BAMAs launch at Accountex... plus Benneyworth plugs in to Tesla!
One of the highlights of this year's Accountex event at London's ExCeL last week were the first British Accounting Marketing Awards.
The awards had entrants from all over the UK in four categories, each highlighting a different form of marketing used by pioneering/innovative accounting practices.
The winners in each category were:
- Best Rising Star: Soaring Falcon Accountancy
- Best Brand Building Campaign: AV Cloud (Ad Valorem)
- Best Content Marketing Campaign: RanddUK
- Best Event Marketing: The Wow Company
Hosted by the awards founder, Amanda C. Watts, the trophy presentations were made by the judges, each a veteran marketer or respected industry leader. In fact, Accountex event director Zoe Lacey-Cooper was on the panel.
The awards showcased the best marketing achievements from Accounting Practices, offering national recognition for those who have made the biggest impression and impact over the past 12 months.
Ever-changing landscape
With the ever-changing landscape of the accounting profession and the opportunities that marketing now brings to accounting practices small and large, marketing has never before played such an important role.
Amanda C. Watts, founder of TwentyTwo Agency, says: "Over the past 12 months I have seen some pioneering practices implement powerful marketing. The awards were created so that I could showcase and celebrate the amazing marketing that is carried out by these firms, and at the same time inspire other practices to embrace modern marketing as well. Marketing is key to differentiating a firm, and positioning them in the marketplace."
The British Accounting Marketing Awards are brought to you by TwentyTwo Agency. The awards are supported by Accountex, the leading exhibition for the accounting industry, and sponsored by My Firms App.
Compelling talk on MTD
Another highlight of this year's show was the Thursday Keynote session by accountant/lecturer/tax expert Rebecca Benneyworth. As well as revealing she was on the verge of leasing a Tesla, Rebecca delivered a clear, compelling and amazingly fresh talk on Making Tax Digital.
"It's not that scary," she said, and offered accountants an informed and workable guide to navigating the forthcoming digitalised tax landscape - from how to on-board tech-clueless clients to a less-than-pleasant scenario that would occur in terms of quarterly filing if one were to leave things too late (not good).
If you missed the talk, that's a shame. But all is not lost, because Rebecca, in partnership with Intuit QuickBooks, has produced an excellent guide to Making Tax Digital, or should that be "delightful". It's called Digital Tax Challenges: A handbook for the small business advisor, and it can be found here. Intuit says: "This handy guide investigates the latest developments and how they will affect you and your clients."
GDPR is here ... and a big thumbs up to the boxing glove!
Good morning and welcome to Daily Insight. First up is a bit of fun from the guys over at AccountingWeb. The editor Tom Herbert and Richard Sergeant, MD of Principle Point, are spot on in this great little video on the freebies (swag) on offer at last week's super-successful Accountex 2018.
Question: how does the boxing-glove keyring stack up against the rubber thumbs up? Check out the video to find out!
On to serious stuff. With GDPR finally upon us, IRIS has found accountancy practices have taken big steps to be rules-ready ... but they still have concerns over individuals’ rights.
Allocate a data lead
The accountancy software provider solicited opinion from its customers in September 2017 and May 2018, and found practices have taken positive steps to apply the principles of personal data protection, implement procedures and allocate a data lead. However, concerns on the individual rights to know the information held, access personal data and the right to be forgotten, remain as key challenges.
IRIS CEO Sion Lewis says, “Preparation has accelerated across the industry and, looking at other UK sectors, I’m delighted to see we have made significant progress. There are still concerns but I believe by continuing to share and learn from each other we can respond effectively to requests.”
Industry is very aware of GDPR
IRIS’s survey shows the industry is very aware of GDPR, with an increase to 99 per cent in May 2018, compared with 80% previously. This is higher than other reports have found – one claiming that 84.3 per cent of organisations in the UK are very or somewhat aware of GDPR.
