Cloud Accountants Moving Into Technology Advice

     Accountants and bookkeepers using cloud accounting software are moving into business strategy and technology advice, says Leanne Graham, ex-head of sales for cloud accounting company Xero and technology entrepreneur.

“There’s a premier level of accountants that have transformed their business and their clients’ businesses through the use of cloud rather than just putting in cloud accounting software,” says Graham, who is now CEO of job scheduling app GeoOP. The top 20 percent of Xero’s accountant partners “have transformed their business to be a true business adviser for their clients”.

The shift of the accounting profession into cloud software will wipe out many traditional IT services firms which have resisted the rise of cloud services and software, Graham says.

Xero Wins Hi-Tech Company of the Year

 

It was a big night for the Xero  team in Auckland, New Zealand on Friday as they won the Hi-Tech Company of Year and the Export Award at the New Zealand Hi-Tech Awards.

The Hi-Tech awards are run annually to showcase NZ talent, celebrate outstanding achievement and encourage investment within the tech industry. This year there were a record number of first time entrants, highlighting the fact that this sector is growing at twice the rate of the NZ economy as a whole.

Transform Your Business In The Cloud

In the past few years running a business has been transformed by the cloud. Cloud based companies are changing the way companies operate and how they succeed.

I’ve been experimenting with some business applications that reside “in the cloud”–geek talk for software you access from the Internet instead of your computer’s hard drive. This is allowing me the opportunity to run my business from anywhere. Here are a few of the applications we are using so far:

1. Xero accounts

This is a brilliant package which allows you to access your business accounts anywhere anytime. We are are now using it for our own accounts and rolling it out to our clients who love it.

2. Google Docs

Some of our staff work remotely so working on Google Docs is ideal for us. We never have the problem of simultaneously editing the same document and losing track of which version is the latest.

3. Survey Monkey

Survey Monkey makes it easy to get feedback from contacts. You create a questionnaire using their templates, and then ask your contacts to complete the survey via e-mail or a social media platform like Linkedin.

4. Capsule CRM

I use Capsule to keep track of the people and companies I do business with, communications with them, opportunities in the pipeline, and what needs to be done when.

5. Mailchimp

This is an online package that’s great for email marketing and newsletters and linking these with social media sites like Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin.

6. Dropbox

A free service that lets people bring their documents, photos and videos everywhere and share them easily. It allows us file all our documents online.

7. Hootsuite and Bufferapp

These are 2 free online applications that I use to control social media updates for Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin. I use them in preference to desktop applications because they can be accessed when I am on the move.

What other applications am I missing?

I’m sure you’ve discovered more tools than I have. Please let me know your favorite online applications for running your business so that I can expand this guide.

Xero Going Global

 

While the main Xero  focus is in four key markets – New Zealand, Australia, the United Kingdom and United States – the rest of the Xero world covers well over 100 countries. Xero are  happy to report that this “Global” region is going gangbusters.

 

 

There are  over 150 accounting partners (many of whom are shown in the map above) who are ready to help out business owners outside the  four main regions. It’s important to have Xero Partners in-country so that local businesses have trusted advisors to turn to with their accounting and tax affairs, advisors that use Xero as their core accounting platform.

Direct bank feeds, a feature we’ve all come to love and expect are not common practice in many countries. Through the Yodlee integration, Xero have  been able to connect with over 300 global financial institutions, with plenty more in beta, to deliver bank statements directly to your Xero account and automate the way you handle your data. Where there is demand, Xero will  look to make the connection. They are  always looking to support the main banks in a country growing in popularity so it’s worth getting in touch so they  can add your bank to the list.

Deloitte offers Xero in Australia

 

Deloitte offers Xero to clients for small business accounting

19 April 2013

Online accounting software provider Xero Limited (XRO) is pleased to announce that in Australia professional services firm Deloitte, in response to growing client demand for cloud accounting solutions, is now offering its clients the ability to migrate to Xero’s single ledger accounting solution.

Based on current client demand for cloud-based accounting solutions, Deloitte expect that by the end of its financial year approximately 2,000 ledgers will have been migrated to Xero’s platform alone.

