected apps 110 CASE STUDY Tidy International Turning plastic bottles into EcoApparel 112 NEW to the Xero App Marketplace SteveCEO,VamosXero 16414 Rachael Powell ChiefOfficer,CustomerXero 86 Anna Curzon Chief Product Officer,Xero 128
/ Issue 32 116 XERO APP PARTNERS OF THE MONTH App automation provides the recipe for success at Big E Nutrition 120 Cloudsolve App automation provides the recipe for success at Big E Nutrition 124 KeyPay Why do today’s accountants need a globally agile tech stack? 128 XEROCON INTERVIEWSERIES Anna Curzon, Chief Product Officer, Xero 134 CarbonPay The planet’s most impactful business payment card. We pay so the planet won’t. 136 Wolters Kluwer Tax & Accounting UK SME cloud accounting: creating a cloud strategy for small accountancy practices 138 ExpensesOnDemand Overpriced tech and lack of tailoring are hampering businesses globally 140 AccountexEVENTS Spotlight on Cryptocurrency, Making Tax Digital and Sustainability at Accountex Summit Manchester 142 simPRO Software Are inefficient processes holding your trades clients back? 144 UPDATES FROM XERO What they’ve been working on 148 EVENTS Accountex Expands to Canada 150 CloudPayroll Build your Payroll eco-system 152 AccountingEVENTS & Finance Show Asia A must-attend technology event for accountants and finance professionals in Asia 154 FOCUS: HEALTHMENTAL How mindfulness can help during challenging times 158 Institute for Certified Bookkeepers Frontline bookkeepers: What the cost of living means for accountancy professionals 160 CLASSIFIEDS 164 XEROCON INTERVIEWSERIES Rachael Powell, Chief Customer Officer, Xero TimeBrightthatisAccountancyManagerdelightedtoannouncewe’vejoinedtheSoftwareGroup.to‘Brighten’upyourday! Give us a call or head to accountancymanager.co.uk to begin your free trial. It’s easy to get started, but if you need a hand, ongoing support is completely free. In addition to this AccountancyManager was voted practice management software of the year by both AccountingWEB readers and members of the Institute of Chartered Bookkeepers. The future is for
Issue 32 / 7Visit the XU Hub: Go to www.xumagazine.com Follow us on Twitter: @xumagazine Start your 14-day FREE trial today! tidyinternational.com/trial POWERFUL SOFTWARE. Using TidyStock also streamlined our Purchase Order process and reduced the time spent checking supplier bills. TidyStock also helps keep track of our stock, side by side with our in-house stock records. Checking supplier invoices against our new Purchase Orders have made our accounts payable so much quicker and easier. " " Andrew Chambers, DELIGHTFULLY SIMPLE. CEO and Founder Tsunami Sport Ltd. Users of
Cover Story This article is #IWantToBeAnAccountant storyShareyourwithus SHARESTORY!YOUR What did you want to be when you grew up? #IWantToBeAnAccountant Share your photos with us When Igrow up...#IWantToBeAnAccountant
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 CompanyAccountancyHeadquarteredOutsourcingwithoffshore operational centres, delivering services around the globe. AdvanceTrack demonstrates compliance with international security laws including GDPR through certification to ISO27001:2013, ISO27701:2019 and BS10012 audited by BSI. Quality is certified to ISO9001:2015 and Business Continuity certified to ISO22301:2019
Where had that got to during your later studies (or not, as the case may be)?
Issue 32 / 9Visit the XU Hub: Go to www.xumagazine.com Follow us on Twitter: @xumagazine@AdvanceTrack
AdvanceTrack caught up with some of the most well-known accountancy professionals to ask them questions they’d never been asked before. Namely, did you really want to become an accountant when you were young; how did your path lead to success; and how important is accountancy to your life and career?
Cover Story
I learnt on the job, leaving school after A-Levels and going straight into the workplace. Since then, I’ve been very keen to learn continuously. I read avidly and have mentors both inside I started in an accountancy recruitment company at the age of 19, being given responsibility B
Isn’t life strange? Not a pilot, dancer or a Anfootballer...Accountant!
rendon
Cont...
Nikki Adams, joint MD, Ad AsValoreachild, what did you want to be when you grew up? I had no idea what I wanted to be, and if you’d have told me when I was at school what I’m doing now I wouldn’t believe you. I was very shy but heavily influenced by my father, who was a business and systems analyst, and my first ‘boss’ who was a very charismatic accountancy entrepreneur.recruitment
AsDisneydirector,Howlett,Woodandachild,whatdidyouwant to be when you grew up? I had no burning ambition, I was far too sensible! My mum said all I wanted to do was to learn –I completed my studies, including university, and was out in the wide world…so what next? A real crossroads for me as I lost my Dad at that time. He had mentioned accountancy – at first I thought ‘it’s just numbers’… before I knew it I had five offers on the table and things took off. How important is accounting in your role – and how has being an accountant helped you develop in your career and as a person? In those early days it was all about the technical skills and the numbers. But the last ten years has seen such technological advance that we have the opportunity to connect with people – building relationships and interpreting the numbers. Helping them understand and get to that next level. When I worked at a Big Four firm there were people who were technically excellent but couldn’t really connect with people… that may well come with experience for some, but you have to realise that the information needs to be translated into a language your clients can understand.
Finance is the language of business. If you can’t understand where you are and how you’re doing, you’re driving with your headlights off - and I think that’s true for all businesses. So, not only did it give me a fantastic career, but it was also the platform for me to start helping other businesses.
Carl Reader, joint chairman, d&t chartered accountants
I wanted to finish the animated version of The Lord of the Rings! Did you know there was an animated film of the first half? I used to draw comic strips at home, so I went to art college after sixth form to become a graphic designer (the only reason my dad let me go to art college). But there was no graphic design tutor when I was there so that plan fizzled out. Where had that got to during your later studies (or not, as the case may be)? I didn’t know what I wanted to do after art college, so my dad sent me to secretarial college. I hated every minute of it! But then I went travelling for a couple of years with a friend. I only came home to save enough to go away again. When did you move into accountancy; why, and how?
(directorship) very early running a finance team for a fast-growing company, and learning first-hand how hard it is to get a company from start-up to £6m and then being part of an MBO. After a career in London, I then had a family and joined my husband in building an accountancy firm of our own. How important is accounting in your role – and how has being an accountant helped you develop in your career and as a person?
As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
Sharon Pocock, MD and chief innovator, Kinder Pocock
When I was home, a temporary position came up to cover a secretary’s maternity leave at a local accountancy firm, and I grabbed my chance. I even included in my cover letter that I’d only be around for the six months’ cover to save up to go away again! I was about 21. Seven years
Accounting has been the core of everything for me for most of my working life either directly in my role or now it is the industry our company is centred around. Working in another industry and in general practice, has given me incredible insight into what a business owner needs to know to build a successful business. Business strategy, risk management, credit/cash management, pricing, people management, economic factors, geo-politics, business analytics, technology integration, requirements for R&D/ innovation grant funding, change management, marketing strategy, networking skills, presentation skills, public speaking... the list is almost endless of what I’ve learnt along the way! The driver for me is working with micro and small and medium owner-managed and family businesses that don’t get the attention they deserve. Technology has changed that, and I’m excited about the possibilities it gives us to serve our marketplace better in the future. I think we’ve just scratched the surface.
10 / Issue 32 XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users. Cover Story
As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up? A footballer - then I realised I was too slow and too bad at football, so my career choice was between a hairdresser and a football manager. Where had that got to during your later studies (or not, as the case may be)? I actually left school before my GCSEs to become a youth training scheme (YTS) hairdresser, which lasted all of six weeks! You could say I wasn’t cut out for it... When did you move into accountancy; why, and how? Later that year I realised I had to get a ‘real job’ as I was living in a bedsit with my partner, and with no income. Honestly, accountancy wasn’t a conscious choice - I just applied for the jobs in my local newspaper, and it just so happened that I got offered two trainee roles. How important is accounting in your role – and how has being an accountant helped you develop in your career and as a person?
I think that these characteristics sit within the vast bulk of the profession. And, with so many accounting professionals at AdvanceTrack (including myself), we hope that those characteristics reflect with the practices and practitioners we support.
Cover Story
Being from a poor background, Teachers College in Jamaica was very expensive for me. There wasn’t any flexible option to work and learn at the same time. I couldn’t see how I was going to support myself through four years of Teachers’ College without working. So unfortunately, that plan was placed on the back burner. When did you move into accountancy; why, and how? I was first introduced to accountancy at the age of 16 in high school. I was fascinated by the subject ‘principles of accounting’ as I had a flair for numbers. I immediately became obsessed with the subject and took a chance at completing my national exam in year ten. I got one of the highest marks in my high school. I thought, right, this is it, I’m either going to be a teacher of this subject or become a chartered accountant. That summer I went to a careers fair where I was introduced to the ACCA; I was hooked, and the rest was history. How important is accounting in your role – and how has being an accountant helped you develop in your career and as a person? Not everyone speaks the language of accounting and, as a practitioner, an important part of my job is not only to complete the financial statements but to articulate those numbers in such a way that the client can easily understand. From start-up to the developing and growth stages, who can say that they dreamt of becoming an accountant; certainly while growing up. In fact, accountancy often wasn’t in their minds’ eye when planning their post-education career trajectory. But, you’ve just read the fascinating – and heart-warming – stories of nine accountants who have built a successful career in either practice or business (often a combination of both), with accountancy a central part of their development and offering. However, if you look outside of are other characteristics that I believe they share, in particular: inquisitiveness; and a desire to work with and support others.
Vipul Sheth is the founder and managing director of Advancetrack Cont...
Issue 32 / 11Visit the XU Hub: Go to www.xumagazine.com Follow us on Twitter: @xumagazine
I was brought up in a hospitality business (we literally lived above the pub up to age ten) and helped out serving bread rolls in the restaurant from about six years old. So, it is in my nature to want to help people, and make things easier for them, and I really understand what it’s like to be a business owner. Being trained in a small firm, then moving to a larger one also inspired my need to help people. The larger firm in Bath were just focused on high wealth clients and pretty much ignored the small businesses, so I felt the need to support small businesses.
Where had that got to during your later studies (or not, as the case may be)?
later I was still there and offered partnership. I still managed to go away on my travels during that time, but shorter trips. Then we moved to Bath and I took a role in a larger firm. How important is accounting in your role – and how has being an accountant helped you develop in your career and as a person? Accounting was always seen to be dull when I was studying, and a conversation stopper (not in a good way) when I said what I did. I think my art college start has really helped me in my role now, as I love the visual aspect of a lot of the software we use, and my creative and curious brain is always looking for quicker and better ways to do things.
Theresa L Campbell, founder and director, TLC Accounting As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up? As a child I really wanted to be a teacher. I have always had a passion for sharing my knowledge and helping others to learn. I often played school with my three siblings pretending to be a schoolteacher, giving lessons, organising tests, and grading their performance.
12 / Issue 32 XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.
Bobby Lane, CEO, Factotum As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up? The dream was to become a pilot. Where had that got to during your later studies (or not, as the case may be)? Being red/green colourblind, my commercial pilot career was a non-starter; however, I was able to get my private pilot’s licence so I did get some of the way. When did you move into
When did you move into accountancy; why, and how? I’d been working as a runner on films and TV shows for a year and absolutely hated it! Therefore a career based on a drama degree was out. I went to my local careers office and asked for their advice. A bored-looking woman suggested accountancy and it seemed reasonable - so I walked across the road to a hotel and asked if they had any jobs in accounts (I was 19 and very sassy!). The FD happened to be there and said their purchase ledger clerk had just left; they asked if I could do purchase ledger. I said “probably, and I’m a fast learner” - and that was how I started my career in accountancy! In truth, I had no idea what a purchase ledger was, but I was confident I could figure it out before my first Iday.studied in the evenings and weekends and discovered that I loved how the accounts told the story of the business. I’ve never looked back. How important is accounting in your role – and how has being an accountant helped you develop in your career and as a person? Although I don’t do any of the day-to-day accounting work for our clients, it’s obviously vital for me as a business owner. I have to present our financials at board meetings every month, as well as make strategic decisions about the business which heavily involve understanding finance. Through my unconventional route into accountancy, I discovered that my true passion is business, and helping other businesses to thrive. My background in accountancy lets me do that in a very direct way, and it’s really given me purpose.
I’d got a place to study drama in Exeter at 18, but something felt off and I didn’t fancy going into debt for a career I wasn’t sure I wanted. So, I deferred my place a year and worked while I considered my options.
Cover Story
I love helping and supporting business owners and their company at every phase to drive positive business performance.
Stuart Hurst, director, Accounts and Legal As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up? Fantasy job: Formula 1 driver. Who doesn’t want to travel the world driving fast cars! Real job: graphic designer, as I’m very creative. Where had that got to during your later studies (or not, as the case may be)? I was too slow at both driving and drawing! I was an A* art/design student at school but it would take me ages to finish everything and I lost my passion for it. I still do the odd doodle. When did you move into accountancy; why, and how? I was always very quick with maths and loved business studies at college, so took an accounting degree. That was so boring - the last thing I wanted to be was an accountant after it! I went into retail management for a few years before heading to the profession after realising retail was much harder work. How important is accounting in your role – and how has being an accountant helped you develop in your career and as a person? It’s truly been life-changing. My dad went through some seriously bad financial times years ago that could’ve been avoided with a good accountant. It could’ve saved our house and help us all sleep at night… it’s that big a deal. The stereotypical accountant is thought of as grey and doesn’t talk to anyone, when nothing could be further from the truth! Accounting is critical in my role, but it’s the way I remove the jargon to give real life accounting advice to those not in finance that’s the key skill. That’s meant improving my listening, communication and general social skills ten-fold since I started.
Lucy Cohen, co-founder, AsMazumaachild, what did you want to be when you grew up? I wanted to be a dancer. In fact, I trained all the way through until I was 18 but didn’t make it. My biggest claim to fame was being a backing dancer for Boyzone when I was 16 - that’s as far as my dance career went. Where had that got to during your later studies (or not, as the case may be)?
FINDadvancetrack.comOUTMORE...
Issue 32 / 13Visit the XU Hub: Go to www.xumagazine.com Follow us on Twitter: @xumagazine accountancy; why, and how? After various roles in retail and sales during university, I started my training contract at 21 with BDO. It was my dad’s suggestion and the best bit of advice he gave me when he told me that once qualified you would always be able to earn a living. I gave the same advice to my son who is now in the middle of his training contract.
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How important is accounting in your role – and how has being an accountant helped you develop in your career and as a person? The training that you receive as an accountant is one of the broadest available. You develop technical and interpersonal skills in equal measures and what makes a successful business. What other profession allows you to add such value to both people and their businesses? With almost 30 years of experience, I don’t think that there is anything that could surprise me, and I know how to help clients with any issues or at least know where to look.
Chris Kinsella, CFO, Greater Manchester Police As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up? I always wanted to become an electronics engineer. In my teens, I would build electronic circuits (eg. amplifiers, radios, power supplies etc) using mainly the surplus components that my Dad brought back from work. Where had that got to during your later studies (or not, as the case may be)? I did Physics and Maths to A Level (and Economics) and I was working throughout my A Level studies part-time in an electronics factory. It brought me into contact with a wide variety of professions and professionals beyond electronic engineers. My undergraduate and post graduate studies, however, were in the Business/Management/ Economics/ Accountancy fields. I also qualified as a CIMA accountant, and I have now reached the level of Professor at Lancaster University. When did you move into accountancy; why, and how?
Cover Story
It was hard work in those early days with only very limited mainframe IT, although I remember with amusement and fondness the arrival of the first IBM PC which was sited on its own ‘altar’ and I could use it only if I booked time on it.
I was offered a (rare these days) sponsored undergraduate programme in the broad field of business and, almost by accident, I became attracted increasingly to the accountancy work as I followed the programme. Accountancy took me into many areas of the wider business, and I was encouraged to ‘get involved’.
As a graduate, I was awarded certain exemptions from CIMA and because I had amassed significant on the job experience and was fully committed to following an accountancy career, I studied for my CIMA examinations on a full-time basis at Sheffield Hallam University which was a fast track accelerated approach. How important is accounting in your role – and how has being an accountant helped you develop in your career and as a person? Truthfully, I broadened my career roles well beyond accountancy as soon as I could, and I found that my first (and subsequent) CFO roles drew more from my MBA than from my accountancy pedigree, but I would never have been appointed into those roles without having the accountancy qualification, experience and Ascredibility.aperson, I behave instinctively as an accountant. For example, I look for evidence, strong and meaningful analysis, logic, ethical standards etc. and this applies to many situations both professionally and personally. My early efforts and commitment to become an accountant have rewarded me with great opportunities in the private sector, and I have contributed first-hand to the successes of a number of businesses. I moved eventually into a portfolio career which spanned public sector, health, education and charity organisations including nonexecutive roles. None of this would have been possible without my accountancy pedigree, of which I am very proud.
Xero CoverInterviewStory
XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.
Steve Vamos CEO,
Issue 32 / 15Visit the XU Hub: Go to www.xumagazine.com Follow us on Twitter: @xumagazine XU:
I think the relationship we have with accountants and bookkeepers is very special at Xero and continues to be a real differentiator. The authenticity of it differentiates us…. the products and the love of our product. We get plenty of good feedback on what people want and expect from us, but that’s what you expect on a journey. The bar doesn’t drop, the bar rises. The need and the desire to meet customer expectations continues to be something that we’re really conscious of and drives Andus. then the people and the culture. It’s been fantastic to be part of Xero and feel at home in a company like this. To have watched the way that our people and their people leaders have responded, and continue to respond, to everything going on. So it’s been a really special four years so far, and there’s plenty more to do. It’s exciting and challenging times.
Other countries like Australia and New Zealand are leading that way. We’ve got good access to that direct data. There are lots of opportunities elsewhere. So, yeah, number one is driving adoption. It is still really, really important. It is foundational. That’s really about the proposition at large of cloud accounting. The bank feeds, compliance, tax, payroll and the application ecosystem… all those things really maturing
fascinating. Canada is less than 10% penetrated. You know, in Canada we’re talking to banks now about digital connection bank feeds. So the UK is well ahead in the sense of opening that up and having expectations around the availability of customer data in accounting platforms.
One is that global adoption rates of cloud software in small businesses are still low. And by the way - Australia, New Zealand and the UK are well ahead of many other countries around the world. We’ve done pretty good work looking at the developments of cloud accounting around the world at Canada’slarge.
It’s easy to have a long term view because our strategy is grounded in 2030. We started by looking at the size of the opportunity that we have. And as a part of that strategy process, doing a lot of work with customers around the world and their expectations. It’s really interesting. We’ve learned a lot about our business in doing that. So it’s not a trivial thing. Really knowing what made you successful is important to not forget as you go forward. You’ve seen in the technology industry historically, there are examples where companies forgot, or took the wrong lesson from their success. I feel that that’s something you’ve got to really keep in mind. So strategically, there are three things that I think define, not the last four years alone, but really the journey ahead.
XU: What do you think the next 4 years will look like and how will it be different from your time so far as SV:CEO?
This article is Interview
It seems like a lifetime ago since we interviewed you back in 2018. You’ve been in the role for 4 years now, how has that time SV:been? It’s gone fast, but it also feels like a long time too. We live in very interesting times, let’s put it that way. Certainly when we spoke last, I wasn’t anticipating a global pandemic. I wasn’t anticipating months of working from home and looking at the world of Xero through a screen. That certainly has been interesting. And it doesn’t stop, does it? I mean, the world we’re living in today is different and evolving and Alluncertain.through that, the thing I would say is that for a technology business, it is all about change. So whilst those things are concerning and challenging, being good at change and evolving constantly is really what we are all about. That’s what our DNA is all about. So as the CEO, if I look at what the last four years have been like? Well, I’d say first of all, the promise of what I loved about Xero before I joined, when I was working with Rod as an advisor, has been true and real. So what I expected and thought from the outside, having now spent four years here, it’s been the most awesome experience. It comes down to the fundamentals. A company that is really grounded in purpose and has that sense of connection with our customers and partners. Making life better for people in small businesses and their advisors around the world is real. Getting that reinforcement from small business customers and accounting partners is what really makes you feel like you’re doing something meaningful.
Thetogether.second is getting our customers to do more in the cloud, whether they’re an accountant, bookkeeper or a small business. So that’s been a big part of our strategy around expanding and acquisitions. Dealing with the biggest areas of concern for
small business operators: cash flow, employee management and inventory stock management. We’ve acquired businesses in those spaces to enhance Xero’s offering. And the final piece is investing for the future. I talked about this at Xerocon, in terms of our ultimate aim and ambition, which is to be the most trusted, insightful small business platform. What does that mean? It means that by connecting accountants, bookkeepers and small businesses to the platform, doing the compliance, the system of record, and then building out from that into a whole range of applications and services, you’ve created data insight. The customer’s data then gives you an opportunity to leverage AI machine learning and other capabilities to create applications and services that go beyond doing a task today, and to providing predictive, proactive insights for the future. That’s really the journey that we’re on. Our challenge now is how do we carve up the investments we’re making across those elements? What creates our future vision and at the same time delivers those basic functions of cloud accounting into more markets around the world? The markets we’re in today, by the way, not markets we’re not in. There’s still plenty more to be done.
XU: If you weren’t with Xero, what would be your dream coach job?
Change is constant, change is human, humans fear change. That’s the default reaction, until they understand it and they feel looked after through it.
We’re all living in changing times. Our businesses are changing and we’re dealing with that change. Don’t do things that make people fearful. That means you’ve got to encourage them to speak their truth and when they tell you something you don’t like to hear, you embrace that and it’s a gift. Really encourage honest and open conversation. Create an environment where people can be themselves and not come to the office with a different face on. They are truly, genuinely able to be at home. So that’s the foundation. Change can only happen at the speed of words. If you create an environment that is fearful, where people don’t share or speak up and say, “You’re not doing that the way I do it, I reckon you should think about it in a different way”, they’ll be afraid that you’ll be upset if they raise anything. If you have that discussion and you listen, even if you decide to keep going as you were, that’s a big difference to not listening at all. Opening up the conversation and giving that feedback is key. That’s kind of the Thenhub. there’s three things you’ve got to try and do, and none of them are easy. Pursue clarity. Clarity is about clear purpose and clear priorities. Prioritization is really tough. Most businesses do more things than they should. Most do. And there’s always a good reason for doing those things. It’s not choosing between a good idea and a bad idea. It’s really hard because you’re saying no to good ideas that good people share with you. I find that really hard.
XU: As you’re now settling down into your role as CEO, what keeps driving you to grow the business and be excited about where it can go.
16 / Issue 32 XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.
XU: How do you go about building layers of infrastructure to manage a business with 5,000+ SV:employees?
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SV: I really do feel lucky because if you can find what you love doing and be okay at it, then that’s the ultimate. I pinch myself sometimes that I’ve had the opportunity, and have the opportunity, to do what I do. If I wasn’t the CEO of Xero, I would have been a teacher, or I’d love to be a coach. I always say that really being a CEO now is like being a head coach. I love doing that. Whilst the things that get you down occasionally are the disconnects and the lack of clarity that you deal with quite a bit, but solving that and working with great people to overcome that is just awesome. And doing it with a company that’s making a difference to small business. For me, with 40 years in the tech industry, small business is the last frontier and small business deserves better. We are one of the few companies of global scale that can really make an impact there. So, you know, it’s awesome.
I can articulate really simply and clearly the principles, I’ll take you through them. Although I’ll say again, simple things are often hard to do. So if I could wave a magic wand, then everything I’m about to say would be done at Xero. But the challenge is that just as you’re doing it, things are changing anyway. You’re growing and the environment is changing. But here’s what I would say. The first is really making sure you operate your business in a way that does not amplify fear.
SV: I’m an NFL fanatic. I’m going to watch a lot more British, European and global football too. I love it. I love the New York Jets, I’ve followed them since the early seventies. I just want the Jets to win a Super Bowl before I die. Bill Belichick, the coach of the Patriots, and the coaching philosophy of American football is phenomenal. We’re really good parallels. Great coaching in football, great coaching in sport. Some people don’t like the sporting analogies, but to me it’s about human endeavor to a common purpose. I think more of that should be brought to the world of Thisbusiness.iswhy I believe coaching small businesses is a massive growth opportunity. Coaching is not always rocket science. Coaching is just ‘How are you? What’s going on? Why are you doing what you’re doing? Are you happy here? What is most important to you?’. It’s about giving someone a person to talk to.
I worked at Apple for a number of years at the time Steve Jobs came back, so I was there through three CEOs, Steve Jobs being the third. Steve Jobs greatest contribution to Apple was nothing to do with innovation. It was his courage to focus, to say no to good ideas and say “No. We’re doing those three things.” That’s something that always resonates. Today, I had conversations with my team about the importance of focus and prioritization. So clarity of why you’re doing what you’re doing and what’s most important is super Thenimportant.thesecond one is ‘align’. You’ve got to align your money, your people and everything with that. That’s another really hard thing, because it could be that you’re going to have to take two people off of someone and give them to someone else, because the priorities have changed. And they have to get it and get why we’re doing this as a company. Unfortunately, they might not feel great about that, but they need to support it because they care about the company. So alignment is the big challenge, because it’s actually easy to be clear about priorities and purpose, but it’s not easy for everyone to then align with that; to make sure that every employee, every day is doing work that is aligned with what’s most important. That’s really hard.
SV: It starts with a positive view of the future. We have a big future in this part of the world and London, Milton Keynes, Cape Town and now the offices in Manchester, they’re all part of that. I think that’s foundational. It’s also the experience we want to create for our people. It’s always been part of the Xero culture to create a positive environment in every aspect, the physical aspect as well. It’ll be interesting to see. In the times we’re living in, everything is moving in pretty significant extremes. Every force has an equal and opposite force. I think that what will come out of the last few years will further normalize over time. I’m expecting that people will gravitate back to offices. I think we’ll never, ever lose what we’ve gained in terms of remote working and flexible working. We don’t want to lose that. But I do think that over time, not only will people want to come back more physically, but I think that just doing business is going to gradually get more comfortable again, person to We’veperson.just gone through something that’s really big. If you said to me that two and a half years of the four years so far that I’ve been CEO, I would have done behind a screen in an apartment in Wellington, I would have said “No way, that’s impossible. Couldn’t do that”. But we found a way and fortunately
18 / Issue 32 XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.
The third and final piece is ‘do it and review it’. It’s really regularly reviewing whether we’re doing the things we said we would do and are we doing them well enough? We have a tool at Xero where we rate our team to check if it’s safe, we having the right conversations, we’re clear, we’re aligned and we are reviewing in the most appropriate ways. We give ourselves a score on those things and there’s always work to be done.
This year, I’ve been able to visit teams in the UK, the US and Canada. This has really helped as they give me plenty of good advice and input on how we could be clear about things, how we could be more aligned around things and how we could be more accountable around how we’re executing what we’re doing.
XU: Lots of businesses have used the last couple of years as a way to close down offices and save on cost. Xero seems to want to keep investing in office spaces, why is this and what is the benefit?
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Issue 32 / 19Visit the XU Hub: Go to www.xumagazine.com Follow us on Twitter: @xumagazine
to reflect on that. Where we are with small business cloud accounting is kind of like the consumer internet 2007/8. To be fair, it’s probably post-iphone, right? But not a long way past the iphone, because really the cloud accounting platforms in a way are the foundation of creating this environment where you can build out a data view of a small business and therefore innovate on that.
SV: I think it starts with the customer, and the problem that you want to solve for the customer. There’s an assessment of whether or not you build it, whether you buy it or whether you partner. Obviously, in financial services there are plenty of partnerships that we have because we know we’re not going to build the payments engine.
With Planday, we’re excited about the no touch, low touch offering that they’re building and the opportunity then for us to really seamlessly connect the Planday functionality into Xero subscriptions as we go forward. That’s going to take time because, you know, I always say simple things are often hardest to do and making things simple is not easy. So there’s a bit
Planday is about helping manage the complexity of having shift workers, managing their schedules and making sure that the data that’s feeding your payroll and compliance is accurate. We’re really excited about Planday and they also give us a little bit of an insight into new European markets that we’re not in today with the Xero accounting product. Planday also typically serves larger customers than Xero, as well as smaller, so it made a lot of sense to acquire. We’re excited about that. Then one that’s more specific to the basics of driving cloud accounting in Canada; we acquired TaxCycle. It’s the first time we’ve acquired a desktop company, which was an interesting concept. TaxCycle has unparalleled expertise in tax and compliance, in annual tax and compliance in the Canadian market, and they’ve got great relationships with accountants and bookkeepers. Their product is loved. Whatever the cloud journey is in that particular application area, we know that the TaxCycle asset, capabilities and people we have there are going to help us a lot. So that is filling out one of our more basic elements of tax and compliance and cloud accounting.
20 / Issue 32 XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.
we’re able to adapt pretty easily. But I think our office presence is going to be an important part of the Humanfuture.connection is really important. It’s intense working remotely. The kind of work you do obviously has a significant relevance. But if you’re someone who’s meeting with people all the time rather than maybe, you know, cutting code, I really think you go home from work a little bit less wrung out because you had those breaks where you’ve seen an actual person. And I know quite a few people who are complaining about their eyesight going south after looking at a screen all day. The office will still be an important part of our culture and we’ll continue to evolve that, whilst making sure people are on board. I’d expect there to be more physical contact as we get more comfortable with it.
XU: What is Xero’s view on acquisitions as part of your growth and strengthening strategy? Especially as others are increasing their acquisitions within the marketplace.
XU: One of the things you touched on there was the planned acquisition access to larger customers. Is that something that is potentially on Xero’s SV:roadmap?
Xero is one of the born-in-thecloud, original players. There’s still enormous opportunity, so I think it’s really important to remember how early we are in this journey and how much more there is to do. No one company is going to be able to do it all themselves, so great partnerships and acquisitions feed into the strategy.
Yeah, we have got customers at the higher end. I think right now I would say that moving more deliberately into, let’s say midmarket, is not a priority for us. We have so many other things to do, but what we gained through Planday is in a sense Xero extending itself into that market segment, so that we can get to know it better. When or if we do extend ourselves into that area, we’ll have a much, much better base of understanding. There’s enough people at Xero today that have worked in enterprise and other segments to know that it’s a fundamentally different segment.
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It’s really a thoughtful exercise that you go through to say, what’s the strategic priority of solving that customer problem? What’s the assessment of those three different ways of fulfilling it? How long will it take? What is the risk it involves? And then the economics doesn’t make sense. With acquisitions there’s other steps like, does a company have a culture that is compatible? Does a company have management that’s committed to our vision, not just theirs? So there’s a lot to that. We don’t have a strategy driven by M&A. We have a strategy that then defines where M&A can support what we aspire to achieve for our customers and our partners. So, with the acquisition of Waddle, that was about recognising that getting access to capital is a real challenge for small businesses. You’ve got invoice lending for big companies, but you don’t for small companies because there’s inadequate insight for the lender into the health of that business. We want to evolve that category over the next few years because we think that there’s potential there, and certainly the Waddle platform can help us fulfill that.
The landscape of the small business, cloud is still in the early stages. I think it’s really important
SV: If you look at the way we categorise the world, it’s probably more likely to be country than region. I love the fact that with Planday, we now have insights into Germany, a number of Scandinavian markets and obviously they are in the UK as well. I would hope that we’re in new markets in the future, but again, we’ve got a lot of work to do and opportunities to serve customers in the markets we’re currently in.
XU: The main regions for Xero have always been Aus, NZ, US and UK. Do you see there ever being a main fifth region?
XU’sAbove:Dave & Alex visit Steve at the Xero London office to speak in person
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Issue 32 / 21Visit the XU Hub: Go to www.xumagazine.com Follow us on Twitter: @xumagazine of time before we see all that play out. But without that knowledgebase and experience in that particular time-attendance and scheduling space, it will be harder for us to do that.
XU: The Xero App Store is currently going through some major changes, what do you think the long term positive impact of this will be for the apps and also accounting partners?
SV: Launching the App Store and the work that’s going on to migrate our app ecosystem to the App Store has been a really, really important exercise. I think the most important thing about all of this is that if we want to be successful in the future, it is about driving application usage in the small business segment.
SV: It’s a really, really good question and I get asked that a lot. I get asked that question by different stakeholders, even Xero people say to me, who’s the next disruptor? It’s a little bit flippant, but my answer is we are the disruptor! We are trying to change the way that the small business economy in the countries
XU: 10-15 years ago Xero was the new kid on the block disrupting the market, what do you think the next major market changes would be that Xero needs to ensure a new kid on the block isn’t going to come along and beat them on?
The more we can collaborate deliberately with our ecosystem, the better. And that’s what the App Store is really all about. The ecosystem has made a wonderful contribution to Xero, and we are incredibly grateful for that.We continue to focus on better connecting small business customers to the right applications for their business. Treating that as a line of business is important because if you don’t, you won’t advance it. I hope it ultimately means more customers using more applications as a result of that, and more of our partners doing more business and hopefully being able to acquire those customers more efficiently.
XU: Within the Xero App Store at the moment, what do you see potentially coming up as some of the main verticals that are a good opportunity for people to come in and shake it up? Is there enough competition SV:there? With a applications,thousandwe’ve got pretty good coverage. I think the bigger question, I actually had a partner say to me recently was around selection: “I go to your site and you’re serving me up many, many applications, and you’re giving me the job of trying to figure out which one is right for me. The more you can help me with that, the better”. So it’s about helping our partners and customers select the app that is right for them and this is an area we are focused on in our App Store.
XU: Is there one bit of advice that’s helped you in your career?
SV: I’ve learned so much from other people. That’s how I have learned pretty much everything. But if I had to, what would I pick as the one? I think the one thing that is always front of mind for me is the cliché of people being your greatest asset. To me, the thing that I never, ever fail to be amazed at is how that truth doesn’t play out enough in the world. I would say it’s all about the people. Technology doesn’t innovate, people innovate. Organizations don’t change, people change. It’s that human element. The importance of it and the need for obsession about it is a challenge for me. It doesn’t matter who you are as a manager or a senior person in a large organization, or running a business, you will not spend the amount of time on it that it deserves. No matter how good you are, you just won’t. There will be other distractions, other things you think about that take you away from that. So be obsessive about the human element.
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SV: Government involvement isone of the key ingredients for the adoption of cloud software by small business. It’s really front and centre for us in Australia, New Zealand, the UK and increasingly in Canada and the US. These markets are all at different points on their digital journey, but there’s a good connection between the Canadian government and tax authorities, and the UK and Australia. I think it’s a really important element to the future. If you’re a small business operator, the back office is complex and it’s not where you want to spend your time. That’s why I really strongly believe that even in the area of accountants and bookkeepers, the notion of the advisor, coach or mentor for a small business operator is another industry that has real growth potential. Your kids get more coaching on a Saturday than a small business operator gets, and running a business is hard. So I do think that wiring up the back office requires more than an accounting platform. It requires great applications, great data feeds and as much as possible, streamlining those compliance aspects of running a business around payroll and tax that become a real headache if they’re not well connected.
XU: One of the big gems that we’ve just talked about is that leap from desktop accounting to cloud accounting, and you touched on working closely with different government bodies. Do you see that as being one of the next big leaps in terms of more unified data passing through, and working with people like that?
22 / Issue 32 XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users. we operate in functions. It’s not just about Xero, it’s about banks, it’s about the application ecosystem, it’s about government. The role of government in the digitization of the small business economy is really, really important. When you look at open banking, when you look at initiatives in Australia and New Zealand around payroll, single touch payroll, you look at MTD for ITSA, those are really significant. Partnering with government around those initiatives I think is another really big Withdimension.whatIknow about the complexity of wiring up the small business economy, I expect that there’ll be innovation around the edges. This is now playing out with a handful of global scale platform providers. The reason why I say we’re still the disruptor is that cloud accounting adoption around the world is still so low. Then there’s using applications and services, which is even lower. If you look at the global scale e-commerce players, and in every vertical you look at the size of the customer base relative to the total addressable market, it’s still very early days. I think the innovation that will open up is that wave three that I talked about. The thing that got us where we were and where we are today was through open APIs. I think we have to go further and further in enabling innovation on our platform. Again, that’s a long term thing. This stuff is a lot easier to say than to do, but the more it can open up Xero for innovators to build applications and services around, that will be awesome. It gets better and better the more customers you have and the more applications those customers use. Then you’re creating an amazing environment for innovation, from whoever it might be that has a great idea that can leverage the customer’s data in Xero, and obviously has the customer’s permission to do that.
