Latest episodes
New Years Special 2023
For those of you easing back into the 9 to 5 - join us for this pod where we go back over the big news for 2022 and cover some predictions for accounting tech in 2023. Excuse the banter - it’s clearly been a while since we spoke. Leave us a review and tell us what episode took your fancy from our catalogue!
Episode 29 - Final App News Of S1
MyWorkpapers improves Excel integration with Excel Connect HMRC to tender £4.5bn contract for software services to remove legacy tech Digital promissory notes first from Lloyds (modernising 4000 year old transactions!) Comma updates – hiding payroll payments from users who didn’t set them up, SVB notice of how long it will take to validate payments, Bankline reminder to login to confirm payments Crezco launch an integration with WooCommerce so you can take payments. Just need to download a plugin. Also announced a new Pay feature, FoC for now, with a premium feature expected at the end of September which will feature the ability to create pay runs and bulk pay Fathom acquired by The Access Group Capium raise £3m Pleo – can now pay invoices on behalf of clients (enabled by client admin) Xerocon US announcements regarding use of Locate Inventory tech launching into Xero product
Episode 28 - The day after the night before
OK so not quite the day after, in keeping with holidays this episode is a pick ’n’ mix for those who have managed to get through all the kids films in the cinema this summer. John, Ryan and Indi interview Alex Von Schirmeister, EMEA MD of Xero, to talk about the latest releases - XeroGo and Xero Instant Pay - as well as the plan for European expansion. Followed by a quick update from Johann Goree, our QuickBooks Expert, to get the inside view on QuickBooks Online Advanced. Is it the same as the US version? Seems like a cheaper price than the US - what’s the catch? And finally John and Ryan are joined by the charismatic and charming Amy Cotton to evaluate the feedback post Xerocon. Are the releases appealing enough? Was Xerocon worth the visit in the heatwave? Why are teacups not fixed to the saucers?! Find out all in this episode.
Episode 27 - Summer App & Industry News
Accountants with largest LinkedIn followers, dominated by females. Jeri Williams 65K, Francesca Tricarico 56k, Laura Taylor 42K - courtesy of Dermot Hamblin (ACCT For Your Future)- (1) LinkedIn Follower Accounts in UK Accountancy | LinkedIn Most popular SaaS by country (from Cledara) – Xero for the UK Companies House IT transformation – register of overseas entities gone live – to come new ID verification, digital process to challenge to info uploaded, - Our new powers: a milestone year at Companies House - Companies House (blog.gov.uk) HelptoGrow expanded – from 5 employees to one (not director), Added ecommerce - Digital scheme widens but many firms still frozen out | AccountingWEB HMRC update access controls for agents, DD mandates for clients in their login - HMRC to update direct debit and access controls | AccountingWEB Yapily and Soldo open banking partnership – ability to top up Soldo direct from their own bank using Yapily – Soldo open banking partnership | Yapily Sage and Microsoft expand partnership to embed Office into Sage products – Sage and Microsoft expand partnership to simplify workflows – ERP Today GoCardless and Plaid launch VRP for GoCardless InstantPay - GoCardless and Plaid launch VRP offering ahead of CMA sweeping deadline (finextra.com) FloQast – Accounting workflow automation tool – deeper partnership with Microsoft enabling their products to be listed for selling - FloQast, Microsoft Collaborating on Workflow Integration - insightfulaccountant.com (intuitiveaccountant.com) QuickBooksOnline advanced – soft launch - £70pm – unlimited users through accountants Xero updates – XeroGo, Instantpay, Document packs across HQ and Xero tax, improved job manager XPM, unified client record across XPM, HQ and Tax - What’s next for Xero’s practice tools in the UK | AccountingWEB Xero updates - Old reports dead by July 23, quotes and purchase order reporting, overhaul of Contacts, bulk merge contacts is back, edit fields in invoice once paid (new invoicing), invoice reminders for new invoicing, global search updating, attach files to inventory items, create bill on invoice for VAT at end of return, Latest product news — August 2022 | Xero Blog Xero updates - improved Xero status page – easier navigation and localisation - Introducing an improved Xero