Xero appoints heavy-hitter, Andy Lark, to push US sales

Pattrick Smellie for Auckland.Scoop.co.nz writes:  writes: Cloud accounting software firm Xero has snared Andy Lark, an expatriate New Zealander with a heavy-hitting global career, to be its new chief marketing officer as it moves to strengthen its push into the vital US market and confirms it expects a net loss for the six months to Sept.30 of $25 million and 80 percent subscription revenue growth this financial year.

Lark’s appointment accompanied Xero’s latest trading update, in which it records further strong growth in subscription revenues, up 85 percent to $52 million for the half year to Sept. 30 and monthly committed subscriptions at $11 million, meaning annualised revenues are now running at $132.3 million, up 87 percent on a year ago.

Both announcements come three weeks after Xero announced the surprise resignation of the recently appointed chief executive for its US operation, Peter Karpas, and a string of broker reports questioning Xero’s ability to crack the US market, where it is seeking scale ahead of profitability against incumbent accounting software provider Intuit. A presentation published to the NZX this morning highlights “dissatisfaction with execution and leadership” in the US as one of four areas that “need work” for Xero to succeed in the US market.

The latest update shows Xero has $171 million still in kitty to invest in building its customer base under a strategy that expects no profits until sufficient global scale is achieved.

Xero shares have fallen from a record high of $44.98 in March to a closing price of $21.16 a share yesterday.

Currently chief marketing and online officer at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Lark is a major score for Xero. He takes up his new role next month and has been a member of Xero’s advisory board since the company was established seven years ago.

Auckland-born, Lark is also a former global marketing executive for Dell, the online computer sales giant, where he had responsibility for the Dell.com website, was chief marketing officer before that at LogLogic, which at the time was a Silicon Valley start-up, and before that was head of global marketing and communications for Sun Microsystems.

He will “lead Xero’s global marketing strategy and further drive growth in the US,” the company said.

“As we continue to accelerate our growth globally, adding executives of Andy’s calibre — with deep experience of the US market — demonstrates our ability to attract world-class talent and commitment to bringing Xero to more small businesses than any other platform on Earth,” said chief executive Rod Drury.

Meanwhile, today’s update shows Australia is Xero’s largest market by both customers and revenue, with 100 percent growth in customers to 158,000 over the year to Sept. 30, and annualised subscription revenues of $63.9 million, with New Zealand second at 119,000 customers, up 38 percent over the year, and annualised subscription revenues of $34 million, an increase of 42 percent over the year.

The scale of the company’s challenge in the US is clear. While it experienced 116 percent growth in annualised revenues, they total $8.2 million and actual revenues in the six months to Sept. 30 total $3 million. Customer growth was 120 percent over the year, to total 22,000 the company’s total global total of 371,000 customers.

Of its 13,857 partner firms – essentially accounting firms that provide a channel to market for Xero – 1,663 are in the US, an increase of 127 percent for the September year, while total global growth in partners was 57 percent, for a total of 13,857, 6,400 of whom are in Australia, 2,818 in New Zealand, and 2,467 in the UK, where Xero has entered a strategic partnership with big four accounting firm KPMG. Annualised revenues from the UK are now running at $20.9 million, up 105 percent on a year earlier.

In the US, Xero says the transition to cloud-based services “will play out over several years”, with most American accounting firms focussing on compliance and are “only at the beginning of the transition to the cloud and proactive advisory services.”

As well as needing to work on execution and leadership, the company identifies “some product gaps, speed or refining and tuning sales model, and recruitment” in the San Francisco Bay area as challenges in the US market.

More executive time in the US is one of the ways Xero expects to do better, with Drury spending two of every five weeks in the US, its chief financial officer Ross Jenkins now based there, and Lark’s appointment a key element because of his 15 years’ experience in US markets.

There was no mention of a replacement for Karpas in the material.

WePay Launches New Industry’s White Label Payment Service / WePay Clear is currently being piloted by FreshBooks

Samantha Hurst for CrowdfundInsider.com writes: WePay, a provider of payments for platforms, introduced announced on Wednesday (October 8th) its latest product, WePay Clear, which allows platforms to facilitate payments while WePay manages fraud, risk and compliance from behind the scenes.

