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Xero Roadshow 2016 round-up

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9th Nov 2016
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Headlines from the Xero Roadshow 2016 launch event include new research into the future of how businesses operate, the impact of Making Tax Digital (MTD) and a suite of accountant-focussed product updates.

Given the backdrop of MTD, the big theme of the practice-focussed roadshow was digitisation, its impact on the profession and the opportunity it provides accountants.

Managing director Gary Turner said technology was changing perceptions about accounting and that the march of cloud accounting was showing no signs of slowing up.

Accountants must become advisers to survive

Turner revealed some alarming results from the company’s 2016 ‘State of Accounts’ research, chief among those that more than half (59%) of 1,000 small businesses surveyed did not think they will need an accountant in 10 years’ time.

Of those surveyed up to 30% placed accountants at the top of their list of most trusted advisers, and 56% said they would use accountants for help with tasks outside accountancy in the future. 

“Accounting professionals will have to use their status as the most trusted business advisers to offer and market new high-value services to these businesses,” the report said.

Turner said they didn’t expect such stark data, but added: “We think they [accountants] will still be here in 10 years. Technology extends our capabilities – let’s prove those people [the 59%] wrong and show there is a role for accountants in 10 years’ time.”

Contrary to the frequent scare stories about the end of the profession Turner said the role of the accountant was changing, and small businesses will actually need accountants more than ever.

“Eight out of 10 staff at Xero talk to accountants every day. There will be a change in what they do, but they won’t go away,” he said.

Accountants need to be tech savvy

The survey also highlighted the changing relationship with technology among accountants themselves.

Up to 83% of accountant respondents believed technology was as important to their job as accountancy.

“Many accountants see being tech savvy as a key survival skill. However the survey also suggests that the profession needs to work harder on investing sufficient time in keeping abreast of emerging technologies, and in more effectively persuading SMBs that a close working relationship with a financial professional will be important in years to come,” Turner said.

Paul Bulpitt, head of accounting at Xero, added that people now just expect to be able to do things online. There’s been a major shift in the last three to four years – this isn’t niche, it’s everywhere,” he said.

In addition 81% of accountants are currently undergoing training to improve their tech skills, according to the survey.

New service offerings

The research also found that having greater tech awareness opened new doors, in particular for new accountants and students entering the profession.

Additional fee-earning opportunities are already happening in medium and large accountancy firms with services ranging from business consultancy to cyber-security.

Paul Bulpitt said this trend would trickle down to the smaller end of the market in the coming years: “Accountants need to build on the undersupply of advisory services.

“Accountants will need increased people skills. People will be coming to accountants for more stuff - risk analysis, cyber security, and more specialised services,” he said.

MTD is coming one way or another

During the London roadshow Gary Turner said Making Tax Digital was part of a broader digitisation journey accountants and small businesses were navigating.

“Compliance is going and automation is coming. MTD is part of the journey,” he said.

On the tight deadlines for delivering MTD, Turner said they did share the concern, but subscribed to the view that the tax department has to build a digital tax system.”

“There’s still more work to be done, and HMRC needs to share that with you and with software developers. But maybe it [MTD] won’t be quite so aggressive come next year, I think we’ll see a tempering of what they put forward,” Turner said. “We work for our customers to eliminate any burden: We work for you, not HMRC.”

He added that if you’re already using Xero, “you’re pretty much there for MTD”, but added he was anxious to see what HMRC comes up with.

On the future role of accountants, Turner added: “Making Tax Digital can only work if an accountant is involved.”

Xero HQ and partner programme

Xero also revealed its next generation partner program and open practice platform Xero HQ for accountants.

The expanded program is designed to activate the success rate of partners and of small business owners by connecting them to advice and services. 

“Some 89% of Xero subscribers already connect to advisers,” Turner told roadshow attendees.

The partner program has been designed to support partners with a new advisor directory, enriched education and practice tools, and new levels of rewards and recognition.

Xero HQ now enables accountants to manage their entire list of Xero clients in one place and to grow at scale.

The platform will also allow developers to integrate with the Xero ecosystem for small business apps and develop integrations for Xero HQ.

Earlier this year AccountingWEB interviewed Xero's Gary Turner to talk about what's next for cloud accounting and practice management software. Watch the video below:

 

Remaining Xero Roadshow events this month include Manchester, Bristol, Edinburgh and Birmingham. Xerocon London takes place on 4-5 October 2017 at the ExCeL Centre in London.

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