For clients wishing to move to the cloud, single ledger accounting solutions provide business owners with real-time visibility of their financial performance and position.

We recognize how Xero can Help SMEs GROW THEIR SALES AND PROFITS. That’s why we offer  our clients FREE use of Xero.

So if you want to find out more please call us for a free trial.

Franchise Doubles Turnover with Xero

 

 

Rob Dixon, owner and founder of UK based franchise Joineryworkshop.com, switched himself and his franchisees to Xero a year ago. Since then, he’s doubled turnover – and he attributes a lot of that to the fact that Xero gives him better visibility over his business and more time to work on growing his business.

Financial visibility over the franchisees is key for a franchisor. Working in desktop software restricted his financial visibility because he never had an accurate view of his cash position. After all, his figures may tell one story, but without up-to-date data from his franchisees, that story wasn’t really complete.

It made for a difficult situation because he couldn’t make business decisions without complete cashflow information. However, getting that cashflow information sucked up all his time because he had to get in touch with franchisees, ask for the relevant details, then wait for them to send the data through.

So shifting all of his franchisees from Sage to Xero meant he no longer has to ask for information. He can now just log in and see real-time business data because it’s in the cloud.

Shifting to this way of working has given him the capacity he needed to focus on business development and sales. That’s how he’s doubled his turnover – by spending time working on growing his business rather than spending time on the day-to-day admin of running his business.

Tax Deadline Extended For ROS Users

ROS – Extension of Pay & File Deadline for ROS Customers for 2013

Today, Revenue announced an extension to the ROS return filing and tax payment date for certain self-assessment income tax customers and for customers liable to Capital Acquisitions Tax (CAT).

For customers who file the 2012 Form 11 return and make the appropriate payment through ROS for:

• Preliminary Tax for 2013,
• Income Tax balance due for 2012,

the due date is extended to Thursday, 14th November 2013.

For beneficiaries who received gifts or inheritances with valuation dates in the year ended 31st August 2013 who make a CAT return and the appropriate payment through ROS, the due date is also extended to Thursday, 14th November 2013.

To qualify for the extension, customers must both pay and file through ROS. Where only one of these actions is completed through ROS, the extension does not apply and the required date to submit both returns and payments is no later than 31st October 2013.

If you want us to file your return please call us at 01 6684411

 

Results For Q1

 

I hope you all had a great Easter weekend with your families and loved ones.  It’s nice to have a little break regularly to recharge the batteries, especially when Q2 is now upon us and it’s time to reevaluate where we are in relation to our goals in the first three months of the year.

 

Even if you are doing well, perhaps you need to look and see if your goals were set too low and you need to recalibrate to shoot even higher for Q2. I looked at my results this morning and realized we exceeded our targets comfortably.

 

At first I was happy but then I realized I did myself a disservice by not setting my sights higher. Please don’t sell yourself short – you can achieve much more than you can imagine.
To your success for the rest of 2013.

Paddy

Bank of Ireland launch Enterprise Lounge

 

With the market for mortgages less than buoyant, Bank of Ireland decided to revitalise an old branch of The Mortgage Store and kick-start their recent highly succesful Enterprise Week.

Located at the corner of Dublin’s Grafton and Nassau streets, its new Enterprise Lounge offers FREE  work space for budding entrepreneurs and small business owners to host their own meetings and attend seminars and clinics.

The lounge was launched with a series of credit clinics, at which smaller and medium sized businesses got an insight into the bank’s small business lending application process.

With the banks in line for criticism for failing to meet demand for SME lending, Bank of Ireland said yesterday that it is “on track” to meet its commitment of €3.5 billion in lending to the SME sector this year, rising to €4 billion in 2013.

 

Xerocon Live London

Stephen Paul from Valued Accountancy Services has come up onto stage to answer some questions about his 18-month old firm, starting from scratch using Xero, how it was adopted and accepted by his clients. Stephen is talking about the time savings they’ve discovered using Xero, a phenomenal reduction running a management report for example. They’re now offering Xero complimentary to their clients – and his staff have stopped doing timesheets thanks to fee-based pricing.

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