CEO of WePay, Bill Clerico shared,“Most online platforms have an excellent user experience, but when it comes to enabling users to accept payments, they fall flat. The problem is they are forced to share their users with payment providers and rely on someone else’s interface. The alternative is to build a payment offering themselves, which can be expensive, complex, and risky.”

WePay Clear provides platforms – crowdfunding sites, online marketplaces, and business software – with all of the tools they need to enable their users to accept payments, including merchant on boarding, credit card processing, and payouts. Yet, unlike most payment providers, WePay Clear is transparent to the end user. Platforms can seamlessly integrate WePay Clear with their websites or apps, and process payments under their own brand without compromising on user experience.

Leveraging WePay’s patent-pending Veda Risk Engine, WePay Clear shields platforms from all risk arising from chargebacks and credit fraud, which collectively cost U.S. retailers $3 billion each year. WePay Clear is currently being piloted by FreshBooks, a cloud accounting solution for small businesses, for its new payments feature.

Co-Founder and CEO of FreshBooks, Mike McDerment added, “Making payments simple and easy-to-use is an important part of our customer experience. WePay Clear removes the complexity of payment processing which enables us to design a payments experience that is purpose-built for service-based small business owners.”

JunariCRM+® ‘plus’ Xero Integration equals powerful end-to-end business solution / Junari Ltd is pleased to announce the launch of their latest JunariCRM+® product release featuring integration with Xero Accounting.

Xero Accounting is an easy to use online accounting software package specifically designed for small businesses. Being all online, just like the JunariCRM+® product, users can work when and where they want to on their PC/Mac or Mobile.

The JunariCRM+® product enables business owners and managers to run their whole enterprise from within one highly-capable management information system. With the advent of the Xero integration the financial administration of a business just got a lot easier and much more powerful.

With this latest JunariCRM+® product release businesses can now:

·         Manage full end-to-end client lifecycle (lead generation through to invoicing and back again)

·         Enable easy data exchange: Creating customers and suppliers in JunariCRM+® will mean they are automatically created directly in Xero, meaning users only type the details once, saving time, and ensuring accurate and efficient record keeping

·         See views of the full invoice history, payment history, lifetime-value-statements etc. ready for targeted relationship management activity.

·         Feel unshakably secure; your financial information will be seen only by the right people because of the sophisticated user-permission security embedded within JunariCRM+®

·         Help your team prioritise customer-facing work in light of a customers’ credit account status and optimise your cash-flow performance.

Steve Austin, Junari’s Managing Director commented:

“Our JunariCRM+® product is powerfully tailor-able and integrates with many 3^rd party systems – but we are particularly proud of the Xero integration.  This latest product development reinforces our aim to put our JunariCRM+® product at the heart of our customers’ businesses; allowing them to manage full end to end business solution including the vital financial aspects – and I think it is fair to say that Xero is the best accounting product out there, so it makes perfect sense for us to be working with them.”

Junari Ltd can be contacted on +44(0) 1206 625225 or info@junaricrmplus.com (mailto:info@junaricrmplus.com) or visit http://junaricrmplus.com/junaricrmplus-is-a-xero-add-on-partner.html for more details.

Xero : Passes U.S. $100M in Annualized Committed Monthly Revenue With a 95 Percent Growth Rate in Subscription Revenue

Xero, a global leader in online accounting software, has announced that it has passed $100M in annualized committed monthly revenue and has achieved a 95 percent year-over-year growth rate in subscription revenue. 

Xero provides an intuitive, easy-to-use cloud accounting platform that gives small businesses the real-time financial insights they need to make smart business decisions anywhere, anytime. The company continues to show strong growth and build capacity with:

• 371,000 paying customers globally vs. 211,000 this time last year, a 76 percent increase.
• 95 percent growth in subscription revenue to $44.2m for the half year ended 30 September 2014 from $22.7m for the half year ended 30 September 2013.
• Nearly 1,000 employees globally vs. 584 this time last year, a 70 percent increase.