status page experience - Xero Blog Xero updates – start and end times in Xero me app (for timesheets) Introducing start and end times in Xero Me | Xero Blog Flinder data analytics and reporting platform LIVE! Initially for end consumer but potentially for accountants to use. Works with Xero, QBO, Shopify, Unleashed, Pipedrive, Hubspot, Stripe, Simpro, Chargebee, Salesforce and others - FW: flinder press release: 10 August 2022 - digitoolsinaccrualworld@gmail.com - Gmail (google.com) Sage Intaact – property specific releases focus in that industry – simple subscription billing management, as well as a Real Estate module - Cloud-based Accounting Solution Hits Real Estate Industry - insightfulaccountant.com (intuitiveaccountant.com) FreeAgent – multi-category bills now LIVE! - Multi-category bills are now live - FreeAgent Netsuite streamlines inventory management with Smart Count – easier stock counts whilst stock is moving - NetSuite Streamlines Inventory Management with Smart Count - insightfulaccountant.com (intuitiveaccountant.com) CitrusHR PensionSync partnership – expanding on their payroll offering - citrus HR announce PensionSync partnership | AccountingWEB Revolut adds stripe to platform for Europe payments - XU Magazine 2020 Keypay integrates with Staffd, paperless application onboarding and e-learning platform - Streamline hiring processes by integrating with Staffd! - XU Hub (xumagazine.com) Comma – Bulk payments for Lloyds and Barclays corporate LIVE! Crezco – International payments LIVE! - Crezco - New feature alert! - digitoolsinaccrualworld@gmail.com - Gmail (google.com)
Episode 26 - Under the hood of Xero with Steve Vamos
In line with Xerocon 2022 - the first Xerocon in the UK for 3 years (!) - we sit down with Steve Vamos, CEO of Xero, to talk about what is really driving the Xero product. Is it software, people, culture or customer need? As with all our pods you can trust we asked some prudent questions and get to know more about the new world Xero mindset. Big thanks to Steve and the whole Xero team for their support in making this happen. If you’re missing out on Xerocon then here’s 50 minutes you won’t want to miss. Combined with app news for a bumper update on industry happenings. Featuring: The global talent shortage for accountants – Accounting firms must “discover, create and train” talent amid global shortage (accountancyage.com) Sage and ACCA - announce release of e-learning on accounting software and cloud accounting tools – hitting more than 30,000 students - Post | LinkedIn Accountants voted best kissers in Britain – poll of 2.000 Brits by Plenty of Fish – Accountants are voted the best kissers in Britain ahead of doctors and nurses | Daily Mail Online E-invoicing in France to become mandatory from July 2024 - https://www.avalara.com/eu/en/learn/events/webinars/e-invoicing-and-e-reporting-in-france.html?campaignid=7015a000001iyxoAAA&campaignname=EMEA%20MKT202201%20E-invoicing%20in%20France%20webinar%20-%20Internal%20Email MTD ITSA – Three line (technically two (income and expenses) submissions allowed for ITSA below VAT threshold - MTD ITSA legislation: HMRC green-lights three-line accounts | AccountingWEB MTD for VAT penalty systems – from 1st June 2022 - £400 for not filing through software - £5-£15 per day for not keeping digital records – comment on digital links. Up to £5,475 annual penalty for digital link breach – 100% for not using checking systems - The lowdown on HMRC’s penalty system for MTD for VAT - FreeAgent Changes in mid-tier ERPs. Dynamics biggest grower in mid to large at (5 to 7% market share), Oracle (2 to 4%), SAP up 1% and AccountsIQ up 1%. Sage gained 2% in small business space. Sage biggest growth in mid tier space at 6% - Finance system upgrades take off in the mid-market | AccountingWEB Xerocon partners – Major names, with focus on payment solutions. Comma as newcomer - Introducing our Xerocon London event partners | Xero Blog Xero release – bank statement extraction through Hubdoc US and Canada (no uk?) - Coming soon: Making it easy to import transaction data into Xero | Xero Blog Hubdoc auto add contacts, update planned payment dates in bulk in xero analytics - Latest product news — July 2022 | Xero Blog link of contacts between HQ and XPM The next step in our journey towards a unified client record | Xero Blog Sage – terminating accounts below v26.2 from Sep 22 Coconut supports CIS reporting on income – adjust per transaction (rather than rule) - Coconut now supports