Other findings:
- Nearly three-quarters (69 per cent) of accountancy practices feel their employees can apply principles of personal data protection, up from two fifths (40 per cent) in September 2017.
- Two-thirds (66 per cent) can demonstrate they have the necessary basis to hold client data, an increase from 42 per cent.
- Over half (53 per cent) of IRIS accountancy practices have procedures in place to detect data and report a data breach, a 28 per cent rise from the previous survey.
- Four fifths (80 per cent) of respondents now have a data protection lead, a rise from 60 per cent.
The survey also finds the industry is generally more prepared than other UK businesses. In February 2018, FSB research found a third of small business had not started preparing for the introduction of GDPR and a further third were only in the early stages of preparation. This highlights the breadth of support businesses need, and as a trusted adviser to their clients, accountants are well-placed to advise them in many aspects of their business, including GDPR.
Support and help practices
IRIS has undertaken many initiatives to support and help practices become GDPR-ready, including its GDPR conferences across the UK, webinars and in-house training sessions, as well as wider education efforts.
“GDPR compliance is a journey not a destination,” concludes Sion Lewis. “Although GDPR is effective from today, it should not be viewed as a one-off activity. Protecting personal data is central to every client relationship and needs to be frequently monitored. By continuing training and process checks, practices not only ensure they are compliant but also build client loyalty and trust.”
Further guidance and information can be found on the IRIS GDPR Hub.
A short and tweet round-up of Accountex
Welcome to the post-Accountex 2018 Daily Insight. This short and simple tweet summed it up for me. It includes a great video of the ExCeL accounting extravaganza shot and edited by Accountex PR exec Sharna Waide. Just click on the pic above and it will take you straight there. Or click here.
The team at Accountancy Age have helpfully come up with six takeaways from the show. Check out their site for the full details but, in brief, they are:
- Making Tax Digital – don’t delay, it’s going ahead! Theresa Middleton, director of Making Tax Digital , delivered an excellent talk on Day One, where she said accountants should: Talk to clients, assessing potential transition challenges and their aptitude and attitude for making a change; talk to your software providers to find out when products are going to be enabled for clients, or to look at what software is on offer; think about digital record-keeping – even if you’re not participating in the pilots; take part in the pilots;
- Millennial workplace preferences: In the millennial roundtable on Day One, it became clear young people are in search of personal development and autonomy, supported by flexible or remote working opportunities.
- GDPR: the key stats: Brendan Woods of AutoEntry delivered the figires on data security. He said that 73 per cent of people were concerned about the security of their data; 38 per cent are worried about regulatory compliance; and 30 per cent are worried about compromised accounts or insider threats. .
- GDPR and the ‘Big 3’ personal data rights: Phil Bernie, co-founder of KeyPay, focused on the right: to be informed;) to be forgotten; and to be able to access our data.
- How do you prevent a cyberattack? Peter Erceg, CISO at Lockton, shared some good cybersecurity tips: patch your systems; restrict user access; change passwords regularly; use two-factor authentication; segment networks; ensure software is no more that one version behind the latest available; protect your systems, but detection and mitigation is the key
- Can women have it all? Elaine Clark's popular roundtable women in accountancy, focused on: experiences of gender parity; the gender pay gap; difficulties in maintaining a work-life balance.
We'll be back with a full round-up of the show next week, with more pics, words, music and videos. Well, maybe not the music.
10 reasons why Accountex 2018 is a big hit!
Welcome to Daily Insight, which today comes to you live from Day Two of Accountex 2018, the UK's leading event for the accounting and finance profession.
But first, Day One. And a Big Tick all round.
- Visitor numbers were up by about 9 per cent.
- Exhibitors gave it a pretty much unanimous thumbs up.
- There were packed and insightful speaker sessions from the likes of Theresa Middleton of HMRC and Intuit QuickBook's European MD Damon Allon.
- The Roundtable Hot Topic discussions on subjects including Women in Accountancy and millennials in the profession proved to be a big hit.