Key metrics		6 months ended 30 September 2014		6 months ended 30 September 2013		% change
Subscription revenue (USDm)		44.2		22.7		95%
Operating revenue (USDm)		46.2		24.5		89%
		At 30 September 2014		At 30 September 2013
Annualized committed monthly revenue (USDm)		102.8		58.4		76%
Staff headcount		993		584		70%
Paying customers		371,000		211,000		76%
Cash on hand (USDm)		132.7		45.8		190%

Focus on North AmericaAlready the leading online accounting software provider in New Zealand, Australia and the United Kingdom, Xero continues to focus on the North American market with $133m in cash to fund its growth.

While the North American rate of growth surpasses many SaaS benchmarks, Xero continues its efforts towards realizing its full market potential serving the millions of small businesses in need of an online accounting solution. The company is making good progress on its US operating model and plans to announce new executive appointments over the coming months.

Regional Breakdown

Paying customers		At 30 September 2014		At 30 September 2013		% change
New Zealand		119,000		86,000		38%
Australia		158,000		79,000		100%
United Kingdom		61,000		30,000		103%
North America		22,000		10,000		120%
Rest of World		11,000		6,000		83%
Total		371,000		211,000		76%
Subscription revenue (USDm)		6 months ended 30 September 2014		6 months ended 30 September 2013		% change
New Zealand		12.9		8.6		50%
Australia		20.3		8.9		128%
United Kingdom		6.8		3.3		106%
North America		2.5		1		150%
Rest of World		1.7		0.9		89%
Total		44.2		22.7		95%

Bolsters Executive BenchTo lead Xero's global marketing strategy and further drive growth in the U.S., Xero announces the appointment of award-winning international marketer and digital innovator Andy Lark as the Xero Group's Chief Marketing Officer.

Lark has more than 25 years of industry experience leading global marketing functions and working with some of the world's best-known technology brands. He was Chief Marketing & Online Officer for a leading Australian financial institution, the Commonwealth Bank. Prior to that he spent the majority of his career in the U.S. and Europe in roles ranging from the chief marketing and communications officer of Dell Enterprise, Sun Microsystems and Nortel to founder and leadership positions in start-ups in Silicon Valley.

About XeroXero is beautiful, easy-to-use online accounting software for small businesses and their advisors. The company has 371,000 paying customers in more than 100 countries. Xero seamlessly integrates with over 350 third party tools, and was recently ranked No. 1 by Forbes as the World's Most Innovative Growth Company.

Why Doctors Need Tax Planning

Jay Malik for HCPLive.com writes: Experience shows that most doctors overpay in taxes and sometimes pay in excess of $125 for every $100 they were required to pay according to the law. While analyzing the tax returns of doctors, it becomes obvious that the reason they overpay to Uncle Sam, their state, and their local jurisdictions, is lack of proactive tax planning on their part. 

By not taking advantage of all the loopholes in the tax law and missing the tax-saving opportunities, these doctors are basically jeopardizing their financial future. A vast majority of them appears to be unaware of the existence of proactive tax planning. They take higher taxes as a fait accompli, simply complain among themselves and just keep paying more and more.   

Proactive tax planning is the process of creating a personalized tax strategy with the ultimate goal of minimizing the tax burden and then implementing it throughout the year. Tax planning is aimed at tax aversion by using legally permitted techniques and loopholes in the tax code. The United States Supreme Court has held that tax planning to reduce one's taxes is perfectly legal. 

“There is nothing wrong with a strategy to avoid the payment of taxes. The Internal Revenue Code doesn’t prevent that,” former Chief Justice, William H. Rehnquist wrote.   This tax aversion is in complete contrast with tax evasion, which is illegal and can lead to the one involved in tax evasion being sent to live free of all expenses in a government sponsored residence for many many years.   

The key here to understand is that proactive tax planning and its implementation needs to be done during the year. Once a tax year is over, there is basically not much that can be done to reduce the taxes. At that point, it becomes a matter of recording history and paying the piper. Most of the accountants used by the doctors are very good at the "recording history" part of the process. They collect the raw data from the doctor of all the income and expenses of the practice after the year has ended. These accountants then clean up this data and put the right numbers in the right boxes on the right forms and hence complete the preparation of the tax return and timely file it. They are very efficient and knowledgeable at this and do a good job of what is called compliance work.   