subcontractors on the Construction Industry Scheme | AccountingWEB Syft updates – excel connector, updates to dashboards with prior period data, audit tracking for anomalies, dormant accounts tidy, sales product tracking Timworks release mobile app for chat style communication with clients, including document exchange - https://www.loom.com/share/7c466aad9efb479da34305f4fcdcf270 Paycaptain integration with Pensionsync – payroll and financial wellness solution founded 2020 – budgeting tool for individuasl linked to the payroll portal - PayCaptain launches PensionSync integration | AccountingWEB Skore – release of project spinnaker which is a full refresh of their system – Driving ROI on system changes – Scrutton Bland - How Scrutton Bland deliver incredible ROI and Benefits to clients | AccountingWEB Capsule – expands into project management functionality - FW: More project management features for you - digitoolsinaccrualworld@gmail.com - Gmail (google.com) IRIS Elements releases 6 new connections - Proposals, AML, Accounts production, Tax, Practice management and financial performance review- Post
Episode 25 - LIVE at DAS covering Restaurant & Hospitality Tech
Missed our session at DAS or just missing DAS generally? Don’t worry we have you covered with this short 20 minute recording from the show! Do you have clients in the restaurant and hospitality sectors? Want to learn what apps and tech other accountants are using to serve them best? In this live podcast taping, John Toon (Beethers & Struthers), Ryan Pearcy (Scrutton Bland), and Indi Tatla (AREX Markets) share the best apps and tech-stack for serving these clients.
Episode 24 - The MazApp with Lucy Cohen
How many accountants does it take to build the perfect accounting software? In this case, just one. In this episode we catch up with Lucy Cohen from Mazuma to cover all things MazApp, accounting tech and neobanks. If you’re curious about MazApp and how it fits into the future of the accountant workflow theb give this a whizz.
Episode 23 - App News
This week in app news: Lightyear and Sage Intaact partner - https://ecommercenews.com.au/story/lightyear-and-sage-partner-for-end-to-end-offering Aquilla partner with Plaid for open banking - https://www.accountingweb.co.uk/community/industry-insights/aqilla-announces-open-banking-integration-with-plaid New UK accounting system entrant - https://www.accountingweb.co.uk/tech/accounting-software/accounting-platforms-gear-up-for-battle-of-the-five-armies Mastercard debuts pay by link - https://www.pymnts.com/news/payment-methods/2022/mastercard-debuts-open-banking-feature-pay-by-link/ Iris Pay released - https://www.accountingweb.co.uk/community/industry-insights/introducing-iris-pay-the-quick-simple-and-secure-way-to-collect-payments Cashplus bank launches digital health tool - https://bit.ly/3xu9gSI HMRC expand MTD ITSA pilot - https://www.accountingweb.co.uk/tech/accounting-software/hmrc-takes-the-handbrake-off-mtd-itsa-pilot Vaulta reporting for Freeagent - https://www.accountingweb.co.uk/tech/accounting-software/vaulta-app-targets-advisory-without-the-overkill Lightyear updates – Auto-publishing, Deeper integration with xero, bulk actions etc - Feature Release June 2022 (lightyear.cloud) Bokio release bank rules - https://www.accountingweb.co.uk/community/industry-insights/new-bokio-feature-save-time-with-bank-rules Insightly expand their API connections to partners, improvements to segmentation and filtering, enhanced quoting system, Product updates to Insightly AppConnect, Service, Marketing, and CRM Comma connects with silicon bank - https://www.finextra.com/pressarticle/92873 Swoop lands £5.4m investment for international expansion - Fintech Swoop lands £5.4 million funding for international expansion (ffnews.com) Access group raise £9.2bn - http://ow.ly/YWG650Jsag3 Codat raise $100m series C - https://bit.ly/3xtVjWg Request finance raises $5.5m seed - https://www.linkedin.com/posts/request-finance_request-finance-raises-55m-seed-round-activity-6940583153455493120-lsIi?utm_source=linkedin_share&utm_medium=android_app
Episode 22 - All Aussie Accounting with Andrew Van Der Beek
Andrew Van Der Beek, Founder of Aussie Accounting Firm Illumin8, graces us with his presence to share his journey from accounting upstart to global accounting all star. Andrew has just completed his UK tour sharing his learnings from the last 10 years, the inside rumblings from Xero and the optimum app tech stack. Tune in! Not one to miss.