Monday, June 16, 2014

Intuit to Host First-of-its-kind Event: QuickBooks Connect / Helps Entrepreneurs, Small Businesses, Accountants and Developers Reach for the Cloud and Take Their Business to the Next Level

Intuit Inc. (Nasdaq: INTU), a 30-year old startup with a rich ecosystem of more than five million small business customers, announced plans to host its first-ever QuickBooks Connect conference, offering entrepreneurs, small business owners, accountants and developers a unique experience to come together, be inspired and get growing.
Scheduled for Oct. 21-23, in San Jose, Calif., QuickBooks Connect will unlock new opportunities for its attendees, both Intuit customers and non-customers. The conference will draw a wide range of participants, from first-time entrepreneurs to established small businesses and accountants. It is also expected to attract software developers interested in learning more about using the power of Intuit QuickBooks data.
"We've been helping small businesses for more than 20 years and know how powerful our ecosystem can be when you connect all the pieces and players," said Dan Wernikoff, senior vice president and general manager of Intuit's Small Business Group. "QuickBooks Connect brings together these parts for the first time, giving attendees the chance to meet the people, see the cloud technology and get the advice they need to thrive."
The main stage program will include Intuit president and CEO Brad Smith, Founder Scott Cook and entrepreneur and TV star Bill Rancic. Entrepreneurs changing the face of their industries including Debbie Sterling of GoldieBlox and Tristan Walker of Walker & Co. and Code2040, will also be featured. Additionally, the event will offer breakout tracks tailored for attendees' specific interests, including:
   -- Entrepreneurs looking to turn their idea into a reality will get the 
      information and make connections they need on everything from perfecting 
      a business pitch to securing funding. 
 
   -- Small businesses trying to take the next step toward growth and success 
      will hear from expert speakers and attend hands-on workshops that will 
      provide advice on topics ranging from hiring to marketing and financial 
      fitness. 
 
   -- Accountants embracing the future of cloud accounting will learn about new 
      product breakthroughs and get tips on how to save time and grow their 
      practice, earning continuing professional education credits along the 
      way. 
 
   -- Developers wanting to solve important customer problems leveraging 
      QuickBooks data will see how to build and support apps on the rapidly 
      growing, global Intuit Partner Platform and drive customer usage. 

Early Registration Discount
Attendees can begin registering today at www.QuickBooksConnect.com to take advantage of early bird pricing of $169. After July 31, the cost will be $199. The price covers the main conference pass, with some pre and post conference activities available at an additional cost. More details, including added speakers, specific track sessions and unique experiences will be announced soon.
Posted on 9:41 AM | Categories:

QuickBooks ProAdvisor Brings His eCommerce Accounting Expertise to Webgility

Webgility, the leader in accounting automation for small- and medium-sized businesses, has added a new member to its Customer Success Squad, Chris Robinson. A Gold Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor, Chris joins Webgility as the lead accounting consultant providing QuickBooks and eCommerce expertise to small business so they can better manage their accounting and operations. He's also well versed in Webgility's accounting automation software, including their flagship product, eCC Desktop.

In addition to conducting QuickBooks consultations, Chris is leading Webgility's QuickBooks education program. Webgility provides free weekly webinars to help small businesses streamline their eCommerce operations and automate their accounting with its QuickBooks integration software. In June and July, he will be leading a webinar series, starting with "Help, I Have Negative Inventory!" on Thursday, June 26, 2014. He will also be contributing to the Webgility Blog and answering "Ask a ProAdvisor" questions in the Community Forum.
"Getting QuickBooks set up correctly is the first step to helping our customers automate their accounting," says Parag Mamnani, CEO and Founder of Webgility. "We're thrilled to have a resident expert who can help our customers promptly. We will also expand our partnership program to benefit other QuickBooks ProAdvisors working with Webgility."

Webgility's QuickBooks Consultant Network is a community of QuickBooks ProAdvisors who are experts in eCommerce, QuickBooks, and Webgility software. With a growing need for QuickBooks consultations, Webgility brought in Chris Robinson as part of the team. Chris came to Webgility from Business Solutions Providers, a QuickBooks and accounting consultancy, where he advised small businesses on using QuickBooks with third-party solutions such eCC Desktop.