However, the accountants most doctors use are not focused on planning the affairs of the practice to structure them in such a way that significant amount of tax is saved. Both the doctors and their accountants share the blame for this situation. The accountants for not getting trained in tax planning and the doctor for not seeking out the experts who are involved in the business of tax planning. The result is a huge benefit for Uncle Sam at the cost of the poor doctors.   

Nearly 75% of all doctors own small practices. The process of losing money to the government unnecessarily starts even before they buy their practice from a retiring doctor, or when they become associates or partners in a practice with the intention of ultimately buying it. The brokers and attorneys involved in these transactions are very good at what they do. The brokers find practices which need to be sold or partnered with and market them quite effectively to find suitable buyers. The lawyers draft the legal documentation quite well to ensure that the interests of their clients are well protected in these transactions. Neither the brokers, nor the lawyers are experts in tax law and hence they simply don’t know the tax implications of practice transitions. The purchase agreements are full of fatal tax mistakes. Both the buyer doctor and the seller doctor end up paying taxes which they did not have to if they had used proper tax planning techniques.   

Interestingly, owning and managing one's business is arguably the best tax shelter plan left for an average American. Since a vast majority of all doctors own and manage their practices they have a great opportunity to smartly use this “tax shelter” which they call their practice, to legally save money on taxes by using proper tax planning techniques like using multiple entities, structuring fringe benefits programs and taking advantage of hidden business deductions.      

Albert Einstein had once said “the hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax.” His statement is as true today as it was in Einstein’s time. But it is also true that those who make it their business to understand the tax system and use it to their advantage reap huge dividends. 

Jay Malik is a renowned speaker and author specializing in money matters for doctors. He is a practicing Money Coach and Tax Strategist working exclusively with Chiropractors, Dentists and Physicians. He is the inventor of “Rich Doctors’ Money System,” which is used by doctors all over the US to systematically manage finances and grow wealth. The system includes modalities to track income and expenses, reduce taxes through proactive planning, systematic debt reduction and holistic wealth building in a sustainable manner. Jay teaches this unique system at doctor’s conferences and seminars while implementing it for his clients on ongoing basis. Visit his website at www.JayMalik.com.  

Intuit’s Goal By 2017: 3/4th’s Revenue from Cloud

CloudWedge.com writes: Intuit has been making financial software for the better part of the last three decades. Reports surfaced back in 2012 that Intuit’s CEO Brad Smith was dissatisfied with the direction of the company and its product line ups. Smith encouraged his team to submit ideas for new software that could keep Intuit on top of the financial software mountain. Unlike other CEO’s, Smith took an unconventional approach to this challenge.

“We followed the leaders of the product companies that we admired. Each one of us followed a CEO and watched how they made their decisions, how they engaged their teams, how much times they spent in products, and we changed the way we lead inside the company,” said Smith at Intuit’s annual briefing for investors.

Take for example QuickBooks Online. One of the biggest headaches for end users used to be simply getting the QuickBooks installation to finish without errors on your personal PC. By delivering QuickBooks Online using the Software as a Service medium, Intuit has been able to give end users a quick and easy way to begin doing their books themselves without the assistance of an accounting firm and that’s just the tip of the iceberg concerning Intuit’s SaaS plays.

Tying all of this together, CEO Brad Smith sees a sunny outlook concerning Intuit’s cloud endeavors. Smith said, “We have greater visibility into this accelerating cloud adoption, increasing our footprint and customer adoption outside the U.S. The predictability of our revenue is such that 73% of our revenue will be recurring, cloud-based services by fiscal ’17. And while we do have a transition year in this current 12-month period because of the change to our accounting practices … we’re going to be existing in ’16 and ’17 with mid-teens growth, and ultimately a company that is on track to get to $6 billion, with $5 in [earnings per share], with margins that are better than they would have been at our current pace and course that we’ve been on.”

Although Intuit was never financial trouble and the foundations of the company are quite strong, Smith went on to say that, “The best time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining.”

5 Tools to Help You Manage Your Business Better: Cloudbooks, Invoicemachine, BillGrid, SimpleInvoices, Bill.com

 Pratik Dholakiya for Business2Community writes: Invoicing is a time-consuming and tedious activity. You need to ensure the accuracy of all the information and the payment terms. Any discrepancy or error can result in an inordinate delay in payment.

When freelancing or running your small business there are a million things demanding your attention and it is not always easy to juggle your roles with equal élan.

There are many Web-based invoicing and accounting solutions in the market that cater to the demands of harried small business owners and freelancers.

Here are a few of them and let’s look at their main features.

1) Cloudbooks

Cloudbooks is a cloud-based accounting app that has all the features necessary to help small and medium sized businesses manage their invoicing and accounting.

Estimates can be customized to meet you customer’s requirements and approved estimates can be converted to invoices in a single click. Outstanding and delayed payments can be easily tracked. Payment reminders can be automated and you can also send automatic thank you notes once the payment is made.

Recurring invoices can be automated so that you need not waste time creating similar invoices periodically. PayPal and Authorize.net integration make online payment easy and convenient for your clients.

Cloudbooks possesses strong project management features. It allows you to assign tasks to team members, track progress and log in billable hours. Invoices can be generated from finished projects in a single click.

The in-built timer helps you track time even on the go. Time can be billed to particular projects and clients in the project module. This can be automatically added up to generate invoices.

Cloudbooks also supports expense tracking and automated expense recording.

Cloudbooks has a free plan which supports 1 client and allows you to send 5 invoices. The monthly subscription plans are for $2, $10 and $20 respectively.

2) Invoicemachine

Invoicemachine is a simple and straightforward online billing and invoicing service suitable for small businesses and freelancers.

Invoices can be easily created. You can apply discounts, multiple tax rates and add notes. Invoices can be generated in foreign currencies. The invoice can be directly mailed to the client or attached as a PDF file to the e-mail.

Invoices can be customized with your logo and colors. E-mails can also be customized.

You can automate recurring billing and payment reminders. Invoicemachine automatically sends out a thank you note once payment is received.

The project module stores all the relevant information like project details, status, billable hours and rates. The product list allows you to enter the product type, the description, the quantity and the price. It does not, however, have an advanced inventory management tool.

Invoicemachine has a built-in timer that runs in the background and helps you log in hours. This is especially beneficial if you work on time-based projects or services.

The small plan is free and allows you to send 3 estimates and 3 invoices per month. It supports a single user.

The monthly subscription plans cost $12 for the medium plan, $24 for the large plan, and $48 for the extra large plan.

3) BillGrid

BillGrid is a cloud-based invoicing, billing and time tracking solution that is delightfully simple and quick to use.

It is tailored to meet the demands of time-based project work.

Estimates can be easily generated and when approved are converted into invoices in a single click.

Invoices can be created, duplicated and marked paid. Color coding helps you differentiate between paid, pending and partially paid invoices.

Invoices can be customized with your logo and made to look professional, and well-made. BillGrid also offers you several styles and templates to choose from. Attachments can be added as files and you can also add images of items to invoices.

Payment reminders can be automated. Online payment is made easy through integration with PayPal and Authorize.net. Strip and Google Wallet are other payment gateways.

BillGrid contains an efficient and advanced time tracking tool. Active timer runs in the background as you work and you can manually enter the start and finish time.

The client portal allows you to schedule e-mails and invoice reminders, and invoice multiple contacts within the same client. You can view all relevant information including payment history, company and contact details, project summaries and invoicing details in the client page.

BillGrid offers you a free trial period of 30 days. The two monthly plans are for $8/month and $20/month respectively.

4) SimpleInvoices

SimpleInvoices is a Web-based open-sourced invoicing application and is very easy to use. It is developed by the user community for the community.

Estimates can be easily created and when approved can be converted into invoices. You can export the invoice to PDF or send the invoice as PDF attachment to the client via e-mail. You can also export the invoice to plain text, MS Word or Excel.

You can select from a variety of layouts and customize your invoices. Recurring invoices can be automated. You can save product details and applicable tax rates and there are custom fields for data entry. You can also add in notes.

SimpleInvoices offers basic inventory support. Multiple currencies are also supported.

SimpleInvoices has great reporting features. Reports are generated based on the generated invoices. You can also view monthly reports for individual clients and invoicing details.

Your customers can make payment online through PayPal.

SimpleInvoices is a free and open source software. It will always remain free of cost and open to development.

5) Bill.com

Bill.com is a cloud-based accounting solution that manages accounts payables and receivables, and also integrates with many financial applications.