Issue 32 / 23Visit the XU Hub: Go to www.xumagazine.com Follow us on Twitter: @xumagazine SuiteFiles time-savingis software for storing, sharing and signing documents your way! No headaches - just super organised emails and files, document collaboration, and digital signing to make your business hum. Xero x InfoSuiteFilesPack Download your
Let’s take a look inside the Aider Advisory Intelligence Platform, to see what’s new…
The latest version of Aider’s client dashboard screen
A new and improved cash flow forecast feature
E In this article we explore Aider’s latest product feature releases, as well as share some invaluable feedback from their customers.
Aider’s intuitive Advisory Platform was developed with Xero users in mind. The team at Aider fell in love with the concept of using artificial intelligence to speed up accounting processes, and so they followed in the same direction by creating a platform to power up
Aider’s innovative cash flow forecast feature has been upgraded with the use of multiple time series models and a smart system that selects the most effective model for each client.
Aider’s new and improved client dashboard screen allows accountants and bookkeepers to ‘manage by exception’ making it easier to proactively reach out to their clients when they need their help the most.
Theadvisory.twoplatforms
Aider’s new ‘multiple insights’ feature allows advisors to send multiple insights (including intuitive graphs) via one email message at a time. With just a few
@AskAider Alix Dougherty, Content Marketing Manager, Aider Aider’s Content Marketing Manager, Alix Dougherty, specialises in writing content that is tailored to online marketing. With experience working in copywriting and content marketing, Alix is passionate about writing articles, customer stories and other content to share Aider’s vision and mission.
This article is Aider’s proactive,platform;AiderempoweringSaaStheIntelligenceAdvisoryPlatform:up-and-comingproductthatisadvisorscontinuesdevelopingtheirchasingtheirgoalofscalableadvisory
connect seamlessly; Aider pulls the data from Xero, pre-analyses it and presents it in an insightful, digestible format for accountants and bookkeepers. Together, the two platforms offer advisors a complete and powerful suite of tools. An up-and-coming Advisory Platform – what’s new in Aider?
arlier this year, in XU Magazine’s 30th issue, we set the stage for Aider’s new Advisory Intelligence Platform – an intuitive, intelligent platform built for accountants and bookkeepers. We shared how Aider’s mission, as in its name – Aider; to help or aid – is to empower accountants and bookkeepers with smart technology, so that they can provide more personalised, proactive advisory services.
A brand new ‘multiple insights’ automated email feature
The vision: Xero and Aider together – a complimentary suite of tools
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This new feature acts as an ‘early warning system’, providing accountants and bookkeepers with accurate forecasts so they can think ahead and act proactively, instead of reactively.
In the last few months, Aider has released several new product features that are already proving to be invaluable tools for their growing customer base.
XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.
At a glance, advisors can now see which clients need their attention by sorting them via financial performance alerts and insights, client name, and industry. This allows for internal benchmarking; providing advisors with the insights they need to compare and contrast clients by industry.
Growth and development: how Aider’s platform has transformed in less than a year Since releasing the Advisory Intelligence Platform at the start of this year, the Aider team have been working hard to fine-tune their platform – adding new and improved, innovative features. In this article we’ve highlighted just a few of these many new features.
‘Antlab’ – an all-inclusive consultancy service for small businesses Antlab is a unique accounting and consultancy practice that is paving the way for small businesses with modern technology, creativity and cryptocurrency. Their all-inclusive service offering is divided into 3 unique categories: Antlab Hub, Meta and Creative. Antlab has been in touch with “Aider’s dashboard triages our clients’ finances, and provides us with alerts in real-time.” - Sidekick
Aider’s machine learning has been upgraded to more efficiently generate income tax estimates, GST forecasts, profitability indicators and other key insights. This improved forecasting feature provides accountants and bookkeepers with more accurate data and visual graphs so that they can spot trends more easily, and proactively warn and prepare their clients ahead of time.
Wondering accountantshowsee Aider as an integral component of their accounting tech stack? Find the answer to this question below…
And Aider’s steady, continual development is helping them grow their business. Their customer base is growing, and they’re already starting to see customers.feedbacktheplatformimpactspositiveoftheirthroughinvaluableoftheir
clicks, advisors can proactively reach out to clients; sending them multiple financial performance insights at once.
An insider’s ‘Sidekick’accountantsperspective:usingAider–atech-enabled accounting firm using Aider Sidekick is an innovative accounting firm that optimises predictable and powerful software in order to take charge of accounting in a more efficient Theway.Sidekick team has been in contact with Aider since the early stages of development, and they went live with Aider in their practice a few months ago. Sidekick sees tech as “the backbone of accounting”, which is why they’ve believed in Aider’s vision since beginning.the “Aider’s dashboard triages our clients’ finances, and provides us with alerts in real-time. It provides us with a clear view of all of our clients’ information in one place, at little cost. We feel comforted by the fact that we can bring any financial urgencies to our customers’ attention ahead of time.”
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Issue 32 / 25Visit the XU Hub: Go to www.xumagazine.com Follow us on Twitter: @xumagazine
Aider’s email feature also has new ‘email templates’ and ‘visual graph’ features, providing advisors with the tools they need to more easily send insights to their clients at scale. More advanced income tax estimates, GST forecasts and other key insights
26 / Issue 32 XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.
Aider since they released the first version of the Advisory Intelligence Platform, and since the beginning, they have anticipated it to be an invaluable tool for their business.
peek: what workingteamfeaturesproductaretheatAideron? Aider has some exciting upcoming releases coming soon, including an upgraded ‘data health checklist’, the ability for advisors to configure their personal dashboard and insights, improvements to the ‘send to client’ capabilities, and many more!
FIND OUR MORE...
Looking forward: what lies ahead for Aider?
Since Aider entered the fintech SaaS space back in 2018, their vision and mission to optimise artificial intelligence in order to help accountants and bookkeepers provide more proactive advisory, has remained the same. And it is without a doubt that this mission will be just as true tomorrow as it is Sneaktoday.
“Our mission is to help scaleservices.”advisory BrendanCEORoberts, Save hours of manual data entry each week Keep your client’s books in order with accurate data Financial tools to help your clients reach their full potential and more!
“We only started using Aider recently, but so far we love the visibility of Aider’s platform, and we are forwardlookingtousing it more in the future. We love how we can see every single one of our clients’ data in one place, and sort them by turnover.”
“During our early access phase, we’ve had the privilege of working with some of the top advisory firms in New Zealand and Australia – and with the help of customer feedback, the team at Aider will continue to improve and develop our product. Our mission is to help scale advisory services so that all clients have the best experiences possible and love working with their advisors. The benefits for advisors will be significant, and this is what drives us.” – Brendan Roberts, CEO Curious how Aider can help your practice? Book a demo.
Issue 32 / 27Visit the XU Hub: Go to www.xumagazine.com Follow us on Twitter: @xumagazine End-to-end accounts receivable software, seamlessly connected to Xero Try it for free 360+ happy Xero customers Get invoices paid faster with SMS payment reminders
28 / Issue 32 XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.
Established in 1972, Wilder Coe have cemented themselves as one of London’s leading accounting firms. During this time, their goal has always been to relieve companies of the stresses and strains of business accounting. Along the way, they have worked with an impressive set of companies from various industries, including, renewable energy, charities, hospitality – the list goes on. But accounting has changed a lot since the seventies, and cloudbased accounting technology has become the gold standard. Thankfully, Wilder Coe are very familiar with the cloud accounting space, and they consider it a valuable part of their service to help their clients adopt cloudbased solutions.
A This article is Learn how London-based accounting firm, Wilder Coe, worked closely with a large 53-entity client to automate their approval processes.
@ApprovalMax
Cover StoryCase Study
How Wilder Coe Automated Their Client’s ApprovalMaxProcessesApprovalwith
Konstantin Bredyuk, Director of Product, ApprovalMax
Konstantin has been advising numerous organisations on implementing automation, financial controls, and client collaboration capabilities using Xero-based trusted app stacks, with business profiles ranging from SMEs to large accounting and advisory practices.
With roots in business process management and optimisation software development, Konstantin has undertaken hundreds of product implementations for ApprovalMax clients worldwide.
We sat down to chat with Faye Thompson, Head of Cloud Accounting at Wilder Coe, to learn about Wilder Coe’s cloudaccounting journey and how one of their large clients adopted ApprovalMax. “We cater to a broad range of clients across the spectrum and have helped these clients overcome the many challenges they face in collaborating business ideas with cloud-based software.” - Faye Let’sThompsonlookat Wilder Coe’s accounting app stack and learn how it has helped their large client. How Wilder Coe’s cloud accounting app stack sets them apart Wilder Coe’s team prides themselves on marrying technical and digital knowledge with their
bout Wilder Coe
1. Xero – Wilder Coe adopted Xero’s accounting platform almost 15 years ago to ensure they always delivered worldclass service to their clients.
Let’s keep it very simple:
3. ApprovalMax – The team at Wilder Coe see so much value from ApprovalMax that they have recommended it to multiple clients.
What are the key benefits of using Xero, Dext and ApprovalMax together? By choosing an integrated cloudbased tech stack, Wilder Coe have simplified their and their client’s accounts payable and receivable processes to the point that it runs like a well-oiled machine. The native integration between Xero, Dext Prepare and ApprovalMax means that Wilder Coe can automate the entire invoicing process – from data capture to invoice approval, to payment, while ticking all the boxes for tax Let’scompliance.lookat how Wilder Coe have used their preferred tech stack to set up an automated AP process for one of their larger clients.
How Wilder Coe’s client uses approval automation By setting up a multi-tier, multirule approval matrix within ApprovalMax, Wilder Coe were able to simplify the entire approval workflow and create visibility for their client. So how does it work?
• Invoices of £3k and under are sent to two approvers who are responsible for approving the general ledger (GL) code.
Let’s dig a little deeper into how Wilder Coe’s client actioned approvals before they started using ApprovalMax. The client’s process before using ApprovalMax When Wilder Coe first began working with their new client, the client used SharePoint as their document management system. Their approval process was prone to errors, delays, and approvalmoderniseresolveappatheyheadacheconsumingitinterventions;manualwasatime-andneededdedicatedstacktoissuesandtheirprocess.
When Wilder Coe acquired a client in the andapprovalknewupenergyrenewableindustry,madeof53companies,theytheyneededanautomatedprocesstogivethemtheirclientcompletevisibility
How Wilder clientforautomationapprovalimplementedCoea53-entity
• If the invoice is over £3k, it’s
Case Study
“Our clients are extremely happy with ApprovalMax. The software has exceeded their expectations, and our expectations too.” over their financial documents and statuses. This presented the perfect opportunity for Wilder Coe and their client to flesh out a detailed approval matrix and explore different options for approval software to fit into their accounting app stack.
Wilder Coe worked closely with their client to find technology solutions that met both parties’ needs. Not long after, the client moved to Xero for their accounting platform and ReceiptBank (Now Dext Prepare) for data capture. To complete their tech stack, ApprovalMax was selected as the perfect solution to integrate between both systems and streamline the client’s purchasing and invoice approval process.
Issue 32 / 29Visit the XU Hub: Go to www.xumagazine.com Follow us on Twitter: @xumagazine rich experience in the accounting industry to deliver outstanding business acumen. And they do this with just three apps at the core of their work.
2. Dext Prepare – Wilder Coe have been long-time users of Dext, adopting the tool when it was called ReceiptBank.
“Cloud accounting is a necessity –not a niche!”
“When Wilder Coe took over the client, we knew that Receipt Bank was going to be used for the data capture and Xero for bookkeeping – but we needed an approval app to slot in between both systems to manage the approvals process.”
“Our clients are extremely happy with ApprovalMax. The software has exceeded their expectations, and our expectations too.”
All the changes are documented in the audit trail report, helping with tax compliance and realtime visibility. With this feature, auditors can complete audits quickly and easily at the end of the financial year.
“Our team completely understand To find out more, please visit
ApprovalMax developed a bespoke complete business report that allowed the client to see an overview of their financials (with 53 companies, this makes a lot of sense!). This report gives Wilder Coe and their client total visibility over their automations and helps highlight what is working well and where they could update the process.
Final words from Wilder Coe
30 / Issue 32 XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users. sent to the designated director and a second approver.
The Wilder Coe team are dedicated to nurturing their client relationships and delivering business acumen derived from years of experience. They want to help their clients flourish, grow, and exceed expectations, and they do this by giving clients access to the tools to succeed – tools like ApprovalMax. So, of course, it makes sense that Wilder Coe would use ApprovalMax in their own business too.
When asked about the benefits for Wilder Coe and their client, Faye said: “The biggest benefit for all parties is being able to track where an invoice is in its journey. Being able to use different devices and the app to approve invoices on the go has been great. Seeing who has and has not yet approved invoices has also been a huge benefit.”
You’ve read a lot about the benefits of automated approval workflows, from time savings and faster payments to better visibility and pain-free audits – but do you know how much you could save with ApprovalMax? Find out with our simple savings calculator.
Why Wilder Coe chose ApprovalMax for their business and clients With features like multi-tiered approval workflows, audit trails, and an easy-to-use mobile app, Wilder Coe’s client uses ApprovalMax to bring valuable efficiencies and visibility to their entire approval system. But the benefits reach beyond just the one client – Wilder Coe has taken this experience and implemented approval automation across a number of their customers while also using the workflows within their own business.
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how small businesses work, and we focus on nurturing relationships whilst ensuring our clients achieve their goals. Whether their goals are maximising profit, reducing costs, or giving them the added value of time, we aim to relieve them of the stresses and strains when it comes to the accounting part of the business.”
Issue 32 / 31Visit the XU Hub: Go to www.xumagazine.com Follow us on Twitter: @xumagazine www.fathom.com Get started today with a free 14-day trial and five-star customer support. 300+ reviews XERO APP STORE Celebrating 10 years XERO PARTNER Top 100 Innovators Crush complexity For the advisors creating transformational ‘light-bulb’ moments for their clients. Join thousands who are turning complex information into striking visualisations, beautiful bespoke reports, and powerful business insights. Malcolm Pope Partner, Shorts Large Firm of the Year, Xero Awards 2022 Fathom is probably the easiest piece of software we’ve ever introduced. It makes it really easy to create beautiful bespoke reports for each client. We give our clients the key information they need within 10 minutes using Fathom. Clients tell us that they’re seeing more about their business than they’ve ever seen before. “
32 / Issue 32 XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users. The #1 tool to get your financial documents approved on time Start your free trial today!
Issue 32 / 33Visit the XU Hub: Go to www.xumagazine.com Follow us on Twitter: @xumagazine Workflows Trusted by 8000+ businesses
The core issue is simply time, or rather, a lack of it. St George’s Tradie Report 2019 found that 30% of tradies don’t have time for bookkeeping and administration and that’s just the beginning. According to research conducted by EY Sweeney and KEK Consulting, 1 in 4 tradies are forced to give up jobs due to administration. This equals an average revenue loss of $120,000 annually. How are tradies any different from any other SME? While tradies face the same issues as other SMEs when it comes to invoicing and getting paid on time, there are other manageinvoicescompareassistantshiredWeareoversightswithnegotiatedifmoment.administrativetasksthatmakeuptheirreality.Firstly,thesuppliesindustryisn’tconsistent.MaterialsaresubjecttopriceincreasesatanyEventradieshavepricingtheirsuppliers,stilloccur.Suppliersonlyhumantoo.knowbusinesseswhohavefull-timeadministrationat$60,000p/atosupplierpurchaseforoversightsandtocredits.
@BurdiSoftware Alyce Clothier, Marketing and Operations Leader, Burdi As the Marketing and Operations Leader at Burdi, Alyce spends her days listening to the daily challenges of Bookkeepers, Accountants, and their customers. There seems to never be enough hours in the day and data accuracy seems like a pipedream. Alyce and the team at Burdi are on a mission to give financial professionals and their clients time back, to stop the hustle and start streamlining accounts payable with detailed invoice automation.
“The devil is in the details and Burdi was created for purpose.”this
34 / Issue 32 XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.
ccountants Bookkeepersandare no strangers to the cashflow and accounting challenges our hardworking tradies face. Aside from the obvious struggle to capture and save their receipts (hint - it’s not the shoebox or centre console), what’s really going on in the trade industry that is keeping our tradies from growing sustainable businesses? No doubt the pandemic has had a substantial impact, however, tradies have faced financial issues long before Covid-19.
A How can Accountants and Bookkeepers save time and still add value to their clients? Burdi’s solution is with detailed and accurate line-item extraction. This article is The benchmark for Invoice Automation is changing as client’s need more accurate data.
The TradieRevolutionLine-Item–ThePerspective
Finddemo/burdi.com.au/book-a-outmore...
Issue 32 / 35Visit the XU Hub: Go to www.xumagazine.com Follow us on Twitter: @xumagazine
spentwaysOneforwhatwhileundercharge,tradiesalertsandprovideaccuratelypricingpurchasetoensureneveronlypayingtheyshouldmaterials.ofthebesttoreducetimeonmanualdata
Burdi is leading the Line-Item Revolution Tradies and other SMEs are now needing accuracy more than ever when it comes to their financial data. For Accountants and Bookkeepers, this means they need to be working with accurate data from the Thestart.baseline for invoice automation now must include line-item extraction. The devil is in the details and Burdi was created for this purpose. Extracting line items, including product codes, from all purchase invoices allows for accounts and tracking codes to be set against individual items as well as entire invoices. Burdi can also
With the cost of materials changing so frequently, how can tradies ensure they charge enough while staying competitive? This extra work often means invoices get sent late, and tradies are left chasing money. It’s no wonder that 1 in 4 have turned down jobs due to administration. They also aren’t alone. Businesses that purchase and sell products share a similar experience; the frustration of tedious manual data-entry.
entry is with detailed line-item extraction and, with Burdi, that’s just the beginning. Burdi is the new frontier of pre-accounting software. We are leading the line-item revolution to help Bookkeepers and Accountants keep their clients’ books in order and grow their business sustainably. Join the Line-Item Revolution. Book a Free Demo:
“For Accountants and Bookkeepers, this means they need to be working with accurate data from the start.”
36 / Issue 32 XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.
A solid Sick Leave policy should be one of the core HR policies for your company. It needs to state the expectations for employee absences, instructions on how to report absences, details on how the company will follow up, and also the consequences of excessive or unexplained absences. It should also state in which scenarios it will be necessary to provide a medical certificate or statutory
5 Ways to WorkplaceAbsenteeismManageinthe
Yourdeclaration.SickLeave Policy should be written in a way that shows compassion for genuine cases, but also acts as a deterrent against employees taking unnecessary absences. Keep in mind that it is usually better to have a policy that errs on the side of being strict that you can later make exceptions to, rather than having one that is too flexible
Onceupfront.you have your Sick Leave Policy prepared, include it in a checklist for all team members to review and sign.
2) Make it easy to See and Track Employee Leave An HR system like HR Partner allows you to easily keep track of all types of leave, including sick leave. It also provides an employee portal where team members can submit leave requests and see their leave history and balances. You can also elect for the leave calendar to be available for the department or whole company to see and this visibility of leave can help act as a deterrent against taking excessive Measuresleave. such as the “Bradford Factor” can also be used to indicate excessive absenteeism. This combines the number of unplanned absent incidences along with their duration of these, to give each employee a score which can help managers identify specific problems. Putting “attendance” or “absenteeism” onto the agenda for management meetings can also help highlight any issues that need addressing.
1)help…Have a clear Sick Leave / Absenteeism Policy
Workplace absenteeism is costly at the best of times, but with the ongoing impacts of the pandemic, as well as local increases in the incidence and severity of flu issues, it’s never been a greater challenge than now. Not only does this have a direct productivity cost, but the ripple effects are perhaps even more significant. These can include the impact of missed work on customers and the company reputation, the extra pressure on other team members, and the impact on the company culture.
3) Coach Managers to Address Unplanned Leave Immediately
Whatever the reason for an employee being absent, managers should address all leave occasions immediately. In many cases, this can help provide support for the employee, demonstrate empathy, and may help employees with practical measures that will
OThis article is
f course, we can understand the reasons behind absenteeism in these times, but what can leaders actually do to alleviate this and reduce the impact of employee sickness on the business operations? There’s no magic bullet, but these 5 things will
@HRPartner Fiona Adler, Director, HR Partner Fiona is passionate about helping businesses get the tools and know-how to grow and streamline their operations. She has worked with SMB’s for over 20 years - creating 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.
Practical steps you can take today to mitigate the incidence and impact of absenteeism.
For this reason, it can be a good idea to include a “Return to Work” meeting with a manager as part of the Sick Leave Policy.
•
5) Adapt to the New Reality
The workforce has changed dramatically over the last 2 years and the expectations of employees have shifted significantly. Rather than wait for things to ‘return to normal’, successful companies will use this period to reevaluate their work processes and policies and adapt to the new circumstances and mindsets. In fact, with competition for good employees being stronger than ever, companies that don’t adapt are likely to be left behind.
Cont...
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Issue 32 / 37Visit the XU Hub: Go to www.xumagazine.com Follow us on Twitter: @xumagazine make their return to work more successful. However, for an employee that may have taken some liberties, the return to work interview will clearly show them that their absence was noticed and may encourage them to reduce their absenteeism.
•
A “Return to Work” discussion takes place once the employee returns to work. Their manager should sit down with them to have a conversation about what happened, why it happened, and what’s expected of them moving forward. Also make sure they know if their absence has triggered any type of disciplinary action or a performance plan. Where there is a repeat pattern of unplanned absences, there needs to be a clear source of action taken.
4) Focus on Employee Wellness Companies can also address absenteeism by focussing on measures which improve employee wellness. During the current times, this might be information and means to reduce the likelihood of virus infections. But other things might include; Providing and encouraging flu shots Making stress management training available Encouraging employees to take their annual leave / vacation time - as regularly holidays can reduce the incidence of burnout Running wellness challenges / campaigns (eg daily step counts, meditation streaks, etc)
• Working from home arrangements - Many companies were forced to adopt this for a time, but a good proportion of employees prefer this and companies are making it part of a longer-term arrangement.
•
at
Some of the things we’re seeing companies innovate on include;
• Extra leave - With more of a focus on quality-of-life factors, companies that give their employees additional leave benefits are seen as preferred employers. This might be as simple as a day off for their birthday, extra holiday time based on their tenure, or a special type of leave for selfcare.
CLOUD-BASED •Quick•Connect•Streamline•Automate•Gain•ConnectVOLUMECOMPLEXFORMANAGEMENTJOBSOFTWAREBUSINESSESMANAGINGORHIGHJOBSandsimplifyyourdispatchoperationsreal-timevisibilityofalljobsemailandSMSalertsinvoicingtoXerowithanofftheshelfintegration&easysetup Connecting Xero to vWork will enable you to automatically invoice customers as
Customers can put team members under enormous pressure so having a philosophy that your employees’ well being is more important than any particular customer is an important factor in creating a strong culture, and eventually reducing absenteeism. Of course, absenteeism is very bad for customer service, so this ultimately does increase customer satisfaction anyway.
•
a job closes, including recording time and materials on invoices. 5,000 active users Over 400,000 jobs dispatched each month Customers in 10 countries
38 / Issue 32 XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.
If you’d like to see how you can manage and track your Sick Leave and other types of leave in HR Partner, please book a complimentary demo with us now:
•
Whileemployees.absenteeism might seem like something that is beyond the control of management, as you can see here, there are many measures that can be taken to reduce both the incidence and impact of absenteeism. more www.vworkapp.com soon as
Learn
Flexible working times - The notion of the 9 to 5 workday is disappearing for many companies with some requiring work during a few “core hours” but then allowing employees to complete their duties at times that fit in around their lives.
FINDwww.hrpartner.io/demoOUTMORE...
Customer expectations - We used to always say that “the customer comes first” but many companies have tweaked this to be something closer to “our team comes first, and the customer is a close second”.
Restructuring workload - If your team is operating at a reduced capacity because several people are away at any given time, it’s unrealistic to expect that output will remain unchanged. Instead, it pays to examine the priorities, reduce non-crucial projects, and restructure work so as not to overload the remaining
Issue 32 / 39Visit the XU Hub: Go to www.xumagazine.com Follow us on Twitter: @xumagazine Making it easier for your clients to do business anywhere Partnering with WorldFirst can help you and your clients collect, convert and manage payments globally. Visit worldfirst.com/uk/partners/accounting/ or call +44 (0)207 095 0741 to find out more Seamless Xero integration for easier reconciliation Open currency accounts without the need for local banking relationships Hold funds to pay suppliers, repatriate, and make international payments Speed up your supply chain with faster same- and cross-currency payments Send mass payments from a single transaction Manage currency risk with flexible hedging solutions Dedicated account managers with 24/5 customer service Low, fixed, transparent pricing Rated ‘Excellent’ on Trustpilot
Q:questions:Doyou receive copies of the company’s financial reports?
@NextMinuteApp Emily Mason, Partner Manager, NextMinute We make business life easier for construction and tradespeople by removing administrative processes so they can save time and increase profits. I work with Accountants & Bookkeepers to enable & educate on the benefits of implementing a Job Management system that works with popular Cloud Accounting software to ensure accurate information is shared between business owners and their trusted advisors. Elevating the industry knowledge for all. is Advisors know when it comes insurance for Tradespeople
IThis article
Q: Do you request a 12-month cashflow forecast?
A: Yes Q: Do you require the asset
Things Trusted
The nuts & bolts of Insurance InsuranceTradespeopleforrequiresaholisticview of the business and financials. Accountants & Bookkeepers who specialise in Trade & Construction have this view.
TheA:registers?Yesquestions did not end here, but I think you get the point. So here are the things I learnt about insuring a trade business:
A: Not always.
40 / Issue 32 XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users. , like many others, find myself occasionally sharing my home office with a significant other. My husband is an insurance broker in Australia, for many years a majority of his clients were Tradespeople. One day, I overheard him asking a trade client “what is your estimated annual turnover?”. Sheer curiosity from my Accounting & Bookkeeping days got the better of me, and later that day, I asked the question of He“why?”explained that “the insurers require this to rate public & product liability premiums”. This took us down a rabbit hole of
A: No Q: What if the figure is wrong, won’t they be underinsured?
should
1. Sole Traders vs Businesses Both businesses and sole traders are required to carry certain insurances. For example, all tradespeople need Public Liability. Tradespeople could be denied access to a job site without this. When a business hires subcontractors, the business should make sure each subcontractor has their own Public Liability cover.
to
Below
•
If are a business with salary employees, it is mandatory to have Workers Compensation, however Sole Traders are not eligible. Alternative covers such as Personal Accident Insurance can be obtained.
Issue 32 / 41Visit the XU Hub: Go to www.xumagazine.com Follow us on Twitter: @xumagazine To find out more about NextMinute, please visit:FINDnextminute.comOUTMORE...
•
syncwill“NextMinuteseamlesslytoXerofor sales invoices, supplier bills & timesheets”
4.
you
Using an managementexpensetool like AutoEntry or Dext not only captures receipts, but acts as a filing system for proof of asset purchases. All of this information syncs back into Xero to collate the financials and provide accurate financial reports. It’s not just about streamlining the administrative processes, but will also guide the bigger picture business decisions.
“As Trusted Advisors, there are some key things you can do to take your Trade expertise to the next level”
•
The number of staff, cars, devices, phones and stock could all have an impact on the insurance premiums. Understanding of the business and financials is essential are some items that need to be declared when applying or renewing policies: 12-month Turnover Estimated turnover for the upcoming 12 months Number of staff Subcontractor wages This information is general in nature, and it could be worth going down your own rabbit hole. As Trusted Advisors, there are some key things you can do to take your industry expertise to the next level: Find out what insurance policies they have, when these policies renew, and mark your calendar. Prepare for report requests. Partner with an Insurance Brokerage. If you notice fluctuations in your clients insurance fees, refer them to a broker for a health Makecheck.sure your trade clients have access to accurate and timely data, not just at renewal time. Access to job data and WIP reports are imperative to ensure they are not underinsured.UsingNextMinute,youcanhelpyourclientsbudget effectively, track costs, employees, and subcontractors, and see their profit margins. Our WIP and Backcosting reports will show how each job is tracking. By comparing year to year, you can identify growth in their business and guide their future decisions. NextMinute will seamlessly sync to Xero for sales invoices, supplier bills and timesheets.
3. Premiums can increase as the business grows I know this sounds obvious, but it is not just about the turnover.
•
2. Motor Vehicle vs General Property General property covers things like tools or portable devices, and as you may assume, Motor Vehicle covers cars. Motor Vehicle insurance does not necessarily cover everything inside the car, if there was a claim.
42 / Issue 32 XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users. Simplify Making Tax Digital Automatically capture data from invoices and receipts, and get it directly published to your accounting software. Get MTD Ready Today! sales@autoentry.com | +44 0203 3933058
Issue 32 / 43Visit the XU Hub: Go to www.xumagazine.com Follow us on Twitter: @xumagazine www.AutoEntry.com “ Without a shadow of a doubt the best OCR technology available for integration with Xero.” “Wow, you can't beat that with a Stick!!! Thank you AutoEntry!!!! You are my new partner for Xero Sales Invoices and Xero Purchase invoices!!!!”
• Business owners are stressed about retaining and finding talent, and they are close to burnout due to too much admin.
44 / Issue 32 XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.
Each week the HR manager would spend hours extracting leave from Xero, sending notifications to managers, and updating calendars to ensure there was visibility of who was out of the office and who needed to take time off, and within hours, the data was often out of date. The impact of not doing this work was project delays, missed milestones, general frustration and team member burnout - all because nobody knew when their teammates were in or out of the office. Around the same time I met my co-founder. Nathan had developed an early version of LeaveCal which I immediately started using. Since then, LeaveCal has grown into the most highly rated HR/Payroll app on the Xero App Store, managing leave for thousands of staff across the Howglobe.does it work today? Calendar feed
Using your existing calendar application, you can subscribe to your team LeaveCal and receive regular updates of leave that has been approved in Xero. Staff can subscribe via tools they already use, without requiring any extra training.
Create a more collaborative workplace with transparent Leave and hybrid work management
According to the report, small business owners in the UK spend 22 hours a week managing employee admin processes. My first hand experience of these issues around communication and administration helped define what I work on today.
Simple solution to LEAVE a ProblemComplexBehind
The key takeaways are:
@FinlertApps Pete Horder, Co-Founder, Finlert Pete cut his teeth as a consultant working with enterprise software, big data and business intelligence solutions. After running divisions and then small businesses, he now helps provide SMBs with simple cost effective technical solutions to everyday challenges.
TThis article is
• Employees are also close to burnout, and reassessing what they want from their roles.
his year at Xerocon in London, Xero released its Changing World of Work report. This report provided great insight into the attitudes and behaviours of small business employers and their employees in the UK. While the official research is focused on the UK, the sentiments amongst employees and employers globally are very similar.
A few years ago, I was working in an engineering and design company with around 80 employees. The team were working across multiple jobs for multiple clients with different managers. This meant there was often confusion about who was in and out and people simply didn’t take time off as someone always expected them somewhere.
For team members who aren’t great at checking calendars, we can provide them with other options, like email alerts, Slack notifications, or even alerts into Microsoft Teams chats.
In larger organisations, customers often only want to see what’s happening in a subset of the organisation. LeaveCal has the ability to create calendars and alerts for a Xero employee group, or you can define your own teams within LeaveCal. Manager Notifications
Hybrid Work and Changing Teams
Leave Notifications
Awareness of leave balances has become a critical part of running a small business. Not only are there implications for company financial liabilities, but it’s also a great way to manage employee wellbeing - how long has it been since each of your employees have taken a break? The LeaveCal Leave Balance alert for managers allows you to stay on top of your leave obligations.
Dave Elkin (co-CEO) at Easy Agile Easy Agile makes the world’s most loved Agile apps for Jira. In other words, we are a tech business which sells tech products to other tech companies. We really want to empower our team and provide them all with autonomy. We put a lot of thought into making this happen and in the end we found LeaveCal, which provides our team with the visibility of what their team members are up to. If someone is having a day off, we all know about it and we plan accordingly. Prior to using LeaveCal we were manually updating calendars and spreadsheets which was time consuming and inaccurate. Not to mention a waste of time. The whole team receives automated alerts via Slack on a Monday morning. The LeaveCal Slackbot is also a great way for the team to plan their project resources.
Sign up for a free 14 day trial of LeaveCal at: finlert.com/leavecal Find out more...
LeaveCal can also incorporate employee birthdays and anniversaries into your team’s LeaveCal, so you’ll never forget an important occasion again! We talked to two of our customers to tell us a little bit out their business, team and how how LeaveCal is helping their business.
Many companies now have some form of hybrid work, alternate work arrangements, or subcontractors or employees offshore. LeaveCal allows you to bring all of this employee leave into the same place. Birthdays and Anniversaries
Custom Teams
Garth Stone (Director) at We Make Online Videos We Make Online Videos (WeMOV) is an award-winning video production company that helps organisations tell their unique story through the power of video. WeMOV makes the video production process an easy, accessible, and enjoyable experience for all involved. We currently employ over 20 fulltime staff members in VIC, NSW and QLD and have a wide range of contractors Australia-wide. Our business is all about collaboration, so efficiently managing our team is crucial. Since we started using Leave Cal, our team’s leave and hybrid work arrangements have dramatically improved. Our management team has excellent visibility now, which means we can effectively juggle resources when it’s busy and quiet. At a time when finding and retaining staff is hard, looking for simple cost effective solutions to give team members visibility and transparency can be the difference. If you or your clients are using Xero payroll, the benefits from LeaveCal can be found in minutes. We find that designers, architects, consultants, other professional services, SaaS companies and even real estate agents are finding that LeaveCal is the starting point for all planning.
Issue 32 / 45Visit the XU Hub: Go to www.xumagazine.com Follow us on Twitter: @xumagazine
Our bank-grade security is underpinned by ISO 27001 certification to keep data, documents, and sensitive client information onshore and secure. Huge growth We’ve experienced a huge growth surge across a broad range of industries – from accounting to financial services to legal and retail because we seamlessly integrate with any system and execute agreements and the client process in one transaction, on one platform and at an incomparable price.
Clients turn to accountants to help them through digital transformation – and ongoing digital transformation. This is a journey that never ends.
Customers trust accountants who underpin core business functions with a digital transformation Annaturemindset.
When compliance and customer service matters EThis article is Annature
Annature eSigning & ID
To keep compliant, efficient, and productive and focus on adding the value clients want from their most trusted partner.
@AnnatureAU
eSigning and ID Verification is fully aligned with customer expectations across any industry. We already integrate with leading practice management software such as Xero, APS, GreatSoft and MYOB to share a single transparent view of client verification status.
46 / Issue 32 XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.
Customers have come to expect a certain level of efficiency, usability, and ease of use from our integrated eSigning platform, factors carried into our ID Verification product. A string of recent awards highlights we are being internationallyrecognisedforoureSigning and ID Verification technology and Anotherinnovation.way we are being recognised is how we partner with other innovative professionals such as Accountants Direct, now positioning itself for accelerated growth. Accountants Direct Accountants Direct has a significant corporate base and clients who interact from retail locations Australia-wide, online or by phone. This is a trusted and established accounting business that in the past decade alone has serviced more than 45,000 clients and assisted almost 11,000 Bybusinesses.scalingfor growth, Accountants Direct can now target clients who are missing out on a greater range of tax deductions. Digital tax returns whilst growing in popularity sometimes mean you don’t know what you are missing out on. Many clients will benefit from a documented digital trail to claim entitlements from investments in shares or property and Accountants Direct are doing something about it. Accountants Direct signed with Annature to solve the challenge of executing contracts quickly, so its clients could seamlessly check and complete their final
speed
very accounting firm should use integrated tools to automate manual signing and identity verification.