- The first British Accounting Marketing Awards, presented by Amanda C Watts, went down a treat. Prizes went to Alex Falcon, AV Cloud and Rand UK and the wow company.
- There were loads of new exhibitors in the 200-plus line-up, and all the ones I spoke to (and that's well into double figures) gave super positive feedback. Paul Turnbull, solution specialist, at APtimise said that, even though the NatWest's new accounts payable software arm, didn't fit into the stereotypical exhibitor mould, he was loving being at the show and was enjoying the comments from potential clients. I also spoke with the bosses at smaller outfits such as Logical Office (stand 851), Aon (370), Senta (673) Cashplus (760), Campaign Master (760) and Spendesk in the Start-Up Zone. All of them were amazed by the quality of visitors to their stands and were blown away by the buzz and atmosphere.
- The show has a truly international appeal with visitors from the US, Australia and, oddly, the Netherlands. I chatted to a guy who had flown into London City on a plane with 150 accountants
- And, before this list gets too long, there was Pimm's provided by Intuit QuickBooks, cocktails at Wolters Kluwer and gin and tonic from the guys at Futurli. Not that I tried them all.
Accountex Day Two again promises to be a great mix of all things accounting and finance.
- Keynote sessions from Xero’s Damon Anderson, ICAEW’s Caroline Miskin, and conference closing remarks from 2020 Innovations’ Gordon Gilchrist
- Hot Topic Roundtable discussions on women in accountancy, sole practitioners and millennials – the next generation of accounting!
- Panel discussions on blockchain in accountancy, the role of realtime advisory and which technology solutions are making the biggest impact on the industry
PLUS you can see what’s new and keep up to date with all the latest products and services, by meeting with over 200 leading suppliers.
Be there/here.
IRIS snaps up Taxfiler; gig economy boosts Intuit
Welcome to Daily Insight and the first day of Accountex 2018. Today's big news is UK accounting group IRIS is acquiring Taxfiler, the cloud tax and accounts group focused on small accountancy practices.
Taxfiler, set up in 2012, is a cloud-based monthly subscription service for agents and accountants to submit statutory accounts and tax returns.
The group complements the IRIS portfolio, which includes Keytime, PTP and IRIS, to offer products for every size of business, from agents and small accountancy practices through to national and international firms.
Challenges of small practices
Sion Lewis, CEO of IRIS Accountancy Solutions, says: “Taxfiler is well-established with tax agents and small accountancy practices, and provides an exciting opportunity for us to offer a new generation of professionals tax and accounts compliance in the cloud using a product specific to their needs.
"We recognise the requirements and challenges of small practices are different to those of larger ones and look forward to simplifying the lives of more accountants to help them become more effective and productive.”
IRIS will integrate Taxfiler with KashFlow and OpenSpace to provide small practices and tax agents with a friction free, digital record compliance solution. Regardless of size, IRIS customers can access the best in class products to meet their evolving requirements as the industry embraces Making Tax Digital.
Cloud-based compliance software
Taxfiler founder James Reeves, says, “IRIS’ credentials are without doubt, the best in the industry. Taxfiler is delighted to join the team and with the plans to accelerate product development and focus on best in class customer experience, we look forward to continuing to build the new generation of cloud-based compliance software for small practices.”
“To help practices prosper we’ve created tools to automate internal processes, giving them more time to focus on more valuable advisory services. Using technology also means they can unlock client and practice data and gain comprehensive insights into business performance which results in greater efficiency and the foresight to maximise practice direction.”
It's shaping up to be a big year for IRIS. The group has hit several milestones, including:
- The first quarterly filing submission in the MTD programme in February.
- Being named as a software agent for HMRC’s MTD pilot.
- The launch of Accountant Go, a practice-branded app designed for accountants to engage and communicate with their clients and provide a single portal to access information and digital tools.
- The acquisition of Star Computers to offer payroll and HR to an even wider audience.
- The acquisition of Taxfiler.
IRIS (stand 620) and Taxfiler (stand 346) are exhibiting at Accountex 2018.
