Interaction

2012 Budget Wrap-up

Wed, 09 May 2012 07:14:00 GMT

While The Budget has be heralded as a WIN for low to middle income earners it has been a loss for Business with the planned tax cut dropped. In a Budget that was very much geared towards the 2013 election, the revenue gained from the mining tax has been allocated to the low income families in a bid to ease the effect of the carbon tax on Australian families. The Budget scratched more provisions that were announced in the 2011 and 2010 Budget then announcing new spending cuts. Those new cuts were directed at Defence and Foreign Aid. Below is a summary of what changes I think may impact you.

Business

Reduction in company tax to 29% proposed for 1 July 2012 - SCRATCHED
Small Business to be able to carry-back losses from July 1, 2012
LAFHA crack-down
Deduction not allowed for bad debt between related parties
Tax concessions for Green Building - SCRATCHED
GST compliance program extended for two years
Green building tax offset- SCRATCHED

Individuals and Families

Tax-free threshold tripled to $18,200 so that the effective tax-free threshold once you have included the low-income tax offset is $20,542
Non-residents tax rates adjusted to remove first first tier
Tax rates will remain as legislated for the 2012/2013 financial year
50% discount on interest income - SCRATCHED
Standard Deduction for work-related expenses - SCRATCHED
Education Tax Offset replaces Schoolkids bonus for families eligible for FTB part A from 1 January 2012. $410 for primary school and $ 820 for secondary school
Means testing for Net Medical Expenses Tax Offset
Removal of 50% CGT discount for Non Residents For individuals earning over $300,000, super contribution will be taxed at 30% from 1 July 2012
Superannuation concessional cap will be limited to $25,000 regardless of the person’s age

Small Business carry-back provision

From 1 July 2012 small businesses with a turnover of less than $2 million will be able to offset previous year’s profit (revenue only) against current losses of up to $1 million per year. This will provide a tax refund up to $300,000 per year but the refund is limited to the company’s franking account balance. So if a company has made a profit but paid it out a fully franked dividend no carry-back loss will be available.

Living Away from Home Allowance

New reforms from 1 July 2012 will limit access to employees who maintain a home for their own use in Australia, while they are living away from home for work for a maximum period of 1 year in any particular work location. The reforms will not affect ‘fly-in fly-out’ arrangements or the tax treatment of travel and meal allowances.

I'm in love!

Tue, 08 May 2012 02:48:00 GMT

I’m in love with everything about life right now. It’s amazing how such small changes in your life over time can create something that you can truly wake up each morning and say to yourself “Life is beautiful”. Yeah, I might be getting a bit airy fairy and gushy on you, but there’s a true innocence and strength that I feel from stepping out of my comfort zone and making a conscious effort to improve my life, one little change at a time.

As crazy as it sounds, the adoption of an online accounting software, Xero, has been one of the significant things that has changed my life. Yeah, I’m an accountant so I get excited about crazy stuff like that – but who wouldn’t get excited about something that does all this:

Save Time
Save Money
Give you Freedom

So how does Xero do this? Firstly, for those that don’t know, Xero is an online accounting software. If you have a small business that sells goods or services, has to do a BAS or pay taxes, pay staff or you just want to get a warm, fuzzy feeling about how much money you are making (or have a little freak out about how much money you haven’t made). You need Xero! You can check out all the awesomeness yourself with a free 14-day trial or learn more about all the easy-to-use features at Xero. Still not convinced? Let me tell you a little more about the characteristics of this perfect match for me.

Why I Love Xero (Like the Perfect Man)

