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Tech Lowdown
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Tech Lowdown: Free licences, QuickBooks Online Advance and Xero Projects

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17th Oct 2018
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Welcome to our weekly round-up of the latest news and updates from the accounting tech world. 

This week, Tech Lowdown features the new QuickBooks Online Advanced, FreeAgent’s free licenses for RBS and NatWest clients and the upcoming improvements to Xero Projects.

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Intuit introduces QuickBooks Online Advanced

News about QuickBooks Online Advance has arrived on the Tech Lowdown desk from across the pond. While not yet available on this side of the Atlantic, Intuit aims to provide a more affordable and flexible alternative to higher-priced mid-market offerings with its latest offering. The new cloud-based QBO Advanced uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to provide insights and patterns to growing companies.

“As small businesses grow, many are faced with the decision to move off our platform, forced to transition to the next level of enterprise software that is both expensive and too complex for their needs,” explained Alex Chriss, senior vice president and chief product officer, small business self-employed group at Intuit. “We can now serve customers who are self-employed all the way to those with hundreds of employees and a high volume of transactions.”

The solution, which has been built on an open platform, gives access to hundreds of third party applications that users can add depending on their needs. QuickBooks Online Advanced also includes the QuickBooks Priority Circle, a personalized service that assigns a customer success manager to the businesses to assist with their technical and product questions.

In addition to the functionality of QuickBooks Online Plus, QuickBooks Online Advanced includes up to 25 users with full and simultaneous access and complimentary online training courses. Other features to be released soon include import invoices functionality and custom user permissions.

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FreeAgent offers free licences to RBS and NatWest clients

Following FreeAgent’s acquisition by the RBS Group, the Edinburgh-based accounting software company is now offering a new type of licence for accountants with clients that bank with the Royal Bank of Scotland and NatWest. This means accountancy practices can add their new small business clients to FreeAgent free of charge if they have an RBS or NatWest business bank account.

“With more than a million business owners currently banking with these high street banks - approximately a quarter of the UK’s small business sector - this is a significant opportunity for accountants looking to expand and grow their practices,” explained Ed Molyneux, CEO and co-founder of FreeAgent.

“As FreeAgent was recently added to HMRC’s list of software providers that are ready for the introduction of MTD for VAT, it also means that accountants and small business owners banking with RBS and NatWest now have access to a free, MTD-ready solution.”

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Xero Projects

Xero has announced a number of new features and improvements to Xero Projects. A new Xero Payroll and Xero Projects integration (pictured below) will enable users to input the timesheet information recorded in a project directly into Xero Payroll. The new integration will avoid duplication, ensuring that staff members only record time once.

The new feature will be available in the UK within the next 90 days.

Xero Projects

Replies (1)

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Jonathan@Aiteo
By Jonathan@Aiteo
19th Oct 2018 10:15

I really like the idea of an advanced QBO. Presently Xero & QBO could retain a lot of customers (and generate more revenue) if their proposition could stretch further for start-ups that are becoming scale-ups.

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