Intuit results beat Wall St expectations
Meanwhile in the US, the surge in self employment has boosted accounting software giant Intuit's third-quarter results.
Revenue climbed 15 per cent to $2.92bn beating forecasts for $2.8bn. The gains were driven by its small business and self-employed arm as well as its consumer group division, where its TurboTax software is used to help individuals file US tax returns.
There were 683,000 QuickBooks self-employed at the end of the quarter, compared with the 360,000 a year ago. That helped a 45 per cent increase in total QuickBook subscribers to 3.2m. Net income was up about 25 per cent at $1.2 billion.
Do the math, as they say.
Give your clients an expenses health check
Whether you still accept shoe boxes full of receipts or prefer newer methods, it’s time to give your clients an expenses health check to ensure you’re offering the best solution, and not just the solution that suits your practice.
What happens when your client tells you that they want to use the latest and greatest solution that they have found? Do you embrace it, or tell them very politely that it’s your way or the highway?
In a recent customer success call, a customer was told that they could only use the solution that their accounting practice supported, and wouldn’t consider any others. The client had done his own research and found one that best suited his needs, one that prevented his employees from having out of pocket expenses and gave him a much greater visibility of company spending.
Carefully crafted partnerships
Understandably, our customer couldn’t understand their accountant's rationale and chose our solution anyway. Finding the balance between a walled garden of carefully crafted partnerships that you recommend and opening the floodgates to whatever clients want to use is difficult, but it is important to keep an open mind.
Few who entered the industry probably expected that they would also have to become a technology expert but with just a brief look at the Accountex exhibition and conference list, that’s exactly what many have had to become. Accountex really shows the amount of choice now on offer, and it’s the perfect setting to create new partnerships to ensure you can continue to offer the best solutions to your clients.
In a recent case study with Sacred Spirits, Expend learnt that while head office expenses admin had dramatically reduced from nearly a day a month to 20 mins. They estimated that they had saved even more money by using Expend’s connected payment card to pay for the their expenses abroad due to its zero fee foreign exchange rates.
These extra savings are crucial to fast growing SMEs with global ambitions, and is a prime example of value added extras that help to differentiate potential solutions.
Seamless real-time view
So with global business travel spending worldwide forecasted to rise from about $1.3 trillion in 2016 to $1.6 trillion by 2020, it’s not just time and efficiency gains that can be made or clients.
It’s also crucial to ensure that these added solutions don’t increase the workload further. This is especially true In this interconnected digital accountancy world, one that increasingly demands a seamless real-time view of company finances. Simply being the fastest and greatest expenses solution isn’t enough. The quality of integrations with the likes of Xero and Quickbooks matter just as much.
It's important to pick the right solutions that are not only flexible to your needs, but provide the insight you need to make and advise on crucial business decisions.
So it’s time to give your clients an expenses a health check and explore what else your practice needs in its toolkit.
Expend will be on Stand 951 at Accountex.
Any questions for Accountex 2018?
As it's Accountex Eve (one sleep to go) I thought I'd revisit a QA I did with the event last week to give those who missed it a second chance to get the Accounting Insight News take on the goings on at ExCeL on 23-24 May.
But, first, here's a little round-up of what the accounting media are making of the big show. Emma Smith, Accountancy Age editor, has done a great interview with Accountex event director Zoe Lacey Cooper.
Among other things, Zoe tells Emma: “Although we’ve had some great speakers in the past, I think we needed to step it up this year. “We’ve actually got over 50 brand new speakers on the programme – mainly focusing on actual case studies from accountants who are firstly good at speaking but who can also present quantifiable results about how they’ve improved their own practice. The consultants are great – they’ve got great advice – but to actually hear it from the people who have experienced it, breathed it – I think those sessions will be very popular.”
Trade-show freebies
Over at AccountingWeb Valme Claro has done an Accountex/Tech Insights Special, which gives an early idea of some of the product launches/innovations at this year's show. Meanwhile, Richard Sergeant has taken a light-hearted look at one of his favourite topics, trade-show freebies (or swag).