As a Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor, Chris specializes in accounting and inventory management. He has helped many businesses manage their accounting, and has first-hand experience with inventory management as an inventory control officer. "Products are the heart of any retail business, and managing inventory can be a challenge for online sellers, particularly when they are selling on multiple channels," says Chris. "I enjoy helping clients overcome these hurdles with QuickBooks and eCC Desktop so that they have time to run their businesses." 
Posted on 9:39 AM | Categories:

Tallie Raises The Bar With Intuit QuickBooks Online Integration

  • Tallie is the first solution to include real-time data synchronization and deep transaction-level integration with multiple systems in the QBO ecosystem. 
  • Small businesses now have key a building block for migrating from the desktop to a complete and highly scalable cloud-based accounting ecosystem.

Tallie, the leading SaaS expense management innovator, today unveiled its integration with Intuit QuickBooks Online at Scaling New Heights, an Intuit-centric training experience that provides QuickBooks consultants with professional education, networking opportunities and other resources. 
“Companies, firms and business process outsourcing providers can now build a best-of-class cloud accounting suite with any or all of QuickBooks Online, Bill.com SmartVault and Tallie. The seamless nature of the integrations and the flexibility afforded is tremendous.”
“Tallie’s integration with QuickBooks Online represents a major milestone,” said Chris Farrell, Tallie’s CEO. “Companies, firms and business process outsourcing providers can now build a best-of-class cloud accounting suite with any or all of QuickBooks Online, Bill.com SmartVault and Tallie. The seamless nature of the integrations and the flexibility afforded is tremendous.” 

Farrell demonstrated the strength and depth of the ecosystem integration at the Scaling New Heights conference. Industry firsts included simultaneous transfer of expense report line items and receipts directly to QuickBooks Online, Bill.com and SmartVault. 

“With Tallie joining Apps.com, we’re creating even more opportunities for users to build a customized, end-to-end integrated accounting workflow,” said Ronny Tey, Group Marketing Manager with Intuit. “Tallie has already integrated with other members of the QuickBooks ecosystem to help small businesses better manage their expenses and receipts.” 

According to Joe Woodard, QuickBooks expert and founder of National Advisor Network, “I and many other QuickBooks ProAdvisors use the solution and recommend it to our clients because it marries end-user simplicity with solid QuickBooks integration. In our opinion, any small business with expense report should take a hard look at what Tallie has to offer.” 

Tallie also offers award-winning integration with QuickBooks desktop. Companies can elect to seamlessly migrate from QuickBooks Desktop to QBO at any time with a simple settings change. 

For more Tallie news, visit our press room, read our Blog, watch our video and follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+ and YouTube

About Tallie
Tallie is the leading SaaS expense management innovator and enabler of the complete cloud-based accounting ecosystem. In close collaboration with users, CPA practitioners, and industry-leading accounting, technology, and financial partners, it has developed mobile-enabled solutions for comprehensive data capture, intelligent transaction categorization, robust approval controls and seamless software integration. Tallie was recognized for technology leadership by: CPA Practice Advisor, Inc. Magazine and The Sleeter Group. Tallie currently serves more than 2,000 small-medium business (SMB) customers and 100,000 active paying users who have deployed its business-class expense report software. www.tallie.com
Posted on 7:20 AM | Categories:

Xero leadership claim disputed by MYOB / Xero and MYOB both claim to have the leading position in the Australian online accounting market.