Amreeta Abbott, CEO, Annature Amreeta Abbott is the CEO and Founder of Annature and award-winning entrepreneur behind NowInfinity. This industry-leading platform provided its productsRegister,CorporateDocumentationcloud-basedSuite,Messenger,TrustandSuperComplytomorethan4,000 accounting firms responsible for around 750,000 entities. The company was sold to ASX-listed Class Limited (ASX: CL1) for $25 million. Now she is either at the helm or on the board of multiple fintech organisations. CEO Amreeta Abbott is convinced it’s smarter transform business – as customers demand and security
As an accountant, you can build trust virtually with the right digital tools. It is a small investment for an immediate big return.
to digitally
Verification platform - the ultimate digital businessaccountingtool
It is about compliance now and in the future. It is actively considering the incorporation of Annature’s latest offering, ID Verification, for new clients to ensure it remains compliant with Tax Practitioners Board Weguidelines.valuelong-term relationships like we have with Stephen and his team where the value of advanced technology is recognised.
Issue 32 / 47Visit the XU Hub: Go to www.xumagazine.com Follow us on Twitter: @xumagazine tax documentation.
Stephen Burns, the CEO and founder of Accountants Direct explains that by using Annature they’re assured they have the latest technology, with up-to-date compliance and confidence in the security of sensitive client data because - as an Australian-owned company – it’s kept onshore.
And we love how they are happy not to take up the option of white-labelling Annature. For Accountants Direct it is important to showcase an innovative Aussie brand – and in any case were very familiar with the calibre of the Annature team from a previous relationship we enjoyed under my first venture with NowInfinity.
Now more than ever accountants can become proactive. To engage in much more than tax and compliance, to advise and scale for growth and target potential Customersclients. expect data to be safe. Regulators demand compliance. The pace of change is not going to slow down. Greater agility and closer ties between accountants and customers will maximise your own performance and financial Inreturns.aworld where regulatory demands are becoming more complex and can change rapidly, your clients need proactive advice more than ever. Using the Annature platform to process your eSigning and ID Verification keeps you completely up to date with compliance at a price point international providers cannot match. The beneficiaries will be you, your staff, and empowered, satisfied, and thankful clients. Try Annature free for 7 days:
The Annature platform is fully inclusive for meeting Proof of Identity requirements. It also has immediate internal benefits for any company. Re-thinking how you work with eSigning saves an average of 2.2 hours per contract. Those benefits are profound since re-deploying staff to higher-value activities is known to improve the bottom line by 10%.
Thephones.50Accountants Direct consultants nationwide now have the means to remove the friction points in the process, digitally integrating this process within their existing system.
Findannature.com.auoutmore...
The company now uses our integrated platform to send customers an SMS message with a link to digitally sign tax returns from their
Refocus on customers Accountants require a signature on an engagement letter and an authority to act when engaging a new client. That’s the same time you should conduct identity verification steps. There’s no sense in doing these two things at different times. The time savings are huge but more importantly the client experience is improved because they only need to action one process, not one today and another Annaturetomorrow.eSigningis lightningfast, seamless, and secure with proven KYC and AML functionality, backed by ISO 27001 certification to keep data, documents and information secure for customer peace of mind worldwide.
The partnership expands Accountants Direct eSigning and ID Verification digital footprint.
“Creatingsays: an easy integration with Xero makes it possible for people to take advantage of instant invoicing, which helps you get paid faster. But it’s more than that, customers can see exactly what they owe while the driver is still
48 / Issue 32 XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.
With connected tools, you’re creating a way to work that removes a lot of unnecessary steps. Think about invoicing, for example. When you’re on a job, like making a delivery, rather than pulling out a clipboard, filling in the details, getting someone to sign it, then waiting until you’re back at the office to finalize the invoice, you can open an app on your phone, like vWork, click the “job complete” button and the system automatically does the paperwork and sends in the Edmondinvoice. said: “Automated C
vWork is cloud-based job scheduling and dispatch software for businesses that have a mobile
reating a connected network of tools and processes that help power your business is one of those things that people can do, but often don’t think about. However, the value it brings to any given business or organization is huge, especially when compared to older methods of working that tend to involve multiple, unconnected tools, and manual processes that slow down work. It also reduces the risk of costly human errors.
withLinkingBenefitsExploreworkforce.theofXerovWork
Sam Edmond, Head of Marketing, vWork Sam Edmond is Head of Marketing at vWork. He has over 15 years’ experience in digital, marketing and communications roles working at technology and financial services companies in New Zealand, Australia and the UK.
This article is “From a business perspective, you’ve got fewer people handling invoices and other documents like that, so you’re working more efficiently overall.”
Sam Edmond, Head of Marketing at vWork
That’s why vWork has made it easy to integrate with Xero.
alsocircumstances,theleavingwhetheryounotofThisupwhichthere,canspeedanydisputes.”holisticviewyourbusinessonlyhelpsunderstandyou’remoneyontableincertainbutgivesyouinsightinto what’s going on in the rest of your business. On top of that, you’re also improving the way you work.
Having this perspective lets you move away from jobs, or customers, that aren’t adding the same kind of value to your Edmondbusiness.says:
“When you understand the whole view of your business, you can make highly informed decisions that help you better serve your customers and make more money for your business. Rather than guessing, you have hard data to base important business decisions on.”
The end result is that your customers are happier because they don’t have to get errors fixed and they can receive their invoices instantly, rather than waiting.
Ancustomers.”addedbonus of having one complete view of everything through Xero is that it’s easier to hone in on what kinds of jobs make you the most money.
Edmond adds: “From a business perspective, you’ve got fewer people handling invoices and other documents like that, so you’re working more efficiently overall. Plus, when you remove all the unnecessary steps and people from the process, your staff is able to better focus on their jobs, which is ultimately serving
To find out more visit:
Findvworkapp.comoutmore...
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processes like this don’t just make things easier for people. They remove a lot of unnecessary paperwork, while also making sure you’re not moving the same pieces of information around between different tools or even worse, entering data multiple times. Among other things, this helps remove the risk of human error from your processes, meaning you’re not losing time sending the same invoice with different details or even waiting weeks for payment on an invoice that someone forgot to file.”
T Articles on Invoice Finance often start with an awkward acknowledgement of Invoice Finance’s reputation. A sheepish half-apology for its historic shortcomings.
There are lots of finance solutions available on the market today, but Invoice Finance stands out amongst the crowd for a variety of reasons: Flexibility Unlike loans, offering a one-off cash injection, Invoice Finance is a revolving credit facility. It’s more flexible because every sales invoice presents an opportunity to access cash without waiting for the invoice to be paid in line with credit terms. Overdrafts and credit cards offer more flexibility than loans but are usually limited in size. Invoice Finance facility limits are usually much higher and are often a follow-on product for businesses that have outgrown their overdrafts. Security requirements Invoice Finance facility limits can be greater than unsecured loans, overdrafts or credit card facilities because the borrowing is secured. But rather than being secured against physical assets, the funds are secured against sales invoices. Security against tangible assets is not often needed. Securing against invoices also means that rates are in line with secured lending, helping to keep costs down.
And the misconceptionscommonexplained
50 / Issue 32 XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users. he apologies need to stop. At least from fintechs. Companies like Satago have spearheaded the reinvention of Invoice Finance over the last few Theyears.bottom line is Invoice Finance has evolved to become a fantastic way to access working capital for a business. Why Invoice Finance? The ability of businesses to ‘pivot’ has proven invaluable during the pandemic. But as ‘unprecedented’ events occur more frequently; businesses need more breathing room to be able to adapt. Whether that’s to dodge problems or pounce on opportunities – a flexible and responsive working capital strategy is critical.
@SatagoHQ Leigh Stallard, Head of Accountancy, Satago Leigh has been in, around and serving the accountancy profession for over 20 years. From working in practice, to talking about marketing strategies over a dining table, to leading organisational change over boardroom tables and everything in between. Leigh is Head of Accounting Partnerships at Satago - where the team helps firms to support their clients whilst finding new opportunities to grow fees.
This article is Why you Invoicere-considershouldFinance for your clients
What’s the catch? There’s no catch - embracing modern Invoice Financing over traditional products is the equivalent to embracing Cloud Accounting over Desktop.
1. It’s only for businesses in trouble This is a historic stigma. Many companies nowadays use Invoice Finance as a tool for growth. Over 40,000 businesses of all shapes and sizes in the UK currently benefit from the extra working capital these facilities provide.
Refer your client, and once they’re signed up and approved, they’ll receive the cash in the bank in a matter of hours. Satago connects to most accounting software and automatically shows how much funding is available.
But there are some myths that surround Invoice Financing that hold people back from getting started. Let’s look at five common Invoice Finance myths and see how we’re working to break them at Satago:
Withapplication.fastapproval processes and a direct connection to accounting software packages, Invoice Finance can scale much more closely with the business and its growing working capital requirements. Speed Fintechs are characterised by their ability to move quickly. It’s one of the reasons they’re growing in popularity compared to the classic custodians of capital – the banks.
Cost effectiveness Aside from Invoice Finance generally being cheaper than overdrafts and credit cards, Satago goes further to keep costs down by dynamically assessing the risk levels of the invoices to be funded. This allows our customers to choose the lowest risk (and therefore cheapest) invoices to fund against.
seamlessly between facilities, providing all the flexibility they need.
One customer who recently came to Satago was just over a week away from missing payroll. By working with their advisor, we got them set up on the platform, opened a facility and had funds with them in time for payday.
Even so, Invoice Finance can be discreet – with Satago, Trust bank accounts are set up in the business’ name and, with our Full theFinanceInvoiceoption,facilitycanbe confidential. 2. Clients lose control of their debtors and must fund everything While a lot of Invoice Finance options do require all debtors to be part of the facility, Satago offers the option of Single Invoice Finance. This means your clients can pick and choose which invoices they want to fund, giving them full control of their debtors.
3. Once you’re in, you can’t get out While 12 month contracts are standard practice for Full Invoice Finance facilities, Satago doesn’t impose any minimum (or maximum) term on our Single Invoice Finance solution –businesses are free to come and go as they please and can switch
Additionally, the flexibility to draw funds only when they’re needed can also help keeps costs down, safe in the knowledge that you have an accessible facility to lean on. Scalability Requesting a further advance on a loan or an increase to an overdraft would usually involve a lengthy application process and potentially require management accounts to support the
Satago doesn’t take control of your customers’ credit control process or client relationshipswhether they select invoices to fund or fund the entire debtor ledger, keeping the ownership within the business.
Satago has spearheaded the reinvention of Invoice Finance over the last few years making it a valuable tool for businesses to help support their growth ambitions and worthy of a place in your advisor’s kitbag.
To find out how Invoice Finance can help your clients visit:
Withsettimehaveandaccounting,cloudAPIsopenbankingslashedtheittakestogetup.Satago,itcouldn’t be easier to manage your facility. With Satago, it couldn’t be easier to manage your facility.
5. It’s a hassle to set up and manage This may have been true in the past, but
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“Invoice Finance is a fantastic way to access fast, flexible working capital for business.”a
4. The hidden costs add up, making Invoice Finance quite expensive With Satago you can be assured of fair and transparent pricing with no hidden charges. All our fees are clearly shown within the platform when showing all the eligible invoices available for funding against, so your clients know before signing on the dotted line exactly what the costs will be.
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Scott Miller is the Founder of Scott’s Add-in. As a degreed accountant and technology entrepreneur, Scott delights in developing tools to help accounting and finance folks be more productive, and increase their professional identity with their clients. Scott and his family reside in Cincinnati in the States. Bespoke clothing is need not be.
52 / Issue 32 XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users. sing Excel in combination with Scott’s Add-in allows you to tackle your clients’ toughest reporting needs, and do it in a very cost effective manner. Use our custom Excel functions like =SCOTT.GL, =SCOTT. RANGE, sheetthenyouryourinformExcelto=SCOTT.XBUDGET,XTRACK,=SCOTT.ANDcreatebeautifulsheetsthatanddelightclients.Setupmodelonetime,simplyrecalctheasneeded,torefresh it with current Xero data. No training is required. If you know how to use Excel, you know
This article is Use Excel to Power ServicesAdvisory
U Bespoke clothing and bespoke financials always provide a better fit.
FINDscottsaddins.comOUTMORE... “The Add-In is simpleintuitiveridiculouslyandtouse.”
Peter PurpleLimeDoe,how to use Scott’s Add-ins. Get started in as little as five minutes. Here are some Power Tips on how to leverage the add-in for your practice.
Power tip #3: Using your new found skills, to go after larger, more sophisticated clients, whose reporting needs could not be addressed within the accounting software. Power tip #4: Build a fractional CFO practice around Scott’s Addin. Take your CFO offer to the next level by creating bespoke reports, accompanied by a narrative explaining the impact to the business. We invite you to join the growing legion of accounting professionals who are delighting their clients with bespoke financials. Be different. Start creating financial art today with Scott’s Add-ins!
Find out more at:
Power tip #1: You could bill your clients for the initial ThenatpresentingownworkbookbuildingInstead,development.Excelconsiderthebespokeonyourtime,andittothemnocost…initially.deliveritevery month for a fixed fee, with practically no marginal cost to you. Value-based billing at its finest!
expensive. Bespoke financials
Power tip #2: Create a bespoke Excel template using the addin, for an industry focus of your practice. Restaurants for example. When meeting with a prospective client, show your template, instantly building credibility as a financial expert in their industry.
Scott Miller, Founder, Scott’s Add-ins
Issue 32 / 53Visit the XU Hub: Go to www.xumagazine.com Follow us on Twitter: @xumagazine Annature is the leading Australian-owned eSignature platform which securely manages digital authorisations, identity verification, and payment collections online. With Annature accounting professionals ‘get ahead of the game’ and enjoy the leading Australian-owned eSignature platform - that’s more than eSigning. Annature helps to securely manage digital authorisations, identity verification, and payment collections online today - and track their progress wherever you are. We’ll also keep you up to date with industry changes as soon as they happen. Here’s why accounting professionals prefer Annature: • Onshore: Australian-owned and operated, with local data storage and tech support • Secure: Next-generation ID, KYC and AML verification features able to scale • Compliant: Only Australian-owned eSignature platform with ISO 27001 certification • Seamless: API driven integration efficiency with APS Reckon, GreatSoft, Xero and more • CA ANZ Member Benefits: Exclusive eSigning member benefits partner, 20% discount on Customised subscriptions • Take to the sky with Qantas Business Rewards: Earn up to 20 Qantas Points on eligible Pay as you go and Customised subscriptions* • Happy clients! Improves engagement and elevates customer satisfaction Transform eSignature delivery and execution. Reach out to discuss: Daniel Edridge | 1300 031 065 | daniel@annature.com.au | www.annature.com.au Schedule a meeting: www.annature.com.au/schedule-demo justeSignaturesgotbetter Annature’s platform gives accountants the edge and offers more than just eSigning.
Your
Sharing client files securely
E clients trust you to keep their files secure. To balance the need for security with client convenience, we recommend a client portal - a secure platform for exchanging files with clients. We’ll take you through the and benefits you should expect from a client portal as well as three main implementation options. your clients you safe
- Password protected access Adding login credentials brings a layer of resistance to -breaches.Two-factor authentication Enabling authenticationtwo-factorwillbring an additional step of verification ensuring the appropriate people are accessing your files.
- Session token
- File encryption Encrypted files cannot be accessed until the appropriate credentials are entered. This ensures they’re safe when shared and while they remain in -storage.Version history
requirements
This article is How to keep the files
54 / Issue 32 XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.
Once a customer has logged in to your portal, you want to make sure that they are completing their work and then promptly logging out. If customers remain logged in while inactive, they’re exposing themselves to potential breaches (e.g. if computers are left unattended). To account for any suspicious activity, your portal should include a session token to revoke access if sessions drag on without action.
To effectively manage the tonnes of sensitive documents your business receives, you need to be able to securely and conveniently share files. For the first consideration, security, you should be looking for ways to limit access points to client info and verify approved users. For convenience, think about the user experience of viewing & uploading files as well as how you’ll standardise file sharing moving forward. To strike a perfect balance between the two, we’d suggest investing in a client portal. What is a client portal?
Client portals are simply secure platforms that allow businesses to exchange files with clients and any other external parties. Once logged in, clients can upload and retrieve sensitive documents without the threat of them being intercepted or exposing your file storage system to viruses.
your
Jessica Hill, Marketing Manager, SuiteFiles
Jessica introduces businesses to SuiteFiles with campaigns heavily featuring lightning bolts and dogs. She can be found lunching, perusing and wandering around her adopted hometown of Wellington, New Zealand.
Using client portals is preferred to sharing files via email, free cloud storage or consumer file sharing systems as they are purpose-built for security. This means confidential information such as tax returns or financial statements are kept under lock and key. Less secure options, such as the ones listed above, offer little protection against the dangers of viruses, ransomware or the occasional blunder such as the wrong people accessing private information. What’s more, they often don’t provide the collaboration features that businesses have come to expect.
To securely manage documents and keep clear lines of communication with clients, portals are your safest bet. Requirements of a client portal • Secure It goes without saying that the portal you choose should be secure. Here are the features you should look for.
with
@SuiteFiles
entrust
very client in your care trusts you to handle their private information. It’s a weighty responsibility that’s only added to by the number of files being sent across your client base.
• Accessible
Spreading your file storage across several systems creates more entry points for ‘bad actors’. It also means that you have more platforms to manage and protect against cyberattacks. Having a client portal reduces your access points while providing greater security measures to verify log in attempts.
Customer satisfaction
• Integrated client portal Integrated portals centralise your document storage without compromising on security. This means less time juggling applications, greater visibility of your client engagements and automations for document workflows.
Issue 32 / 55Visit the XU Hub: Go to www.xumagazine.com Follow us on Twitter: @xumagazine Trace the updates to your documents so you’re aware of every single edit made and can restore previous versions as necessary.
• Custom build one Creating a bespoke client portal is a good way of ensuring that all your requirements are met and that your brand is integrated throughout your digital client experience. Of course, creating one from scratch means designing features that come standard Download our Client Portal PDF for more advice including our portal consideration checklist. Find out more... with most offerings and investing a lot of money into your portal solution.
• Strengthen your digital strategy Your digital strategy is what sets the tone for internal and external collaboration. Client portals execute your strategy by streamlining workflows with external parties and scaling with your business as you grow. Implementing a client portal • Portal plugins If your website is hosted on WordPress, you’ll be able to choose from a bevy of free plugins to securely exchange files. These will add a layer of security to your file exchange but will likely lack the added security features and collaboration tools that businesses require.
Great collaboration builds lasting relationships. Once you’ve found a solution that is both secure and user friendly, you’ll be able to carry out all of your interactions from one place. This builds continuity with clients instead of overwhelming them with disparate apps.
The bar is set high for user experiences. With more tech in circulation clients expect seamless online interactions. To meet this expectation, you should be choosing a solution which allows clients to easily share, receive and work with your team on the same files.
•
Once the appropriate login credentials are set, clients should be able to access your portal at their convenience.
• Centralised storage
Opening up access also allows you to dodge emails requesting files - no need to be available 24/7!
• Save time Eliminate time spent gathering files from multiple sources and then accessing a platform to share with external parties. Picking the right client portal means crucial business processes are standardised, removing inconsistencies in your file sharing and reducing the risk of human error.
• User friendly
Benefits of using a client portal
Look for vendors who offer surcharging as a part of their Xero Gettingintegration.paid by your customers, merchants or clients as a small business owner is essential, so setting up suitable online payments systems will give you greater transparency on your business transactions, inventory, cash flow and financial insights.
It’s a good time of year to do a tech audit of your business after EOFY and see where you could save time and/or money. While it may initially cost you, creating smoother, faster and easier processes will improve your business exponentially in the long run.
D
Chris Dahl is co-CEO at Pin Payments and has a wealth of experience across both web, business and software to Xero by adding Pin Payments. Get started today. FIND OUT MORE...
espite the doom and gloom, there are always opportunities, even in trying circumstances. So, here are a few tips to help you build resilience and maintain your business through challenging 1.times.Expect the unexpected As we’ve seen these past two years, world events have a considerable capacity to impact business, which is why you need to get comfortable with the uncomfortable as a business owner. Our new-normal in business is to be constantly prepared for the worst, like wars, climate change or COVID-19, so being ready for anything and keeping your customers calm during uncertain times is essential.
@PinPayments
Adddevelopment.onlinepayments
Maintaining business growth challengingduringtimes
3. Embrace digitalisation and tech Embracing digitalisation is paramount in our new-normal post-pandemic world. Likewise, your customers expect you to have up-to-date tech and online practices, to match the market.
This article is
56 / Issue 32 XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.
Chris Dahl, Co-CEO, Pin Payments
2. Aim high! Don’t allow world events to dampen your goals Economic and business confidence has never been lower, with inflation and rising prices crippling the financial market. With all that has happened this year, it’s no surprise many are feeling flat, but from darkness often comes innovation. Don’t let current affairs ruin your goals and business ambitions. While your plans may not unfold as you’d hoped, there might be new ways of achieving them using technology or alternative methods. Maintain your positivity as your customers, staff and business contacts will feed off this energy.
4. Find the right online payments solution Ensuring you have the suitable systems to take and accept online payments is essential for your business’s success. Given the global shift to digital, moving your payments online will ensure you can track data more efficiently and integrate that information into your business plans and strategies. You may also wish to pass on the cost of processing card payments to your customers.
This year has been fraught with challenges for many businesses, as world events, inflation, and rising costs have created countless global issues. With the global financial market facing a potential recession, leaders may wonder how to safeguard their businesses through such times.
Issue 32 / 57Visit the XU Hub: Go to www.xumagazine.com Follow us on Twitter: @xumagazine Cloud based solutions for growing inventory businesse d based solutions for growing inventory businesses P a r t n e r w i t h C l o u d s o l v e t o m a g n i f y y o u r a d v i s o r y v a l u e t o c l i e n t s . Ask us how we can help cloudsolve.com.au C l i e n t s w i t h g r o w i n g b u s i n e s s e s r e c o g n i s e t h e v a l u e o f a d v i c e t h a t h e l p s d r i v e t h e i r f i n a n c i a l s u c c e s s . S i t b a c k & w a t c h y o u r a d v i s o r y s e r v i c e s g r o w .
Trap 1: Accountants not incorporating AML into ongoing client work Picture the scene: you onboarded a new client. You did all the necessary checks on them and identified them as an enhanced risk because their business is cash intensive. You took the relevant actions to mitigate the risk and felt confident to start work with Beforethem. you know it, life happens, you blink, and you’re two years into your working relationship with Havethem.youbeen reviewing them consistently, performing regular risk assessments? Could you prove to your governing body that you’re constantly assessing the risk of that client? Or could you be unaware that you’re complicit in a client’s money laundering antics?
58 / Issue 32 XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users. s accountants, you’re effectively gatekeepers of the whole financial industry. You’re a trusted, respected and vital profession worldwide. But this also makes you a prime target for money laundering criminals, so you need to make your AML procedure watertight.
What about your clients who aren’t initially deemed enhanced risk at the start of the relationship? Accountants we spoke to cite the upkeep of risk assessments as a major pain Ongoingpoint. monitoring falls into two 1)categories:Ageneral annual review of the assumptions you’ve made about a client via a risk assessment
It is commonly forgotten that risk assessments don’t just affect initial checks with a client, but they also impact ongoing work with them. For example, are you constantly scrutinising transactions, and checking the margins seem reasonable for a business of this nature?
2) Monitoring of specific events, such as a change in business director or change in the way you provide the service will require a new assessment on how this will impact your AML process with them Your AML safety net Ongoing obligations are just as important as onboarding procedures. Don’t leave them to chance - keep on top of these by systemising your ongoing antimoney laundering process.
Trap 3: Blind spots on enhanced risk clients
AML traps, and how to avoid them
More on that later, but first, here are 4 common traps our compliance expert, Valerie Steward, and other leading authorities on AML, identified that accountants fall into, and how we can help you to avoid them.
Trap 2: Lack of ongoing monitoring
In fact, failing to comply with AML is one of the only things in your business that can lead to prison. That’s of course, only in extreme cases, but add the fact that fines for non-compliance tripled in 2021, now is the time more than ever to get your AML system in But,check.it isn’t the time to panic. In fact, with more options to automate AML than ever, it’s also the easiest time to do so.
Your AML safety net Scenarios like the above might rarely have disastrous consequences, and I’m not trying to scare you. But they are easy to avoid when AML checks and risk assessments are done consistently. Avoid this by investing in reliable AML software. It should prompt you when a risk assessment is due on a client, whether the relationship is old or new. It will also be kept up to date, with guidance and support to help you understand the ongoing implications
@GoProposal
Guidelines to what constitutes a high-risk client can be ambiguous. An obvious high-risk client might be a political figure, for example. But drill further down, and many enhanced-risk clients are more difficult to spot.
Danielle Fisher, Product Manager, GoProposal by Sage Danielle is the driving force behind GoProposal’s product development. She is passionate about supporting accountants, proactively seeking their feedback and combining this with expert industry guidance to ensure they’re supported with the most innovative, compliant and user-friendly software available.
AThis article is 4
Let’s take the example of a family friend working in a cash-intensive business. You feel you know them, you might have even gone to school with them. But while you can vouch for their identity, you must treat their business as objectively and fairly as you would a stranger in a cash intensive business.
Trap 4: Accountants see AML as a box ticking exercise Governing bodies reported this as a recurring problem among their members. The truth is, no one likes doing AML. It’s seen as a necessary evil you can’t profit from. But the risk of not doing your AML checks correctly far outweighs the cost in time it takes you to do it. Your AML safety net How can you stop AML checks feeling like a bore that’s getting in the way of the real, profitable work you do for your clients?
We strongly advise you don’t treat their business any differently to one of a stranger. ‘How can I do that without offending them?’ You might Integratewonder.your risk assessments and AML checks into your initial proposal to set the boundaries within the relationship from the Makestart.
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Be compliant with every client & try GoProposal AML for free Find out more...
it clear that it’s part of the parcel you’re offering by letting the proposal do the talking for you. Having it stated in black and white shows your professionalism and negates any awkward conversation.
There’s no avoiding doing them... but by automating them, and integrating them into your onboarding procedure, they’re no longer the time-consuming bore they once were. With phase one of GoProposal AML now live, you can conduct your KYC checks and Risk Assessments in record time. Drop down, multiple-choice questions will guide you through assessments with ease, ensuring you’ve considered everything that needs to be considered, while saving you time as the intelligent software adapts what you’re asked based on your previous answer. You’re presented with one question at a time, enabling you to answer each one carefully, without overwhelm. We’ve integrated AML into our app, creating a seamless, clean onboarding process for members and their clients, in which proposals, engagement letters, risk assessments and KYC checks can all be completed.
Your AML safety net
60 / Issue 32 XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.
@zaharasoftware
Month
Drew Murray, Head of Sales, Zahara Drew is Head of Sales at Zahara and has spent almost a decade helping Finance Teams automate their expense and accounts payable processes.
he daunting topic of inflation and a potential recession is starting to make SMEs consider how they can secure their financial operations for the future. Various factors such as Brexit and the cost of living crisis are impacting daily operations and supply chain management. SMEs are finding it more challenging to control their costs and plan ahead for business growth. Businesses using Xero are already off to a great start, as they’re able to manage finances in real time using a cloud-based accounting software suited to the modern However,business. for times like these, businesses are looking to make the most out of their finance systems by choosing accounts payable automation software that helps them to take control on Herecosts.are a few features of AP automation that Zahara recommends for future-proofing your processes:
TThis article is
The importance of securing your accounts payable process in today’s economy
What are SMEs doing to secure their finances? End
How to future-proof your recessionforpayableaccountsprocessalooming
George Baines, Sales Development Representative
Spend control using purchase order approvals For SMEs, every penny counts when it comes to budgeting, and spending can quite quickly get out of hand if there aren’t processes in place to control it. Zahara controls spending by giving finance managers the power to predetermine budgets for each department and project and even makes these budgets adaptable throughout the year, accounting for your typical busy periods. It’s up to you whether these budgets enforce a hard stop on raising new orders, or simply offer a subtle indication as to how you’re doing against your targeted project spend. Many of the finance managers I speak with will have a simple form of PO approval in place, often involving a physical Purchase Order being rushed across the office & waiting for an illegible scrawl when your director is finally off their call. Whilst this method can work, it obviously has its limitations. We believe our highly versatile approval workflows are the perfect solution for this as approvers can review the order by app or email & give the green light in seconds, whether they’re at their desk, onsite or out of the country.
Drew Murray, Head of Sales
Tim Helps, Sales RepresentativeDevelopment
• For users in Zahara, with the correct permissions, reporting is a straightforward process where you can create reports based on data sets most applicable to you. To produce the data most suited to you, users can apply a range of filters. You can save these filters and apply them again to future reports.
Knowing exactly how much you’re spending, who raised an order, what you actually received and being able to forecast spend are all benefits that come with all-in-one AP automation. Zahara is affordable cost control at a recession-friendly price from only £39 per month.
FINDzaharasoftware.comOUTMORE... emailed to you in different formats, either in Excel or CSV format. Allowing users to use the data as they wish which can be shared with the wider business. The time taken for reports to arrive depends on the size of the report being Reportingcreated. is a key functionality to future-proofing financial processes as clients can track spend in real-time and produce month-end figures quickly.
To conclude, Zahara recommends gaining control of spend in your business in order to futureproof for a pending recession.
Fraud detection Zahara will flag discrepancies between invoices and purchase orders to check that the supplier, amount and bank details are correct. Money loss is prevented by the 2-way matching, so businesses can compare what they ordered vs exactly how much they are being charged. This can prevent fraudulent invoices that look like the realdeal from slipping through the cracks. When you’re processing 100+ invoices per month, a fake invoice impersonating a trusted supplier are difficult to spot.
Bethan Clothier, AssistantMarketing
Built-in optical character recognition for 2 way matching What is OCR? Optical Character Recognition (OCR) is the capability of software to automatically read digital documents like PDFs or image files and extract specific information. For example, Zahara will capture all the key data points from emailed or scanned invoices including date, amount, line item details, descriptions, Purchase Order numbers, and more. How can it help future-proof AP? Not having to manually key in data can save significant amounts of time, even for those processing only a handful of invoices each week. This is a popular reason for many new clients of ours who are experiencing growth, as it eliminates the need to recruit additional AP team members and the associated recruitment costs. The cherry on the top is that it will allow you to almost eliminate human error. Instead of manually keying in data, AP teams can now spend just a fraction of the time performing simple checks and reports.
• Once created, reports can be Affordable cost control at
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Invoice OCR Automation in Zahara will run these checks for you, for maximum spend control and security in your business spend.
The importance of data The ability to run reports for different business data sets including Invoices, line items, PO’s and budgets has become more important as businesses look to improve their control over future financial management. The reporting feature supplies data on a variety of areas that businesses use to forecast future spend, track budgets and improve the visibility and management over POs and Theinvoices.ability to run reports in Zahara is straightforward and is easy to manage:
Kevin McCallum, CEO, Bright Kevin has over 20 years of experience in the accounting software industry, spending 11 of those at FreeAgent. He first joined the company in 2021 as a non-executive director of AccountancyManager. Since the acquisition, Kevin was made COO of the group early this year, but now, he has taken over from Paul Byrne as CEO of Bright.
From April 2024, every client that completes a Self Assessment must keep their records digitally. This is a mandatory requirement. As we all know, it takes time for people to get to grips with new software. So if your clients aren’t keeping digital records, now is the time to get them started. First, you need to break down any mental barriers they might have. Then some clients will need to run through certain actions a few times before they become habit. 18 months is a good amount of time to get everyone up to speed. You wouldn’t want to wait much longer. Make sure you have MTDcompatible software for filing Most of the top accounting software companies are currently developing their systems for MTD for ITSA. You’ll be glad to know this includes the same accounting software your clients will be using to keep their records, such as Xero, Quickbooks, FreeAgent, Sage, IRIS etc.
@accountancymgr
aking Tax Digital for Income Tax Self Assessment is now 18 months away. We look at why it’s more silver lining than it is foreboding clouds. Get your clients set up to keep digital records
62 / Issue 32 XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users. MTD for ITSA:
Automate your record requests and chasing emails With AccountancyManager, you can free yourself – and your team – from any client chasing, whether it’s for the quarterly ITSA or any other service you provide. Create one master email (or ‘template’) for each service and AM will fill in any unique client information wherever you insert placeholders (or ‘variables). Then, at the right time for each client, AM will fire off these emails. Many of our users choose to send an automated text (SMS) message at the same time, and find that clients will respond much faster. If the clients don’t respond, AM will keep chasing. You have total control and can pause the email queue if you want to check them over first. Automate your to-do list – using your clients’ accounting dates and deadlines If you don’t use a practice management system, you might use spreadsheets to keep track of your clients’ dates and deadlines. You probably have a column to record whether they’ve been asked for information and whether they’ve responded. And another to say if a job has been Itcompleted.mustbea spreadsheetmammothandITSAwill just make it AccountancyManagerbigger. is built using these exact spreadsheets and controlled using the same client data held within them. It gives each member of your team an automatically generated Task List that’s powered by each client’s M article is
This
“At Xero, we’re building an MTD for ITSA solution which we are testing with select customers from April 2022, as part of HMRC’s Wepilot.will have a fully tested endto-end solution well ahead of the 2024 deadline so that those who do want to be ready ahead of the deadline can do so.” - Xero HMRC on MTD-compatible software Prepare your practice for quarterly ITSA submissions Come April 2024, landlords, sole traders – and clients that already submit an annual Self Assessment tax return – will have to send quarterly summary updates to HMRC. Then, after the fourth quarter, they need to submit an End Of Period Statement and a Final Declaration. This begs the question: how scalable are your current internal processes? Do you know how you’ll handle all the extra chasing and submissions?
Don’t thrivesurvivejust–
Give us a call or head to accountancymanager.co.uk to begin your free trial. It’s easy to get started, but if you need a hand, ongoing support is completely free. In addition to this AccountancyManager was voted practice management software of the year by both AccountingWEB readers and members of the Institute of Chartered Bookkeepers. The future is for
Think about attracting landlords and sole traders Thanks to MTD for ITSA, there will be a significant number of people needing an accountant that may not have had one before, namely –Thislandlords.isagood opportunity to start targeting landlords through your existing marketing channels. That might be sharing advice on social media, adding services to your website or spreading the word through your current clients.
Visit the XU Hub: Free 30 day trial: FINDsignupaccountancymanager.co.uk/OUTMORE... required services and deadlines. Optimise your efficiency with a consistent – easily tweakable –Workflow Our soon-to-be-released Workflow adds a whole new depth to the Task List. Break each Task down into subtasks and group those steps into milestones. Give the milestones their own deadlines and assign different people to different Thesubtasks.overall Task has a statutory deadline, an internal Target Date of your choice and deadlines for each milestone (collection of Subtasks) within it. This gives you full control over how and when every part of every job should be completed. Let your clients sign-off accounts through your website With additional submissions to HMRC added to your workload, the way your clients confirm and sign off the information needs to be as efficient and easy as That’spossible.where our Client Portal comes in. Just upload the documents you need to send and your client can log in through your website and see all of their documents. E-signing is built in and quick to use, so there’s no waiting for clients to print and scan or Worriedpost.about how much time MTD for ITSA will take up? It can be unnerving to know that MTD for ITSA will take time away from your other responsibilities, but not know how much. Even with all this automation and organisation, MTD for ITSA will inevitably add to your workload.
In AccountancyManager, you can keep track of the time you and your team spend on each client. With this visibility, you’ll know where you might need to add more resources, move work around or even increase fees.
TimeBrightthatisAccountancyManagerdelightedtoannouncewe’vejoinedtheSoftwareGroup.to‘Brighten’upyourday!
64 / Issue 32 XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users. we have LISTENED to you 76% of all businesses think the tech solutions they currently pay for aren’t value for money 58% of all business leaders believe that the tech they are paying for isn’t tailored & want a more tailored solution 34% of all businesses pay for a tech solution to help with Accountancy & Expenses At ExpenseOnDemand we listen to our clients, contacts & businesses around the globe, & we understand that tech for business shouldn’t be a “one size fits” all offering.
Book A Demo to a faster, smarter & paperless expense workflow VIEW MORE AT XERO APP totorathercurrentourservicescustomersAthttps://apps.xero.com/search/app/expense-on-demand#reviewsMARKETPLACEExpenseOnDemand,ourcanhandpickthetheyneed&tailorsolutiontomirrortheirbusinessprocessesthan,forcingthemchangehowtheyworkmatchourtech.
Wolters Kluwer CCH in Australia has just launched an innovative new partnership with BOMA that provides a library of the awardwinning CCH iQ content and practical tools within the BOMA Marketing Platform.
BOMA is a digital marketing platform that brings together all of an accounting firm’s digital marketing content and channels.
66 / Issue 32 XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.
winning tax
How marketingcreatefirmsAustraliancaneasilyandsharecontent
@cchaustralia Ben Miller - CA SSA, Senior Editor, Wolters Kluwer AsiaPacific Ben Miller CA SSA is a senior editor at Wolters Kluwer with a focus on Australian tax, superannuation, and accounting content. Ben is the lead editor for CCH iQ, which assists accounting and tax professionals across Australia to keep abreast of pending and new Federal and State legislation. Ben also creates practical tools like client letter templates, client impact statements, checklists, and calculators which make communication of these tax events to affected clients even easier. Kluwer CCH awardcontent and share via firm’s email, blog, and socials
G
rowth-focused accounting firms continue to invest in content for marketing to acquire new clients and maintain positive and profitable relationships with current clients.
However, producing real-time quality expert content takes time, substantial resources, and expertise well beyond that of a typical small to medium sized accounting firm. Sharing that content is also not so simple. The Wolters Kluwer CCH iQ and BOMA integration is designed to address this Woltersneed.Kluwer CCH iQ provides firms with the latest tax news and analysis alongside the profile of clients who may be impacted by this tax news or change. CCH iQ is powered by the
“As evolveaccountantsintobusiness advisors, this toolkit is crucial to increasingopportunities.”revenue
BOMA allows firms to easily sync their contacts and create email marketing campaigns, blog posts, or social media posts using a library of pre-existing expert content - or they can upload their own.
The content is usually informative or entertaining, aiming to provide value to the audience rather than being explicitly sales-focussed. Good content delivered in a timely fashion can help position a company as a thought leader and industry expert, and ultimately drive revenue opportunities.
enablingindustryexceptionalforhaveCCHAustralia-basedtaxexpertswhoareputationdeliveringdeepinsightstax, accounting, finance, and legal sectors to make critical business decisions. These are the same tax experts who write Australia’s tax bible, The CCH Australian Master Tax Guide.
Delivering opportunitiesrevenuethrough expert content
This article is
Use Wolters
Wolters Kluwer serves over a million accountants globally and is a global leader in tax, superannuation and accounting knowledge solutions, as well as practice management software, CPD learning and training, website building and management, and Guidingmore. clients through the pandemic energised and strengthened the bond between an accountant and client in numerous ways, notably by re-enforcing the shift away from tax compliance towards the more strategic role of a trusted business advisor.
The sharing of informative content (also known as content marketing) is a popular and powerful way to promote a firm’s knowledge of current, and pending tax legislation; which positions the firm as a subject matter expert. It involves the creation and sharing of content – via email, blog, or social media post – which is designed to increase awareness and trust in a firm and therefore create trust in its services.
your
Firms who subscribed to BOMA were then able to easily share this content and opinion, as if they had written it themselves, with their network
CCH iQ responded immediately with complete detail, knowing many customers have family trusts and needed to know the specifics such as the concept of ‘ordinary and family commercial dealings’, as the ruling was Businessretrospective.owners understand how their trusts work, so that level of knowledge was respected in what was delivered to them. Section 100A drove the decision to use the email headline: How Do I Avoid Penalty Rates? Extended forms of the initial customer email can be put on your website. And because clients need to run their business and let the accounting firm take care of the tax implications, the content lists are carefully curated. Calls
The new collaboration between CCH iQ and BOMA enables firms to access and share a selection of CCH iQ content, via a premium content library in BOMA. This collaboration is designed to reduce the time, cost, and complexity challenges of digital marketing, giving firms real-time, expert content in ready-to-share formats such as emails or social media.
The CCH iQ and BOMA integration produces an automated offering an accountant can embrace. It is not generic. It provides firms with specific, tailored, accurate information and real-time analysis of important tax-related matters.
Firms are also provided with practical tools like pre-written client letters, client impact statements, checklists, and calculators which can be shared with clients to provide a valueadd service and support future revenue opportunities. This integration provides actionable, trusted tax intelligence for many types of firm client – from small to multi-national businesses, high-net-worth individuals, and superannuation funds. With BOMA, firms can now take this content and easily disseminate it to clients via the platform of their choice, such as email, blog posts or social media. This allows easy campaign creation by delivering to an accounting firm the precise, updated advice it can safely publish across its digital channels without worrying about the content’s veracity. It accelerates your marketing and will drive business back to your firm.
The second example is from earlier in the year, when CCH iQ examined the ATO’s tax ruling that significantly impacted family trust distributions. It came out of the blue with no warning. The rulings were reported on general news and tabloid websites, leaving clients anxious.
An automated solution
Two brief examples of recent tax events supported by the CCH iQ and BOMA integration: when the NSW Government released details of its much-anticipated Land Tax Reform in June, CCH iQ provided details of the proposed changes and informed guidance.
Issue 32 / 67Visit the XU Hub: Go to www.xumagazine.com Follow us on Twitter: @xumagazine
CCH iQ outlined the key features, the background and options for homeowners and first-home buyers, and an informed opinion on how it will develop.
WoltersforWoltersBOMAimages.thancustomisable,incomplianceadvisoryready-to-shareandarticlesitslibrary,allandmore1.7millionroyalty-freesubscriberscanaccessKluwerCCHiQcontentasmalladditionalcharge.Kluwersubscribers
BOMA has expert knowledge articles and free images to help accountants and bookkeepers easily create emails, blog posts and newsletters. There are more than 300
who subscribe to BOMA receive exclusive access to the CCH iQ premium content library. The small investment is a core business upgrade that permits critical decision-making. The cloud-based nature of the product makes it adaptable to working practices, assists customer retention, and improves referral rates and higher growth.
what I need to do’. That’s the real magic of Spotlight
Sign up to to saying ‘I know Forecasting:
Accountants using technology to become more agile and influential create momentum with a cumulative effect on customer CCHrelationships.iQandBOMA grow customer interaction points and improve service and potential revenue. There can be no greater satisfaction.
68 / Issue 32 XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users. to the accounting firm for further advice, updated guidance and a plan to ensure compliance are encouraged. Game changing collaboration At the very foundation of the accountant-client relationship, compliance is critical to maintaining trust. The speed and complexity of legislative changes create heavy demands on an accountant’s time. CCH iQ helps firms protect and maintain client trust as well as drive business opportunities by providing accountants with actionable information on tax changes. Through BOMA, sharing this information through multiple digital marketing channels is just a few clicks away.
a free 14-day trial FIND OUT MORE... Our client went from asking ’what am I going to do?’
Clayton Achen, Co-Founder, Achen Henderson CPAs Every deservesbusinessaforecast spotlightreporting.com/forecasting
T The financial technology industry is growing rapidly, and with it comes new opportunities for businesses to improve their cash flow and efficiency.
One area that has seen a lot of growth in recent years is fintech.
hese past years have not been what anyone would call an easy ride. The global pandemic forced businesses to change the way they operate, often on the fly. And while some have been able to adapt and thrive, others have struggled to keep their doors open.
Therefore, in this article, you’ll receive advice on how your business can harness the power of fintech to improve cash flow and efficiency.
Cash flow has become increasingly critical as businesses have had to find ways to stretch their pounds further. This has led many companies to seek out new and innovative ways to improve their cash flow and efficiency.
Cut your admin time and run a more efficient payables process
Fintech, short for financial technology, is a broad term that covers any type of technology that can be used to improve financial services. This can include anything from mobile payments and online banking to investing and borrowing platforms, and offers a range of benefits that can help businesses improve their cash flow and However,efficiency.withnew fintech startups appearing every week and over 800 fintech apps now built specifically for SMEs (Xero, 2021), navigating the fintech landscape and knowing where to begin can be a daunting task.
How much time is your team spending on accounts payable (AP) processes? AP processes can often require substantial manual time input, and the associated tasks are often repetitive and mundane, leaving them prone to human error. Accounts payable automation, as its name suggests, refers to tools or procedures that automate the manual aspects of accounts payable. Most AP automation tools enable you to electronically submit and approve purchase orders and invoices, and the most effective tools will also read invoices and extract information on their own, eliminating the need for any team members to enter any data. As a result, you can drastically cut your costs and time spent on your accounts payable process.
Using a cash flow forecasting tool that integrates directly with your accounting software instead of doing it manually in spreadsheets can help your business save time and effort, and eliminate the possibility of any potential human errors that might occur, which could negatively impact your business and cash flow.
70 / Issue 32 XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.
Make better business decisions and improve your cash flow Accurate and effective cash flow forecasting is important and can mean the difference between success and failure for a company. By being aware of your future financial situations and identifying potential cash surpluses or shortages, your business can take the guesswork out of critical decisions and make better, more informed decisions about where to allocate resources and how to best manage finances.
This article is
Streamline your expenses process and keep accurate spend data Manual expense processes are error-prone, time-consuming for both your staff to submit and your finance team to process, and often result in missed opportunities for cost savings. As businesses typically wait for employees to report their spending and submit their claims, there’s often a delay in data for how company funds are being spent. This can cause a lot
@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.
Harnessing the power of fintech to improve cash flow and efficiency
If you want to optimise your accounts receivable process and improve cash flow, sign up for a free trial with us today! Want to learn more?
of issues as the monitoring of margins, costs, and ROI can be inaccurate. By using an expense management software or tool to help streamline your expense process, you can not only save time and money, but you can also ensure that your business’s spend is completely up-to-date at any point in time. So, if you’re running your expense process across multiple, disjointed platforms or tackling expenses submitted in different formats and across various company cards, you know what you need to invest in. Save time on accounts receivables and put an end to late payments If your business sells on payment terms, you know that late payments can have a severe impact on your business’s cash flow. In fact, in the UK alone, SMEs are owed £50 billion in late payments (CPA, 2021), and research indicates that late payments cause up to 400,000 business failures (FSB, 2022). Being on top of your accounts receivables and getting paid on time has never been more important.
Issue 32 / 71Visit the XU Hub: Go to www.xumagazine.com Follow us on Twitter: @xumagazine
However, managing your accounts receivable is both hectic and time-consuming, and as a result, many companies do not have the resources to do it successfully. That’s where credit management software comes in.
By using fintech, such as Chaser, finance teams can get paid faster and save more than 15+ hours per week on their credit control Insteadactivity. of tracking and managing your debtors in spreadsheets and spending countless hours manually sending payment reminders, credit management software automates this entire process for you and your team. A good example of an end-to-end credit management software is Chaser. With Chaser, you can count on support throughout the entire credit control journey. You’re able to credit check which customers to grant credit to, monitor debtors, chase payments via SMS and email, set up payment instalment plans, collect payments via the Payment Portal, and escalate to debt collections.
Access to all these receivables functionalities in one place minimises late payments and speeds up your processes, improving your business’ cash flow and efficiency. Improving cash flow and efficiency through the power of fintech Repetitive and manual tasks can be a drain on your time and resources, so automating as many of them as possible can have a significant impact on your business. By using fintech to improve your cash flow and efficiency, you can free up time and resources that can be better spent on other areas of your business. In doing so, you can help to improve your bottom line and unlock new opportunities for growth.
left. It’s worth suggesting regular reviews from their finance teams to monitor which subscriptions are live and who is managing them. Alternatively, there may be some vendor subscriptions which were only ever taken out on a free trial basis that started being charged for, unknown to clients. Review performance of marketing activity
usedlicencesexplicitlyandThesehaveAnothercanandtomeanshybridbusinesses,forandworkingthereislikelybescopetodownsizecutcostsifagreementsberenewedannually.categorywhichmaywastageisSAASsoftware.subscriptionscanbepriceytendtobeongoingunlesscancelled.Severalmaynolongerbebeingduetoemployeeshaving
Similarly to the pandemic, accountants now need to step up to support their clients. They must help them manage their day-to-day business and planning for expansion activities, such as internationalising or responding to the economy’s changing needs. In the first instance, accountants should seek to help their clients manage their cash flow. This will ensure they have enough cash in the bank to continue to trade and resources to invest in their Businessesgrowth. will then be able to cut wastage, bolster their working capital and secure their long-term sustainability. Review and eyeball costs Accountants should manually scan their clients’ costs to make suggestions about unnecessary spend that can be cut immediately or in the near future to bolster cash balances. For example, this may include office costs. Office rent is one of the highest outgoings
In today’s uncertain economic environment, it’s more vital than ever for marketing to demonstrate a positive return on
ver the last few months, the economy has taken a nosedive.
@MarketFinance
How to manage cash flow during uncertain economic times
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.
marketingsomebeHowever,shouldandleadsOnlineinvestment.spendthattonewsalescustomersremain.itmaytimetoquestionoftheirbrandactivitiesifcash flow is stretched. Some of the expenditure related to brand (such as billboard advertising and in-person conferences) that demonstrates eminence and awareness may need to be put on hold to conserve cash. It may also be worth considering where to spend intelligently – where are The uncertain economic environment is putting cash flow under the spotlight
This
O Helping clients manage cash flow can ensure they’re able to continue to trade and reach their growth objectives. article is
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) recently announced that they forecast growth in the UK will grind to 0% next year. They also predict that the UK is set to be the slowest growing economy in the ThisG7.grim outlook has been due to a combination of factors, including inflation rising to its highest level in forty years. On top of that we’re seeing energy costs spiralling out of control, complications around the UK’s future relationship with Europe and the war in Ukraine.
“Accountants should manually scan the expenditure of their clients to unnecessarysuggestionsmakeaboutspend”
72 / Issue 32 XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.
Working with clients to monitor the credit status of new and existing customers will limit the risk of businesses getting paid late or not at Accountantsall. can provide this service by partnering with credit bureaus to flag changes in their credit scores and be informed of adverse filings and information. These include County instancealongsideJudgementsCourt(CCJs),theofannual accounts being filed
Issue 32 / 73Visit the XU Hub: Go to www.xumagazine.com Follow us on Twitter: @xumagazine
Fulfilling staffing needs may have become particularly tricky due to the Great Resignation. Many employees left their companies en masse and wages increased due to the war on talent over the past twelve
One area for clients to review outsourcing options is their finance function. This can reduce overheads and allow accountants to become more embedded within their clients’ businesses to advise them better. By managing finance functions in full, accountants will have more regular touch points with clients, rather than speaking to them monthly.
Go Cashless Consumer, retail and hospitality businesses may benefit from moving towards taking payment via card only. This has become £30have(contactlessthemainstreamacceptablemoreandduringpandemiclimitsgoneupfromto£100)andeases cash flow by increasing the number of card payments clearing in seconds with Faster ThisPayments.willboost cash balances by overcoming the delay associated with having to deposit takings in person at high street banks. Moving to cashless may also help reduce client overheads by not needing to set aside resources to handle and bank cash. Monitor credit of new and existing customers
platformsto-endworkingAlternatively,late.withend-creditcontrollikeChaser can help clients recover bad debt. Credit control platforms help automate the recovery of bad debt, and in worst-case scenarios, threaten legal action to recover funds.
Implement cash flow forecasting services
your clients’ competitors reducing spend? Consider outsourcing
To get a continuous overview of the cash health of clients, incorporate cash flow forecasting services. Accountants and their clients can get a real-time view of cash balances and future forecasts by using cloud cash flow providers, including Futrli and TheseFloat. vendors instantaneouslysynctocore cloud accounting platforms (such as Xero, QuickBooks and Sage) and mimic their chart of accounts.
Cont...
Additionally,monthsclients need to be flexible with their staffing requirements because it’s harder to predict the demand for their products and services over the medium and longer-term. Accountants should ask clients to consider outsourcing to be more agile with their spend so that they can flex their needs (and associated costs) without longterm commitments.
“Working with clients to monitor the credit status of customers will limit the risk of businesses getting paid late or not at all.”
This makes managing forecasts light touch, with minimal data entry required. They also can predict future cash balances based on trends around historic payments from customers. For example, some may pay 30-day invoices, 40 days on Accountantsaverage. should use these forecasts’ output to develop strategies to identify and plug short-term cash gaps. Support clients with working capital Providing tips on working capital management can help businesses collect cash faster and hold onto funds for longer. Where possible, extended credit terms should be sought for long-standing suppliers as well as new ones. Alternative suppliers could be found for any requiring particularly prompt payment. Clients’ customers could be offered small discounts if they pay for goods or services upfront. For within30thoseexample,whopaydayinvoices14days could be offered a 5% deduction. Payment terms can be a tricky business but it’s worth renegotiating and discussing alternatives regularly to boost a client’s cash flow. Review financing options It’s useful to help clients review their financing options for cash gaps or if upfront capital is needed to invest in business expansion, and cash receipts aren’t sufficient to fund this.
Assessing options with an alternative lender, such as Find out more MarketFinanceaboutandhow we support your accounting firm: marketfinance.com/ FINDaccountantsOUTMORE...
MarketFinance, rather than a high street bank will enable accountants and their clients to access finance faster, more flexibly and cheaper, without leaving a permanent mark on credit Standardscores.loans of up to £500,000 can be accessed, as well as invoice financing on an invoice-by-invoice basis, rather than the entire debtor book being managed.
“Providing tips on working andcollectmanagementcapitalcanhelpbusinessescashfasterholdontofundsforlonger.”
74 / Issue 32 XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.
Issue 32 / 75Visit the XU Hub: Go to www.xumagazine.com Follow us on Twitter: @xumagazine UNLOCK YOUR POSSIBILITIES Numbers you can trust Answer the questions that matter Engaging reporting made easy Model complex scenarios in minutes Be ready for anything POWERFUL INTEGRATED 3-WAY MODELLING castawayforecasting.com
“Basis period reform is the chance to kickstartautomationpractice’syourtake-up.”
What do accountants need to do? As is often the case with changes to tax law, HMRC is relying upon accountants to get the message out and to explain the areAccountantsdetails.notjustin a position to help their clients but might be the only sources who are able to explain the on-the-ground reality of what the reforms mean for a client’s unique situation.
@AutoEntry
Brian Carolan, Product Owner, AutoEntry Brian Carolan is Product Owner at AutoEntry. He has been working at the organisation since before its launch, helping guide development and success of the worldclass accounting automation Anproduct.expert on all matters relating to accounting, Brian has a deep understanding of not only AutoEntry but how customers use it. Brian is dedicated to helping both the product grow and helping customers and users get the best from AutoEntry.
basiscommencement,theyeartheirsoleBecauseTax.mosttradersalignaccountingenddatetotaxyearfromperiodreform will affect a minority of clients, although this will of course depend on the nature of your client list. It’s anticipated by HMRC that seasonal businesses like farmers, plus medical professionals and businesses with international connections, are most likely to be impacted.
It’sHMRC.also to walk them through making key choices about whether to adjust their accounting
Furthermore,period. clients may need reminding of overlap profits from when they started their business
76 / Issue 32 XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.
s of the 2024/25 tax year, all affected businesses— that is, those that have an accounting year-end date that doesn’t fall between 31 March and 5 April—must switch to using the tax year as their basis period. This is known as basis period reform. It doesn’t just affect those within scope of Making Tax Digital for Income Tax Self Assessment (MTD ITSA). Any unincorporated business could be affected. These businesses will only be liable in respect of profits arising in the actual tax year. Overlap profits or adjustments will no longer 2023/24exist.will serve as a transition period when businesses will have to move to the new fiscal year basis. They will generate transitional taxable profits after their accounting period ends, all the way through to 5 April 2024, to create a one-off 12+ month basis period. For accountants it’s vital to prepare now for basis period reform. Doing so ensures you have the best tools at hand, and that you know how to use them effectively ahead of time.
A Who does it affect? Sole traders and partners in trading partnerships are arguably the biggest groups that will need to make basis period reform adjustments. But also affected are other unincorporated entities, like trading trusts and estates, and non-resident companies with trading income liable to Income
There’s no requirement for businesses to change their accounting date, although not doing so might create complications around apportioning profits or submitting provisional data for MTD ITSA’s end of period statement (EOPS)—and even making estimated tax payments. These will subsequently need to be corrected once the data is known.
This article is The future echoes of MTD ITSA are already being heard by accountants. But there’s a hurdle to overcome before then.
Yet the task moving forward isn’t just to educate your clients about issues such as the requirement to switch to a new basis period, and the relief measures available from
Basis you’llhavereform:periodDoyouthetoolsneed?
But the bigger challenge could arrive when the client expects their accountant to perform tax calculations for a basis period in excess of 12 months. Again, the sheer quantity of paperwork will be exceptional.
It could obviously be challenging for businesses to uncover this information if it is decades old! The data avalanche It’s hard to imagine clients not requiring at least some help with basis period adjustments. The need to know the client’s fiscal position at any given moment when an enquiry arrives will become paramount. This could require gathering together significant amounts of paperwork ahead of the usual deadlines and, of course, converting it to digital format.
and documentation may need to be sought from HMRC. Overlap profits will be deducted from the transitional period profit.
Automation: The vital first step Basis period reform and MTD ITSA both show how automating data collection is the only sane way forward—especially considering MTD ITSA’s digital linking rules that require a digital journey for the data. The only alternative is the endless keying in of data, which as well as being labour-intensive, also risks the possibility of inaccuracies. AutoEntry is the fastest way to accurately capture, categorise and publish financial documents through to accounting software. Accountants or their clients can photograph invoices, receipts and bank statements using a mobile phone. Alternatively, the document can be scanned and emailed, or simply emailed if it already exists in digital form (e.g. a PDF version of a bill). AutoEntry can even fetch regular documents automatically from online sources, such as bills from suppliers. Rules can be created to almost entirely automate the process of Dayspublishing.ofwork are literally reduced to hours. One practice reported the time taken to process paper documents was reduced by approximately 80%. Another mentioned that issues around accuracy have become essentially negligible.
Preparing for MTD It’s a stretch to call basis period reform a blessing in disguise. But it’s certainly going to be something of a rehearsal for the preparation all accountants will need to undertake for the upcoming MTD ITSA introduction. More clients are likely to request help with their accounting in order to meet the MTD ITSA requirements. Many practices are looking into providing outsourced bookkeeping services or embracing a Client Accounting Services model (CAS), a concept imported from the US. Effectively, the business outsources their finance department to Regardlessaccountants.of which route clients choose, there will be an avalanche of data in order to comply with the periodic reporting requirements, plus several different end-of-period statements (EOPS) if the client has multiple businesses or is also a landlord.
Kickstart your automation planning Basis period reform is the chance to kickstart your practice’s automation take-up, if you haven’t already, before the rush of MTD ITSA begins. With firmly-established data automation processes already in place, you’ll be able to cope with anything that comes in the future—including MTD for Corporation Tax, some time after April 2026.
Issue 32 / 77Visit the XU Hub: Go to www.xumagazine.com Follow us on Twitter: @xumagazine Start automating your data entry with a free trial. Visit: FINDautoentry.comOUTMORE...
For those businesses that retain their non-tax-year accounting date, there might also be an ongoing and renewed importance on accuracy so that estimates of profits are true and reflective. If they aren’t then the client is flying blind, and HMRC might also take a dim view in the long term.
XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users. Your new go-to tax from Wolters Kluwer CCH, the BUILT BY ACCOUNTANTS FOR ACCOUNTANTS Find out more Learn more Add value to your clients through real-time, business advisory and tax content from CCH iQ shared through BOMA’s powerful digital marketing platform. Real-life, scenario-based graduate feedbackaward-winningaccountants.content,forlearnersand CCH iQ & BOMA Integration CCH FundamentalsLearning Visit MentionWolters“XeroMag”
Issue 32 / 79Visit the XU Hub: Go to www.xumagazine.com Follow us on Twitter: @xumagazine taxtheresourcesleadersintax more Free Trial scenario-based CPD learning for Gamified learning, content, with real-time and managers. An easy way to monitor the status of any legislative tax announcement since 2010; delivered on the leading CCH iKnow tax research platform. FundamentalsLearning CCH iKnow Australian Tax Monitor Wolters Kluwer at XeroCon Australia 2022 . “XeroMag” for a free 1-month subscription to CCH iKnow. Illustration ‘Desktop’ Illustration ‘Desktop’, inverted 144 x 144 px 144 x 144 px 72 x 72 px 72 x 72 px
With inflation having an impact on so many aspects of our lives right now, small businesses will look to their advisors even more frequently. We’ve spoken to many advisors and tech leaders in our network to bring together best practice strategies you can share with your clients to help them weather the storm.
The Xero Small Business Insights report for July 2022 examines the cash flow crunch that small businesses are experiencing now. Decreased demand If consumer confidence and spending decline, there could be reduced demand for goods and services. As a result, businesses may cut back on production or have fewer new projects, which could mean layoffs and even further declines in consumer spending. The cycle can continue for some time, exacerbating the recession’s effects. Operational changes During a recession, most businesses have to make operational changes and strategic pivots in order to stay afloat. While it might seem counterintuitive, many choose to invest in technology and automation at this time. Spending on software like Xero and WorkflowMax can help reduce the time it takes to do repetitive job management tasks that can be easily done through automation.
@WorkflowMax Millie Vingrys, Global Head of Marketing, WorkflowMax I’m the global head of marketing at WorkflowMax. I really enjoy getting to know our customers and sharing their stories of success and business growth with our community. I love to see how our product helps busy people to steal back precious time to work on what really matters in their lives. is
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I This article
Recession planning: 8 strategies for surviving an economic downturn
t seems like inflation is affecting the cost of just about everything in our daily lives, from vegetables to petrol. If wages don’t increase to match inflation, we could have a recession on our hands. It’s a daunting thought. And why it’s critical that we all take steps to future-proof our businesses and plan ahead now. How a recession can impact business Recap: A recession is a significant decline in economic activity that lasts for at least six months. It’s typically characterised by a decrease in gross domestic product, higher unemployment, and lower consumer spending. A recession can be caused by a variety of factors, including a drop in consumer confidence, an increase in interest rates, or a decrease in exports. A wellmanaged economy will typically recover from a recession within two to three years. However, if the underlying causes are not addressed, a recession can turn into a prolonged period of economic stagnation or even lead to a depression. So let’s look at some ways a recession impact a small business. Reduced cash flow In a recession, consumers typically spend less money. This reduced spending leads to less revenue for businesses, which in turn leads to less cash flow. Less cash coming in could make it difficult to meet financial obligations.
Tip: Reviewing your marketing strategy on a regular basis, even in good economic times, can help you to stay ahead of the competition and make the most of your marketing budget. Read why HBR says you shouldn’t cut your marketing budget in a recession.
One area that’s often reviewed during tough economic times is marketing. Many businesses slash their marketing budgets in an effort to save money, but this can be a false economy. During a recession, consumers are more price-conscious than ever before and can be more loyal to brands they trust. So you want to continue to tell them about your special offers and why their business is so important to you. It’s also a good idea to spend some money on research to identify new opportunities and markets.
Issue 32 / 81Visit the XU Hub: Go to www.xumagazine.com Follow us on Twitter: @xumagazine
5. Review marketing strategies (but don’t stop marketing!)
Tip: One way to forecast cash flow and business performance is by using Xero Analytics. If you haven’t had a good look at it yet and shared its insights with clients, you’ll find that it’s a valuable tool.
4. Review budgets, operating costs and expenditures and cut back where you can One place to start is by looking at expenditures. Are there any areas where you’re spending more than you should? For example, are you spending too much on office supplies or rent if you’re mostly working from home? Cutting back can help to save money without impacting the quality of your product or service. Another area to examine is operating costs. Can you renegotiate your lease or switch to a cheaper supplier? Can you manage your jobs and projects more efficiently?
You might be forced to make tough decisions, but the goal is to make sure your business survives the recession so that you can thrive when the economy recovers.
2. Protect cash flow
Tip: When building up an emergency cash reserve, aim for at least 6-12 months of surplus funds. It’ll take time and discipline but it’s well worth the effort.
3. Establish creditworthiness and pay down any debts Recessionary periods are often accompanied by a decrease in credit availability. When lenders are reluctant to extend credit, businesses with strong creditworthiness are more likely to obtain the financing they need to pay down any debts and continue operations.
Tip: In the same vein, it’s important that you chase down any debtors that owe your company money in order to help with cash flow. Xero and WorkflowMax can help your business get paid faster and on time. And WorkflowMax’s work in progress manager lets you see your un-invoiced work in one place and generate invoices as you go so you don’t miss out on any billable time.
1. Build a cash reserve
Planning can be a tough process at the best of times, let alone when you’re trying to survive an economic downturn. But planning for the worst-case scenario is one of the best things you and your clients can do. Here are strategies you can adopt in your own business and advise your clients about.
A cash reserve can help you weather a temporary dip in sales, unexpected expenses, or a recession. It also gives you and your team peace of mind, knowing that the company has a financial safety net in place.
8 recession planning strategies to use in an economic downturn
By taking steps to improve cash flow management, you can reduce the risks of financial problems and ensure resources are in place to get through tough economic times.
6. Make customers a priority Loyal customers are the lifeblood of any business. They’re the ones who keep coming back. Who spread the word about your business to their friends and family. And who help you stay in business. Cont...
Tip: When employees feel
7. Manage your staff and upskill employees where possible During tough economic times, it can be tempting to cut back on employee training and development. After all, there’s less money to go around. But investing in employee management and upskilling can help you not only survive, but thrive.
To find out more visit: workflowmax.com Find out more... supported and empowered, they’re more likely to be engaged and productive. Upskilling employees in all different types of roles can help spread the load and help out departments that might be feeling the pinch more than others.
In summary
Thanksahead. to our subject matter experts for sharing their insights for this article: James and Shaun are Senior Advisors at BlueRock, a multidivisional professional services firm providing support to entrepreneurs and business owners. They’re experts at helping businesses manage their cash flow and operations every day.
That’s why you have to make sure to treat your customers right. Give them the best possible service, offer fair prices, and show them that you appreciate their business. Do that, and you’ll have customers for life.
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8. Develop innovative practices By investing in technology and automating processes, you can become more efficient, save money and have more time to spend on developing new products or services.
Tip: WorkflowMax has lead manager and client manager features to help convert more leads and keep customer relationships strong.
Combine a systematic approach to business planning with the insight that technology offers, and you – and your clients – can be better prepared for what lies
Tip: Using a tool like WorkflowMax can help you keep track of your unbillable time and develop a strategy to close that gap. It also lets you see profitability across your jobs and manage your staff for maximum efficiency.
Issue 32 / 83Visit the XU Hub: Go to www.xumagazine.com Follow us on Twitter: @xumagazine
• Calculate: Understand costs by inputting data around payment timing rules, loan amortisation and tax schedules.
• Consolidate: Forecast groups of up to 75 entities with multicurrency and include interentity eliminations.
• Compare: Create up to 30 different budgets or forecasts to see how different scenarios play out.
W This article is Where money flows, business grows. A widely known statistic is that more than 80% of small businesses have to close their doors due to poor cash flow management. As businesses face mounting pressures of post-pandemic challenges, inflation and economic uncertainty, this figure has the potential to grow higher still.
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More than simply keeping a business afloat, accurate cash flow reporting and forecasting can also help a business move from strength to strength, cleverly re-investing funds when there is excess and holding tight when needed. What does Spotlight Reporting do differently?
hy is cash flow forecasting important? Cash flow can save a business from having to close its doors, help to raise capital or aid in refinancing. Good cash flow forecasting enables accountants or CFOs to predict income and consider a pessimistic, realistic and an optimistic estimate. It helps to understand possible future situations and catch any potential surprises before it’s too late to change course.
@spotlightrep Matt Kekena, Product Lead, Spotlight Reporting Matt—a former accountant— has been part of the Spotlight Reporting team for over eight years. By working closely with customers, Matt drives the product vision, strategy, and experience to help them solve problems and open new opportunities.
Cash withinFindingforecasting:flowclarityuncertainty
Spotlight Reporting brings years’ of experience and understanding of best accounting practices to forecasting software. We’ve created three-way cash flow forecasts to help users make decisions with confidence. Our forecasts take into account Profit & Loss, Balance Sheets and Overall Cash Flow, providing the option to tap into different budgets and scenario forecasts. Our cloud-based software and integration with leading accounting firms ensures greater ease of use, while our tools touch on everything from ‘whatif’ evaluation and blue sky thinking, right through to more detailed unitbased drivers. This includes building blocks to forecast revenue. clearly defined costs, and potential successes of the business. Visuals such as graphs bring this information to life.
Spotlight Reporting’s features enable users to:
“I use allForecastingSpotlightwithmyCFOclients.It’satoolIreallyrecommendtopeople.”
Sharing informationvital Cash flow forecasting is vital in helping investment,governanceimproveandadd value to firms and clients, and ultimately make confident and informed decisions.
Martin Aitchison, Director at Stepping Stone [see blog], experienced first-hand the power of forecasting. He often uses Spotlight Forecasting for oneoff funding projects for clients looking to grow their businesses. Martin says his clients are often so impressed with the level of insight he can offer that they then retain Stepping Stone for other accounting and advisory services.
• Adjust: Create and edit forecast values including bulk adjustments, formulas to link and calculate account values, and the ability to utilise driverbased forecasting.
Continual improvements for greater benefits At Spotlight Reporting we continue to develop and evolve our services in order to improve convenience, speed and usability.
Cloud-based software tools are changing the game and taking forecasting abilities to a new level. While we can’t tell the future we can draw together the threads of information we have, here and now, and use this picture to guide our way forward.
According to Martin, the reports he creates are professional enough to be submitted to banks and investors, and save him the time and effort of trying to produce something similar in Excel – which often isn’t possible anyway. Reports can also combine historical and future numbers in one place, which is vital when applying to investors or lenders.
•
Forecasting: FINDproduct/forecastingspotlightreporting.com/OUTMORE...
• Creating tasks: The upper limit of tasks has now increased from 7 to 30, and it’s quicker to create a full Three-Way Forecast or a simple Profit & Loss Budget.
Learn more about Spotlight
For instance, we’ve recently made a number of improvements to the Forecasting Task Manager.
Drawing on our continually expanding knowledge of what our users want and need, we’ve added functionality around creating tasks, connecting a data source, and taking actions on tasks:
“I’ve taken on a couple of new clients as virtual CFO for that very reason,” says Martin. “The Spotlight Forecasting tool has been invaluable for me.”
Quicker actions on tasks: We’ve made it faster to create a copy of an existing task to use as the base for a new task, and delete any task that is no longer needed.
When done right, cash flow forecasting is a powerful tool to both reduce risk and boost the chance for sustainable success.
Issue 32 / 85Visit the XU Hub: Go to www.xumagazine.com Follow us on Twitter: @xumagazine
• Connecting a data source: With a more logical starting point, users now find it easier to work through the data import process.
Martin uses the analogy of driving a car to illustrate his point: “You don’t constantly look in the rearview mirror,” he says, “you have to look at what’s happening tomorrow as well. I use Spotlight Forecasting with all my CFO clients. It’s a tool I really recommend to people.”
I grew up in a very business oriented family. It was back in 2012 when my parents set up Bookkeeping4u, and I always wanted to be part of it. I have a small memory of trying to spell Xero out with those little letters that stick to the bathroom tiles once wet! I attended my first networking meeting at the age of 9, adorned with the closest tie I could find to “Xero Blue”. However, it wasn’t until September 2019, whilst entering Year 9, that my parents finally decided I was old and mature enough to help in terms of Xero, including attending Xerocon in the upcoming November. And so, I set about getting Xero Certified, and successfully achieved it on the 29th of September. We were then contacted by Xero a few weeks later, where we were informed that, in fact, I was the youngest person to ever complete the certification. I was sent a box of goodies from the Milton Keynes Office (which included a little trophy engraved with my name) and featured in the Xero Blog. It was at this point that I was approached by Rachael Powell, Chief Customer Officer, who had discovered I would be attending Xerocon and asked how I would feel about making an appearance during her keynote speech on the Main Stage. I managed to negotiate a meet-andgreet with astronaut Tim Peake, and so made my Xerocon debut on Day 2 in front of a packed ExCel London.
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Q&OllieBeale,AXero’sYoungest
XU: Today we are joined by 16 year old Ollie Beale who is the youngest ever Xero certified advisor. We wanted to take this opportunity to speak with him about his journey to date and what’s Ollie,next.
OB:advisor?
Certified Advisor
XU: How important has Xero been to your career to date and what part will it play in the future?
As for the future, it was at this year’s Xerocon London back in July where this became clear. Once again, I was contacted by Rachael just before the event and asked about being on the Main Stage. This time my appearance was kept as a complete surprise – even the sound guy had me down as ‘surprise guest’! Hence, once again, I was on stage during her keynote speech but this time she had a surprise for me, Xero will pay for my university tuition. It was unbelievable for me, and it shows quite how great an impact Xero are having on my early career. I look forward to prospects between us in the future.
CoverInterviewStory
XU: The Xero CommunityUsersloves to hear (and see) your story living out. It’s amazing to This article is
OB: I am so grateful for the opportunities I have been given by Xero already. Following Xerocon 2019, I set up a LinkedIn account and the response from our community was overwhelming. Within one month I had reached 500+ connections which included CEO Steve Vamos – I still have a screenshot of the notification of his request to connect! The company’s support for me helped to build my confidence, enabling me to take up opportunities which presented themselves. Being Xero certified meant I could work for my parents and gain key business skills whilst still in full-time education. I was even able to juggle payroll around my GCSE revision.
can you start by telling us about your journey and how at 13 years old you became the youngest ever Xero certified
OB: Although still only 16 now, I seem to have matured a lot over the past three years. Back in 2019, I had zero on stage experience and the biggest crowd I’d ever been in front of was my Year 6 end of year production. At Xerocon, I was literally shaking whilst sitting in the ExCel London green room, waiting for my call to go up! However, being in front of such a massive but considerate audience helped to build my confidence and inspired me to want to speak more often. During the pandemic, I attended and spoke in a lot of Zoom calls, which also gave me much needed experience. I also have a coach who has significantly improved my confidence. This year the preparation was vastly different. I listened to music as usual to ‘get into the zone’ before we left for Tobacco Dock. We arrived around an hour before Day 2 got formally underway, where we met up with Helen Kingham, Director Executive of Communications. She took me down to meet the sound team - who gave me my mic and took sound checks - and showed me exactly where on the stage I would need to stand. I met with Rachael again, who offered me some reassurance. There were two speakers before me and so I was sat at the front of the Main Stage audience, alongside the senior Xeros. I took some last-minute mental notes of what the first speakers were doing well, before Rachael began her keynote session. Around 15 minutes into the session, she reintroduced me to the crowd, a lot of whom had seen me in 2019. Daft Punk’s ‘One More Time’ then hit, which was my cue to go up. Once upon the stage, unlike in 2019, I took a long look out at the audience, to really savour the moment of being back. The experience of having thousands of kind members of our community cheering me on is one I will never forget, and I hope to one day do it again.
LinkedIn has played a noticeably significant role in the reputation I have created. I initially joined to connect the people I had met at Xerocon 2019 – including an ex-pilot turned accountant who had heard about my passion for aviation. In January 2020, I became Payroll Certified and decided to share the news on my LinkedIn. The response was overwhelming, with the post gaining over 700 likes and 63,000 impressions, more than the capacity of my favourite football team Arsenal’s stadium! However, some people were less kind in receiving the news, as I was
OB: Much of the response I have received has been similar across all industries. Away from Xero, I am extremely passionate about football; many members of that industry are also more than happy to connect with me. How connected the whole accounting community is to specifically the women’s game has surprised me, with even my favourite player and Euro 2022 Winning Captain Leah Williamson, a trainee accountant herself. I was incredibly honoured when even former Lioness and Xerocon 2022 speaker Fara Williams said she was impressed by my achievements!
XU: Many of us will know that Xero loves to bring you up on stage at Xerocons and get you to share your journey and rightly so. But as a 16 year old how does this feel and how do you prepare yourself to speak in front of so many people?
see someone with so much drive so young. However, what do people outside of the community think about what you have achieved so young and how does this differ?
CoverInterviewStory
XU: Social Media is a massive part of everyone’s life. How do you feel you are able to impact people of all ages with your social OB:media?
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Below: Ollie with footballerWilliamsonLeah
Xero’s backing of the Women’s game is praiseworthy, and I am looking forward to seeing the brand during next year’s World Cup. I have also become somewhat of a local business celebrity. Since Xerocon 2019, I often receive questions about my achievements and what plans I have for the future, whilst at networking events. This is partially thanks to my school, the Hereford Cathedral School, whose publicity after the event resulted with me in the newspaper and even on the radio. I’ve also appeared on several podcasts, stretching all the way from cloud accounting to social media.
Issue 32 / 89Visit the XU Hub: Go to www.xumagazine.com Follow us on Twitter: @xumagazine keypay.com Grow your accounting firm in the cloud Understand the need for accountants to adapt to new technology, and reach untapped potential using cloud payroll and workforce management tools. With our guide, learn how to: Embrace your changing role Turn payroll and processes into profit Leverage powerful cloud software to add value for your clients to save time and streamline processes and drive revenue for your firm Download our free guide!
90 / Issue 32 XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.
OB: As I mentioned on stage, the last few years have really shown us all quite how unpredictable life can be. Who could have thought we would spend the worst parts of two years in some form of lockdown? I am barely over halfway to 30 and so would require a DeLorean to give any form of realistic prediction. However, I really enjoy public speaking and would like to do more of it in the future, although getting some experience at smaller venues than the ‘Glastonbury of accountants’ is necessary. I also aim to continue to grow my LinkedIn network, and maybe even be an influencer at 30? I hope to also have the confidence to freely post on my Instagram, where I have been quite reserved. For now, I try to stay grounded by appreciating each day as it comes. On personal terms, I would love to travel to Australia. I have many family members who live in Adelaide, and I aim to stay with them one day. Maybe even a Xerocon could be scheduled into the visit!
I formally finished school back in June, with my last GCSE (Physics Paper 2) on the 23rd. However, I am staying at the Hereford Cathedral School Sixth Form for the next two years, after being renewed as an Academic Scholar. I joined the school back in Year 7, and I cannot thank them enough for their support, helping me to maximise my time in education. Without them, I would have struggled to find the confidence I have needed for my achievements. Therefore, I am over the moon to be continuing for two extra years, as I complete my A-Levels. I will be completing 4 A-Levels, including Maths and English Literature. After that, thanks to the incredible gesture by Xero, I will be continuing onto university. Where and for what I am still unsure of at the current time, although London area sounds cool. As well as working at Bookkeeping4u, my parents also run a local events company called ‘Herefordshire means Business’. I am hoping to use these events as a chance to gain amnetworking.speakingbusinessvitalexperience,intermsofbothpublicandIalsogoing to be taking the reins in organising a business conference in 2023, for which I am hoping Xero may attend. I am also currently a Fundraising Volunteer for my local football club, Hereford FC, and hope to continue in this role for the near future.
CoverInterviewStory
OB: Rather than giving a 16-year-old opinion, a quote that I find quite thoughtful would be from my childhood idol Richard Branson, whose entrepreneurial nature has always inspired me (especially growing up mad about planes and trains): “If somebody offers you an amazing opportunity but you are not sure you can do it, say yes – then learn how to do it later!”
XU: It’s been great being able to speak with you and get your insight into being a young Xero User. To finish, what bit of advice would you give to anyone reading this interview?
XU: I am sure many of us would agree your future is bright. What do the next few years look like for OB:you?
informed by few to ‘get a life’ and received other similar negative comments. This really affected my confidence, as I was only just 14, and so became more reserved on my social media. As we were plunged into the first lockdown in March 2020, I decided to start sharing more personal posts on my LinkedIn, sharing one post per day of lockdown. From the raspberries or sunflowers which I grew in my garden, to a maths lesson turned scavenger hunt, these posts were received tremendously by my connections. These continued for over 100 days, which included being one of the first people awarded with ‘Creator Mode’. Many of my followers will know I share a lot of my personal life on my account nowadays, showing my similar bedriveinitiativewithandteenager,aIfollowersyoungthataminfactnormalthatenoughandanyonecaninmyposition.Ilovewhenpeople recognise me from my LinkedIn, as it proves to me that the work I put in is being received far more with positive opinions than the occasional negative. I was honoured when Rachael called me a ‘Xero Ambassador’, and this is a label I try to live up to. ‘Xero Queen’ Laura Evison also recently crowned me the ‘Xero Prince’, a title I need to start using more often!
XU: Following on from that, where do you see yourself when you are 30?
Issue 32 / 91Visit the XU Hub: Go to www.xumagazine.com Follow us on Twitter: @xumagazine We offer a range of funding solutions, including business loans and invoice finance. marketfinance.com/accountants 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. APPROACHING BUSINESS FINANCE DIFFERENTLY Hassle-free referral It takes just a few minutes Quick decision So your clients get funds faster Personal service From your relationshipdedicatedmanager
This article is
Not starting from scratch
These days, when every document is generated digitally, there is no reason to print and mail it to the customer anymore. Every time you need to handle paper, everybody loses out. It is simply a wasteful process.
Adapting old ways of doing things to a digital environment can be tricky. This can be true especially if you try too hard to replicate your processes to exactly what they were in the physical world.
You will find that many steps of the old processes are unnecessary in the digital version, or can be combined in a way that allows you to complete them in one step. Have your colleagues used to collect all the invoices for you to process in a folder on a shared drive? Invite them to your data capture tool, so they can upload documents directly to the system in which you are working. Automating everything all at once It is easy to get excited by all the possibilities of a new technology. However, technical capabilities are only one piece of the puzzle. Bear in mind that trying to change all your existing processes all at once can be extremely overwhelming for your organization. Careless adaptation of automation will not yield the same results as a proper implementation allowing your teams and employees to get familiar with the tool, its benefits and limitations. In order to ensure smooth implementation, properly train the involvedpeoplewith the process. Without proper training, your employees will not use the full potential of the technologynewyou are paying for. Or even worse, they will start to detest the new process. Keep it simple - start with just one workflow. Once you have people fully on board, introduce another process. Prematurely automating certain processes Just like trying to automate everything at once, automating a process with minimum efficiency gains is another common mistake.
Automating everything just for the sake of it can turn costly and energy Evaluatedraining.yourexisting processes and identify those which could benefit from automation the most. Take the time to learn about automation possibilities
Jan Korecky, Chief Executive Officer, Datamolino
While being passionate about processes automation, Jan is also a big advocate of the human element in business. Seeing real people behind each organization and focusing on their needs first and foremost helps him find ways to simplify their day to day jobs. This approach is also reflected in great customer support as one of the cornerstones of Datamolino, which Jan cofounded.
O Common automation mistakes and how to avoid them
92 / Issue 32 XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.
ver the past 9 years we have worked closely with our clients to simplify the collection of their accounts payable documents and to automate their invoice data entry and other related bookkeeping tasks. We have seen many great outcomes when using Datamolino with Xero and gained many useful learnings. For some of you, these tips may be old news by now. However, when talking to prospective clients, we often still see these mistakes around, so read Keepingon!the paper as part of your process
Start from scratch and focus on the desired outcome using new digital capabilities.
Are you making these mistakes?automationbookkeeping capabilities“Technicalare exciting, but they are only one piece of thepuzzle.”automation
How to break the cycle? Start where the document originates. Can it be sent as a digital PDF instead? We still see a lot of paper being processed, but once you ask your suppliers, they typically are happy to send you your invoices via email. Have these emails automatically forwarded to your data capture software to save one more step in the process.
Learn how Datamolino can help you automate your bookkeeping processes:
FINDdatamolino.com/OUTMORE...
Entropy is the natural tendency of things to lose order. Left to its own devices, life always becomes less and less structured. In a business context, this means that every person on the team has a tendency to do things in their own way, which can lead to mistakes and inefficiencies. Even common bookkeeping processes can be completed in many different ways, depending on an individual. Remedy to this? Standardize and document your processes. Keep the documentation up to date. Ensure that your training procedures are in sync with the process documentation. It is a good idea to review each process from time to time to keep the entropy in check. Proper documentation will also help you with onboarding new team members. Not testing the customer support as integral part of the software solution Nobody likes to read the manual so make sure to contact the customer support of the software that you are considering. Is the customer support responsive and can it help you with onboarding your team members? Will they be helpful in answering questions that will inevitably arise? This is an often overlooked step in the whole automation journey. Down the road you will encounter situations that will require customer support. Interacting with the customer support before you commit to a new solution can give you an insight into how much help you can expect in the future.
Issue 32 / 93Visit the XU Hub: Go to www.xumagazine.com Follow us on Twitter: @xumagazine and results it can bring in the context of your own operations. Not automating enough
Another trap that you can fall into is not automating enough. After the first successful automation implementation, it can be tempting to tick automation as done on your to do list. Everyday operations tend to get in the way and other priorities can take over. Make sure to periodically review your processes and look for ways to standardize and automate. Letting entropy kill your efficiency
94 / Issue 32 XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.
With more than 3000 dedicated team members working for 800+ accounting firms worldwide, Nick is strengthening the accounting industry by providing highlyskilled outsourced talent through TOA Global. Nick has spoken to tens of thousands of accountants from around the world and has sat on several boards and committees.
He has also been featured in Accountants Daily, Public Accountant: The Official Journal of The Institute of Public Accountants, The Financial Observer, and numerous other digital media outlets.
A Solve QuicklyEasilyShortageTalentYourand @TOAGlobal This article is
Nick Sinclair, Founder, TOA Global and Ab Institute of Accounting
s a global talent solutions provider dedicated to the accounting industry, TOA Global has highlyskilled talent on-hand to help your business grow. We do not make this claim lightly. We have only the best Philippine accountants working in our teams. This can be achieved with collective brilliance: A combination of your business acumen, our learnings helping more than 800 accounting firms scale efficiently, and our global team members – highly-skilled accountants, bookkeepers and financial support staff. So, what would your firm gain by filling those key roles? Better return, growth and turnaround Aly Garret (All In Advisory, Adelaide) points out that both offshore and local team members are benefiting from their decision to outsource, and as a result the business has grown.
“If you’re a growing business, you’d need to be outsourcing.
Issue 32 / 95Visit the XU Hub: Go to www.xumagazine.com Follow us on Twitter: @xumagazine
Alessio Roscio (Managing Director: RCR Partners, Adelaide) was relieved that business could continue without any interruptions when an onshore staff member left to move overseas. “It’s the efficiency that we’re gaining now, also having the comfort of the resources readily available, that’s a big thing!”
hours of manual data entry each week Keep your
your
Don’t wish you’d done it sooner – get in touch today for a free outsourcing strategy tailored to your goals and what’s important to you.
I think that you can’t just have everything all in-house… When a staff member left it was very comforting to know that we had people in Manila that could pick up the job, whereas if I was advertising for somebody back home, it might have taken a little bit longer.”
books in order with accurate data Financial
“We’ve got better return, we’ve grown, and turnaround is much faster because now we have more people helping us to get things moving and out the door. It also allows us to over-resource and provide extra support for our local team so that they can concentrate on their own areas instead of having to sort of work across everything and everywhere.”
to
Overcome downtime – staff offshore stepped in at short notice
The TOA Global obsession with potential We do more than help owners of accounting and bookkeeping firms around the world increase their capacity and efficiency using global teams in the Philippines. Behind our success as a leading talent solutions provider dedicated to the accounting industry, is our obsession with the potential of people to thrive in their businesses, careers and communities. We use the latest smart hiring techniques to find top talent, people who are curious, ambitious, committed
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Save client’s tools help clients reach their full potential and more! and passionate about their clients. Then we amplify each team member’s potential through upskilling, career development and local accreditation. Finally, we invest heavily in ensuring we provide outstanding places to work and industry-leading platforms for team members and clients to maximise productivity and connection. With key staff in place, win back time to spend as you choose
theoutsideThinkingofbox
timeperhapssectors.manufacturinghospitalityservices,professionalandSo,theisrightto look to the flexibility and functionality of construction applications like QicWorks. Ability to set Markup
Prior to founding QicWorks, Karen worked in heavy industry for 15years & has extensive experience in project management, controls & business admin. She is passionate about delivering digital solutions that make life easier for businesses, reading thrillers & quoting 80’s movies back to her kids.
It’s no secret that the building and industryconstructionhasoneof the most complex payroll and onboarding requirements of any sector. QicWorks uses free form pay rules to help navigate and Karen Parker, CEO, Qicworks
Why construction software might
reating and maintaining a tech stack to suit your client’s needs has never been more challenging than it is today. With so many applications available that integrate, automate and streamline business administration, accountants and business advisers now have the perfect opportunity to look outside of the box to help solve your clients pain points.
“Never
As more businesses move to a cost-plus pricing model to combat price increases, construction applications that set markup at account, job or purchase order level will help increase gross profit. ManagementWorkforce
answer you are looking
96 / Issue 32 XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.
Fundamentally, the ever-changing nature of the construction industry has meant that project and job management software must be designed with flexibility in mind. Historically construction software has been used to solve problems associated with capturing and reporting price and job variations, progress claims, irregular work patterns, manage remote teams and report requirements that differ from job to Postjob.pandemic these problems have expanded to the
billable
C
@qicworks be the for lose track of again.”hours
This article is
Cost to Complete Tracking job profitability at any stage gives financial stakeholders the confidence they need to make key business decisions.
Workforce scheduling is an integral component of job management and managing your team’s locations can be time consuming with constant changes to job durations, priorities, resource availability or missed scheduling,anddropuseautomation,reworkschedulingsoftwareConstructionmilestones.reducesthroughofdragandtechnologiesintegratedjobrosterand leave management tools.
QicWorks automatically calculate costs to complete, compare actual to estimate, calculate work in progress at any time and can invoice progress claims. Never lose track of Billable Time Having the ability to capture and record your time data the way you want is certainly a key aspect of software selection. This is because your time data is used to not only calculate your job costings, but also ensure your staff are paid correctly for hours worked, ensuring you never lose track of billable hours again.
“Discover the flexibility and offunctionalityconstructionsoftware.”
Uncover the flexibility of construction software at:
the perfect time to investigate the flexibility and functionality of construction applications like YouQicWorks.never know. It might just be the answer you and your clients have been searching for.
As more businesses investigate ways to increase their profit margins while trying to navigate supplier price increases, the challenges of managing remote teams and substantiating claims for lost billable hours, now is
FINDqicworks.comOUTMORE...
Issue 32 / 97Visit the XU Hub: Go to www.xumagazine.com Follow us on Twitter: @xumagazine remove the complexity of multiple enterprise agreements, industry awards and site allowances, as well as remove data touch points and reduce costly payroll errors.
1. Choose your services In our industry, client relationships are the mainstay to our success. It takes time and
underdeliver.don’tprovideclientsmanyisoverallandcurrentReviewingPlanningCapacitybothyourcapacityyourteam’scapabilitiesvitaltodecidehowofyourexistingyoucouldfeasiblythisserviceto.Youwanttoover-commitand
advisoryrevenueIncreasingwith.throughservices
Step 3:
2. Train your team A key part of offering advisory services is ensuring that you have a team that can do the work. Depending on the current expertise and makeup of your team, you may need to invest in some training. You will need to train them to know how to U Often the easiest way to ‘grow’ is to sell additional services to existing clients. In other words, increase your revenue by doing what you already know, with people that you already have a relationship
reallyfromneedidentifybuiltOncethesegrow,resourcesvaluabletostart,andmaintainrelationships.thattrustisandyoucanwhichclientsextraservicesyou,it’snotevenasalesprocess—it’s just an extension of your current relationship. Start small. Don’t try to sell every service to every client right off the bat. Even if you do succeed and they all say yes, you likely won’t have the capacity to deliver on what you’ve sold them. Here is a good process to follow:
Step 1: Understand your Client Service Matrix Gain a solid understanding of your current client service matrix by listing all of your clients against all of the services you currently provide. Mark off which of these services your clients are currently using. Step 2: Pick a service to sell The next step is to choose a few services that you would like more of your clients to take up—for example, cash flow monitoring. The services you pick should be those that you are confident in your ability to deliver.
ndoubtedly you have heard the phrase “go after the low-hanging fruit”. It’s a common approach for businesses that want to grow but may be unsure how to do it or not ready for an expensive expansion. For accountants and bookkeepers, the easiest way to do this is to sell additional services to existing clients. In other words, you’ll increase your revenue by doing what you already know, with people that you already have a relationship with. Combine this with the talk over the past few years about the need for accountants and bookkeepers to offer more than just compliance services, and it starts to make sense to look towards advisory services to increase your revenue. As technology continues to automate the monotonous compliance related tasks, many clients now expect and look for this form of ongoing advice from their accountants rather than simply calling on them for compliance lodgements. Advisory services can not only increase your revenue, but also significantly help strengthen client Evenrelationships.thoughthis might all sense, it doesn’t mean that it’s a walk in the park. Advising clients on tax and other compliance issues is one thing; providing impactful business advice is another. There are many challenging steps that you need to address to provide additional services. Let’s look at 4 areas in more detail to help you get started and deliver advisory services.
An Accountants guide This article is
@ignitionapp Emma Crawford-Falekaono, Managing Director EMEA, Ignition Emma has over 15 years’ experience in business across NZ, AU, US and UK. Starting her career with a global accounting firm before a stint with the British Military, Emma has spent the last decade on senior leadership teams of successful technology businesses including Xero, Tradify and Ignition. She founded Bastion Consulting Services in 2018. She is passionate about helping businesses succeed with a focus on operational excellence and culture. “50% of Ignition customers were able to redirect their staff from revenuerolesadministrativetodirectgeneratingtasks”
98 / Issue 32 XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.
Issue 32 / 99Visit the XU Hub: Go to www.xumagazine.com Follow us on Twitter: @xumagazine
identify opportunities in your client’s financials. Where can they optimise costs? Are there opportunities that you can see? How is their cash flow - is there enough or do they need funding? Is revenue increasing or declining? Can you see any cyclical trends? Are profitability ratios changing?
Taking payment details upfront is a similarly useful strategy for clients who operate on a bill on completion basis. Once you finalise the work, immediately raise an invoice in Ignition and set the wheels in motion by arranging to take payment. If you operate using timebased billing then don’t worry. Simply provide your clients with a price range or an hourly rate, all of which can then be billed on completion. Leveraging technology Whilst this might all sound like a lot of work, it is also where technology can help! By leveraging systems such as Ignition, you can template your engagements, send them digitally to your clients, collect digital approvals/signatures and payment details. Ensuring you are protected when taking on advisory services for your clients, and helping you have full control over the process. So now it’s time to go out there and sell! To that end, Ignition helps you create exceptional client experiences and foster win-win relationships. With features that facilitate proposals, billing, and client management, Ignition’s client engagement and commerce platform makes doing business a breeze.
“86% of all
Once you have selected your services to market you can use your client matrix to identify all the clients that aren’t currently benefiting from this service. You may well prefer to market on a one-to-one basis via a phone call or email but for the best reach, you should consider a one-tomany approach.If you don’t have an existing CRM tool for mass communications then consider using an easy alternative like Mailchimp. You can import into these tools a list of emails for the clients that you would like to offer the additional services to.
If you would like to find out how can Ignition help you get started with advisory services: Start your 14-day trial today FIND OUT MORE... Book a 1:1 demo with our experts
The team must know how to ask more questions of your clients to help them uncover the root causes of why all these things are happening in their business. Do they need help with goal setting? Do they need help with KPI Teachingmonitoring?your team how to identify and answer these questions will be cornerstone to a good, scalable advisory offering. It will also mean that you will be able to bring them on the advisory journey with you, grow their confidence and take bigger steps towards a successful rollout of new services.
proposalsIgnitionsentareaccepted”
Remember, your communication should explain clearly the service you want to provide, what is the value of this service, options available to the delivery of the services (once-off, monthly, etc) and how the client can contact you for more details or to kick off the process.
3. Marketing your new services
4. Getting Engaged and Paid Scoping is your secret weapon. Scoping needs to become a well-integrated part of your firm’s workflow, especially when providing advisory services. A detailed scoping session will provide much-needed context into your clients’ existing practices and goals for the future—enabling you to provide better advice that makes a lasting impact on your clients’ businesses. A thorough scoping session will give you all the information you need to produce a detailed and accurate letter of engagement that guides your working relationship going forward. Once you’ve identified what your client needs, how much time this advisory service will take your firm, and how much it will cost, you should then create and send out a detailed engagement. Engagements clearly state what’s expected, when, and how much these services will cost—thereby eliminating misalignment between accountant and client, especially when it comes to services and fees. A signed engagement greatly reduces the risk of scope creep and minimises the potential for fee disputes going forward. You should send an engagement agreement as soon as they decide to proceed or update your current engagement agreement.
Taking payment upfront is the next logical step. You’ve already confirmed the price, so why not also ensure that you’ll be paid on Iftime?you operate on a monthly recurring fees basis, then you need to be in control of the payments process. Therefore, make sure to take down your payment details as soon as you engage with a client. You never want to find yourself in a situation where you’ve agreed upon a monthly fee, are supplying ongoing services to your client, but they’re failing to pay you.
100 / Issue 32 XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.
orldFirst offers accounting teams managing managementdedicatedoverviewThisthemexchangecompanieslarge-scaletailoredcurrencyinformationtohelpexpandinternationally.articlewillgiveanofWorldFirst’srelationshipservices.
Providedservices. you are looking to exchange currency between two similar markets you can process foreign payments on the same day. WorldFirst has an extended range of cut-off deadlines for businesses looking to make sameday payments. In cases where two markets are not paired, or you miss the cut-off deadlines, we’ll do our best to make the transfer the following day. Tailored to your business needs Keeping track of market movements is a full-time job, and developments in geopolitical news stories can tip exchange rates up or down on an hourly basis. International accounting teams need the best data sources to help them perform spot trades or decide on payment windows in their forward contracts. WorldFirst relationship management teams are trained to help larger businesses make the most of the FX market at any time. Outsource your accounting team’s worries about currencies dipping out of your favour by getting in touch with WorldFirst to learn more on currency-related hedging instruments. Educating your clients on international accounting options Part of providing your business clients with an excellent service is educating them on the steps
Faster currency exchange in international accounting
International accounting is a tricky area for businesses to navigate. Economic risks associated with trading abroad include (but are not limited to) minimising financial risk in currency transactions, sourcing reliable suppliers and complying with changing tax protocols. However, when it comes to managing currency, international accounting teams can access help in bespoke FOREX trading information. Seeking the support of an expert can help minimise risk when transferring large amounts of currency.
accountingInternationalextras: the benefits of WorldFirst dedicated managementrelationship
Company expansion projects are a massive undertaking for e-commerce businesses. The pandemic has meant that brands have had to pivot and find new ways to reach potential customers. For some, this means looking further afield to international markets.
If you’ve ever needed to change suppliers abroad or buy currency to make an international transaction to an overseas client, you’ll know that time is of the essence when it comes to doing business. Sending funds quickly can make all the difference in satisfying a set of customers, or landing a deal with a new client.
Using traditional SWIFT money transfers can take up to five days, leaving your business’s cash flow at risk for an extended period. Finance teams need to ask themselves, ‘Can we afford to wait five days for a payment to clear? Will waiting for an extended period affect sales or cause a bottleneck in our supply chain?’ If the answer is, ‘no,’ you may need to find a solution for faster international currency payments. Businesses can move money more effectively (and at a better exchange rate than most high street banks) by partnering with reliable FinTech’s with fast and secure money transfer
WThis article is
@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.
Issue 32 / 101Visit the XU Hub: Go to www.xumagazine.com Follow us on Twitter: @xumagazine they can take to scale up their Bybrand.partnering with WorldFirst and making the most of our relationship management team, we can help you outline the benefits of setting up faster, cheaper currency transfers. You can feel confident that you will have all of the information you need to help you best manage international finance risk within your clients’ business models.
Our client went from asking ’what am I going to do?’ to saying ‘I know what I need to do’. That’s the real magic of Spotlight Forecasting: Clayton Achen, Co-Founder, Achen Henderson CPAs Every deservesbusinessaforecast spotlightreporting.com/forecasting
To find out more about WorldFirst, visit our website: www.worldfirst.com/uk/ LIKEpartners/accountingWHATYOUHEAR...
WorldFirst case study with Hivery Hivery is an advanced analytic software company that creates AI used by multinational clients like Coca-Cola and Molson Coors. By partnering with WorldFirst, the company operationsexpandedfromAustralia, setting up headquarters in America and Tokyo. In just six years since its formation, 80% of Hivery’s income now comes from offshore Thanksclients. to WorldFirst, the company was able to get the best rates on exchanging money, enabling them to scale up operations quickly.
T a pain-free VAT return really exist? not – but they are manageable with a system of checks.
VAT Returns – Tips and Tricks for the Modern Accounting Firm Explore a step-by-step framework to help improve your existing process
102 / Issue 32 XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.
3. Penalties and interest
5. Reputational damage There’s always a bigger picture to consider. Significant or multiple VAT mistakes could signal the end of your working relationship with a particular client. You may be disengaged with all work being moved to another firm of accountants, and word spreading may damage your reputation with existing and potential new clients. So, what can you do to make
1. Administrative burden As you know, mistakes happen. In this instance, any errors you make on your previous VAT returns over the current reporting threshold could well mean a visit from HMRC – a visit no firm wants.
2. Stress and time VAT inspections can be daunting. Despite the forewarning, there’s nothing that quite prepares you for a visit from an HMRC officer. They can go on for hours and disrupt your flow of work. I can say this through first-hand experience.
The stress of an in-person HMRC visit is soon put into perspective when the penalty lands. You may also find you have to offer your client a credit note against work previously undertaken that will impact your own margins. Finally, let’s not forget the uncomfortable, internal conversations that have to be had around how it happened in the first place.
Does
@dextofficial Paul Lodder (FCCA), VP of Accounting Product Strategy, Dext Paul Lodder is Dext’s Vice President of Accounting Strategy. ACCA qualified in 2003 and with over twenty years at mid-market firms, Paul now applies his insight to help shape a range of products fit for today’s accounting industry. Paul and his team also submitted the first ever VAT return under MTD in the UK. So he’s well-versed in implementing new ways to make the entire process more efficient.
Probably
If you file an incorrect return, the consequences can have a serious domino effect on both your clients and firm.
returnswithknowprovidetherequirements.time-consumingresource-heavy,regulatoryThey’renotalwaysmostexcitingserviceyou’lltoaclient,butit’sonewetheyvalue.Asisthecasemostcompliancetasks,VATcomewithariskfactor.
4. Cash flow implications If your client’s VAT liability has been under-declared, and that gets picked up by HMRC, it may result in an unexpected and non-negotiable outflow of cash. Alternatively, if the VAT liability was previously over-declared, then your client is left with a cash flow imbalance. That could lead to poor forecasting and even missed investment opportunities.
he domino effect VAT returns are
standardised
Standardising
This article is
This is particularly important for clients operating on the cash basis for VAT, but it’s relevant for all VAT registered clients. As is the case with all these checks, look for irregularities and flag if you come across something that doesn’t look right. The Pre-filing – Essential Checks
• Confirm the VAT return is prepared (and balance)
• Key ratio checks for VAT boxes 1-6
•smoothly:Arebank transactions fully reconciled and do they contain all the transactions for the period?
Your VAT return is now prepared. But the review process doesn’t end here. There are a handful of other things we need to look out for before we finally file the
• Is the bank feed connected – if not, when was it disconnected?
Reconcile Debtors and Creditors ledgers
this is something that can be done when you receive a client’s bookkeeping. Draft Invoices
• Are there any paper transactions transactions?correspondingwithoutbank
• Does the bank statement balance in the accounting software actually match the period in review? This is even more important when dealing with direct bank accounts as they can be prone to missing certain transactions. I’ve heard of examples where two months of transactions have gone missing. Once these checks have been done, you can move onto stage two. The Return –Essential Checks
The success of a VAT return often hinges on the work that goes in beforehand. At this stage, there’s plenty of things we need to keep an eye on to ensure that the actual VAT preparation runs
• Check high value transactions –the higher the value, the bigger the risk
Streamlining the process even further With a set flow of checks, the VAT returns process is more than manageable. There is, however, one other thing to consider if you want to simplify it even more – technology. There will always be a manual element when it comes to VAT returns. Automated technology is an extra set of eyes, technology“Automatedisan extra set of eyes, verifying your work throughout the VAT process”
The real VAT return starts now. And at this point, it all comes down to accuracy. That means checking the work, then checking again. Multi-coded transactions
• Are there any bank transactions without paperwork?
•return.Check high risk account codes, like travel and entertainment expenses
1. The Buildup – the work you do before you start the VAT return
Check that there are no unwanted duplicate transactions that have been entered more than once in the period. As you know, this isn’t the most exciting task. If your clients do, however, provide you with regular bookkeeping, you can check for duplicates as that data comes in. Duplicate Contacts Duplicate contacts can cause duplicate transactions. Check that all transactions in the VAT period have the correct, accurate supplier information. Again,
This is particularly relevant for the Accruals scheme. We should always check that at the point of the VAT return being completed, there are no draft invoices in the accounting software that may need to be accounted for in the current VAT period.
Specific suppliers are often coded with a tax rate to a specific chart of accounts code. Sometimes, this may not be the case or there might be multiple tax codes. These are often minor errors, but once we identify it and make it more accurate, it can result in an improvement in the net VAT position. Duplicate transactions
2. The Return – what’s required while preparing the VAT return?
3. The Pre-filing – final checks and reviews before you file By separating it into subsections, you can focus on the work that needs to be done at each stage. You also naturally introduce a step-by-step framework that your entire team can follow before moving onto the next check. That in itself is an excellent way to standardise VAT returns. With a recogniseable workflow that people buy into and understand, you can mitigate risk and increase Let’sefficiency.sayone of your team is off sick or away on annual leave. Without a structure, the person coming in to help cover may be unsure of the status of that VAT return. But with a framework, employees can slot in seamlessly wherever they’re needed and get up to speed much quicker.
The Buildup – Essential Checks
Issue 32 / 103Visit the XU Hub: Go to www.xumagazine.com Follow us on Twitter: @xumagazine sure your VAT returns process is robust enough to avoid the risks mentioned above? Breaking the process down As you well know, there’s plenty to do during a VAT return. So where do you start? To simplify the multiple checks and review processes, we can split the entire process into three subsections:
• Reconcile VAT control account in accounting software (so the balance sheet is correct)
• Send queries to client
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verifying your work throughout the VAT process. Your clients may use data capture tools (like Dext Prepare) to provide you with real-time transaction processing. Or perhaps your firm is looking to add an extra layer of reliability with automated data checks (like Dext Precision). Either way, the key to standardising and enhancing compliance work lies in technology. you enjoyed learning more about standardising your VAT returns, we’d love to show you where else it can help within your firm. Dext Precision is a processimproving data insights tool that deeply integrates with Xero and QuickBooks Online. Through automated quality checks, it shows you your client’s data analysis, as well as inaccuracies, and helps you correct them within seconds. You can build workflows and access reporting tools to create streamlined processes for your firm and inform better Ifpricing.you’d like to see our VAT return features and suite of data quality tools in action, simply click below to watch the webinar.
Paul Lodder, the author of this guide, and Jonathan Gaunt, one of Precision’s founders, take you through a product demo and share the best examples of how Precision can help standardise and streamline your firm. Register for our webinar.
Find out more standardisationabout If
104 / Issue 32 XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.
Issue 32 / 105Visit the XU Hub: Go to www.xumagazine.com Follow us on Twitter: @xumagazine
released •
Updates and new releases Aider has released are already proving to be recently launched a revolutionary new Performance Management and Goal Setting tool for use within its HRIS system. The app is designed for companies with 20-500 employees and integrates with Xero to provide an employee portal where team members can apply for leave, manage their goals, complete onboarding checklists, enter performance review input, and more. The new tool allows for form-based reviews involving input from the manager, employee and peers (where desired), as well as goals that can be tracked and updated in real time. the Certification more clarity and control filters & job list improvements have just been Improvements to accounting software integrations Payments pinpayments.com Pin Payments Xero integration is now available in New Zealand. Scott’s Add-Ins scottsaddins.com Scott’s Add-ins has released a new custom Excel function, =SCOTT. CHART. The chart function populates Excel cells with the chart of accounts from your accounting system. This is a good starting point to create a Trial Balance, or begin other financial models using the add-in. A recalc of your sheet will provide a fresh chart of accounts, reflecting any changes from your last recalc. simPRO simprogroup.com/uk simPRO and Honeywell CLSS have partnered to boost processes for fire safety businesses. simPRO and Honeywell Connected Life Safety Services (CLSS) now integrate to automate key defect quoting workflows which improve cost savings, compliance and customer service for your fire protection clients. Read more Satago satago.com Satago have talked to many of their customers over the last few months and have come back with significant enhancements to their automated credit control offering. These changes give even more control over what message is sent, when it is sent, and to who it is sent to. They have also enhanced their email composition tool, giving you the ability to further improve the look and structure of your credit control emails.
CCH iKnow Australian Tax Monitor is updated weekly to keep accountants on top of tax changes from announcement to enactment.
several new product features that
All Tidy Products now provide the user with the ability to select a WIDE SCREEN option, which can display additional information from a single screen view. For example, this will enable customers to select this new option, to view a Customer Reference Field on their Sale Order List. Wolters Kluwer AU wolterskluwer.com/en-au The CCH iQ and BOMA toolkit allows firms to provide real-time business advisory and accounting marketing content to clients. Curate expert content to build and send newsletters, social posts and website blogs.
106 / Issue 32 XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.
CCH Learning Fundamentals is reallife, scenario-based CPD learning to turn graduate accountants into problem solvers.
Ignition ignitionapp.com Introducing
invaluable tools for their growing customer Let’sbase.take a look inside the Aider Advisory Intelligence Platform, to see what’s new… • A new and improved cash flow forecast feature • The latest version of Aider’s client dashboard screen • A brand new ‘multiple insights’ automated email feature More advanced income tax estimates, GST forecasts and other key insights HR Partner hrpartner.io HR Partner
Tidy tidyinternational.com
from Xero connected apps Aider aider.ai Recently,
Program! Gain
Ignition
over your proposals with our new centralized Pipeline views! Next Minute nextminute.com New
Are you Xero-connecteda App? Got a new feature or update you’d like to share with the Xero xumagazine.comEmailcommunity?Useralex@ shout-outfeatureNew New Releases
Pin
Issue 32 / 107Visit the XU Hub: Go to www.xumagazine.com Follow us on Twitter: @xumagazine LOSTVisibilityEnd-to-EndSTOCK 1. Low Stock Alert 2. Purchase Order 3. Receipt of Stock 4. Automatic Stock Level Update 5. Sell TrackingAssemblyBatchStock& InventoryReal-Time Control Costs Track batches of materials informationassociatedandfor detailed traceability and control Real-time Dashboardinventory shows what’s ready to sell and parts and materials available to fulfil orders Track all items in your inventory and reduce costs of replacing damaged,lost,stolen and out-of-date stock = LOST PROFIT damaged, stolen Start your 14-day FREE trial today! tidyinternational.com/trial
108 / Issue 32 XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users. If the only update your software gets each year is price, it could be time to switch 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 › a full cloud-connected suite solution › seamless data conversion from your existing solution › full project coordination and services › a value-driven package which more than covers the cost of implementation › an easy onboarding process, including flexible staff training and eLearning › a dedicated account manager and a direct line to a support team Switching is easy, liberate your software with CCH Accelerate
Issue 32 / 109Visit the XU Hub: Go to www.xumagazine.com Follow us on Twitter: @xumagazine When you have to be right. © Wolters Kluwer (UK) Limited 09/2021. All Rights Reserved. Find out more today wolterskluwer.co.uk
Tsunami Sport is storming the apparel industry with their innovative approach to Eco-Apparel production.
110 / Issue 32 XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users. Turning plastic bottles Eco-Apparelinto
Currently based in Hong Kong and New Zealand, Tsunami has clients situated all over the world with a current employee base of 18, most of whom are based in Hong Kong and looking to expand into New Zealand as business continues to grow.
It’s no coincidence that these principles result in high-quality, high-performance products for athletes who want to make a change and a difference.
n the rapidly changing industry of clothing apparel and the waste that comes with it, we talk to Tsunami Sport who pride themselves on building a brand that creates 90% of their clothing by converting plastic water bottles into an eco-fabric.
Disrupting the industry Since 2005, Tsunami has built a reputation as the first choice eco teamwear brand, for any athlete, at any Tsunamilevel.believes; Eco Apparel should be the norm, not the exception.Asacompany, Tsunami is always aiming to be at the forefront of fabric technology, while further developing processes that minimise their industry’s impact on the environment. So far, it’s safe to say Tsunami is making a positive impact on the apparel industry, not only by producing innovative products and designs, but also being ecomindful about the production process and the materials they use.
Case Study
This article is Tsunami Sport is pushing boundaries to make sportswear products that secure great, long-lasting performance and are made in a way that aims to meet a ‘no harm’ impact on the world, now and into the future.
We now exist in a time in which the environment is at its most vulnerable, and this industry plays a significant part in impacting our precious environment. Tsunami identified very early on that the way teamwear and uniforms were made needed to be changed. They originally set out to make a better product people would want to wear and Tsunami would be proud to put their logo on. However, this quickly changed into a much bigger drive to disrupt an industry that had a mindset of being very wasteful, within a price-driven market. Tsunami set out to systematically break the supply chain down. From the raw materials that make their fabric, to the way they design and manufacture Thisproducts.naturally led into other areas where they could see improvements. How many plastic bags does the world use each year? Currently the world uses approximately 5 trillion plastic @tidyint Ally Fabish CIIC Communications, Manager, Tidy International Ally has 10 plus years in the Communication and Events Industry. She moved to Scotland in 2003, where her career in communications started and she undertook a Communications Degree with Solent University. Ally has recently moved back to New Zealand where she is the Communications Manager for Tidy International. I
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“We also decided years ago that hang tags were of no use to anyone and only added to production emissions and plastic pollution. Therefore, labels are printed directly to the inside of products instead.”
“Approaching the innovation challenge from an environmental perspective and developing them in close partnership with our suppliers helps us make products that are better for consumers and better for our world.”
“It’s not just about the apparel though. We have gone right down to eliminating all plastic from our packaging. Plastic bags are hard to get rid of these days and Tsunami’s products need to travel, so we developed ‘Aquasolit’ a technology composed of two starchy polymers that dissolve in water and are completely toxicfree to animals and humans.
To find out more about how you can make your business Tidy, visit:
Theysame.are glad to see other sportswear companies starting to adopt environmentally friendly practices in their designs and it is nice to know that they’ve been leading this change.
From initial design logistics to factory working standards, Tsunami constantly looks to improve their systems and processes to minimise their environmental impact. Since their inception this has been Tsunami’s mission, and they are deeply passionate about it.
“Using TidyStock also streamlined our Purchase Order process and reduced the time spent checking supplier bills. TidyStock also keeps track of our stock, side by side with our in-house stock records. Checking supplier invoices against our new Purchase Orders have made our accounts payable so much quicker and easier.”
“TidyStock streamlined our purchasing process and ensures we are charged correctly by our suppliers. As a customised teamwear brand, we have many variables in prices for the same items, depending on details like collar options, type of fabric used, etc and checking prices can be time consuming sometimes.
The future is about driving change Tsunami continues to make new leaps and bounds in their practices and have paved the way for other companies to do the
Issue 32 / 111Visit the XU Hub: Go to www.xumagazine.com Follow us on Twitter: @xumagazine bags per year! That’s 160,000 a second and the equivalent to over 700 a year for every single person on the Andrewplanet!!Chambers,
CEO and Founder said, “Our business model goes far beyond using sustainable fabrics and printing techniques; our entire process is designed to have as little impact on the environment as possible. Not only do we recycle, but we also reduce and conserve materials and energy in our factories and offices.
Andrew also said, “At Tsunami Sport, we are driving change. We challenge and push boundaries to make sportswear products that secure great, long-lasting performance and are made in a way that does not harm our world today - nor in the future.
As an award-winning company with such accolades as, the silver award for the ‘SME – Shops and Retail’ category by the Hong Kong Awards for Environmental Excellence (HKAEE), Tsunami is now recognised as one of the leaders in their industry, for their eco-business model, judged on three main areas: Green Leadership, Programme and Performance, and Partner Synergy. Keeping things simple Andrew says a key part was simplifying their processes by implementing TidyStock cloud software, because it has the right balance of features and functionality and at the same time is reasonably priced.
Case Study
Andrew said, “We implemented TidyStock three months ago, so we are still in the early stages. We are always discovering features that we were not initially aware of.
Are you a xumagazine.comemailusersotherApp?Xero-connectednewLetXeroknow...alex@ New shout-outApp Please note: this is not an exhaustive list of new Apps in the Xero App Marketplace. You can see all Xeroconnected Apps Newapps.xero.comatXero Connected Apps
CASHFLOWNAV businessnav.com Save time by delivering the most important financial figures for your business. Sort cashflows, set trajectory for growth and see key in- sights on your business’s cash flow. Connect4 connect4.app Everything an account- ing team needs to deliver outstanding client discovery, onboarding and advisory meetings. Run smarter and more actionable meetings that truly count and make your clients happy. CryptoTaxCalculator cryptotaxcalculator.io At CryptoTaxCalculator, we know how important it is to have a product that integrates smoothly with Xero. Track of all your cryptorelated finances and understand sources of revenue, losses, and expenses. We’ve also made the integration customizable so that mappings can be tailored to your needs. Dolio dolio.co.uk Business mileage tracking and expense claim management, incorporating automatic calculation of HMRC Advisory Fuel Rates (AFR) with Google postcode calculation. Go Tenant gotenant.co.uk Go Tenant helps landlords save time and hassle managing their properties and tenants by streamlining communication,tenantreducing admin and helping you stay compliant. Built by landlords, for landlords.
A leading all-in-one operating system for growing businesses in SEA. Borderless payments, corporate cards and expense management help companies save time and money. Seamlessly sync bankfeeds with Xero. Burdi burdi.com.au Streamline your accounts payable with Burdi. It will manage all of your supplies and materials, extracting each line item from your invoices and receipts to create Xero bills, whilst alerting you of purchase variations.
Houzz Pro houzz.co.uk/pro A new, smarter way for companies to recover overdue invoices and debt, without compromising their relationships. Get paid fast with their smart reminder technology. Integrately integrately.com Integrately is an all-in-one business automation solution that helps automate your operations in a matter of minutes. With 875+ apps supported, it is the most comprehensive & user-friendly integration platform with zero learning curve. Recognized amongst the top 4 productivity tools of 2021, it is trusted by 1,000+ businesses worldwide. Landlord Studio landlordstudio.com A cloud-based property management and financial tracking software, bringing together your prop- erties, leases, accounts, tenants and more. Save time with task automation, bank feeds and smart scan receipts.
Aspire aspireapp.com
112 / Issue 32 XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users. New to the Xero App Marketplace
MMC Receipt mmcreceipt.com A document capturing app that
Issue 32 / 113Visit the XU Hub: Go to www.xumagazine.com Follow us on Twitter: @xumagazine 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. Book a call with an expert to discuss your outsourcing or offshoring www.advancetrack.com/start-here/requirementsClickonthelinkbelow
Peiso Profitability Software peiso.com.au Earnings software designed for the hospitality industry, Peiso helps operators maximise profit. Our analytics deliver personalised insights via an easily accessible window into financial performance enabling owners to make smarter decisions and increase profitability. www.vworkapp.com
captures and processes all of your receipts, bills and bank statements using OCR, machine learning and human checks to take the hassle out of data entry. MODLR modlr.co The MODLR Cloud supports businesses in streamlining their financial planning to help teams get from data to decision - faster. With the MODLR Cloud, businesses can perform multi-entity and multi-currency consolidations with intercompany eliminations, create fully customisable management reports and dashboards, build flexible driver-based, rolling forecasts, and much more. Novel novelapp.co.uk Novel helps businesses write compliant R&D tax relief claims in-house by supporting ongoing project tracking, management and collaboration as well as provide detailed guidance on how to write SME research and development tax relief claims.
114 / Issue 32 XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.
New Xero Connected Apps Learn more at
CLOUD-BASED •Quick•Connect•Streamline•Automate•Gain•ConnectVOLUMECOMPLEXFORMANAGEMENTJOBSOFTWAREBUSINESSESMANAGINGORHIGHJOBSandsimplifyyourdispatchoperationsreal-timevisibilityofalljobsemailandSMSalertsinvoicingtoXerowithanofftheshelfintegration&easysetup Connecting Xero to vWork will enable you to automatically invoice customers as soon as a job closes, including recording time and materials on invoices. 5,000 active users Over 400,000 jobs dispatched each month Customers in 10 countries
To celebrate the return of Xerocon London, Xero celebrated with a special edition month showcasing some of the Xero app partner success stories that exhibited there. The XU team caught up with them for issue 32. enowned
Fathom seamlessly integrates with Xero, transforming financial data into beautiful reports, powerful forecasts, and timely indsight powers the accounting firm of the future by providing peace of mind for accountants and bookkeepers knowing that their portfolio is continuously monitored for issues and risks.
In a constantly evolving business environment, Fathom continues to hone the tools it provides to businesses and their advisors on its mission of enabling astute reporting of the past, insightful analysis of the present, and the foresight to confidently carve out the future.
Fathom co-founder David Watson.
HR Put Fathom to the test with a free 14-day trial: app.fathomhq.com/ Find out more: hindsightapp.com
App Partners of the Month
Fathom’s integrated reporting, analysis and forecasting capabilities are used by 60,000+ companies in over 80 countries.
Hindsight automatically syncs client data from Xero to create fully customisable client business insights. These insights help to track profit, cash flow, growth and many other KPIs.
Fathom has captured over 320 reviews and holds a 5 star rating, making it one of Xero’s most popular apps. Industry bodies agree, with Fathom named in The Australian’s Top 100 Innovators list, and as a current finalist in the Australian Service Excellence “FathomAwards. is all about giving clarity to businesses and their advisors, so they can move forward with confidence,” says alerts, giving accountants and bookkeepers a clear, up-to-date view on the most critical issues and Withrisks.MTD in the UK increasing the demands on accountants and bookkeepers, it’s imperative to work from quality records. Data assurance has never been more important.
Xerocon London 2022 Special
2022July
toforaproductsupport,outstandingforcustomerintuitivedesignandingenuity,Fathomispowerfullysimpleplatformadvisorsandbusinessesmakesmarterstrategic decisions from their financial data.
116 / Issue 32 XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.
Xero App Partners of the month
Xero’s app marketplace has over 1,000 apps which help small businesses and their advisors reach their goals. Each month Xero celebrates an app partner who stands out for helping small businesses thrive.
“This year we’re celebrating our tenth birthday, and 10 years of consecutive growth. It’s great to be on the journey with Xero, having joined the ecosystem in 2012. It’s an incredible community to be part of.”
Issue 32 / 117Visit the XU Hub: Go to www.xumagazine.com Follow us on Twitter: @xumagazine
Head over to linkmybooks.com to learn more about how you can save time and reduce overpaid tax by accurately automating your e-commerce bookkeeping.
Link My Books automates bookkeeping for e-commerce sellers, integrating with Amazon, eBay, Etsy and Shopify and providing accountants and today fail to address the everyday challenges landlords have. This is why we created Landlord Studio, and why we continue to develop it in line with the real needs of our users. The income and expense functionality fused with property management capabilities is perfect for anyone with between 1 and 25 properties, and our Xero integration makes it super easy when it comes to tax Landlordstime. are business owners and we believe every landlord should have access individual business owners accurate automatic bookkeeping. With their easy onboarding wizard making setup a breeze and friendly, knowledgable support team (made up of accountants and ex-ecommerce sellers) ready to answer any questions - it’s quite understandable why so many customers are delighted with Link My Books. Daniel Little, CEO of Link My Books, says: We are proud to be part of the Xero community and are so grateful for all the support to the tools they need to run a professional scalable business, from accounting to property maintenance management. And with MTD coming into effect in April 2024 for all landlords earning above the threshold, now is the perfect time to try Landlord Studio, the digital solution designed for you.
Learn more about Landlord Studio for Accountants and schedule a call with our team thetodayteam have given us over the past 4 years. As we continue our journey and help more and more e-commerce sellers and accountants to de-stress their bookkeeping processes, we know that we are in good hands with Xero as our partners.
hen it comes to taxes and accounting, “Close enough”, is never enough, and that’s why, since 2014 over 12,000 ecommerce businesses, and their accounting partners have put their trust into A2X to give them more financial visibility over their business. Learn more about how A2X can help you and your clients succeed and become a partner. It’s free to join. eing a landlord has never been more challenging. Every year there are more and more compliance obligations, like EPC requirements and Section 24, and there’s a dramatic shift coming with the implementation of MTD which will change how landlords report their income to the HMRC. Having an efficient cloudbased income and expense management system is no longer a nice-to-have, it’s a must-have for all buy-to-let investors. However, many of the solutions available t’s not unexpectedentirelythat Link My Books won this month’s Xero App of the Month award, having the highest rating on the Xero App Store in its category with a rating of 4.98 across almost 300 reviews, you might even say it’s somewhat overdue.
App Partners of the Month
WBI
Find out more: landlordstudio.com Find out more: linkmybooks.com Find out more: a2xaccounting.com/
• Integrated with Xero and everyone’s favourite data capture tools Timworks is available on iOS, android and desktop for accountants and their clients. Watch the demo video now or schedule a demo with a real live human.
At NextMinute, we have the same •philosophy…MakeBusiness life easier for Construction & Tradespeople • Educate Accountants & Bookkeepers on how they can work with their Trade & Construction clients to make business life easier. We know that Tradespeople have the best intentions when it comes to their business. We know they want to improve their workflows so they can spend more time delivering quality workmanship. We also know the limited time they do spend at a computer is spent working in the business and not on the business.
E out more:
Timworks is incredibly quick and easy to set-up and start using, especially since the initial onboarding of all accountancy clients is done by Timworks’ expert customer service team. Accountancy firms and part-time CFOs using Timworks consistently highlight the following benefits:
• Improved client satisfaction, loyalty and retention
Find
imworks is receiving praise and much buzz as one of the top newly launched apps in the accounting industry. The app is the only client support app specifically for accountants and their clients. Providing excellent client support is not just nice to do for accountancy firms, it’s smart business. A 5% increase in client retention can increase profits by 25%. However, despite the number of generic communication platforms available, making clients happy by building lasting relationships is easier said than done. Timworks is solving this problem with its sleek, high-delivering app.
App Partners of the Month
T Find out more: timworks.com
• More meaningful and efficient touchpoints with clients
David Falconer, NextMinute CEO, summed it up really well in the latest Xero “TradespeopleBlog.don’t learn about running a business during their apprenticeship,” says David Falconer, CEO at NextMinute. “Builders know how to build a house and accountants and bookkeepers know how to build a business, sometimes they overlap. Our digital toolkit for tradespeople and their advisors helps improve workflow, cash flow and remove unnecessary admin processes to save time and boost profits.”
veryone at NextMinute is on cloud nine after being recognised as one of Xero’s App Partners of the Month.
118 / Issue 32 XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.
• Less time on emails • GDPR compliant and audit trail secure
nextminute.com
Xero is known for two things, their support of: 1. Bookkeepers & Accountants. 2. Small business.
NextMinute has a huge focus not only on supporting construction Businesses but also on supporting the Accounting & Bookkeeping community, to ensure they are industry experts for their Trade & Construction clients. If you have a Trade or Construction client you would like to help, you can book a meeting with the NextMinute Partner Team, to discuss the solutions we are able to provide.
• Ability to create chat channels to organise conversations around topics
ayday’s mission is to mend month end, automating all the work between accurate bookkeeping and accurate accounting. Mayday Recharger serves Xero users with multiple related entities. It automates the recharging of costs and revenues between those entities, saving 2-3 hours each month. The user sets recharge rules similar to Xero bank Maydayrules.Recharger automatically pulls through transactions for the month from Xero, applies the relevant rule, the user makes any tweaks and then one click posts the recharges back into the Xero Everentities.more businesses are growing up with Xero. They want to keep using it. Mayday is making that possible.
XS
Issue 32 / 119Visit the XU Hub: Go to www.xumagazine.com Follow us on Twitter: @xumagazine
M Find out more: getmayday.com
Find out more: suitefiles.com
potlight Reporting is thrilled to be listed as Xero’s July App Partner of the Month: Xerocon London 2022 special edition. It is great to be showcased alongside some of the Xero App Partners that exhibited at Xerocon London held from the 21st - 22nd July. We are delighted to have been recognised for standing out as a business that helps small businesses thrive. It’s great to be ero customers already enjoy the best in cloudbased practice management software, the only thing they’re missing is integrated document management to organise the files they create. SuiteFiles’ integration with Xero is the last piece of the puzzle. We reckon we’ve been picked as Xero’s App Partner of the Month for the third time because we’re all about saving Xero’s customers time. For example, 2 second email included in this special edition and as a long-established Xero App Partner, this listing shows our continued support and dedication to the Xero Community. As the #1 Reporting, Forecasting and Consolidation App in the Xero Ecosystem, it’s great that we have been recognised. We’re proud to be a Xero App Partner and look forward to our continued longstanding relationship with the whole Xero team. We love being filing, templates which can be set for generic documents and emails as well as the ability to attach relevant documents to jobs in our XPM Here’sintegration.howSuiteFiles saves Xero customers time. When creating a client in XPM, SuiteFiles will auto-create a folder for that client as well as a sub-folder structure. From there, businesses can see all of their client information, emails and SuiteFiles documents in a single place using the XPM connected with the wonderful people across the globe at Xero. We had a great time at Xerocon London this year, where we were able to showcase our award winning products, as well as catch up with old friends and make new ones. Don’t forget, we’ll be exhibiting at Xerocon Sydney this month from the 7th-8th September. We hope to see you documentsthere. tab. Forget storing client information across several applications, SuiteFiles and Xero provide one source of truth for all client data. On top of this, our integration comes equipped with features to improve workflows, automate repetitive processes and, most importantly, maintain simple client and job Seemanagement.whatSuiteFiles could do for your business.
Find out more: spotlightreporting.com
App Partners of the Month
S Big E Nutrition relies on app technology to operate and automate their business. The proof is in the protein powder.
Rhys genuinely cares about every client and works with us, not against us”
“I’m an engineer by trade and haven’t worked in retail or sold anything online before. I just loved working out at the gym and fuelling my body with clean healthy products. It was difficult to find the products I liked in Australia so I started importing them from overseas for myself. Then I started selling them to friends who were also motivated by healthy gains at the gym. Things started to grow organically and when a major retailer wanted to stock my products on their shelves, I had to move to a more formal business model: I needed help.”
“The profitability on the range of supplements that they sell varies from profitable to loss leaders, and often with widely differing margins on the same product based on the customer (online retail vs wholesale): there’s no way of knowing what’s what just using Xero. When you have clarity over which what products are
@CloudsolveAU Rhys Roberts, Founder, Cloudsolve Rhys has the unique combination of experience in both accounting and the manufacturing industry, which lead him to form Cloudsolve — a business for businesses, dedicated to improving efficiency, cashflow and profitability through integration systems.
120 / Issue 32 XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users. App
uccess, according to Elias Abboud, founder of Big E Nutrition, is having the right people in your corner; identifying where change is needed, supporting your growth and being willing to challenge the status quo. “In my case, it was Management Accountant Lielette Calleja from All that Counts and Rhys Roberts from Cloudsolve. They both changed the way Big E operated, and it was all for the better” he said. Elias was painfully aware of the some of the issues and challenges that his new business, established just before the pandemic in 2020, was facing when he met Lielette.
After initially engaging a top end of town accounting firm, Elias realised he needed a more hands on approach from someone experienced with product-based businesses. In came Lielette Calleja to review the accounting processes. She moved them to Xero as a first step – whilst Xero is a great app it has some limitations when it comes to managing inventory business. All it really does is track line items — it doesn’t provide any data driven insights from sales or margins. She identified Big E Nutrition needed to better track landed costs and have more insights into the sales and product news.bymonththeirshouldtwiceitalongtoowereLielettemargins.say’s“Theylosingwaymuchmoneythewayandwastakingusaslongasittoidentifypositionfromtomonth,whichtimeit’soldYouwanttohave the ability to identify and fix any problems as they occur, not keep making it worse as time goes on. They needed access to more granular information about their business.”
NutritionforprovidesautomationtherecipesuccessatBigE
This article is “It’s a partnershipgenuineworkingwithCloudsolve.
ThistheaccountantsWemanufacturingproductintegrationstobookkeepersaccountants,andcustomersimplementcloud-basedappforclientswithbased,inventoryandbusinesses.workinpartnershipwithlikeLielettetogetbestresultsfortheirclients.almostalwayshasthedirect
making money and those that aren’t, and how that varies by channel, you can directly impact the results before they get out of control. They needed an inventory system to give them more detail and clarity on a day-to-day basis,” Lielette adds. That’s where Cloudsolve came in. “We were then engaged to provide an integrated app solution that would help provide better data and also automate much of the sales and order/ tracking process for both B2B and B2C, customers” said Rhys Roberts, Founder of Cloudsolve. “Cloudsolve was founded to support effect of not only improving the efficiency and bottom line of the end client but also increasing the advisory capacity and revenue for the accountant,” explains Rhys. Elias stated that “The best part was that Lielette and Rhys worked together behind the scenes to make everything so seamless for us. Big E nutrition really is my side hustle (I have a full-time job as an engineer!) so I needed solutions that enabled quick and easy access to information and a lot of automation. Rhys ourintegrateXero,fromourA2XmanageUnleashedrecommendedtoourstock,tomanageintegrationShopifytoStarShippittoorderstocouriers(whoare notified every step of the way) and get the goods out the door. It was a game changer,” says Elias. Big E nutrition uses both Unleashed B2C and B2B portals to manage the process of ordering. From the moment a customer places an order on the website everything is synced into Unleashed, then sent to Starshipit for distribution. The A2X connection between Shopify and Xero delivers significant savings in back-office admin – an elated Elias reports: “I don’t have to do anything. I don’t have to even think about it. The money comes into my account and the order is closed off in Unleashed and it can be reconciled in Xero.”
“They needed an inventory system to give them more detail and clarity on a basis”day-to-day “You only use consulting services if they demonstrate they deliver more value then they’re going to charge you. Cloudsolve have delivered that to us”
Learn how at:
FINDcloudsolve.com.auOUTMORE...
Elias freely admits that, “From where I was to where I am now, I can’t live without Unleashed. We now have access to data we can use to identify the margin on our stock, whether we can offer discounts on certain products and manage the variations in expenses like freight, fuel and shipping that can vary from week to week. The intel is invaluable.”
He also adds, “What you can take to the bank is that if I wanted to sell my business a year ago, I had nothing. I had a bunch of products on shelves and the knowledge of all aspects of the business was in my head. Now, I have a complete platform. Now, I have an inventory management system that is self-sufficient. Orders are placed, orders are processed, orders are sent, tracked and
successNutritionhelpedappsourceCloudsolveWorkingincredible.”automatically.Everythingtraced.isdoneIt’swithtotheright‘ingredients’BigEachievethetheyhavenow.
Elias explains, “Using a thirdparty integrator like Cloudsolve isn’t compulsory. Let’s face it you only use consulting services if they demonstrate they add value, that they deliver more value than they’re going to charge you, and Cloudsolve have delivered that to us in Cloudsolvespades.”work with both you, the takethebusinessessolutions.basedbespoketoandandaccountantsbookkeepers,yourclientsimplementcloud-appNotwoaresameandwethetimetoget to know every business in detail and provide bespoke Onsolutions.working with Cloudsolve we asked Lielette why she returns to use our services for her other clients. She says, “It’s a genuine partnership working with Cloudsolve. Rhys’s industry knowledge is extensive and he takes the time to understand every business. He genuinely cares about every client and works with us, not against us.”
Issue 32 / 121Visit the XU Hub: Go to www.xumagazine.com Follow us on Twitter: @xumagazine Cloudsolve can help your clients grow and become more profitable, and you to strengthen your Advisory services and revenue.
offering in order to attract prospective clients.
124 / Issue 32 XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.
KeyPayApp Sophie Borton-Sutherland, New Zealand Partner Marketing Manager, KeyPay
The modern-day accountant’s guide to success in an ever-changing market Accountants must increasingly adapt to the growing needs of their clients by offering more value and flexibility. But how?
“Leveraging existing tech and wayplatformsestablishedisagreattocompetitively acquire clients, but will also save your firm so much time.”
provideaccountantsgrowingThere’saccountingadditiontrackingHR,inventorymanagement,control,timesheet(allintoessentialservices).nowaneedfortoacompetitive
How can accountants add value beyond basic accounting services? How expensive and time-consuming will this be to implement? Is the juice worth the squeeze? Building a robust tech ecosystem: work smarter, not harder Enter: cloud software and the agile tech stack. It’s a buzz word that you may be hearing
ith the rise automation,ofcloudbased apps, and increasing client demands, the accounting industry has changed drastically. Accountants are no longer solely focused on compliance and basic numbercrunching. Almost 95% of businesses globally fall into the small-to-medium (SME) category. As SMEs generally have bold growth goals, are price-conscious and timepoor, they’ll often seek out the services of an accountant.experienced As such, the role of the accountant has shiftedrequiring modern-day accounting professionals to provide valueadding advisory services such as payroll, expense
@
Based in Australia, Sophie is passionate about SaaS companies and improving experiences through education. Sophie works alongside a dedicated team of professionals at KeyPay - a global cloud payroll and workforce management platform - and is committed to adding value to the lives of accountants, bookkeepers and outsourced payroll providers. KeyPay isn’t your average payroll platform. We’re keen to shake up the changing accounting landscape and save valuable time for our partners.
Why do agileneedaccountantstoday’sagloballytechstack?
W This article is
Building up your app stack will also save time for accountants from having to dedicate resources to maintain the software. By investing in outsourced software for added features like document management (Staffd), employee self service (Roubler)
“An optimised tech stack can be valuable in bridging the knowledge gaps that lean teams often have.”
So why do accountants today need a tech stack - and a globally agile one?
Provide clients with a competitive edge Prospective clients aren’t just looking for traditional accounting services. They’re looking for value-adding advisory and additional services that take the extra weight off their shoulders, such as help with pay runs, time and attendance, and employee onboarding. There’s well over 2 million accountants worldwide, and the competition is fierce. More and more accountants are expanding their services to fill in the gaps that clients would prefer to outsource - particularly when it comes to services such as running payroll for clients and their employees. If you aren’t already offering payroll and addingtimenowservicesmanagementworkforcetoclients,isagreattoconsiderthisto your offerings. Cloud software such as KeyPay, an online payroll and workforce management platform, saves time for busy accountants. KeyPay services over 750 partners and 200,000 businesses across Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Singapore and Malaysia. By automating calculations, eliminating paper-based expense claiming and leave requests, data is informationmanuallyyou’llaccountant’splatformsaccountingandintoFromstreamlined.timesheets,thepayrun,intoexternalofeachchoice,neverneedtohandleclientagain.
Offering payroll to clients will also give you a competitive advantage. By increasing your firm’s flexibility and offering more value to clients with diverse needs, you’re widening your reach for new business prospects. A wider pool of clients means more revenue for your business. More revenue means more opportunities to grow your business at scale, and you can even start to armour.techamarketsenteringconsiderglobalwithsuchcompetitivestackinyour
Save time and reduce costs Accountants are great at what they do, but many aren’t experts in everything outside of that realm. Leveraging existing tech and established platforms is a great way to competitively acquire clients, but will also save your firm so much time. In a 2021 Wolters Kluwer survey, more than 50% of firms struggled to keep up with thetechpayrolllegislation,knowledgetotrainingandpouringRatherchanges.legislativethanmoneytimeintoateamupskilltheiroflocaladdingcompliantsoftwaretoyourexistingstackwillhelptobridgeknowledgegaps.You’ll still benefit from providing added services to clients, without the worry or stress over costly legislation errors. You’ll also save time on payroll processing itself for clients, as one of KeyPay’s UK accountancy partners - Coates Business Services - found: “KeyPay has saved a phenomenal amount of workload for us with automated payroll and approvals. We’ve saved so much manpower, time, and staff resources by moving over to KeyPay.”
Mostprocesses.accountants either operate independently or within a small team, and aren’t payroll or HR professionals. An optimised tech stack can be valuable in bridging the knowledge gaps that lean teams often have - rather than doing everything yourself and trying to become a “jack of all trades”, pre-built software can be leveraged to each firm’s needs.
“There’s now a growing need for accountants to provide a competitive offering in order to attractclients.”prospective
Issue 32 / 125Visit the XU Hub: Go to www.xumagazine.com Follow us on Twitter: @xumagazine
more and more. Simply put, a tech stack is a combination of technologies, apps and software that a company uses to run their business. This can either be integrated directly via API connection, or simply just be the combination of tools that you use for your day-to-day business
•
Powerful payroll: the missing piece in an agile tech stack Payroll and accounting almost always go hand in hand. As a Xero connected app partner, KeyPay prides itself on our flexibility in integrating into industry-leading platforms across HR, accounting, workforce management and more. Our trusted cloud software works in synergy to allow accountants to create a powerful app stack that’s competitive and adds value beyond basic accounting services. We help to:
Findkeypay.comoutmore... and also be one of the know when a new issue of XU Magazine is released.
126 / Issue 32 XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users. and employee buildinghave(EmployeeConnect),onboardingyou’llonlytorunitforclients.Nosolutionsfromscratchwhich streamlines costs, improves your team’s agility and allows you to take on more clients in less time.
first to
xumagazine.comSTRAIGHTTOYOURINBOX!
• Save time by automating manual, repetitive tasks Streamline modern award interpretation (in Australia), Holidays Act compliance (in New Zealand), P11Ds and CIS deductions (in the UK), CPF calculations (in Singapore), and PCB calculations (in Malaysia)
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• Seamlessly transfer data between payroll and accounting services to eliminate manual data handling We also care about your business, your clients, and your growth potential. That’s why we’ve created a guide on how to grow your accounting firm through cloud payroll, and how to make the most of your globally agile tech stack. Simply scan the QR code below to download your free guide: KeyPay automates the flow of data from employees across rosters, leave, timesheets, pay runs, and reporting. We also provide our partners with resources and collateral to help grow your business sustainably and scale effectively. You’ll always be supported by our Partner Account Managers, who are here to help at every step of the way. Start embracing payroll software to streamline processes and drive revenue, by reaching out to us for a free demo of KeyPay:
Issue 32 / 127Visit the XU Hub: Go to www.xumagazine.com Follow us on Twitter: @xumagazine Annature is the leading Australian-owned eSignature platform which securely manages digital authorisations, identity verification, and payment collections online. With Annature accounting professionals ‘get ahead of the game’ and enjoy the leading Australian-owned eSignature platform - that’s more than eSigning. Annature helps to securely manage digital authorisations, identity verification, and payment collections online today - and track their progress wherever you are. We’ll also keep you up to date with industry changes as soon as they happen. Here’s why accounting professionals prefer Annature: • Onshore: Australian-owned and operated, with local data storage and tech support • Secure: Next-generation ID, KYC and AML verification features able to scale • Compliant: Only Australian-owned eSignature platform with ISO 27001 certification • Seamless: API driven integration efficiency with APS Reckon, GreatSoft, Xero and more • CA ANZ Member Benefits: Exclusive eSigning member benefits partner, 20% discount on Customised subscriptions • Take to the sky with Qantas Business Rewards: Earn up to 20 Qantas Points on eligible Pay as you go and Customised subscriptions* • Happy clients! Improves engagement and elevates customer satisfaction Transform eSignature delivery and execution. Reach out to discuss: Daniel Edridge | 1300 031 065 | daniel@annature.com.au | www.annature.com.au Schedule a meeting: www.annature.com.au/schedule-demo justeSignaturesgotbetter Annature’s platform gives accountants the edge and offers more than just eSigning.
XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.
Product Officer, Xero This article is Xerocon Series
Anna
Curzon
Chief
AC: I’ve got a fantastic product leader that really supports the team from a compliance perspective, working with HMRC, Stuart Miller. And he’s helped the team build a very good relationship with HMRC where we endeavour to build things collaboratively. We want to make sure that we’re in a leadership position and it’s really about making sure that we’re out ahead of the problem, that we really understand what HMRC is trying to achieve. So our partners feel like, ‘if I’m with Xero, they’ve got it sorted. I know they’ll be having those discussions. And I know they’ve got my back.’
One of the things I wanted to touch on first of all was that it’s been over a decade now for the Xero Cloud accounting journey. Over that decade what do you feel are some of the most significant announcements that you’ve had to make, or that have been made as part of this Xero
A really good example of this is that we are the first major vendor out of the gates with our solution. It’s super important that we continue to build and lead with that
AC:journey?
XU caught up with Anna Curzon, Chief Product Officer of Xero at Xerocon London 2022...
Yeah, it’s a really good question because there are big things and insanely little things that we’ve announced over that decade. But funnily enough, bank rec was major back in the day. I think Find and Recode was also major. Xero Go has been one of our key announcements at Xerocon London. Being a brand new product, really in the last decade, because it’s tapping into a market that’s been underserved, in terms of even an entry point into cloud accounting. I would have to say that that’s one of our key things as well. I think too, it’s really interesting that, as we move into different regions, there are core things that we need to do. We’ve got to make sure that we offer tax, compliance, payroll and of course offer practice tools as well. I think there are some things that are ubiquitous and super exciting. And there are some things that are unique to every region and might not seem really flash, but they’re still really important. You know, you’ve got to have a good tax solution, for example. But we will not only try to solve the pain point but always try and make our solution a little bit more beautiful and simple than others.
Xerocon Series
Issue 32 / 129Visit the XU Hub: Go to www.xumagazine.com Follow us on Twitter: @xumagazine XU:
XU: So touching on Xero Go to begin with, because that’s obviously the big news of the event in terms of Xerocon London. One of the things I want to touch on before we go into Xero Go itself - and this is to really give people an understanding of behind the scenes of what it looks like, because it’s quite easy for people to kick and scream and say, we really need a solution for this or that, and the other and you can say, we’re working on it - what does that actually look like from the idea to implementation and getting it out of the door to be able to announce it at Xerocon? What does that look like in terms of timescale and process to give people an idea of what that actually looks like behind the scenes?AC: When we looked at the opportunity for our customers, the opportunity was ubiquitous across all of our regions and that’s really those smaller sole traders, freelancers and the rising gig economy that was underserved significantly. And so when we stood back and looked at the problem to solve — we saw that, over the last few decades, the sole trader market is growing.es, it had a blip through COVID, which is naturalbut the trend shows it’s going from strength to strength. It’s been really hard for our accountants and bookkeepers to service that market. And then you’ve got the double whammy of MTD happening in this market. So we started off with identifying a problem to solve with some key changes. We wanted to make sure we could help our accountants and bookkeepers serve the very smallest, small business clients. The sole trader through to the really larger, bigger employing businesses. We needed a solution for that. We scanned our regions. And we said actually, because of the growth in this space in the UK, and also because of the fact that you’ve got this regulatory deadline coming, that the UK was the best option. And from an adoption perspective, there’s a real buzz here around FinTech and just adoption of digitization.
XU: So with Xero Go, I think one of things that you mentioned was actually you’re the first large vendor to be listed with HMRC for an MTD personal tax Which is a great achievement, and within that obviously you’re working quite closely with HMRC because you’ve got the additional VAT integration, which we’ll come onto as well. How have you found that? Did they have big parts to play as you were building Xero Go and that relationship with HMRC?
So it starts off with being really clear about the problem to solve for your customers. And then it moves into, what does that actually look like in reality? So you start discovery, you start going out and talking to your customers and you start prototyping. And from that point on it moves into a cycle of testing, learning and refining until you get to a point where we can’t progress it further without actually getting it into the hands of customers. And we know we’ll get a load of feedback, which is what we want from this point on as well. Very exciting!
But I do want to reiterate, that it doesn’t mean it’s easy for our partners. It’s change and at the moment there’s so much coming at them. I am deeply respectful of that. And that’s why we’ve given people a year. I think a lot of other technology companies would just go, right, we’re putting a line through that and we’re moving on. But we know systems and processes are hard to change in any business and that’s what we’re asking them to do.
Xerocon Series
AC: To maintain a product, I always talk about feeding the metabolism. It’s not a project you deliver and then it’s done. So even though we’ve got the old versions of reports, if we were going to continue to offer those, you need a product team to maintain the code and update them so they aren’t outdated. Now that’s a product manager, it’s engineers, because they’ve got to make sure that they’re continuously fixing any bugs. That security is at the highest level. There will be changes that are made through regulations or requirements that we’d need to start to tweak. And from a staffing perspective, ‘you go, gosh, would you rather have people working on maintaining old tech when they’re saying ‘wow, I’d love to be working on providing new customer value’ versus supporting something that is becoming inferior. And customers ultimately win, because we can accelerate the value if we are investing that in new functionality versus just keeping the lights on. You just do the math and it just doesn’t add up essentially.
XU: So what’s the best way for Xero end users and partners to actually liaise and interact with Xero, in saying, well, these are my thoughts and suggestions?
Benchmarking is something that we’ve looked at a number of times actually. And it’s on a backlog of opportunities that we could pull forward and look at in terms of our reporting and insights team. To do benchmarking well, you really need to build the right data sets. And so we are lucky at Xero, to have some of the very best data strategists, data scientists in the business within Xero tech. And really at the moment, what we want to do is make sure that we continue to refine Analytics Plus. We know that there’s still a lot more we can do and a long way to go with that. And I think then over time we can look at new use cases so we can say, ‘Hey, your cash flow’s here, but businesses like yours are sitting Wehere.’want to deliver the most amount of value and pull that forward in the fastest possible time. So there’s a whole heap of demand at the moment for us carrying on the Analytics Plus cash flow work. And over time, you might actually see benchmarking as part of proposition efforts within that category.
XU: One of the things that I know Xero’s touched on in the past in terms of actually utilizing the data and some of the insights and the reporting that you do is around benchmarking. And there’s some reports that have come out recently around the cash flow side of things, but is benchmarking something that’s on the radar for Xero in the future in terms of what that might look like in terms of bringing that into the Xero reporting AC:suite?
relationship with HMRC because we know that there’s more to come too. Our new UK managing director Alex von Schirmeister spends quite a bit of time with them making sure that he’s representing the interests of the small business community.
130 / Issue 32 XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.
XU: One of the things that came out recently was that old reporting is setting off into the sunset, which had interesting responses on social media. And I think it’s like anything when it goes, people don’t like the change, even though there’s something great in its place already and coming along. In terms of maintaining that old type of tech, which takes a lot of investment of money and time and resource to do that, can you quantify what that looks like to give people an understanding again that for Xero it doesn’t make sense to commercially support that as well as we’re going to give you better stuff?
AC: Xero Product Ideas which is part of Xero Central, our customer and partner hub for education and support. It’s so cool. We recently upgraded our technology platform for the way people can vote and share ideas for product features. t The new Xero Product Ideas is the result and provides a sophisticated voting system and ways to contribute ideas and get involved in discussions that our product teams regularly review.. These ideas directly contribute to our discovery and planning cycle now. So the product leadership have quick access to new things that are emerging. Of course we can’t just magically action everything. Some ideas are great but are more complicated than they look. They may be a longer burn to deliver, and other things may pop up suddenly because of environmental issues and we are able to action quickly. But yeah, we’ve got that into a cycle now as part of our design and discovery process, which is super cool. And that’s what I talk about when we talk about building the DNA of Xero together. They’re not just words in a presentation, we really do need the help of our partners and their clients for us to figure out where the value resides here and where we should be focusing our efforts. Now what’s not always obvious though, is why we choose to do some things over others. And it might be because sequentially, we need to do things from a technology perspective. It might be that we need to upgrade a particular area before we can move on to something else. There are always good reasons,
Issue 32 / 131Visit the XU Hub: Go to www.xumagazine.com Follow us on Twitter: @xumagazine Win clients. Get paid. Every time. From impressive online proposals to automated engagement letters and payments, we free you up to focus on what matters most - your clients. Award winning client engagement software Try it for free!
So I’m really looking forward to those things, but also to others. I think with machine learning, machines actually improve in time as they learn more. So with things like Analytics Plus, the predictions, and as we add more data, things are only going to get better and better and smarter. So really excited to see how that progresses. And then as Mark talked about the work we’re doing with transforming behind the scenes, the tech upgrades to the platform will be a game changer. As you can see with reporting, that’s been upgraded, and that’s out of the gates largely and now we are moving fast, being able to innovate regularly.
AC: There’s a number of things that really excite me about the next 12 to 18 months. Really seeing the market reaction to Xero Go and seeing the pictures of queues out the door, trying to get into the Xero Go breakout to learn more about it was There’samazing.alotof energy and a lot of excitement when I think about being able to service that market. So we need the feedback because we’ll get better with the feedback. In fact, our product manager was saying ‘I’m a little bit worried as a product person because I haven’t actually heard any clangers yet in terms of, well, why aren’t you doing this or that? Or how come we can’t have the…’ So I said, ‘oh, I’m sure it’ll come when people start using it.’
really excited about us going from strength to strength with Xero Payroll and Planday (time, attendance and scheduling) as we develop our employee management proposition. The market dynamics in every region, but especially in the UK at the moment are really interesting. There is a lot of change economically and politically and small businesses are grappling with significant issues off the back of COVID-19, with inflation and rising costs and securing staff. And such a big part of that small business economy in the UK are small businesses that employ others; 60% of the private sector is employed by small businesses.
So if you go back to our purpose we have to make things easier for the owners, because at the moment they’re struggling with mental health, they’re struggling to find people with the variable nature of the workforce. So I think Planday is a product whose time is now. That, combined with Xero Payroll, it’s going to be fundamental I think for us to really help this economy here in the UK, which is a great thing to be able to do collectively.
Xerocon Series
XU: We’ve had some big announcements in terms of new releases at Xerocon in terms of Xero Go, we’ve also had some advancements of current tech that was already out there. So what are you most looking forward to over the next 12 to 18 months? The stuff you can talk about, in terms of what you’re working on and things that are happening within Xero in terms of your view of it and what’s really exciting.
For me Xero Go is really exciting because it really opens up and makes accessible the entry point to cloud accounting, to this underserved market for so long. And from a purpose perspective, that’s really important, helping the lives of small businesses to be I’mbetter.also
132 / Issue 32 XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users. but understand it may not be immediately obvious and therefore frustrating when you don’t see something being actioned.
A partner said to me the other day, ‘gosh, Anna, we’re finding now that you’ll deliver a new feature or a new report and I’ll think, man, I really needed that, but I didn’t know I needed it until you delivered it’. And that’s what we want to see and hear. And so I would say to the XU community, think about what’s happening with reporting and how fast we are iterating and innovating now. Think about when we can then do in every part of Xero and just how much more value we can get in the hands of our communities.
Issue 32 / 133Visit the XU Hub: Go to www.xumagazine.com Follow us on Twitter: @xumagazine What type of accountant do you want to be? #IWantToBeAnAccountant www.advancetrack.com Where Quality and Security comes as standard If you want to be an accountant that helps clients more then talk to the team at advancetrack Book a Zoom meeting with our advancetrack.com/start-here/team #IWantToBeAnAccountant
limate change is complicated. Climate action can be simple, automatic even CarbonPay is a sustainable fintech platform that offers the planet’s most impactful payment card and makes everyday climate action simpler for businesses. We all have a responsibility to make our impact on the planet as positive as possible, and businesses have an especially important role to play. Maybe your business is well on the way to net zero, or maybe you’re just starting out: wherever you are in your sustainability journey, the CarbonPay Business Ctrl card slots into your current environmental commitments and helps make everyday climate action simpler for your whole team. We’re here to support you on your journey to a greener future.
Backed by a world of expertise
134 / Issue 32 XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.
Rory Spurway, Founder & CEO, CarbonPay Rory Spurway is the Founder and CEO of CarbonPay, a sustainable fintech platform. Rory has always been passionate about the planet and enjoying all that it has to offer but was aware that his actions were having an impact and wanted to take responsibility. The inspiration for CarbonPay came from Rory’s drive to promote systemic change by making climate action simple, accessible and automatic for businesses.
Business expenses with a green lining Every business has unavoidable expenses, which in turn have a carbon footprint. trackhelpCarbonPayAtwebusinessesand offset the carbon expenses.theirassociatedfootprintwithbusinessForevery £1 / $1.50 your team spends, we automatically offset 1kg of CO2, at no extra cost. The CarbonPay Business Ctrl card is available in the US & UK and is accessible to businesses of all sizes. Customers can track the carbon footprint of each purchase in real time, empowering businesses to understand the environmental impact of your expenses and in turn, enabling smart, dataled decisions on how to reduce your carbon footprint associated with your business transactions. We break down your impact even further so you can analyze which department, project and category has the biggest carbon footprint. Stay in Ctrl all from your custom dashboard where you can track your impact, organize and manage your funds, cardholders, transactions and so much more. CarbonPay also offers integration with major accounting platforms, digital receipt capture and automated reconciliation to streamline your expenses and speed up yourwhenprocess.managementexpense-Evenyou’reon the move, we have an app for that! Take climate action with you everywhere and do everything you can from your computer, just now in the palm of your hand. We also have a card for every wallet! We offer digital, physical, unlimited virtual and one-timeuse cards for all businesses. We pride ourselves on being simple and transparent and we made our pricing plan coincide. Scale our platform to your business and add as many or as few people as needed: paying £5 / $5 a month per cardholder. With this fee, you gain access to an entirely new sustainable ecosystem.
Our climate action partners Climate Impact Partners, SeaTrees and Stripe Climate are experts at enacting projects that reach far beyond just planting trees. The projects we support vary C
“Climate change isClimatecomplicated.action can be simple, automatic even.”
This article is
The Wepaymentbusinessmostplanet’simpactfulcard.paysotheplanetwon’t.
“Business withexpensesagreenlining.”
The great debate on carbon offsetting shouldn’t really be a debate at all. We acknowledge that while carbon offsetting is not a silver bullet, it is a powerful tool that plays a crucial role in combating climate change. Simply offsetting your CO2 emissions isn’t enough in isolation, it should be an addition to genuine, effective efforts to reduce CO2 emissions in the first place. Carbon offsetting enables you to take action
Issue 32 / 135Visit the XU Hub: Go to www.xumagazine.com Follow us on Twitter: @xumagazine from restoring coastal blue carbon ecosystems, to replacing cookstoves in Ghana with clean, green alternatives to looking into the future at innovative carbon removal technologies that include carbon capture and storage across the globe. Our choice of partners means you’re making a real difference to the planet right now, and way into the future. To see a more detailed list of our climate action partners and projects, visit our partners page on our website. Our carbon footprint tracking is powered by our partner ecolytiq and on the financial side, we are powered by Visa and Stripe to provide secure payment offerings to our users. In addition to helping businesses truly live their corporate social responsibility values, CarbonPay is committed to taking every avenue within our own business to be a force for good. With this framework, we are a proud member of 1% for the Planet, pledging to donate 1% of our annual revenues to nonprofits that drive real, measurable environmental outcomes. We are also a Pending B Corp® and a certified CarbonNeutral® company. Why Offsetting?
Learn more at: CarbonPay.io Or book a demo at:
takingpassionatethatbusinesseswegreenwashing;notclear,future.atransitioningwhiletolower-carbonTobewedostandforsupportaretrulyaboutactionanddriving a real impact, even those that are hard to decarbonize completely. That is why we also track the carbon footprint of each transaction and provide real-time analytics of your spending activity to help you make data-based decisions on how to reduce your carbon footprint going forward. Offsetting isn’t the whole answer, but it’s a vital step in the journey to making your business home.planetsupportingsustainablemoreandthiswecall
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“The fight against climate change can’t be solved by a handful of people, it requires systemic change and for everyone to take action.”
changeplaysecosystemvisionyouforpositivetransactionaction.meaningfultransactiontransformCarbonPay.useWeeveryintoclimateEveryhasareactiontheplanetwhenuseourcards.Ouristobuildasustainablewhereeverybusinesstheirpartintacklingclimatebycreatingclimateaction tools that fit effortlessly into day-to-day lives. As the world and tech continues to advance around us, we are looking within the industry, rather than out, to reinvent the way we pay so that not only the planet, but those living on it, thrive.
Zeroing in on Xero We’re on a mission to make climate action as simple as possible, and we’re not stopping at offsetting. What about all the leftover work once you’ve made a purchase, offset and uploaded your receipt? Don’t worry about it! We’ve made it possible for businesses using Xero to seamlessly sync their accounting software with CarbonPay. Be in control of your business expenses and climate action with CarbonPay and Xero integration. Save time and the planet. Plug in. Sync up. Simple. Make every action a positive one The fight against climate change can’t be solved by a handful of people, it requires systemic change and for everyone to take action. This goal inspired us to create CarbonPay, to help businesses around the world make a simple, but impactful change which will help us all in the fight against climate change. We turn every transaction into meaningful climate action by automatically tracking and offsetting CO2 every time you pay. It’s a simple, but important step towards making a real difference. Business expenses are an inescapable part of business operations; but they have a green lining when you choose to
136 / Issue 32 XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.
management, the sky’s the limit for SME cloud accounting. It’s never too late to optimise how your practice uses the cloud.
SME cloud accounting: creating a cloud strategy for practicesaccountancysmallWithaseamlesscentralplatform
for all practice and client
At Wolters Kluwer Tax & Accounting UK, we advance our technology agenda through cloud, mobility and SaaS solutions. In this article, we’ll take a look at the basics of developing a solid SME cloud accounting strategy.
I This article is
From changing the way you look at digital transformation to understanding your practice growth goals, we want to help your team make the most of the cloud. What does transformationdigitalmean to you as a practice? If you aren’t sure whether your practice is using the cloud to its fullest potential, consider the following questions. Are you leveraging the cloud to achieve new business outcomes? Is the cloud solving pain points for your clients? If the answer to these questions is no, then we’ve got good news. You’ve got untapped potential, and new opportunities to significantly modernise your practice through SME cloud You’llaccounting.needto consider what digital transformation means to your practice. Ultimately, the use of cloud storage should remove friction and increase engagement with your clients. The same applies to cloud-based accounting platforms and applications. Digital transformation and an SME cloud accounting strategy should start from a goal-oriented and structural mindset. This helps you determine how the cloud can modernise and benefit your practice. Modernising your practice with the cloud Your SME cloud accounting strategy should aim high and deliver. You’ll want to think
@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.
t’s fair to say that the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated cloud adoption significantly, particularly among small and medium-sized practices. By the end of Q1 2020, senior technology CEOs were saying that they had seen two years’ worth of digital transformation in two months. This change came because a wider range of customers were adopting cloud solutions - SME cloud accounting had become mainstream. By the end of 2021, Gartner reported that the worldwide end-user spending on public cloud services forecast had grown to $304.9 billion, an 18.4% increase on $257.5 billion in 2020. Large and small practices were upping their cloud game in a big way, and often in a hurry. However, many practices still experience a few key uncertainties. For some practices, the sprint to the cloud may have felt a little post-haste, or not especially strategic. Others may have felt under pressure to adopt the cloud as an off-premise solution before they were really ready to do so. As such, they may not yet be taking full advantage of the opportunities presented by cloud accounting platforms. If this sounds like you, don’t worry. You’re not alone. It’s never too late to optimise how your practice uses the cloud. A clear strategy for SME cloud accounting can drive transformational practice change.
Wolters Kluwer’s commitment to being digital-first puts us at the forefront of the ongoing shift to cloud-based integrated solutions. The cloud was critical in enabling companies to cope with the tumultuous change in business operations during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, across that two-year period between 2020 and 2022, something else became evident - the practices that continually push their cloud capabilities further are best placed to grow their client base. They also have greater scope to offer new lines of businesses easily and efficiently. With a seamless central platform for all practice and client management, the sky’s the limit for SME cloud accounting.
Cloud-based accounting platforms host a single, secure place where advisors across an entire practice can seamlessly and transparently manage all client communications. Clients can each have their own permissioned document centre, where advisors can track the progress and status of a document from anywhere, at any given time. Documents are no longer lost in inboxes. Most importantly, everyone knows that they are working on a common version of a document. Ultimately, it means that processes and workflow can be streamlined. In many instances, automation can be applied to repetitive tasks. Without the triviality of constantly chasing documents, advisors can focus on additional value-added services for their clients. It also means more time to develop new lines of business, and potentially reach out to potential new clients. Preparing your people to make the most of the cloud When it comes to executing and capitalising on cloud strategy, many practices are recognising the need to upskill their people. Again, if this is the case, you’re not alone.
Learn more about how Wolters Kluwer can support you. Find out more...
Cloud: continuous rewards for future-focused practices
Issue 32 / 137Visit the XU Hub: Go to www.xumagazine.com Follow us on Twitter: @xumagazine beyond the foundational benefits and practicalities of cloud storage, and consider the further potential of cloud computing.
xumagazine.comSTRAIGHTTOYOURINBOX!
What can integrated cloud-based accounting platforms do for your Modernpractice?practices are migrating their apps and infrastructure to the cloud and taking advantage of platform-based collaboration. This means that their advisor and client workspaces are connected for secure collaboration, and for messaging and document exchange. This is producing significant productivity gains and efficiencies.
The UK government’s February 2022 ‘Levelling Up’ whitepaper identified a national digital skills gap. It plans to increase the number of people completing high-quality skills training across every region in the UK by However,2030.there’s no need to wait until 2030 to use the cloud optimally and secure the IT skills you need. Organisations should consider investing in digital skills now, to remain resilient in the face of an uncertain business landscape. That starts with being operationally strong and flexible. Legacy technologies will soon become redundant. As modern practices become innovation-driven,moreSME cloud accounting will become the norm. This makes it more important to upskill core technology competencies. If you’re looking for help to build your team’s cloud capabilities, look no further than your cloud-based accounting platform provider.
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138 / Issue 32 XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.
A This article is
@ExpenseOnDemand
Sunil Nigam, CEO & CoFounder, ExpenseOnDemand
• 100% Compliance
Onemonths.ofthe most staggering responses to our survey was that 75% of business leaders believe the tech they subscribe to is overpriced and more than half (59%) want a more tailored solution.
t asExpenseOnDemand,aglobalexpenses app we believe it is key that we listen to and understand what business leaders want from their tech solutions which is why we commissioned an extensive survey of owners, directors and leaders across the globe to truly help us understand how firms are utilising the tech they pay for, the demand for tailored solutions, what they think about the costs and what they believe are their biggest challenges over the next 12
The fact that millions of business leaders believe they are overpaying for the tech services needed to help with their business processes and on top of this many firms can’t get the full benefit of this tech as it isn’t tailored to their specific needs. This has driven us to ensure our offering is both cost-effective and tailored so our clients only pay for the functions they need. So often these two issues come hand in hand, as tech firms only offer a ‘one size fits all’ subscription. This is despite the fact that many small businesses are only utilising a small amount of the functions they are forced to pay for. We speak to so many SMEs that are paying for tech that they can’t use, or the solution simply doesn’t work with their current processes. Managing and monitoring employee expenses is challenging especially with a remote workforce. That is why we offer a flexible and tailored solution and work with our clients to match their needs.
• Zero Errors • Ensure 0% Fraud This flexibility will become necessary in today’s high inflation environment, which as many are suggesting may lead into a Businessrecession.Optimism
Our Customers are able to tailor ExpenseOnDemand to deliver:
As part of our extensive business survey, we also asked business leaders how optimistic they were feeling about the next 12 months and what they see as the key challenges facing their business. It was pleasing to see that 73% of those surveyed were optimistic about the next year and
globallybusinesseshamperingoftechOverpricedandlacktailoringare
Accounting and Expenses Tech Accounting and Expenses software is a great example of how tech giants have built platforms that are used universally but offer little tailoring or personalisation and for many small businesses don’t actually offer interfaces or solutions that are actually that helpful or intuitive. This seems to be especially true for small businesses who don’t have the time for the extensive training often required to make the most out of these complicated Utilisingsolutions.the right tech to help automate processes is critical for both survival and profitability for millions of SMEs around the globe. Whether you have 1,5 or 200 employees, it is now essential that you source the best tech solution to automate as much of your business as possible.
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.
• Photograph receipts and submit & approve expenses in seconds.
• ExpenseOnDemand ensures no duplicates with any employee claims.
• Expenses can be made in any currency.
As technology is evolving it is inevitably changing more traditional business processes. New banks are offering simpler, cheaper and quicker solutions for SMEs. Accountancy software is always evolving to make managing your accounts and invoices easier, cyber security solutions are helping owners keep data safe and GDPR compliant.
At ExpenseOnDemand, we integrate and transfer data between Xero/Sage and QuickBooks ensuring the app remains a market leading service, but we also allow businesses to hand pick what services they need, and we can tailor our solution to mirror their current business processes rather than forcing them to change to match our tech. We have also updated the app to make it easier for the new normal as employees work from home and businesses are turning to technology for simpler and automated solutions.
We started ExpenseOnDemandusing 4 years ago. We were paying £83 per month for 45 users. We had 7 functions. Today, we use 15 of the 100+ functions, we now pay £3.35 per user per month. Most importantly, it is very flexible and easy to use. Highly recommended! - Paroma Ghosh Xero + ExpenseOnDemand = Total Time Saver Very easy to use application. The process from entering the expenses, approval to reimbursements is fully automatedand to integrate with Xero is simple. Reommended to all. - Richa Mittal
• Claimants and Approvers can use the app within minutes.
Apart from offering over 100+ functions to choose from, Xero users can, for example, set up their own approval hierarchy. SMEs can build their bespoke subscriptions in minutes, and only pay for functions they use – not the whole application. Additionally, we offer a simple “pay as you use” pricing model keeping costs completely manageable and flexible. How does ExpenseOnDemand benefit businesses and their staff? ExpenseOnDemand works seamlessly with staff working remotely or hybrid. Employees no longer need to send paper claims to claim their expenses and they can benefit from:
Issue 32 / 139Visit the XU Hub: Go to www.xumagazine.com Follow us on Twitter: @xumagazine For more information go to:
• Finance can choose from 100+ functions. What do Xero customers say about ExpenseOnDemand? The best expense management app with no implementation costs Initially we did not ExpenseOnDemandbelieveabout zero setup costs, because we had paid our vendor around $22,000. And each year we were paying $5000. With their videos, the configuration was explained step by step. Today we use 18 functions and haven’t paid a cent for setup. Even a temp covering for a full-time employee is able to watch the video and setup employee, cost centres, projects, etc. Thanks, ExpenseOnDemand! - Ekta Seerat A feature rich, flexible app at an incredible price
• Approvers can view and manage all historical claims.
believed it would be a positive period for their business. 19% were not so optimistic but believed their firm would die and concerningly 8% doubted if they would survive the next 12 Themonths.main challenges that business leaders predicted were managing costs with 38% concerned about this, followed by increasing profits (34%), and then recruitment being able to attract the right talent (29%). A fifth of businesses were concerned about the impact of the Ukraine war and 16% thought having the right tech solutions was going to be a key challenge.
Findsoftwareexpense-automation-expenseondemand.com/outmore...
T is
This article
he exhibition is set to welcome over 1500 attendees, including accountants, finance directors and bookkeepers from all over the north of the UK. More than 100 software and service suppliers will be exhibiting, including Sage, Xero, Wolters Kluwer, Dext, IRIS, FreeAgent, RDI Solutions and Intuit Quickbooks. Attendees will have the opportunity to meet the teams behind the brands and get 1-on-1 demos, find new solutions and learn practical tips.
Spotlight andMakingCryptocurrency,onTaxDigitalSustainability at
“We can’t wait to bring you our best Accountex Summit Manchester yet! We’ve got an even bigger show this year and it’s set to be unmissable.” said Accountex Porfolio Director, Caroline Hobden. “It’s a great opportunity to reunite the community, and keep up-to-date with the technology,changing legislation and regulation. And, with the introduction of home working for so many firms post covid, our shows are essential meeting places for teams to come together, whilst immersing themselves in all things accountancy and finance.”
Events
Accountex
140 / Issue 32 XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.
Accountex ManchesterSummit
@Accountex Caroline Hobden, Portfolio Director, Accountex Caroline is a dedicated event professional with over 20 years of experience managing international business-tobusiness events. With a wealth of knowledge and expertise in running technical events across a variety of industry sectors, Caroline is the Director for the hugely popular Accountex portfolio, which includes Accountex in London (10-11 May 2023), Accountex Summit Manchester (12 October 2022), Accountex Espana (3-4 November 2022), a wide variety of virtual events and the monthly e-newsletter Accounting Insight News.
A 2021 visitor, Heather saidAccountingBookkeepingDirectorPalmer,atAscotLtd“Thiswasmy first time visiting Accountex incredible,atmospheredisappointed.IManchesterSummitandcertainlywasn’tThewasandthe quality of exhibitors was first class. Can’t wait for 2022!” Visitors will also gain 8 CPD hours through the free CPD-accredited seminars led by 50+ experts, defining the future of accountancy and finance. The education programme is held across four theatres that will host 32 seminars, discussing everything from Making Tax Digital to staff retention and mindset.
“For anyone wanting to see & sample all the accountancy software available, Accountex is the one stop shop for that” Summit Manchester returns for the fourth year on 12 October 2022 at Manchester Central.
GoodProgramme...IstheNew
Issue 32 / 141Visit the XU Hub: Go to www.xumagazine.com Follow us on Twitter: @xumagazine Accountex Summit Manchester opens at Manchester Central from 9am-5pm on Wednesday 12 October. Register for your free ticket FIND OUT MORE... A taster of the Seminar
Great: How a Business for Good Can Drive Great Results Spanning People, Planet and Profit James Lizars, Founder and CEO, Thrive Accountants; Rebecca Cook, Associate Director, Charlton Morris; Sarah Reay, Climate Change Executive, ICAEW; Fiona Ras-Jones, Director, Make Impact; Neil Ross Russell, Managing Director, Net Zero Now. As trusted advisers, accountants have a remarkable opportunity to bring about change for the better. Whether that’s ethical supply chains, improved employment practices, or reduced climate impact, there is a compelling business case for sustainably.alltoasbusinessembracingforgoodthebestwaydelivervaluetostakeholders, Making Tax Digital - Our Journey and What You Can Do Now to Be Ready for 2024 Richard Fowler, Deputy Director MTD Customer Readiness and External Stakeholders, HMRC. Agents and their customers will be affected by one of the movetheirprogresswillthirtytaxationchangesbiggesttoforoveryears.HMRCsharetheirtodateandroadmapastheytowardsmandation for April 2024. Tax Implications for Cryptocurrency Katharine Wooller, Managing Director, Dacxi; David Britton, Tax Partner, basics”understandtoBrittonjoinedDacxiWealthMDKatharineBDO.Wooller,ofCryptoExchange,UK,willbebyDavidfromBDOensureyou“theofCrypto,howit is viewed by HMRC and what this means for your clients, and some of the tax efficient ways to purchase crypto. This session will provide you with an overview of the current themes and issues in crypto, and the tax implications in the UK.
“The andwasatmosphereincrediblethequalityof exhibitors was first class, can’t wait for 2022!” “Great to get up to date, in an ideal venue, with seminarsexcellent&helpfulsuppliers”
Surviving ISQMTransitiontheto1 Jez Williams, Director, Apex. This session will provide a practical guide for independent audit firms on how to get up to speed with ISQM 1 and meet the impending deadline. With realworld examples, our speaker will present the tools and techniques that can make all the difference.
Events
hile clients may think their existing service, maintenance or project processes are exactly what they need, usually a deeper understanding of financials can uncover another story.
Business data does not flow easily into an accounting platform Are your clients wasting valuable time transferring accounts payable and receivable information from one platform to
Ananother?important piece of the puzzle for field service efficiency is the integration between business @simprosoftware
So what are the telltale signs of inefficiencies in a field service business? And how can field service management software help? Keep reading to discover the top three signs of inefficient business processes. Your client can’t easily locate important information When you ask your client to provide you with key financial data, does a look of dread appear on their face? If your client can’t accurately tell you how invoice,upthey’veinbusinessinventorymuchthehasstorageoriffollowedonanoverdueitmaybe a sign of inefficient processes. Easily accessing accurate business data is vital to the success of any field service business. These details are important to make swift business decisions and form the basis of reports which your clients may need to share with stakeholders. The key to easily finding important information is storing it in one central location and moveyourreportrequired,thepossible.simPROsoftwarecloud-basedsuchasmakesthisNomatterinformationortherequested,clientscanforwardwith confidence knowing data is just a click away. Invoicing is slow and customers aren’t paying on time Are slow and dated outstandingthemcustomerstoconstantlyOrinvoicesbackholdingprocessesyourclientfromsendingquickly?isyourclienthavingtrackdowntogettopaytheirinvoices?
If your client can’t quickly and easily locate job details such as labour hours or materials used, generating accurate invoices becomes a slow process. This not only broadens the window of time between job completion and payment, it also increases the risk of undervaluing jobs. Further, hindered invoicing processes create more barriers for customers to pay your client on time for their work. Luckily, a complete field service makesoftwaremanagementcanthisprocess more efficient and help your client avoid missing money. With software like simPRO, field service businesses can use a variety of features to help streamline their processes and get their customers to pay on time including payment accepted in the field, invoicing alerts and secure payment options.
142 / Issue 32 XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.
W This article
Are processesinefficientholding your trades clients back?
Alkan Ciftci, Channel Sales Manager, simPRO Software Based out of Melbourne Australia, Alkan has worked across SaaS partner programs for the past 11 years. His experience selling SaaS has taught him that successful partnerships evolve when true win/win relationships are formed, constantly reminding himself that it is important to first understand before being understood. Alkan continues his career at simPRO, working with accountants to develop new partnerships with expert advisors who strive to provide the best for their clientele. is
As an accountant, you are in a unique position to help your field service clients evaluate whether their processes are the most efficient they can be. Partner with the total business software built for your trade clients “If your client can’t quickly and easily locate job details, generating accurate invoices becomes a slow process”
“When you ask your client to provide you with key financial data, does a look of dread appear on their face?”
Issue 32 / 143Visit the XU Hub: Go to www.xumagazine.com Follow us on Twitter: @xumagazine management software and accounting software. While field service management software helps business operations run smoothly, if it doesn’t integrate with accounting software, all that efficiency could be lost. To ensure your client’s processes are as efficient as possible, a well-functioning integration between business and accounting software is key. If you’re looking for a complete business software for your trade clients and want to learn more about simPRO, contact us to speak to a dedicated simPRO Partner Manager. Learn more at: FINDbecome-a-partnersimprogroup.com/partners/OUTMORE... Opening an o ce in the UK in mid September. Not For Profit CRM, Donor and Gi Aid management so ware. www.infoodle.com UK: +44 (0) 161 738 1437 NZ: +64 (7) 579 3085 COMINGTOTHEUK!
144 / Issue 32 XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.
origitanted
Xero News August 2022 The latest
This article from Xero. You can read the original update here
Updates
Last month we welcomed a number of new apps to the Xero App Store. These includes Evalue8 Sustainability (AU only) to measure carbon footprint, Houzz Pro’s (AU, NZ, UK only) powerful building project management tools, and Scrutinize (US, CA only) for automated financial reviews. in product, ecosystem, partnerships and business at Xero Partners of the Month: Xerocon London 2022 special edition
Introducing Xero Go for sole traders
Xero’s HMRC pilot program, which was showcased at Xerocon London, is one of the first HMRCrecognised software solutions available and helps advisors support clients through the change while also progressing their digital journey. Navigating the changing world of work At Xerocon London, we shared our commitment to employee management and launched the Changing World of Work report, which revealed the toll that managing a workforce in an everchanging environment is having on UK employers. To help address these challenges, we showcased our suite of workforce management tools, including Xero Payroll, Xero Me (employee app) and Xero Expenses. We also shared updates to our Xero Payroll integration with Planday, designed to help small businesses automate tasks such as payroll and rostering.
to the Xero
n July, more than 2000 accounting, bookkeeping and app partners joined us at Xerocon London. It was a valuable opportunity to share the latest product updates, insights and tools to help our partners have a greater impact on their clients’ success.
For August, we thought we’d switch it up and take a look at a handful of our app partners that exhibited at Xerocon London. You can check them out here
NEWS
Xero Updates from Xero IThis article is ECOSYSTEM New
Our new feature within Xero Analytics Plus integrates with HMRC and captures VAT obligations in real time, providing small businesses with better insights into their cash flow, to help them avoid a cash flow crunch. GoCardless integrates open banking payments with Xero GoCardless, the global leader in direct bank payments, has partnered with Xero to provide a new open banking feature to Xero’s customers in the UK. GoCardless Instant Bank Pay allows Xero customers to receive they’ve been working on... from additions App Store
We’ve released a number of new enhancements across the Xero platform over the last month, with a focus on making processes streamlined, accessible and accurate. After listening to customer feedback, we’ve introduced the ability to add, edit and bulk merge contacts in Xero, as well as edit fields on an invoice after payment. These features help streamline the invoicing workflow for small businesses, giving them time back to focus on growing their business. In Australia, we’ve designed a new feature that reauthenticates our customers’ devices every 24 hours when logging into Xero. This helps us protect the sensitive information in their account and ensures compliance with upcoming Australian Tax Office regulations.
APP SPOTLIGHT App
What
Xero is committed to mentoring and encouraging the next generation of accounting, small business, and finance leaders across the globe. One of many industry associations we are proud to support in the US is the National Association of Black Accountants (NABA)
As part of the Xero Small Business Insights (XSBI) program, we released Crunch: Cashflow challenges facing small businesses -- a special report examining cash flow challenges facing small businesses. The data, drawn from more than 200,000 businesses in Australia, New Zealand, and the UK, found that a staggering 94% of small businesses experienced at least one month of negative cash flow in 2021 and on average small businesses in the UK experienced 4.5 months of negative cash flow.
The cash flow challenges affecting small businesses
Xero was honoured to once again sponsor NABA’s 2022 scholarship program, presented to University of Iowa student Caymen Woods at NABA’s Annual Convention in June. NABA’s scholarship program has provided more than $375,000 in scholarships to NABA-affiliated students across the country.
We unveiled the early release of Xero Go — a new mobile app designed to ease the burden of financial admin for sole traders and their advisors in the UK. Xero Go allows sole traders to capture their income and expenses on the go, while helping them stay compliant with upcoming Making Tax Digital for Income Self Assessment (MTD for ITSA) requirements to keep digital Therecords.app is free and available now to download on iOS (Android coming soon). It’s complemented by a Xero Go partner plan, which helps advisors service sole traders more efficiently, particularly in light of the MTD for ITSA reporting requirements. Preparing for MTD for ITSA With MTD for ITSA impacting up to 4.2 million small businesses across the UK, we remain committed to ensuring they have the technology and processes in place ahead of the mandated changes in 2024.
Dive...DeepXerocon
Xero sponsors National Association of Black Accountants scholarship
Latest product news
Issue 32 / 145Visit the XU Hub: Go to www.xumagazine.com Follow us on Twitter: @xumagazine UpGrowthWorldFirstPackageto£3mingrowthcapitalfunds,fast Help clients gain access funds when they need them, plus eliminate overseas banking and cross-border payment complications. Visit: worldfirst.com/uk/growth-package or call +44 (0) 207 326 9120 to find out more
Xero News August
Xero is committed to mentoring and encouraging the next generation of accounting, small business, and finance leaders across the globe. One of many industry associations we are proud to support in the US is the National Association of Black Accountants (NABA) Xero was honoured to once again sponsor NABA’s 2022 scholarship program, presented to University of Iowa student Caymen Woods one-off bank-to-bank payments from new and existing customers, while still reaping the benefits of Direct Debit for recurring Usingpayments.Instant Bank Pay, Xero customers in the UK will be able to accept one-off account-toaccount payments and benefit from instant confirmation with payment authorisation completed in seconds. They will also enjoy fast, one-day settlement and access to recurring and instant one-off payments through one provider.
Updates from Xero
Last month we welcomed a number of new apps to the Xero App Store. These includes Evalue8 Sustainability (AU only) to measure carbon footprint, Houzz Pro’s (AU, NZ, UK only) powerful building project management tools, and Scrutinize (US, CA only) for automated financial reviews. 2022
For August, we thought we’d switch it up and take a look at a handful of our app partners that exhibited at Xerocon London. You can check them out here NEWS Xero sponsors National Association of Black Accountants scholarship Xero is committed to mentoring and encouraging the next generation of accounting, small business, and finance leaders across the globe. One of many industry associations we are proud to support in the US is the National Association of Black Accountants (NABA) Xero was honoured to once again sponsor NABA’s 2022 scholarship program, presented to University of Iowa student Caymen Woods at NABA’s Annual Convention in June. NABA’s scholarship program has provided more than $375,000 in scholarships to NABA-affiliated students across the country.
Latest product news
In Australia, we’ve designed a new feature that reauthenticates our customers’ devices every 24 hours when logging into Xero. This helps us protect the sensitive information in their account and ensures compliance with upcoming Australian Tax Office regulations.
The feature is currently being rolled out and will soon be available to Xero UK customers. Collate, send and sign documents in Xero Attendees at Xerocon London got a sneak peek at our new document packs feature, coming soon to Xero HQ. This secure online portal will help small businesses easily view, download, electronically sign and return documents to their accountant or bookkeeper — all in one secure, accessible place.
Document packs will also integrate seamlessly with Xero Tax, which means advisors can share company and personal tax returns and annual accounts directly with their clients for review and signature.
ECOSYSTEM New additions to the Xero App Store
We also shared improvements to job manager in Xero Practice Manager (XPM), including a new table and more sorting and filtering options. These updates make it easier for advisors to see, track and manage jobs across their practice.
at NABA’s Annual Convention in June. NABA’s scholarship program has provided more than $375,000 in scholarships to NABA-affiliated students across the country. Latest product news We’ve released a number of new enhancements across the Xero platform over the last month, with a focus on making processes streamlined, accessible and Afteraccurate.listening to customer feedback, we’ve introduced the ability to add, edit and bulk merge contacts in Xero, as well as edit fields on an invoice after payment. These features help streamline the invoicing workflow for small businesses, giving them time back to focus on growing their business. In Australia, we’ve designed a new feature that re-authenticates our customers’ devices every 24 hours when logging into Xero. This helps us protect the sensitive information in their account and ensures compliance with upcoming Australian Tax Office regulations.
Ecosystem New additions to the Xero App Store
Xero news...
146 / Issue 32 XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users. News
The latest in product, ecosystem, partnerships and business at Xero APP SPOTLIGHT App Partners of the Month: Xerocon London 2022 special edition
Last month we welcomed a number of new apps to the Xero App Store. These includes Evalue8 Sustainability (AU only) to measure carbon footprint, Houzz Pro’s (AU, NZ, UK only) powerful building project management tools, and Scrutinize (US, CA only) for automated financial reviews.
Xero sponsors National Association of Black Accountants scholarship
We’ve released a number of new enhancements across the Xero platform over the last month, with a focus on making processes streamlined, accessible and accurate. After listening to customer feedback, we’ve introduced the ability to add, edit and bulk merge contacts in Xero, as well as edit fields on an invoice after payment. These features help streamline the invoicing workflow for small businesses, giving them time back to focus on growing their business.
Issue 32 / 147Visit the XU Hub: Go to www.xumagazine.com Follow us on Twitter: @xumagazine In the time it’s taken you to read this advert, you could have processed 5 invoices on AutoPilot and approved a purchase request. CSDocuments Invoices Search for… Approve Reject Stationary Express Invoice: 410852 Purchase Order - 0000001 Division: Marketing Workflow: Invoice Approval £120.00 Line items 2 # Quantity Invoice Number Details Project Nominal Code 21 21 00000000470000000045 Blue RulersPens Office Refurbishment Office Refurbishment 0064 - Stationary 0064 - Stationary Document History Attatch Zahara is an all-in-one accounts payable solution for controling costs and making finance function faster. Affordable Cost Control has never been so Affordable 5 100UsersInvoices Read and Routed for Approval 100 Purchase Orders Partner Discounts for Accountants and Book Keepers From £39 + VAT per month Take a 30 Day Trial Today Zahara Find out more at zaharasoftware.com
“Accountex has become a who’s who of the accounting profession and its surrounding industries. It is said that two days of Accountex is the equivalent of 6 months of networking any other way, and my experience bears that out,” Martin Bissett – Keynote Speaker, Accountex Canada. Accountex Canada will offer 34 sessions and an opportunity for attendees to earn up to 8 CPE/ CPD credits. The conference’s broad spectrum of topics and speakers will provide attendees with the knowledge and tools to excel in their careers and businesses. Day one will feature keynote speaker Martin Bissett —President of Bissett Group and keynote speaker to over 40 nations worldwide— will share his insights in two sessions, Pricing Strategies and Building Your Pipeline. On day two, keynote speaker Amber Mac —Innovation Speaker | Co-Host, The Feed on SiriusXM | President, AmberMac Media, Inc. — will guide participants through her 2023 (Mostly Business) Survival Guide
Othersession.industry leaders giving attendees practice-based education will feature Ryan Lazanis (Future Firm), Rachel Fisch (Fisch Books), Steven Van Alstine (National Payroll Institute), Greg Powell (ACCA) and Julie Ruben Rodney (MaxPeople), to mention a few. “It’s been overwhelming the interest we’ve received in the show. There is a real need and desire for an independent in-person conference and trade show in Canada that serves the entire community at large”, says Steve Dempsey, General Manager of Diversified Communications Canada, Accountex organizers. Delegates will meet the teams face-to-face behind Founding Partners Xero, Intuit-Quickbooks, Sage/Auto Entry, and ACCA, as well as other prominent leaders such as Karbon, ApprovalMax,
This article is Europe’s top accounting and finance event, Accountex London, is now expanding to Canada, Spain and Australia Nancy Gelette, VP, Canada Diversified Communications Over 25 years in the Event Industry. Teamwork and building the right team at every level, is the secret to success in any industry. People make the difference.
O
ver 1,000 bookkeepersaccountants,and finance professionals will come together in Toronto for two days of networking, education, and interaction with over 75 companies showcasing the latest in tech and software, propelling professionals into 2023.
148 / Issue 32 XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.
CanadaExpandsAccountexto
@AccountexCanada
Events
“I find it a hugely valuable time to network with suppliers and peers. There is nothing like grabbing a coffee with your account manager or another accountant whom you usually network with online. For me, I am also always looking for new apps, software solutions or just a better way of doing things, so roaming the halls to see who is exhibiting is fabulous. Sometimes you can come across a solution that you looked at before but was not right then – but is now! It is a great time to speak to someone in real person rather than relying on online chat,” shared Emma Fox, Founder of Fresh Financials, in an interview with XU Magazine at Accountex AccountexLondon.
Canada will take place on November 30 and December 1, 2022, in Toronto, Ontario, at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, North Building.
Issue 32 / 149Visit the XU Hub: Go to www.xumagazine.com Follow us on Twitter: @xumagazine November 30 – December 1, 2022 Toronto, In-PersonOntarioConference & Trade Show Who should attend: Accountants, Bookkeepers, Finance Professionals Why Attend? • Earn up to 8 CPD credits • 34 sessions over two days • Network with 1,000 of your peers • 75+ leading-edge software firms to engage with Find out more at: FINDacccountex.caOUTMORE...Dext, Doc-it/IRIS, INAA group, a2x, Dataswitcher, Freshbooks, Pure Booking, Successful Bookkeeper, XU Magazine, Financly, and beeye. In addition, with national strategic partners like the National Payroll Institute and the Certified Professional Bookkeepers of Canada, payroll professionals bookkeepers and CPAs can earn up to 8 CPD credits.
Events
“I am looking forward to this fresh, new event happening in Toronto! Relevant topics, actionable tips, and interesting speakers at a great venue,” Kellie Parks, CPB, Cloud Process Creator, Calm Waters and speaker at Accountex Canada. Accountex Canada will also feature Career and Flash Meeting Zones, hosting live demonstrations on both days tailored for the Canadian audience. This event is for all levels within the accounting and finance industry. In addition, a Networking Reception on day one will allow everyone to relax, digest and catch up with their peers to celebrate this coming together.
ayroll is very important; it can be one of the largest expense items on the profit and loss within a business. Your clients’ employees expect to be paid on time and correctly every time. Selecting the correct payroll system is essential.
150 / Issue 32 XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.
Joanna Cruickshank, National Sales Manager, CloudPayroll Joanna has been a small business owner, is a qualified accountant and is passionate in helping people get the best payroll solution for their organisation.
This article
Xero offers its clients accounting and payroll solutions however it may not meet all businesses payroll requirements. It is critical to understand what add-on options you have with Xero when your clients come to you as their trusted advisor for advice on a payroll solution to best suit their business CloudPayrollneeds.isassisting current Xero payroll clients when they require more detailed tracking of costs over multiple tracking categories. As well as better reporting capabilities, an ability to restrict user access, and immediate phone support. Or their employee head count reaches 200, meaning Xero can no longer support their payroll so they must find another solution and often quickly. If your clients are maintaining various excel spreadsheets or manually entering hours into Xero these are two good indicators that there may be a better, more time effective payroll solution for them to consider. It is imperative that businesses can electronically store and quickly access employee records. With CloudPayroll your clients can upload documents within their payroll or alternatively integrate with an existing HR solution making it easier to find documents at anytime from CloudPayrollanywhere has seamless integration with Xero, various HR, rostering and time and attendance solutions meaning as your clients’ requirements grow, they can build a trusted, leading eco-system best suited to their business.
Build systemPayrollyoureco-
Findintegrations/cloudpayroll.com.au/outmore...
P is Visit our integration page for information on the established software systems we integrate with
igital technology has been revolutionizing accounting and finance for many years, and the pace of change has been turbocharged with the events of the past few years. With more solutions in the market than ever before, it’s crucial for SMEs, enterprises and accounting firms to stay up to date on the latest tools and digital innovations and to discover how they can transform and streamline their ways of working.
Tickets are free for all and we’d love for XU Magazine readers to join us! What are the key highlights of the 2-day event?
For the first time in 3 years, the Accounting & Finance Show Singapore returns as an inperson event! The doors will open on 20 September 2022 at Suntec Convention Centre. Thousands of accountants and finance professionals from SMEs, enterprise and accounting firms from Singapore and across Asia will gather to learn from the industry’s thought leaders about the latest digital trends that are shaking up the accounting and finance scene. Plus, the show floor will be bustling with 100+ sponsors and exhibitors ready to showcase their innovative solutions.
Accounting & Finance Show Singapore opens its doors this September Don’t miss out on this golden opportunity to learn and network with the region’s leading experts in technology for accountants and finance professionals.
Events A professionalsandfortechnologymust-attendeventaccountantsfinanceinAsia
futureanddevelopingyourtotechnologythefromasessionstothere’sspeakers,somuchgain!Thewillcoverrangeoftopics,harnessingpoweroftransformbusinesstostrategiespeopletosecuresuccess.It’sthebest place for facilitation of fresh ideas and insights. Featured speakers
“There was so much diversity amongst the speakers, which really helps with gaining well rounded understanding” CEO, Fresh Accounting
152 / Issue 32 XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.
D
1) The Conference - Trending topics in accounting and finance With 50+ sessions in 7 content theatres brought to you by 120+ pacesetting expert
This is a must-attend event for anyone who wants to stay ahead of the curve in a rapidly changing digital landscape. Best part?
•include:Charles Chen, Managing Director, CAP Advisory Group
• Xiang Jie Chung, Vice President Finance, CARRO
• Elvin Eng, CFO, South East Asia & Korea, Universal Music Pte Ltd @accandfinshow Laura Binns, General Manager, Accounting & Finance Show Asia, Terrapinn Asia Laura joined Terrapinn in 2018 and launched the first edition of the Accounting & Finance Show Asia. The show works to drive up the adoption of digital technologies amongst SMEs, enterprises and accounting firms in Asia. With the show now in its fifth year, Laura and the Terrapinn team are now extending the event into a whole series running throughout the year.
Issue 32 / 153Visit the XU Hub: Go to www.xumagazine.com Follow us on Twitter: @xumagazine “Very well organised event that caters to finance professionals at every level” Director, Red Dot Advisory • Simon Littlewood, President and Founder, ACG Global • Elisha Yap, Founder and Chief Financial Officer, EBOS Cloud Accountants • Emma Martin, Chief Financial Asia-Pacific,Officer Edelman • Jasmine Chung, Senior FoodPandaFinanceManagerPMO, • Duane Ho, Group Chief Financial Officer, Oceanus Group Limited 2) The Exhibition - An array of 100+ innovative solutionproviders A variety of technologiesinnovativeservicing the needs of every single business—from cloud-based accounting solutions and financial software, to non-cloud based systems and customised services will be there with us. You’ll have the chance to experience their products and services first-hand and evaluate how they would work in your business. Your next major digital tool could be waiting for Spenmo,Xero,Companiesyou!likeAspire,KeyPay and Peakflo are waiting to meet you. 3) The Networking2,000+ accounting and finance professionals from Singapore and beyond The show is a great opportunity to network with other accountants and finance professionals who are interested in or already using digital technology in their work. You’ll be able to exchange ideas and learn from each other’s experiences, which can help you to take your business or career to the next level. It’ll definitely be an enlightening and enjoyable time Thisspent!is your chance to discover how you can use technology to faster and smoothly deliver your business value. Deepen your understanding in a wide range of accounting software platforms, ERP solutions, document management systems, payments solutions, payroll software, practice management tools, analytics and reporting technologies and much more. We cannot wait to welcome you through the doors of Accounting & Finance Show Singapore 2022! Events Book your FREE tickets now:FINDAttendAFShowSG2022terrapinn.com/OUTMORE...
timeschallengingcanmindfulnessHowhelpduring
Mindfulnessourselves. can help us see things more clearly, which in turn helps us strike a balance
Focus: Mental Health W This article is
Acknowledging that feeling fearful and anxious at a time such as this is normal, and we should be present with these feelings and not fight against them. Fear and anxiety alert us to the fact that we need to be taking appropriate action to keep ourselves as healthy as possible. By acting early, we can often stop these feelings escalating and affecting us in negative ways.
Managing our emotions and supporting each other can be challenging at the best of times. We all need to be doing our best to regularly pause, take a breath and be proactive in looking after ourselves and others. It is important to find practical tools and techniques to help manage uncertainty, reduce anxiety, and stay connected and grounded. For me mindfulness is one of those tools.
154 / Issue 32 XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.
If there is one major lesson, I have learnt over these past years is that taking care of our mental health has never been more important. With things changing so quickly, such uncertainty and unpredictability can take a toll on our mental and physical health.
e have now been living in challenging and uncertain times for greater then 2 years. This uncertainly, requires us to navigate as best we can through an everchanging world. Just when we think things are returning to “normal” they change again.
Mindfulness provides us with a means of cultivating greater and more objective awareness of our own emotional landscape.
Mindfulness helps us get better at recognising and understanding our own personal signals that tell us we are struggling or not coping with certain situations. It is important to understand what triggers increased stress in our lives. When we find ourselves in situations where stress and anxiety are increasing, we act early. We may find changes in our behaviour are a good indication that we are not coping. We may become more irritable or loose patience. We may have difficulty sleeping or find ourselves eating or drinking more than usual. We may find an inability to focus. In addition to knowing and recognising our warning signals, mindfulness gives us the opportunity to respond by taking steps to settle and soothe our nervous system. This in turn enables us to think more clearly, make better decisions and respond as opposed to react. It can also be tempting to turn away from and deny the seriousness of what’s happening. While temporary distractions can be useful for giving our minds a break, on the whole denial is not a helpful approach. It can leave us vulnerable as we may not take appropriate action to support
Tim Hoopmann, Speaker and ExperiencedTrainer 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 Acosts.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.
Mindfulness is the basic human ability to be fully present, aware of where we are and what we’re doing, and not overly reactive or overwhelmed by what’s going on around us. It is a quality that every human being already possesses, it’s not something you have to conjure up, you just must learn how to access it. In doing so, it gives us more choice in how we respond to challenges we may face and the ability to more consciously choose where we place our attention.
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between staying informed and making sensible choices without becoming overwhelmed. When we feel anxious or overwhelmed it is important to give ourselves a break. Deactivate our stress. Even short moments of reprieve are beneficial as they help us to reset. It’s in this place that we’re able to make better choices and are best placed to support ourselves and those around us. Here are some activities that may help when you feel anxious or stressed: Move - any kind of physical movement is a great way of releasing the excess energy that accompanies stress. Take time each day for a walk, run or do any other physical exercise that you love. Breathe – when you slow your breathing rate down the uncomfortable physical sensations of fear and anxiety start to subside. Stop what you’re doing, take three long, slow deep breaths. Ground - connect to what is happening in this moment right now more consciously engaging your senses. Be as present as you can and try taking a moment to enjoy a cup of tea, while really paying attention to the aroma and taste. Sleep – sleep is important for our mental and physical wellbeing. Establishing good habits around sleep is important. Consider creating a pre-sleep routine by turning off news and screens at least an hour before going to bed.
Contribute - Contributing to the wellbeing of others helps shift our attention from ourselves onto what we can do for them. This helps us connect with others and positively impacts our own wellbeing. Consider how you might help others during challenging times. Create healthy habitsmindfulness is one way we can create healthy habits. There are many others and exploring what works for you will often produce the best results. Consistency is the key. Taking daily action to look after our mental health and wellness is vital.
Connect - staying connected to others is important as we are social beings and seek comfort and care from others. Technology enables us to stay connected to family, friends, and colleagues. Try video conferencing, allowing you to both see and hear your family and friends. Thus, making the connection more personal and enjoyable.
Focus: Mental Health
156 / Issue 32 XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.
businesses,acoulddisposableconsumers’increasing,lackofincometranslateintodropinsalesforcreating a challenge to their profits. The best way for a business to weather the coming storm is by enlisting the support of a trusted advisor with an indepth knowledge of its day-to-day finances, a skill that is ingrained into ICB bookkeepers from the earliest stages of their training. Workers’ pay It’s not good news for HR departments or our friends in payroll either. The squeeze on workers’ personal finances will likely lead to demands for pay increases, and with the 1.25%
@ICBUK Rosalia Munro, Head of External Communications, Institute for Certified Bookkeepers
And how can professionalsaccountancyhelptokeep their clients afloat during this period of turmoil?
ICAEW.thebusinesspreviouslyandpassionatecommunicatorexperiencedandisaboutbusinessaccountingissues,havingheldrolesinsmallpolicyandlevellingupaccountancyprofessionat
professionalsforofWhatbookkeepers:Frontlinethecostlivingmeansaccountancy
When Russian tanks started to roll into Ukraine in February, it was clear that this conflict would have longer-term consequences for the economy. With Ukraine once being the ‘breadbasket’ of Europe, its invasion has had a huge impact on food prices across Europe, including in Britain. Trade sanctions and the confrontation between Russia and Western states has also created uncertainty around global gas and oil supplies, further increasing prices. Inflation in prices of everyday products will of course have an impact on small business’ bottom lines, creating concerns over viability. Surging prices will deal businesses a second blow, however, with consumer spending likely to remain static. The figures bear this out, with Deloitte’s Consumer Confidence Index showing consumer expenditure to have increased by 11% in the first quarter of 2022, as compared to the previous one. The cause of this spending? Essential items, such as utilities, food and transport. With costs
he pandemic, the war in Ukraine and surging inflation; with all these having taken their toll on small business over the last year, you’d be forgiven for awaiting the arrival of the plague of locusts next. But what impact will that have on business?
Rosalia is an
As ICB’s Head of Communications, Rosalia supports the organisation in upholding the standards of the bookkeeping profession, helping businesses to succeed and operating for the benefit of the many.
“ICB bookkeepers and payroll experts are qualified and ready to rise to this challenge”
158 / Issue 32 XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.
Why bookkeepers are vital to supporting business through difficult economic times Below: The SummitBookkeepers2019
Surging prices
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Issue 32 / 159Visit the XU Hub: Go to www.xumagazine.com Follow us on Twitter: @xumagazine For more on the Bookkeepers Summit, visit: FINDbookkeeperssummit.comOUTMORE...
increase in National Insurance (NI), this is likely to further stretch company finances. Whilst it may be the case that the rise in NI is reversed with the change in Prime Minister, freezes on staff budgets will persist as long as the cost of living remains an issue. It will be for payroll and accountancy professionals to ensure that pay policies balance their client’s bottom lines whilst still enabling the retention of their employee base. ICB’s highlyqualified bookkeepers and payroll experts are qualified and ready to rise to this challenge, and can provide the guidance to ensure that businesses hold on to those all-important skills and headcount over the coming months. A way forward? With the economic outlook so uncertain, it is pivotal that businesses have access to the advice of trusted accountancy and payroll professionals and the right digital tools to enable them to stay abreast of their figures in real time. It is qualified bookkeepers, like ICB members that are best placed to help businesses navigate these difficult times with their day-to-day insight of their clients’ finances and their aptitude for software. Reach out Advisors can serve their clients by reaching out to them to understand their goals and concerns for the coming months and working with them to prepare for the potential downturn. Now more than ever, it is your knowledge that could save countless businesses and livelihoods from what is likely to be an exceptionally hard time. Stay up to date The most effective thing you can do to support your clients in this difficult environment, however, is simply to keep your skills and knowledge up to date. An understanding of legislative change, new software and technical updates from HMRC will provide you with all the information you need to provide the very best service to your clients. ICB’s programme of training and support is an excellent way of keeping you up to date and, in November, we will be hosting our premier CPD event, the Bookkeepers Summit. A two-day event taking place both in-person and online, the Summit has a packed agenda featuring practice advice, technical updates and talks from influential speakers. You will also have the opportunity to network with like-minded professionals and to meet with software providers and other vendors at our exhibition stands both in-person and online. Book today at www. bookkeeperssummit.com to avoid disappointment, using the code XUVIP to save £10 on the price of tickets.
SummitTheAbove:Bookkeepers2019
160 / Issue 32 XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users. Classifieds To advertise, please email: advertising@xumagazine.com Accountant Tools You could be this happy with us on your side suitefiles com Bills & Expenses Try for FREE! Automated Data Entry. SmarterEasierBooks.Lives. The #1 tool to get your financial documents approved on time www.approvalmax.com INVOICE AUTOMATION Join the Line-Item Revolution! burdi.com.au All-in-one invoice processing www.zaharasoftware.com Cloud Integrators
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Powell Chief Customer Officer, Xero This article is Xerocon Series
Rachael
XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.
RP: Sure. So I’ll just take a step back and talk about the XSBI, the Xero Small Business Insights program. We’ve launched this in Australia first, followed by New Zealand and the UK. It analyses aggregated and anonymized data that goes through our platform so that we can assess some of the trends that are happening in the small business economy. Now, that became incredibly important for us to help advocate for small businesses, particularly when the pandemic hit. So because we have real time information, like trillions of dollars of transactions are going through our platform, we actually had more recent information about what was happening in the small business economy than the government. Then what we’ve done is we’ve actually launched the Small Business Index. So the Small Business Index is based on the XSBI data. And the Small Business Index basically helps us ascertain on a monthly basis, whether the small business economy in these three regions is performing better or worse than average. So if it’s over a 100, it means that it’s doing better than average. If it’s under a 100, it means it’s worse than average. And it’s based on four metrics. It’s based on time to be paid. It’s based on sales. It’s based on wages. And it’s based on employment growth for small businesses. So its XSBI first, then we launched the index. The Index is a combination of these four metrics that gives us a snapshot, in a single number, of how small businesses are performing. .
XU: On that point, I don’t think these specific stats were included in the report, but this was
Issue 32 / 165Visit the XU Hub: Go to www.xumagazine.com Follow us on Twitter: @xumagazine XU: Recently we’ve seen the release of the Xero cash flow crunch report in conjunction with Accenture. Could you tell us a little bit more about what that is and what it’s looking to do?
XU: One of those stats that you’ve just pulled out in terms of being a third of the year on average, having a cash flow negative position, obviously creates a lot of stress and anxiety. And that’s something that we’ve been talking about Xerocon at the moment. With that, what’s Xero’s stance on that in terms of now you’ve identified this issue within the report and we can actually see there’s a real problem there for businesses which creates the knock on effect of not just having cash in the bank, but everything else that goes with it. What was your immediate reaction of actually we need to do something about this and what can we do in the position that we’re in?
It was great to catch up with Xero’s own
So the cashflow report actually, is a lot of research with small businesses and based on the information that flows through our platform. We can see that across the three countries, on average, small businesses are cash flow negative for around a third of the year, which means that all of the tools and all of the products that we’re working on, like cash flow forecasting in Xero Analytics Plus, that Anna spoke about in the product keynote today, helps more businesses know what’s coming so that they can plan for that.
RP: Well, one of the things that I think that we’ve got a responsibility to do is make sure that we are advocating for small business by working closely with the government, with the right people like small business minister and the like, to ensure that they are aware of this and they’ve got it on their radar so that they can even implement policies. So one of the things for small businesses is time to be paid like I said. It’s really important for cash flow. It’s one of the metrics that makes up the Small Business Index. So we can see where the time to be paid is slowing or whether it’s accelerating. But if the government doesn’t help to apply pressure on big businesses who have to pay small businesses, then this issue will continue. And I think as the economic crunch gets probably worse before it’s going to get better, some of these small businesses, they don’t have the luxury that big businesses have to be able to get access to debt to be able to help them through the cash flow negative months. So they really do have to work with their advisor. And we know that small businesses that do have an advisor are more likely to survive those peaks and troughs of cash flow because they’ve got somebody advising them on how to make sure that they’re set up for that in the future. So we are working a lot with government to make sure that we’re having the conversations. You may have heard Alex mention this morning when I interviewed him on stage that all of the candidates that are running for government at the moment in the UK, none of them have mentioned small business. So there’s more work to do to be able to make sure that we’re bringing this to the attention of the right people.
Rachael Powell at Xerocon London 2022...
It’s been really interesting in COVID because you can actually see the index going up and down with lockdown, open and close. So then what we’ve done is we’ve actually started to do some bespoke reports off the back of the XSBI information. And the latest one is cash flow reporting. And that’s become even more important as we are now navigating different environmental challenges. So it’s not just the pandemic, but it’s also rising interest rates, inflation in this environment, you’ve got Brexit as well and economic uncertainty.
Xerocon Series
RP: So these businesses are taking it upon themselves to restrict the payments to small businesses knowing full well that it’s going to have an impact on them and put a lot of stress and anxiety on small business. We’ve got a strong government relations person here on the ground in the UK and she’s working to make sure that we get the message and data across that is coming from the results of XSBI.
XU: I know there’s a second part of the
XU: As we anythingknowto do with government is not a quick turnaround in terms of getting them to take action and actually implementing that. In terms of the more immediate side of it one of the things that Xero has is the fantastic ecosystem around it and lots of apps and companies that link in with that. What are the things that Xero are doing right now and that are actually already out there that people can access to help cash flow problems? And then what kind of things have you got coming up to actually further develop that with the ecosystem that you’ve got around Xero?
Xerocon Series
something else that Xero was looking at. There was a piece of work that was done and around about 55% of large organizations that you were basically liaising with admitted that they paid small businesses late. They’ve admitted that themselves. And 78% of those also said that they realize the impact that it has on small businesses, but obviously they’re still doing it. So it’s a huge problem and probably needs something like government intervention there. So when Alex was talking on stage earlier about effectively lobbying the government to actually do something on that, is that something that he’s really picking up the mantle to actually take forward in his new role as Xero MD?
RP: We’ve got three waves of our strategy. The one is core compliance and accounting and making sure that we have all of the elements that provide minimum viable product for accountants and bookkeepers and small businesses. So I think about that in terms of the two things that are most meaningful for small businesses, payroll and bank feeds, then the two things that are most meaningful for accountants and bookkeepers, tax and practice management. Then wave two is really about how we’re helping to actually build the small business platform. And that’s where we look at the apps in our ecosystem. You’ve seen that we’ve bought Planday and we’ve made another couple of acquisitions that help with building the small business platform. So eInvoicing with Tickstar and that sort of thing. But what we won’t do is we won’t go and acquire adjacent apps that have bespoke for particular niches, because we don’t need to. We’ve built this open API and it gives all of the different verticals the option to actually access the apps that are in the ecosystem that are relevant to them. So our focus is first and foremost, focusing on what we do as core compliance and accounting, and then the small business platform leveraging the plethora of apps that are in the ecosystem. And then the third is then the data and insights piece. So how can we become the most trusted and insightful small business platform by leveraging all of the data that’s coming through our core proposition? As well as the apps that these small businesses are connected to, making sure that we’re providing them with all of the data and all of the insights that help them with the next best action for their business.
166 / Issue 32 XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users.
got third party apps which are doing a more advanced version. How far is Xero expected to develop their internal features before people should start to look at apps in the ecosystem?
RP: So the first thing I would say is that we’ve launched Xero Analytics which helps companies forecast their cash flow and track their financial performance. We also acquired Waddle, which Steve spoke about today, which is invoice lending. And if you think about some small businesses, I often think about manufacturing, like businesses that have these massive peaks and troughs in terms of the cash in and the cash out. So we look at particular verticals and we say, “How do we make sure that we can help those?” Because if a manufacturer is providing materials to a supplier for a project and they’re waiting for payment on those.They’re big. They’re big invoices they’re sending out. But if it’s a 30 day payment, they’ve got to buy the raw materials to continue manufacturing for the project. So that’s where something like Waddle comes in handy, because what Waddle can do is make it easy for small businesses to access invoice finance lenders like NatWest in the UK, to manage that cash flow trough that they’re going to have until that payment is in. So that’s another thing that we’re doing. And then Analytics Plus, which is our advanced version of Xero Analytics. It has more customisations, longer term forecasts and actionable insights, drawing on powerful AI that uses data from the customers’s Xero account. They’re able to actually get access to more information with more power and more ability to make the right decisions at the right time.
XU: One of the things that we’ve heard is around some of the changes in reporting that Xero is doing in terms of obviously doing away with some of the old coming in with the new. Within there as well, one of the questions that I see a lot in terms of the Xero community and working within that is what you have is you have Xero at the moment in terms of the reporting that you have within Xero and you then go out and obviously you’ve
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cash flow report to come out in the future but over the next 12 to 24 months, what else are you doing alongside Accentureand other people in terms of utilizing the data? You’ve got building out those reports, looking at where those crunch points are for people. What else have you got in the pipeline in terms of what does that look RP:like?
XU: So my final question is, what are you most excited about with XSBI over the next 12 months and where it’s heading and the impact that you think that might have on the Xero user RP:community?I’m really excited about the fact that I think we’ve got a lot of runway in the UK in particular, to be able to influence the government on their policy decisions, to support small business. And the reason that becomes most important for now is because it will be small business that helps this economy bounce back after COVID and after Brexit and after the leadership change. So the government will wake up at some point and realize that they need to care and consider this. And I think that they’ll be knocking on our door because we’ll have access to the most relevant and timely and up to date data.
Well, I think if you go back to what XSBI is based on. So it’s revenue that’s going through small businesses, it’s time to pay, which is what we’re talking about in terms of cash flow. It’s wage growth and it’s employment. So I think that it would make sense based on what we see and where we see certain trends magnify, we will dive into whichever one of those we think is most meaningful for the market and it’s going to be different for different markets. This is the one probably learning from the pandemic is that all things aren’t equal. I live in Melbourne, one of the longest lockdown cities in the world. And we’ve seen significant impact on our economy because of being in and out of lockdown. But then New Zealand is not the longest lockdown country in the world, but when they locked down, they went hard. So in Melbourne you could still get take away coffee and those sorts of things. But we’ve seen those countries come out and the UK is bouncing a bit up and down, but it’s got a lot more dynamics from a macroeconomic environment that you’re dealing with as well with Brexit. One of the things we are seeing in the UK, things like the decline in the labour force, due to people taking an early retirement. And I think that talent and people is going to become a significant challenge for small businesses and all businesses really.
168 / Issue 32 XU Magazine - the independent magazine for Xero users, by Xero users. Xerocon Series
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