Invoices can be easily created for individual clients. You can customize the invoices with your logo and colors. Bill.com allows you to e-mail your invoices and if you choose, it will be printed and delivered by postal mail for you.

Invoices are tracked and marked as sent, viewed, outstanding and paid. Online payments are accepted by ACH and credit card.

The client portal allows your customer to text his queries to which you can send your reply.

Recurring invoices and payment reminders are automated. You can also set up automatic transfers from your customers’ accounts.

Bill.com offers a free trial period of 30 days.

The subscription plans are priced per user per month. The basic plan costs $19 per user per month, the team plan $29 and the premium plan $49. Custom pricing with additional features are also available.

Conclusion

All the above products offer unique features and facilities. Don’t hesitate to take a free trial and decide what suits your business best. You can always use any help you can get while managing your growing business.

About the Author:Pratik Dholakiya is Co-Founder & VP of Marketing 

of E2M & OnlyDesign. At E2M, they focus heavily on content marketing and generate 

revenue for their clients. 

No Health Insurance? You May Be Exempt from the Tax Penalty

Intuit writes: The Affordable Care Act is designed to ensure everyone has health insurance and imposes tax penalties on those who don’t. But the law recognizes there are legitimate reasons people may be exempt from this rule. In fact, an estimated 20 million Americans may qualify to waive the tax penalty this year.

To help taxpayers without health care coverage learn whether they qualify to avoid the penalty, Intuit Inc. INTU, -0.40% is providing the free TurboTax® Exemption Check. This new online service lets anyone without insurance determine, in just a few minutes, if they may be eligible to waive the health care tax penalty.

For Don West of Austin, Texas, 2014 has been a challenging year. Out of work and unable to pay mounting medical bills, he couldn’t afford insurance or won’t be able to pay the penalty for being uninsured.

“I wasn’t even aware that getting an exemption was an option. It was lucky that I found TurboTax Exemption Check because I was between a rock and a hard place,” said West. “It turns out, I just needed to answer a few simple questions and because I had unpaid medical bills, I was eligible to apply for an exemption from the fine.”

TurboTax already helps taxpayers sign up for health care they can afford. And for those who may qualify, TurboTax Exemption Check makes it simple to apply for a penalty exemption. By answering a few questions about themselves and their family, users quickly see if they may be eligible for one or more exemptions. TurboTax Exemption Check guides them through completing the application and files it for them, speeding the process. Users receive an email alert when their application has been submitted.

For uninsured taxpayers, using TurboTax Exemption Check now to determine whether they qualify for an exemption is a smart decision. It will ensure they have the right tax forms come tax time, speed up their tax preparation so they get their refund faster and make sure that some of their refund doesn't go toward paying the penalty for not having health insurance.

“Exemption Check provides a simple, free way for hard working Americans without health insurance to determine if they’re eligible to waive the tax penalty. It’s a vital service we’re proud to offer consumers,” said Sacha Adam, the Affordable Care Act product leader for TurboTax. “Its one more way TurboTax is simplifying the Affordable Care Act, translating the tax code into easy-to-answer questions that give people the confidence to navigate the new health care law and empower them to make the right choices for themselves and their families.”

Many Ways to Qualify

Currently, there are about 30 reasons someone may be exempt from the penalty for not having health insurance. Those who have medical expenses they couldn’t afford don’t have to pay the penalty. Neither do some with low incomes. For example, low-income individuals who aren’t required to file an income tax return don’t have to pay the penalty.

According to data from TurboTax Exemption Check, the top five exemption categories for which people are applying are:

1. Can’t afford health insurance; the lowest-priced coverage available would cost more than 8 percent of their household income

2. Had difficulty signing up for health insurance through a state or federal marketplace

3. Had medical expenses they couldn’t pay in the last 24 months that resulted in substantial debt

4. Had an individual insurance plan cancelled, and believe other marketplace plans are unaffordable

5. Received a shut off notice from a utility company

Exemptions are also available because of homelessness, eviction, foreclosure, bankruptcy, the death of a close family member or an experience with domestic violence. Members of Native American tribes also are not required to sign up for health insurance. Taxpayers can claim certain exemptions on their 2014 tax return when they file in 2015.

For more information, visit the TurboTax blog.