Welcome back FT like MrMe I always enjoy your blog.
I will be keen to hear your views on your plans from switching from Xero to QBO.
From what you say its not about the product its about price, but I am assuming you will not be reducing your charges to clients so the cost benefit will all be yours.
I am not sure I would do that, its a lot of hassle changing over, you will have to cover the training cost if you are driving the change. What if clients are happy with Xero and dont like the move?
A tricky one, i know QBO were offering 10 licences for £10 but beyond that is the price that different to warrant the upheaval. Xero will sell Bureau licences at a good rate for in house only stuff.
if pricing is you issue is not worth just showing the xero cost at retail price on your invoice then when it changes you can just amend that cost to pass it on.
will client quibble about a £2 increase every 3 years.
@MrMe I dont blog very much now as there is no read counter on your article, for you to know if anyone is reading them or if you are wasting your time.
They rarely get many comments these days so I assume that people dont bother reading the blogs so much.
I have had a bit going on this year so might pen when over this weekend if I get the chance
as part of the roll out a guy from HMRC came out to a practitioner group I am apart of locally.
He was quite senior in the roll out team, (not policy maker) but at the sharp end and was very clear the roll out was impossible without accountants on board to make it happen.
All the DIY filers will be pushed towards finding agents so will a more clients, that we will just work with in a different way
as part of the roll out a guy from HMRC came out to a practitioner group I am apart of locally.
He was quite senior in the roll out team, (not policy maker) but at the sharp end and was very clear the roll out was impossible without accountants on board to make it happen.
All the DIY filers will be pushed towards finding agents so will a more clients, that we will just work with in a different way
I agree with John in that we will be needed more and not less in the future.
Simple things like changes for landlords who previously filed themselves now come to me as they don't understand the new interest rules.
In NZ and Oz when they digitised their tax systems 5/6 years ago more businesses were pushed towards accountants.
Personally MTD has worked without too many problems for me.
I left the HMRC side of things to the very last minute, to hopefully let all issues get ironed out and it worked remarkably without issue. it felt like it was too smooth and I am waiting for something to come back and bite me.
The Public Spending may have increased as a whole but is how that is distributed that hurt.
In the North East many local authorities were hit and just stopped providing services, there is barely a library or swimming pool left in LA ownership.
We have had a very stagnant 10 years up North, I am just preying that this Brexit doesn't go [***] up as another 10 years of the same will have ruined the best earning years in my lifetime.
Recruitment is a challenge to very small firms. I am a sole trader and my first hire was difficult as most people would not leave a large firm to come and sit in an office with 1 other person as career progression would be limited.
I have managed to get 2 home workers who do bookkeeping /Xero etc but it is not ideal.
Once you get a team of more than 5 I imagine it gets better, at the other end of the scale I would be reluctant to put time in with an apprentice if he would leave after 12 months to gain experience in a larger firm.
Recruitment is the biggest issue all small firms and hinders their growth plans.
With regards outsourcing I have mixed results with it.
I find they are very good at year end files if the bookkeeping is good. The flexability this brings when you are busy is useful also.
Bookkeeping they are quite poor at as lack local knowledge of suppliers and make a lot of mistakes on this.
Payroll is a low value service which people go nuts about if its wrong so had to bring it back in house after a few mistakes.
Also language can be an issue (as a Geordie) , I tried India they could not understand me (to be fair some English people also struggle) and just nodded and said "Yes Mr Glenn" then did something totally different to that asked of me.
So for me its an option, as a plug in to create extra capacity but you still need some local resource to work with on bookkeeping side and managing contact with clients.
FT how do you price/issue your bills. Do you not just include an amount on the invoice of £25 (or whatever) to cover the software cost. That way it is transparent and the clients can check on the software website what it costs so can have not argument. If you do all you have to is increase then it covers any software increases and I have had no comeback since I had to increase that element of my charges.
If you just charge 1 figure of say £100 per month then I guess its more of an issue.
Also have you considered the time cost of migration and retraining of clients against the difference in subscription prices as if you are driving the change the clients will expect that as your costs which may well outweigh the few quid on software costs.
I also find clients stuff things up more in QBO and the lack of "find and recode" means it takes longer to put right.
Also have you considered that QBO are actively pushing their own bookkeeping service in the US.
So it was looked into, investigated and he he to get some re training.
Should be the end of it really, not everyone in the disciplinary process is guilty, and not all should be sacked at the end of it.
By leaving the 2 women concerned have probably damaged their own careers, would have made a greater impact if they stayed and just did a good job and proved their worth. Why would you quit a partner level job with a Big 4 firm because you are unhappy with the outcome of disciplinary.
I wonder if the 2 who left would expect to be automatically fired if they were subject any disciplinary action.
That's why find and recode was invented. I guess it depends on how his [***] up was communicated to him if he took offence and went elsewhere.
The other firm maybe did not see it as that much of an issue to repost the general expenses to the correct headings as it is [***] easy with find and recode.
My answers
Welcome back FT like MrMe I always enjoy your blog.