Stephan Whithers for IT News writes: In an announcement that cloud accounting provider Xero has reached NZ$100 million in annualised revenue for the first time, company officials said "Australian customers now exceed 120,000 and UK has over 50,000. Xero is the leading online accounting solution in those markets."
That claim is disputed by MYOB.
An MYOB spokesperson declined to give user numbers, but said 22% of the company's paying customers now actively use cloud files. That could be in excess of 260,000 customers, depending on how many of MYOB's claimed 1.2 million users actually pay to use the software.
At the time of publishing Xero had not responded to a request for comment on MYOB's assertion.
The competition between Xero and MYOB is of interest on another level. MYOB's Australian founder and former CEO Craig Winkler was an early investor and now major shareholder of Xero, with a stake estimated to be in excess of half a billion dollars.
Mr Winker, now a Xero director, reportedly invested $15 million in Xero in 2009 after selling his shares in MYOB.
Xero shares peaked at around $42 in March, but today were trading around $27.
In related news, Xero opened its fifth Australian office in Canberra today.
"We see the value in investing in our ACT Partners and customers, and continuing to grow our presence in the region" said Xero managing director in Australia Chris Ridd, managing director for Xero in Australia.

"We are dedicated to providing localised support across Australian business hubs, such as the ACT, that have shown a real eagerness to adopt cloud based accounting software."
The new office brings Xero's Australian headcount to 144, and the company plans to hire an unspecified number of developers to work in Canberra later this year.
Posted on 6:13 AM | Categories:

Learn How CPA Firms Will Increase Their Net Income on 1040 Tax Returns Without Raising Fees or Reducing Expenses

One of the constant problems for CPA firms with individual clients is getting all of their information in time to prepare, review and file their return before the October 15th deadline no matter how many times they are asked for their information. I once worked at a firm that had an individual client that was the last tax return the firm filed by the October 15th deadline three years in a row.
When clients delay providing their personal tax information until after August 1st, the extra time and expense spent on the tax return can turn a profitable job into a loss for the firm. At a minimum, the client has forced the firm to use “tax season” time to prepare a return that could have been completed in June or July.
In a good economy, the firm might charge the client for the additional time (or use of tax season time) and effort spent on the tax return. But since the economy has been bad for several years, clients have become highly resistant to material price increases. In addition, the economy has caused many clients to see the creation of their tax return as a product rather than a service. Therefore, they simply do not see the difference in which CPA firm prepares their personal tax return.
In many cases, the firm should simply fire a client that does not value your time. It is not worth working with a client that does not value what you do. The firm will never make enough profit to justify the time spent on a 1040 client that causes grief for the firm.
But many tax partners will not do that for the following reasons:
  • They are focused on gross revenue rather than net income.
  • They want to keep their book of business high in case they ever leave the firm.
  • They don’t want to admit defeat in making the client profitable.
  • They don’t want to deal with the hassle of firing the client.
  • They can force a manager and staff to deal with the client instead of handling the situation.

Solution

But there is a solution to the problem that I see starting to gain some traction.
Under normal circumstances, the only information an individual taxpayer might receive after April 1st (of the year following their tax year) for their tax return is a Schedule K-1 for their interest in a partnership or an S Corporation. Therefore, the taxpayer has no reasonable excuse for providing their other tax information to the firm after May 31st. As a result, I expect that CPA firms will start sending engagement letters in January 2015 that include the following paragraph (but in a nicer tone of voice).
We want all of your personal tax return information by May 31st. Unless your situation is very unusual, there is no reason (except for Schedule K-1s) for your information to come to us after that date. Therefore, if any or all of your personal tax information (except for Schedule K-1s) arrives to us after May 31st then your tax return preparation fee will automatically be increased to the greater of $1,500 or 130% of last year’s tax return fee. 
Many people might look back at the title of this article and think this paragraph in increase of the client’s fees. No, it is not. It is simply giving the client a choice. The client knows in January that he has the option of avoiding the increase in fees by providing the information by May 31st. In addition, by putting the issue in writing, the firm has changed the discussion on the fee increase from a “negotiable item” to firm policy. Therefore, the client realizes that ranting about the increase will not change his bill.
Ok, but how does the firm make more money if he provides the information earlier?
Although most tax departments are now busy throughout the year, they are not 100% chargeable from May to July. Therefore, the firm makes more money because they are able to give the job to the preparer and reviewer at the proper billing rate and take advantage of previously unproductive time. In addition, the additional time allows for projects to be set aside if questions need to be asked of the client instead of having to wait on their responses because of the tax deadline. Therefore, the firm makes additional net income because they are more efficient in the use of their time during the year.
As with many new ideas, there will be partners and firms that shy away from this idea. They will be afraid that they may lose clients that are not happy with this additional requirement. However, I would ask them the following question. How profitable can an individual client be that can’t get you their information five months after the end of the year? You can always select which clients get this letter (i.e. by level of fee). But to ignore this type of idea will only continue to shrink the margins that you make on these returns.
One of the reasons that more and more local CPA firms have been acquired by the regional firms is that they were not willing to accept that they were working harder to earn less until it was too late. As times, technology, and the economy change, it is up to CPA firms to change with them.
Posted on 6:08 AM | Categories:

Xero hits NZ$100m Annualized Revenue

In May 2014, Xero Limited (XRO) hit monthly recurring subscription revenues of NZ$8.6m, passing NZ$100m in annualised revenue for the first time. Full year operating revenue to March 2014 was NZ$70.1m.
 
Xero CEO Rod Drury says “Passing the $100m annualised revenue mark is a huge milestone for any tech company. We’re so proud to have got there so quickly”.
 
Australian customers now exceed 120,000 and UK has over 50,000. Xero is the leading online accounting solution in those markets.
 
The news comes on the day that Xero announced it is expanding its presence in Australia with a new office opening in Canberra and the hiring of additional staff. Staff numbers in Australia now total 144 across five offices. A number of developer roles will be opening up in the new Canberra office in the second half of 2014.
 
During a time when many public sector jobs are under threat in the ACT following this year’s Federal Budget, Xero is committed to creating employment opportunities in our nation’s capital.
 
“We see the value in investing in our ACT Partners and customers, and continuing to grow our presence in the region” said Chris Ridd, Managing Director for Xero in Australia.
 
“We are dedicated to providing localised support across Australian business hubs, such as the ACT, that have shown a real eagerness to adopt cloud based accounting software.”
 
Xero’s new Canberra office will open on Monday, 16 June and will be located at 10 Rudd Street, Canberra.

______

Xero tops $100m revenue mark


Holly Ryan for the NZ Herald writes: Online accounting software firm, Xero, is "well on track" to hit its long-term performance targets according to chief executive Rod Drury, with the company hitting the $100 million annualised revenue mark for the first time earlier this month.
Drury said the revenue was a result of increased focus on global markets such as Australia and the UK, where their customer base had been growing steadily. He also felt the revenue was validation that the company was on the right track.
"It's a really fantastic result for us, we're pretty happy with how fast we've managed to get here as well. I mean if we can get to $100 million, what's to stop us becoming a billion dollar company eventually?" Drury quipped.
The company's biggest market is in Australia, with more than 120,000 customers. Drury describes the company as being completely global, rather than New Zealand based, with customers in more than 100 countries world-wide, and less than 30 per cent of annualised subscription revenue coming from New Zealand.
Forsyth Barr analyst, Blair Galpin, said the revenue figure was expected, based on the company's full year result of $70.1 million in March. He said that while the company continued to grow, achieving profitability was less important as an indicator of company success, but that their next move into the US would be a significant point for the company.
"The American market is where the key focus is. Let's not underestimate the size of the Aussie and UK market, you can build a good business out of those two. Really though, the valuation and the story around Xero is underpinned on its longer term play in the US market and how well it does there." Galpin said.
Drury said breaking even was an important target for the company but reinvesting in company growth was still their key focus. Galpin noted that while achieving profitability was important, the company had a little bit of leeway.
"Profit is probably less important for the company at this stage, it's more about keeping sales growth up, that's really the target that everyone's watching, and they're willing to forgive the loss in the interim as long as they keep hitting results targets. They have quite a bit of money in the bank too which is always good." Galpin said.
Xero entered the US market 18 months ago and according to Drury, they already have more than 18,000 US customers, with further growth and sales team expansion a key focus point in the coming months.
"The US market is definitely where our focus is now. The UK, Australian and New Zealand markets are pretty stable but the US market is growing quite quickly and we need to be pushing that growth. So far we've seen pretty positive results though." Drury said.
Shares rose by 0.03 per cent this morning to $29.160.
Posted on 6:08 AM | Categories: