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John, you talk of accountants having problems "migrating their small business clients into environments that will be able to support the quarterly reporting requirements" in the same sentence as you say "While the cloud movement is well established among accountancy firms".
Did you intend to infer that cloud bookkeeping software is needed to meet MTD requirements? Because my understanding is that desktop software could also have its part to play.
I think the headline is out of date. The growth in cloud accounting in my firm has definitely been driven by clients. The tide turned at least a year ago as we were approached my more and more new and existing clients who were either using or wanted to move to cloud accounting.
We are now working on converting clients who have yet to make the move, but we find most clients are at least aware of the cloud now.
Hi John, please be assured that I don't sit around actively waiting for a chance to score points or look clever at an author's expense. On the contrary, I browse Accounting Web periodically looking for news and insight - and your article suggested an insight into the MTD plans that is not common knowledge.
There is currently much FUD surrounding MTD and lots of "will they, won't they" speculation about HMRC's ultimate plans. So, if well-connected commentators such as yourself (and Accounting Web generally) appear to have some "insider" knowledge, it is important to me to be sure whether it is true or not. My comment was seeking clarity.
Please note, this is not the first time I have sought to check the facts on this topic. See https://twitter.com/adrianpear5on/status/797122294552428544 (Intuit / 2020) and https://www.freeagent.com/central/making-tax-digital-consultation/ (FreeAgent). It is important to me, and your readers I suggest, to understand if apparently authoritative sources are "in the know", nudge nudge, or not, during such uncertain times.
You mention Movemybooks and Checkmybooks and, yes, our services will be affected by the changes that MTD eventually brings.
Since Movemybooks is a data conversion service for clients switching from desktop to cloud accounting services, if you had been confirming that "only cloud accounting software will do" then Movemybooks would need to plan and resource accordingly. However, if in January HMRC announce that, surprise surprise, actually "Excel will do" then our planning completely changes.
Checkmybooks automatically checks clients' desktop and cloud accounting data for accountants. Again, if HMRC mandated only cloud accounting software will do, then our product strategy for this product potentially changes dramatically.
I'm trying to work out what MTD means for my businesses and the wider accountancy environment, which is where our customers live. So, I'm keen to check the veracity of any and all claims right now!