I will be keen to hear your views on your plans from switching from Xero to QBO.
From what you say its not about the product its about price, but I am assuming you will not be reducing your charges to clients so the cost benefit will all be yours.
I am not sure I would do that, its a lot of hassle changing over, you will have to cover the training cost if you are driving the change. What if clients are happy with Xero and dont like the move?
A tricky one, i know QBO were offering 10 licences for £10 but beyond that is the price that different to warrant the upheaval. Xero will sell Bureau licences at a good rate for in house only stuff.
if pricing is you issue is not worth just showing the xero cost at retail price on your invoice then when it changes you can just amend that cost to pass it on.
will client quibble about a £2 increase every 3 years.
@MrMe I dont blog very much now as there is no read counter on your article, for you to know if anyone is reading them or if you are wasting your time.
They rarely get many comments these days so I assume that people dont bother reading the blogs so much.
I have had a bit going on this year so might pen when over this weekend if I get the chance
as part of the roll out a guy from HMRC came out to a practitioner group I am apart of locally.
He was quite senior in the roll out team, (not policy maker) but at the sharp end and was very clear the roll out was impossible without accountants on board to make it happen.
All the DIY filers will be pushed towards finding agents so will a more clients, that we will just work with in a different way
as part of the roll out a guy from HMRC came out to a practitioner group I am apart of locally.
He was quite senior in the roll out team, (not policy maker) but at the sharp end and was very clear the roll out was impossible without accountants on board to make it happen.
All the DIY filers will be pushed towards finding agents so will a more clients, that we will just work with in a different way
I agree with John in that we will be needed more and not less in the future.
Simple things like changes for landlords who previously filed themselves now come to me as they don't understand the new interest rules.
In NZ and Oz when they digitised their tax systems 5/6 years ago more businesses were pushed towards accountants.
Personally MTD has worked without too many problems for me.
I left the HMRC side of things to the very last minute, to hopefully let all issues get ironed out and it worked remarkably without issue. it felt like it was too smooth and I am waiting for something to come back and bite me.
The Public Spending may have increased as a whole but is how that is distributed that hurt.
In the North East many local authorities were hit and just stopped providing services, there is barely a library or swimming pool left in LA ownership.
We have had a very stagnant 10 years up North, I am just preying that this Brexit doesn't go [***] up as another 10 years of the same will have ruined the best earning years in my lifetime.
Recruitment is a challenge to very small firms. I am a sole trader and my first hire was difficult as most people would not leave a large firm to come and sit in an office with 1 other person as career progression would be limited.
I have managed to get 2 home workers who do bookkeeping /Xero etc but it is not ideal.
Once you get a team of more than 5 I imagine it gets better, at the other end of the scale I would be reluctant to put time in with an apprentice if he would leave after 12 months to gain experience in a larger firm.
Recruitment is the biggest issue all small firms and hinders their growth plans.
With regards outsourcing I have mixed results with it.
I find they are very good at year end files if the bookkeeping is good. The flexability this brings when you are busy is useful also.
Bookkeeping they are quite poor at as lack local knowledge of suppliers and make a lot of mistakes on this.
Payroll is a low value service which people go nuts about if its wrong so had to bring it back in house after a few mistakes.
Also language can be an issue (as a Geordie) , I tried India they could not understand me (to be fair some English people also struggle) and just nodded and said "Yes Mr Glenn" then did something totally different to that asked of me.
So for me its an option, as a plug in to create extra capacity but you still need some local resource to work with on bookkeeping side and managing contact with clients.
I am parking PM solutions and going to just go with a CRM product as that is my biggest issue.
Has anyone used this Pixie, how is this more suited for an accountant than an off the shelf CRM.
FT how do you price/issue your bills. Do you not just include an amount on the invoice of £25 (or whatever) to cover the software cost. That way it is transparent and the clients can check on the software website what it costs so can have not argument. If you do all you have to is increase then it covers any software increases and I have had no comeback since I had to increase that element of my charges.
If you just charge 1 figure of say £100 per month then I guess its more of an issue.
Also have you considered the time cost of migration and retraining of clients against the difference in subscription prices as if you are driving the change the clients will expect that as your costs which may well outweigh the few quid on software costs.
I also find clients stuff things up more in QBO and the lack of "find and recode" means it takes longer to put right.
Also have you considered that QBO are actively pushing their own bookkeeping service in the US.
So it was looked into, investigated and he he to get some re training.
Should be the end of it really, not everyone in the disciplinary process is guilty, and not all should be sacked at the end of it.
By leaving the 2 women concerned have probably damaged their own careers, would have made a greater impact if they stayed and just did a good job and proved their worth. Why would you quit a partner level job with a Big 4 firm because you are unhappy with the outcome of disciplinary.
I wonder if the 2 who left would expect to be automatically fired if they were subject any disciplinary action.
That's why find and recode was invented. I guess it depends on how his [***] up was communicated to him if he took offence and went elsewhere.
The other firm maybe did not see it as that much of an issue to repost the general expenses to the correct headings as it is [***] easy with find and recode.