Richard says: "Perhaps the best incarnation of cool swag is getting with the fintech vibe, and sharing wearable, cool brands.
"Whether that’s, in the immortal words of Practice Ignition’s Trent Mclaren “hoodies and snap backs” (that’s hats for grown up kids just in case you’re wondering), t-shirts, or the legendary GoCardless baseball jacket - wearing your start-up credentials with pride has a lot to say for the importance of brand, presentation and association."
Anyway, enough of all that... here's the Accountex QA.
What is Accountex?
It's the UK’s biggest and busiest accountancy exhibition and conference.
Where and when... and how busy?
Over 7,000 attendees will visit London's ExCeL on 23-24 May.
Who exactly?
Accountants, finance directors, accounts managers, tax professionals, heads of IT, bookkeepers, and sole practitioners (working in practice, industry, and the public sector) will all be there.
Doing what?
Checking out the latest products, tools, solutions, insights, and innovations on offer from 228 exhibiting companies (the show sold out last month).
Sounds good, any big names going along?
Absolutely! Among the pre-registered visitors (to date) are representatives from organisations as diverse as Alliance Healthcare, American Express, Aon, Asda, Asos, Aviva, BAE, Bank of England, Barnardo's, Bourne Leisure, BP, BT, Burberry, Centrica, Chelsea Football Club, Christie's, Citi, Compass Group, Department for Transport, DHL, EasyJet, Ford Motor Co, Greene King, Harrods, HMRC, HSBC, Informa, Intertek, Islington Council, Johnson & Johnson, Lloyds Bank, Merlin Entertainments, Metro Bank, Ministry of Justice, Morgan Stanley, New Look, NHS, Post Office, Reed Personnel, Sainsbury’s, Santander, Vodafone, Wells Fargo Bank, and Wickes.
OK, I get the idea... what about from the world of accounting?
Again.... absolutely! There will be loads of top names from leading practices: PwC, Deloitte, EY, KPMG, Grant Thornton, BDO, RSM, Smith & Williamson, Moore Stephens, Mazars, PKF, Saffery Champness, Haines Watts, Crowe Clark Whitehill, UHY Hacker Young, MHA Macintyre Hudson, Kingston Smith, Menzies, TaxAssist Accountants, Buzzacott, Kreston Reeves, HW Fisher & Company, and haysmacintyre (23 of the top 25 firms listed in Accountancy Age’s Top 50+50 Survey for 2017.
Who's running the show?
That'll be Zoe Lacey-Cooper, event director.
And she says?
“From our speakers and exhibitors to the visitors themselves – the who’s who of the accountancy world will be at the show doing business. With a record number of exhibitors and speakers now confirmed, plus visitors pre-registrations tracking ahead, we’re looking forward to a very busy and productive two days."
Yes, but she's probably a bit biased. What do other people think?
“Accountex is a gateway to technology, CPD and learning new trends. It is highly informative and each year we get to learn so much,” says Aurangzaib Chawla, partner & financial accountant at Lanop Accountants.
Any one else?
Yes. “Accountex is an excellent opportunity to find out what is happening, what others are doing and what's in the market to support accountants and make them more profitable,” says Yvonne Harper, finance director at Campbell Dallas LLP.
Is that it?
Absolutely not! “Accountex has become the centre of the accounting year, with everyone coming together to research what’s changing and advertise what they’ve built to help with those changes. In other words, if you’re not there then you’ll not keep up!” says Alex Weddell, founder and director of Next Gen Bookkeepers.
So is there anything else on offer?
Absolutely! There are 280 speaker sessions in 20 theatres.
Crikey... that's a lot. Can you give me any examples please?
Sure. With 280 CPD-accredited Keynotes, seminars and workshops running across 20 theatres over two days, Accountex visitors will be able to enjoy and learn with great content from some of the industry’s most inspiring thought-leaders. High-profile names from Sage, Intuit QuickBooks, Xero, Wolters Kluwer, IRIS Group, TaxCalc, Compleat Software, FreeAgent, FUTRLI, MyFirmsApp, ICAEW, ICPA, and ACCA are preparing to share their expertise. As are 50 new speakers for 2018, including representatives from HMRC, HSBC, IFA, ICB, CABA, CiPP, Accodex, and many more. Other new additions include the introduction of a second Keynote Theatre, Hot Topic Roundtables, and the British Accountancy Marketing Awards ceremony.
Don't be modest.... What would you say are the highlights?
Oh, go on then..... here's a few:
- Theresa Middleton, director – Making Tax Digital for Business at HMRC
- Heather Elliot, agent portfolio lead on Making Tax Digital for Business at HMRC
- Paul Aplin OBE, incoming president of the ICAEW
- Richard Bearman, head of small business UK at HSBC Bank
- Justin Urquhart Stewart, co-founder of Seven Investment Management
- Heather Townsend, author and founder of The Accountants Millionaire's Club
- Brad Burton –the UK's #1 motivational business speaker
- Adrian Sproston, director, accountants division at Sage
- Dominic Allon, VP Europe at Intuit QuickBooks
- Damon Anderson, director of partner & product at Xero
- Samantha Mann, senior policy & research officer at Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals
- Paul Turnbull, APtimise solution specialist at NatWest Aptimise
- Caroline Plumb OBE, CEO of Fluidly
- Amanda C. Watts, MD of TwentyTwo Agency
- Carl Reader, owner of D&T Chartered Accountants
- Anne Davies, head of regulation and policy at IFA
- Shane Lukas, MD of AVN
- Nichola Ross Martin, founder of Rossmartin.co.uk
- Kath Haines, chief executive of CABA
- Warren Cass, founder of Practice Advantage
- Glenn Collins, head of technical advisory at ACCA
- Wendy Rowe, head of commercial at Wolters Kluwer
- Amal Mashru, wealth management consultant at Mattioli Woods
- Lyn Bromley, MD of First Impressions Training
- Alex Martin, corporate business consultant at Premiere Capital
- Della Hudson, business consultant at Hudson Business Advice
- Kelly Stricklin-Coutinho, barrister at 39 Essex Chambers
- Bobby Chadha, senior manager – product innovation at Deloitte UK
- Archna Tharani, director of Oculus Accountancy
Thanks very much for all the info.
You're welcome.
PS. Got any spare tickets?
Sure. They're free.... just book-in here!
MyFirmsApp launches OneApp at Accountex
MyFirmsApp, provider of intelligent Apps to professional firms in 11 countries, is introducing the new OneApp layered mobile platform at Accountex 2018.
The OneApp platform will feature an AI/chatbot or virtual assistant that answers questions using calculator functionality and completes simple tasks.
Working closely with the Amazon Lex platform, the AI functionality is set to evolve over coming months and will include the ability to book calls and to join up with other external systems such as practice management.
The company says:
OneCommunicate – OneApp enables firms to connect & communicate with their clients wherever they are. People spend an average of four hours a day looking at their phone and 90 per cent is spent in apps.
OneApp enables practices to be part of this screen time and take advantage of this most expensive real estate on the planet with powerful marketing tools that improve interaction and engagement
OneCollect – OneApp gives partners back time and eliminates stress with inbuilt data collection tools including a receipt manager, mileage tracker, income tracker and document scanner
OneControl - OneApp enables partners and firms to take back control by holding all disparate cloud apps in one place with app stacks and app add-ons bespoke to each accounting firm. The app dashboard delivers download and usage statistics and co-ordinates communications and marketing activity
OneCare – puts accountants first and helps guide them into the digital world. MyFirmsApp is the only company to offer 24-hour on-going support, backed by the wealth of experience that comes from running the largest global customer app platform in the world for accountants in practice.
Joel Oliver, CEO, MyFirmsApp says: “OneApp has been developed to address three dominant problems in the marketplace today. First accountants are overwhelmed by the changing landscape and fast pace of technology development, they are being commoditised with prices being driven down with no way to differentiate themselves and finally, they are lacking in time and productivity as most partners are still chasing clients for answers to questions and not leveraging technology in a way that maximises productivity.”
“OneApp is functionally rich and complies with the latest Apple rules and guidelines. It has some powerful USPs including deep integration with Receipt Bank and Virtual Cabinet, unique onboarding software for clients and a Budget Pack that is unique in the app space. It helps accountants to connect and communicate, manages all their key client apps and above all, improves workflow and data collection.”
MyFirmsApp can be found on Stand 798 at Accountex, ExCel, London on Wednesday, 23 May and Thursday, 24 May.
Accountex team sets up for the big one!
New exhibitors. New speakers. New sessions. It's all systems go. The Accountex team is in London setting up the UK's leading event for the accounting and finance profession at London's ExCel on 23-24 May as we speak!
So here's a quick reminder of some of the key stats for this year's exhibition. This year's Accountex will see:
- 50 New speakers.
- 44 Woman speakers (was 18 last year).
- 280 Speaker sessions.
- 20 Theatres
- 235 Exhibitors
- 106 Exhibitors that are new to Accountex this year.
Everyone's really looking forward to the Hot Topic Roundtable discussions that are a new feature at the two-day extravaganza.
The next generation of accounting
On Wednesday at 11am, Guy Pearson of Practice Ignition will host a session called "Millennials – The next generation of Accounting!". Guy tells me: "This panel is going to be a must at the show for all attendees in professional practice to learn what motivates the next generation of accountants as we interview some absolutely amazing firm owners with backgrounds in software, big firms and even VC on the why's and how's of their journey and what drives them.
"I'm glad I'm just the host, with the heavy hitters on our panel - thought leaders, market leaders, former software gurus and they're all millenials running their own firms. Found out what drives them and more at this session, it will be amazing!"
"If nothing else we have an eclectic mix of the best of the millennial accountants at Accountex and hearing their journey, hosted by a recovering accountant with an Aussie accent... What could go wrong?!"
Women in Accountancy
Next up will be Elaine Clark, MD of CheapAccounting with three sessions. Kicking off with "Women in Accountancy" at 1pm on Wednesday (and again at 11 on Thursday) she'll then move on to "Surviving as a Sole Practitioner" on Wednesday at 3pm.
Elaine says: “Following on from my successful hot topic sessions at Accountex Summit North I’ll be bringing the same sessions to Accountex London. We’ll be looking at the issues impacting on Sole Practitioners such as coping with the never ending tax changes that continue to hit as well as the fast moving world of technology.
"As part of the Women in Accountancy hot topic sessions, as well as looking at issues such as flexible working and finding a good work-life balance we’ll also be discussing the recent pay survey, which revealed a massive gender pay gap of 21.5 per cent, well above the national average gender pay gap of 18.4 per cent.
Lively conversations
"Apparently male accountants earn an average of £66,646 while Woman in Accountancy earned just £53,688 on average. The difference of £12,958 a year is just unacceptable and I’ll be asking the attendees if they think that the professional accountancy bodies should be doing something about this.
"So all in all we should be having some lively conversations.
"Finally I will be unveiling the Women In Accountancy website; the first web site for Women in Accountancy giving them a loud and proud voice in this still male dominated profession. Watch this space as they say.”
Session on succession planning
Author and speaker Heather Townsend will be revealing the key values and behaviours needed by any potential internal firm successor in her session on succession planning.
Heather says: "Hope is not a strategy when it comes to finding someone to take over your firm. If you want to get the maximum value for your practice at exit, it needs to be able to run without you. Great accountancy firm leaders are not born or made, they are nurtured from an early age." She'll be leading the debate on Wednesday at 2pm.
On Thursday at noon, Tony Margaritelli, ICPA chairman, will host a discussion on Making Tax Digital and its ramifications for the sole practitioner. Tony says: "MTD: Who, when and finally how.
How best to implement technology
"These elements will be covered in some detail and we will look at work that needs top be done now to make sure we are ready. Finally, how we can turn MTD from a potential headache to a catalyst for practice change and invigoration."
Michael Austin, founder and MD of Blue Dot Consulting, will be looking at "Technology Changes and Challenges".
"The session is an opportunity to help people who are running accountancy practices and finance departments to discuss how best to implement technology, and to get the most out of it," says Michael.
"The backdrop is the massive technological change going on in our world. We hope to allay a few fears and doubts as to what technology to adopt, and maybe solve a few problems, too."
Wolters Kluwer delivers CCH OneClick
Wolters Kluwer, Tax & Accounting UK has launched CCH OneClick, which enables tax advisers to embrace digitalisation and delivers the open integration that practices need to connect digital data.
CCH OneClick provides a set of cloud tools that are delivered through two new connected workspaces; the adviser workspace, which provides new features for advisers, and the client workspace, which delivers an area for secure document exchange, document approval and messaging.
Tax advisers realise that digitalisation is inevitable. They will need to support multiple accounting packages as well as data from HMRC.
They will have to ensure GDPR compliance, meet Making Tax Digital requirements and, ideally, have access to information in a single place and while on the move.
Valued by clients
CCH OneClick has been created to become the single place from which tax advisers can obtain and process data while delivering services that are valued by clients.
CCH OneClick introduces customers to cloud tools that open up connectivity of the software with other systems.
Open Integration Programme – introduced in May 2016, it enables permanent connection between a client’s business in an online bookkeeping product, and allows CCH OneClick seamless access to live transactional data. This data can then be consumed for the clients’ other accounting activities such as producing final accounts and, when MTD goes live, for quarterly reporting. It also enables the Tax Advisor to then post back adjustments into the online accounting product.
Variety of features
Making Tax Digital – This toolset already has a variety of features even ahead of the MTD go-live date. Features include the Digital Tax Account and Quarterly Reporting. The Digital Tax Account is fully connected with HMRC through its APIs, enabling CCH OneClick to access HMRC data held for the tax adviser’s clients.
This will save a significant amount of time as it removes the need to key any data held by HMRC. Quarterly Reporting includes features including identifying the MTD client, reporting dashboards monitoring deadlines and the ability to consume data from open integration, and quarterly report. VAT filing is the next enhancement to the MTD toolset and is due for release in autumn 2018.
Client Workspace – this not only connects with the adviser workplace which allows the secure exchange of documents and messages with a tax adviser’s clients, but also enables secure document approval thereby helping to support GDPR requirements.
Important practice data
Practice Mobile – this is a mobile app (for Android and iOS) which allows access to important practice data when employees of a practice are working on the move.
Digital Data Request – this toolset solves the pain points associated with data collection and includes a mobile app as well as a web browser app coming soon. Data can be digitally provided to the tax adviser throughout the tax year making the process more efficient and also enabling the tax adviser to automatically capture data and populate the compliance systems with ease.
Claire Carter, managing director, Wolters Kluwer Tax & Accounting UK, says: “Today is an exciting day for the accountancy profession in the UK. At Wolters Kluwer, we’ve always been proud to put customers at the heart of all that we do and have been working alongside our customers to obtain critical insights and feedback to build into our product roadmap.
Delivers tangible impact
"Our cloud suite will go far beyond the provision of tools to deliver compliance services. As compliance becomes more and more commoditised, we will automate processes, and focus on innovative technology that really makes a difference, delivers tangible impact and continues to delight our customers.”
Customers can control who in their organisation has access to the data in the CCH OneClick platform and associated applications with access driven from the client list within CCH Central.
To find out more about CCH OneClick, please don’t hesitate to get in touch at [email protected] or visit us on stand 960 at Accountex from 23-24 May.