1. It’s there whenever I need it – access anywhere, anytime logging in on the website (just like Facebook).
It doesn’t ask me to give every detail about where I have been and what I have been doing – the money that has come in and out of the bank account it already knows because the bank statements are automatically downloaded into Xero every night.
It listens to me when I tell it what I have done and I only have to do it once – once the transaction is downloaded, I just enter the income or expense category and check the GST -that’s it!
It supports me in making money instead of spending it – invoices to my customers are easy to prepare and send and look awesome – and the best monthly subscription costs only $49 per month.
It’s young, vibrant and healthy – it is updated around every 6 weeks with all the cool, new stuff that the small business owners and accountants request. No installs, downtime or costly upgrades.
It reminds me of the important things when I need it – I can enter my bills, direct debits and regular expenses as repeating bills and it tells me how much money I owe at any time without hassle.
It understands and respects me – if I want something done a certain way, record things the way I like to or do something a little different, I can do it with a fully customisable Chart of Accounts and detailed reporting.
It doesn’t let me down – not only is it always there anytime, anywhere on the Internet, I don’t need to backup anymore. Nothing will get lost moving files around or with different users anymore.
It doesn’t lie to me – you can’t hide from doing your accounts when it’s this easy, or freak yourself about what your next BAS might be when you can find out anytime at the click of a button.

If that’s not enough to convince you, to find out more about Xero then you aren’t ready to save time or money, or you don’t have a problem in your business right now with your accounts. If that’s the case, you should give yourself a pat on the back. If it sounds good, contact us now.

This is a re-post of a blog post written by Jeri Murphy on January 16, 2012....We just thought that our Interactive readers would enjoy it!

Entrepreneur Meetup 4

Thu, 17 May 2012 10:03:00 GMT

Entrepreneurs from around the Sydney area came to Interactive Accoutning's 4th Entrepreneur Meetup last Thursday nigh to support, share knowledge, network and hopefully take away some useful connections and learning with them at the end of the night. Thanks to all who attended and presented.

As normal the night started with a few welcome drinks before we got down to business and started the lightning presentations.

Entrepreneur Meetup 4 was theme was ‘Taking your business online’. We had five speakers including myself and we were limited to speaking for 5 minutes on our fields of expertise (it was timed!)....I found this particularly difficult as it is very off putting when the 5 minute alarm sounds and you still have two or three slides left! Note to self...stay on point and time yourself beforehand....practice makes perfect. Watch videos of the presentations here

Topics and Speakers:

Online Marketing by Matt Taylor, Marketing Manager, Styletread
eCommerce by Rob Daly, Marketing Manager, Interactive Accounting
Legal Issues by Ehsan Fallahi, Lawyer, Mistry Falllahi
Security in The Cloud by Sean Callaghan, IT Director
Accounting Guy Pearson, CEO, Interactive Accounting

Thanks also to Nic Bezzina (Nic Bezzina Photography) who captured the night on camera: Click here to view photos of the night

If you had your photo taken on the evening and would like a copy then please email me - rob@interactiveaccounting.com.au

Online Marketing by Matt Taylor, Marketing Manager, Styletread

eCommerce by Rob Daly, Marketing Manager, Interactive Accounting

Legal Issues by Ehsan Fallahi, Lawyer, Mistry Falllahi

Legal Issues by Sean Callaghan, IT Director

Accounting by Guy Pearson, CEO, Interactive Accounting

Keep up to date with us on Google Currents!

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 07:21:00 GMT

As a company who embraces technology we'd like to share with you our latest way to help share our blogs and other web content....introducing Google Currents.

To get started, you’ll need to download the Google Currents app.

What is Google Currents?

Google currents was globally released in early Apr 2012 which has the newest UI design concept in today’s market. It is beautifully designed to display your favorite publications on your phone and tablet devices, and best of all, it is FREE to use.

It delivers beautiful magazine-like editions to your tablet and smartphone for high speed and offline reading. Whether sitting on your couch, on a train or on a plane, your Currents content is always ready for reading on your Android or Apple phone or tablet.

What content is available?

Major publishers such as ABC News, Forbes, The Guardian, and more are already sitting in the app and ready to deliver their in-depth articles, videos, fine photography and slideshows.

In addition, it makes use of the latest Google search technology which updates hourly, building up a set of the most recent articles and it tracks the five most recent trending stories in categories such as world, entertainment, sports, science, and more. Each story is presented through a fresh edition of articles, videos, and pictures.

The most important of all, you can also add your favorite blogs and feeds, which instantly, turn your Google Reader subscriptions, or any of your favorite blogs/feeds into a beautiful edition with a magazine feel.

Google Currents supports the mainstream smartphone and tablets in nowadays (Android, Iphone, Android Tablets & Ipad) and provides quick-touch sharing. It self-adapts to differently sized phones and tablets, with your subscriptions synchronized across all your devices.

In short Google Currents = a reading experience not to be missed.

Stay tuned as more updates will be coming.

If you are reading this on a laptop or PC then you can just scan the following QR codes which will link you directly to the Google Current application on your device.

IPhone / IPad:

Android:

If you already have Google Currents and a QR reader on your phone then you can simply point your phone to this picture and it will bring up our latest update.

Interactive Accounting acquires Calculate Balance

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 00:49:00 GMT

We are very excited to announce that we’ve recently acquired Calculate Balance, a Silver Xero Partner firm based in Sydney and have employed it’s principal Jeri Murphy.

We would like to welcome all of Calculate Balance’s clients with open arms to the Interactive Family and are excited to continue to push forward with Jeri at the helm of our (soon to be updated) “support” services.

In our continuing quest to give our clients a more engaging, streamlined and interactive service, Jeri has come on board to head up bookkeeping, client training and support for our new and existing clients.

We are proud of the fact that our team is full of drivers and not drones at Interactive Accounting.

Jeri’s background, like the team at Interactive Accounting is from the bigger end of town. In Jeri’s case, one of the biggest, KPMG. In 2007 to launch Hawkeye Business Services, a bookkeeping and administration firm and after the firm’s second year they then established Calculate Balance.

As a tax agent, keen Polo enthusiast and an accountant with personality and flair. Jeri will fit right in with our clients and our team.

Onwards and upwards.

Welcome Jeri and welcome Calculate Balance!

Guy Pearson
Founder/CEO

Is it time to update your website?

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 07:25:00 GMT

Your website might have looked modern a few years ago but it will start to old and outdated sooner or later. If your site is now a couple or more years old then it’s probably time to give it a bit of a dust off and update it.

As your website is now one the first touch points a client or customer has with your business so it is important to make sure it reflects your business in a positive light. Here are some tips to easily update your website.

Five ways to update your website:

1. Content

In the days of old a lot of websites weren’t designed to be updated very easily by any regular person so it meant you had to have a web developer on hand to update your website which was expensive and took time. Hence, some websites just didn’t get updated as often as they should have. Nowadays, luckily, websites are built using a Content Management System (CMS) which means you don’t need to be a website guru to update a website. A website based on a CMS platform will allow you to update your website easily using a WYSIWYG editor.

2. Functionality

There are many more ways that your site can be viewed such as on a mobile device or tablet such as the iPad. If you have the ability then check your site out on a mobile device and a tablet. If you don’t have one of these then ask a relative or friend to have a look at your website on one of these and ask them to perform a task such as complete a contact form or find some information about a particular product or service to see how easy it is. If your site does not function well on these mobile devices then you need to update your site so it does, or create a mobile friendly version. Most websites designed now are made in a way which is optimised for the majority of these devices.

3. Blog

As well as being a great way to interact with your customers to spread news and share tips and knowledge about your products and service a blog is also a good tool for search engine optimisation. Google prefers websites that are updated with new relevant content on a regular basis so a blog is a great way to help get your web page further up the Google rankings!

4. Social Media

Does your website have links to your social media? If not then you definitely need to integrate these on to your website. Social media is a growing part of the interaction between the customer and your business.

5. Video

Think about the features and benefits of your products or services that you could highlight in a short online video. Video content can also be used as an SEO tool when loaded up to sites like YouTube and Vimeo.

April Tax Updates

Tue, 03 Apr 2012 07:20:00 GMT

Reduction in Corporate Tax Rate to 29%

In March the government released draft legislation to reduce the corporate tax rate from 30 per cent to 29 per cent. This will roll-out in two stages. The reduced rate will apply from 1 July 2012 for Small business entities with a turnover less than $2 Million. For all other companies the 29 per cent tax rate will apply from 1 July 2013. The reduction in the corporate tax rate to will impact on the franking credits that can be attached to a distribution and will also impacts non-profit companies.

Important Note - The amendments to reduce the corporate tax rate are dependent on the Minerals Resource Rent Tax (MRRT) being passed.

Concessional Contribution limits

For the 2012/13 and 2013/14 income years the superannuation concessional contributions cap will remain at $25,000. In 2014/15 and later income years, the cap will be indexed annually in line with the increase in full-time adult average weekly ordinary time earnings, rounded down to the nearest multiple of $5,000.

For individuals aged 50 or over, the transitional concessional cap of $50,000 is set to come to an end on 1 July 2012. However for those individuals aged 50 and over with superannuation balances across all super accounts of less than $500,000 will continue to be eligible for a $50,000 cap.

Reporting superannuation on payslips

From 1 July 2012 employers will be required to report on an employee’s payslip the amount of the superannuation contribution; and the date on which the employer expects to pay the contribution. Your payroll software provider should add this information to your employee's payslip.

Incentives for Australian Shipping Industry

The government has released draft legislation which provides a number of incentives for the Australian shipping industry to commence from 1 July 2012. For more details see the draft bill here

We don't wear suits!

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 05:08:00 GMT

Just another uniform

Now as much as I love Barnie Stinson from "how i met your mother" and his suit montage, suits just don't sit well with me and I'm uncomfortable with compulsory dress codes enforcing the suit.

Why do people wear suits?

It's been a conformity based culture that assures people of a professional standing and there's nothing wrong with wearing one on occasion (like to meet the queen or for a fun night out), but, when it comes to business I tend to wonder what the difference is between a uniform at McDonald's, a School Uniform and a suit.

To me a suit says, that I need you to think I'm a professional and I hope that my shortcomings in this presentation of content verbally, powerpoint or in a letter are overlooked because of my suit wearing ability. Now, this is not true in all cases, but, how many sales people are not in uniform??

Corporate Culture and Suits

Should you not be comfortable whilst you work? Should you not focus on what you're sending out to customers and clients, rather then how your suit looks and what hair gel you've applied?

I guess thinking about old school value the analogy of "substance over form" comes to mind. I want clients and customers to buy my brand, buy my services, buy my product based on my knowledge and expertise. Not, because I drive a certain car, live in a certain area or dress a certain way.

We want people to express who they are and be comfortable in their surroundings so as they do their best work and are happy in where they are.

Proof in the pudding It was a hooded jumper wearing kid in the USA that has changed the entire landscape of where businesses are headed in real times. A brat, or not, he had a vision and has stuck to it. It wasn't a politician, a Billionaire, Bono or the pope. Before him it was a jeans and t-shirt wearing duo from Google, I mean, who uses the yellow pages anymore?

I guess it comes down to one thing. Are you comfortable enough in your own skin for it not to matter? Do you know your shit? Are you keen to change the way the world is viewed and break from the notion of conformity? If you're not, there's nothing wrong with what you're doing, stick to it. If you are, sit down and think about what you're about and share this for ONE DAY… see what happens, it can't hurt.

Practicing what we preach

From branded t-shirts for our team with rockstars on them, trucker caps, which are not compulsory…. We have a no suit policy and the ability to wear thongs and shorts to work, we do practice what we preach as with everything Interactive.

In my Interactive 'uniform' just after I shaved my head for 'The World's Greatest Shave' in support of the Leukaemia Foundation. Sponsorship is still open by the way so please donate

I like my suit

If you're like Barnie and enjoy your suit, then, wear it proudly, we don't discriminate. Just make sure you're enjoying what your presenting. As a parting word, we like people based on what they bring to the table, not, what they were wearing whilst they were on their way to the table…Clothes do not maketh the man.

Better team collaboration using HipChat

Sun, 25 Mar 2012 23:54:00 GMT

At Interactive Accounting, we are always looking at ways to refine our systems and to improve our procedures. Recently, we have been testing out how HipChat can increase and team collaboration with Zendesk, our existing customer support platform.

What is HipChat?

HipChat is a hosted private chat service for company or team. The admin can invite colleagues to a chat room to share ideas and even files. It has no ads, obscure screen names or failed file transfers unlike some other chat room services. All information is shared in real-time only amongst the members in the chatroom.

HipChat really came to our attention as it has recently been acquired by Atlassian, the software gurus. This will add to the growth and performance of the platform as Atlassian will no doubt develop it further using their pool of talented developers and resources.

HipChat will also be able to integrate across various third party software which will enhance the “chatroom” and make it a very useful business tool.

Privacy, Safety & Security

So how safe is the information you post? In any business environment, one major concern is the privacy, safety and security of data posted to the internet. This is key with HipChat as all chat messages are transferred with 256-bit SSL encryption, which is the same encryption technology used by the online banks and retailers.

Multi-platform HipChat can be run on any platform existing nowadays. From mobile phone to personal computer and even the tablets, HipChat can be run seamlessly. You even don’t need to own a smartphone to use HipChat!! HipChat messages can be sent and received by SMS messages, which means that no matter you are using an old school Nokia/Samsung/Motorola or if you are not on a mobile internet plan, you will not miss any messages posted by your colleagues via SMS.

Zendesk integration & application

Apart fom the new UI and different terminlogy used, the Zendesk integration with HipChat is straightforward and is described in detail in Zendesk’s help page.

After the integration, a notification is posted to HipChat whenever there is an update to the support ticket. Thus providing a platform for internal communication. It can also be used to enhance internal team collaboration. For example, a support ticket is logged and a notification is sent. If the ticket is a simple issue and can be solved immediately, a short message can be entered in HipChat indicating that the someone will be solving the ticket. If the ticket is a complicated one and requires some discussion before replying, the support team will be able to discuss in HipChat and the conversation will be logged. The real art of HipChat here is to able to provide a central location to store the conversation logs.

So, if you are looking for a simple yet powerful chatroom tool for team collaboration then HipChat is definitely worth a look.

#startupbeers March > Beers, Startups and building a scalable business

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 01:54:00 GMT

Want to know more about Xero?

We love Xero, but, ideally this is not the forum for Xero questions as the session started out. So we pushed over into business process.

For those that want to know more about Xero and ask any questions, #xerocoffee on the First Friday of each month (except Good Friday) is a great place to learn more about what Xero can do for you and to troubleshoot any questions you may have. Sign up for Xerocoffee here

Talking Online Applications for Startups

Software is important, but, the business values behind are the key.

As the small business market looks to migrate to hosted storage, management tools, billing and accounting, the choice of software needs to be considered carefully just like any other large purchase or change in your life.

The Engine Analogy

Since we talk about engine’s quite a fair bit in our analysis of software for your business, let’s compare the decision to buying a car. You could pick the best car, with the fastest engine in the world, this does not mean that the car is:

(a) the right choice for you,

(b) going to make you the fastest or most dominant in a race,

(d) you will get the perceived value you paid for.

Cars like software applications have drivers. The skill of the driver, the skills of the assembly line, tires touching the ground and the ability to anticipate what’s coming around the bend are all skills needed to get the right products in the mix for your business.

Building a scalable back end for your start up

At #startupbeers we focused on trying to not only talk about a great mix of applications that are available for businesses (Xero, eWay, Wufoo, Onelogin etc.) but, we also delved into why a business would choose these applications.

In short, the purpose of these applications is to make sure that you have the right components and the desire and vision behind the wheel to scale your business in a fashion that is “new”. No longer do you need an army of labour to get things done and if you find yourself paying a “General”, then you should sit back and ask what steps he will put in place to negate inflation in the labour force.

So, how do you build a scalable business model when you’re just starting out by yourself?

Practising what we preach

It’s a strange analogy, but, one I’ve used to describe how Interactive Accounting has grown quickly and successfully. (I presented at #xerocon in Auckland in February on this very topic for accountants, check it out here: The Modern Practice

The dinner plate analogy

At startup phase, the business is all you, a whole dinner plate. You are the business, there’s no denying it. We discussed what made it hard to separate out some of the functions and let this go:

Trust
Management Skills
Hiring the right person
Training time/costs
Systems in place
A brand (not just your relationships)

Just to name a few. In short, it’s not a simple scenario you need to be prepared and the first step is the hardest. After this it becomes easier. The main aim is to split out roles and hire people that are excellent at these roles. In short, great leaders in industry always hire people smarter then themselves and make this known.

but, wait, what happened to the beers?

Beers were consumed, politics, security issues and the “how to put together” of online systems was discussed at great length. We also went through attendees website's with our in house digital guru, Rob Daly.

So when’s the next #startupbeers?

Sign up here for the next startupbeers which will be on the 12th of April and if you can’t make it, send any questions via twitter hashtag #startupbeers and we’ll get back to you with the answers ASAP.

Benchmarking - Where to start

Fri, 02 Mar 2012 03:17:00 GMT

Benchmarking was first used by cobblers to measure people’s feet for shoes by placing a person’s foot on a “bench”. Today we use the term to describe the process of comparing a business’ processes and performance against best practice and competitors in an industry. Comparing both financial and non financial data such as sales price, COGS, quality, customer satisfaction, labour costs and EBITA (Earnings before the deduction of interest, tax and amortisation)

Why Should I Benchmark?

The benefit from benchmarking is that it provides you with the information to set targets that are achievable and highlights areas of your business that need improvement. If you don't know what the standard is in your industry then you have nothing to compare yourself against and you have nothing to measure your success or where you need to focus for the future . You also have to know where your competitors stand. If the company against whom you are competing offers a better price, better value or better service then the customer will choose them over you every time. The same is true that if you find a competitive advantage over your competitors that needs to be featured in your marketing and advertising.

How do I Benchmark?

Most small business owners dismiss benchmarking because they think obtaining market research is expensive, they don’t think they have the skill set to evaluate the data or they just don’t think benchmarking will be valuable to them. All these assumptions are wrong. There are a number ways to gather and access information that is free or low-cost which are outlined below. The process of basic benchmarking is not difficult and most of the financial markers you already have access using your accounting software program. It is not difficult to work out that if the average labour in a restaurant is 25% of sales and a business is paying 33% that they need to look at measures to reduce wages. Benchmarking is an invaluable management tool as it provides you with the ability to track your progress, keep up to date with industry trends, set targets and to obtain a competitive edge over your competitors.

Benchmarking Resources

Resource Cost

1. ATO - Small Business Benchmarks Free

2. ANZ - Industry Analyser Free

3. Contact your relevant business or industry association and ask if they collect any information about performance standards for your industry. Free

4. Join in a business group that may already track the data you are searching for or have information on best practices. You will need to participate by providing your financial data into the pool Free

5. Conduct customer surveys on what experiences they have had and what they want Free

6. Visit the competitors either locally or in another city and pose as a customer. Free

7. Talk with suppliers Free

8. Talk to your employees. Often they are a great source of customer feedback, ask whether process are efficient or if they have any ideas. Free

9. Talk to experts at trade conferences and online forums. Free

10. Talk to peers on professional networking sites like Linked-In. Free

11. Examine the financial statements and reports for public companies. Free

12. Benchmarking for small business - Industry Profiles $500

13. Small Business Analysis - Customised report comparing your business in your industry $2500

Want to know more?

If you're interested to know more or would like to start benchmarking please contact us. We can do everything from designing electronic customer surveys to benchmarking analysis. Please contact hello@interactiveaccounting.com.au

Quoting Tools

Tue, 28 Feb 2012 03:13:00 GMT

With the move towards online engagements for the service industry, there has been a recent influx of new applications to cater to this demand and help provide additional means to streamline the sales and on-boarding processes for service businesses.

The online applications allow you to engage with your existing clients and current prospects to iron out the nature, scope and size of an engagement. Once the client is satisfied with the engagement, they can then confirm service and it be accepted and agreed upon online confirming the scope of the engagement and “sealing the deal”.

Although the setup processes for these tools is not a simple as "turn it on and go”, the ability to customise the engagements is essential and thus it can't be the same for everyone.

Here's a couple of the quoting tools available at the moment that are now connected with Xero:

Quoteroller

www.quoteroller.com

Quoteroller is designed to provide beautiful quotes for your clients and prospects with easy to use platform, drag and drop interface making specialising individual quotes and building templates easy.

Notable features:

In proposal analytics
Digital Signature within the application
Customisable themes and design

See all of the Quoteroller in action here

Quotient

www.quotientapp.com

Quotient focuses on using the dashboard as the “heartbeat of your business” for it’s quoting application. Allowing a central place for all activity on the quotes issued by your business.

Notable features:

One click customer acceptance
One step quote creation
Central place to organise and search quotes
Status of the quote and it’s # of views

And the following, SocketApp, is not currently available as a Xero add on but fingers crossed, we hope it will be soon.

SocketApp

www.socketapp.com

SocketApp provides a similar feature set to the others mentioned above, but, it has a few additional features listed below, which, is why we use it in house at Interactive Accounting:

The ability to embed quotes on your website (HTML + iframe)
Direct linkages to our chosen merchant facility, which allows the order to be completed and paid in multiple currencies
Linkage to mail chimp enabling you to add new prospects to an appropriate list.

The product is only in it's infancy and has been added to the Rackspace's startup program and acquired 100s of clients within a year of launch.

We're working with the team at Deversus Inc to bring this into the Xero Add On Partner network ASAP.

Positive effect (using Socketapp)

We love metrics (we are bean counters), so we'd thought we'd share the effects of our new methods of automated quoting for our clients and prospects and the leads that we are generating via our new focus towards online enablement. This snapshot was taken from Socketapp on the 28th of January, we expect that there will be a few more proposals out before January 31st, giving us a constant trend upwards even over the Christmas period.

We are committed to our goal of being the place to go for your end to end online accounting needs and connecting your back end business flows to streamlines your business and investment. We even have events that help you suss out the potential opportunities for your business. See #xerocoffee and #startupbeers below to find out more.

Sticking with our theme of "focus"

We are focused on bringing our clients an Interactive Accounting service in name and nature and continually improving how we communicate as this is usually the source of many problems in the provision of accounting services. You will notice that we are actively creating more campaigns, more points of contact and working on ensuring that you have acess to the knowledge and service you need when you need it.

How do you get started with online quoting?

All of the products offer free trials and have different use case scenarios.

I already have quotes in word, why do I need this?

At Interactive Accounting we are all about streamlining your back end processes and connecting your systems so that you can focus on building your business and re-purpose any repetitive administration team members to deliver value for your business (perhaps in customer support or even sales as they have intrinsic knowledge on your business) Don't undervalue these staff members!

Having a copy and paste Word system is not scalable and it’s timely, you should really be focusing on reducing time to engagement and impressing your new customers.

Need a helping hand?

If you need advice surrounding which tools are best suited for your business and how they all connect with one another, we are able to assist you in connecting your systems and streamlining your online client engagement, sales and packaging.

Contact us about providing a professional systems assessment for your business and engage both our accounting, developers and design team to get your sales channel growing today and generate new business whilst you sleep.

Facebook for your business

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 06:17:00 GMT

With over 750 million users it’s hard to find a reason not to have a Facebook page for your business, and it's free! However, it’s not just a case of registering your business on Facebook and then expecting people to automatically ‘like’ it and start buying more of your products or services.

So, how do you ultimately drive people to your Facebook page and actual goal to buy your product or service? Just because Kevin Costner did it in ‘Field of Dreams’ doesn’t mean that if you build it, they will come. You actually have to put some work and thought into it.

Apparently, fewer than 15% of people who ‘like’ a Facebook page will ever visit the page again. The trick is not just to get people to like your Facebook page but to really engage with them so they come back to your page to hopefully drive some loyalty and get them to the real goal....buy your product or service.

So how do you do that?

Well, there is no magic dust or trick to it, just some plain old common sense and a bit of elbow grease. Don’t expect things to happen overnight either, like a lot of online marketing you have to earn trust and build your profile which will take time but if done right you will reap the rewards.

We love offers

We all like to feel like we are getting a good deal and we all love offers..well it’s no exception in the Facebook land. In fact over 25% of people who ‘like’a business or brand do so to receive a discount or offer from that business. So, create an offer encouraging someone to either try your product or service at a discounted rate, for free or offer a special one off just for Facebook friends.

The real trick here through is not only making people want to try your product or service and to ‘like’ your page but to also make them want to share it. An average Facebook user will have 130 friends, think about how many people your offer could be seen by if each of those 130 people shared your offer to each of their 130 friends!

What should you post on Facebook?

For starters, just because there is a 5,000 character limit on posts doesn’t mean you have to use it...write succinctly! Also, if you really want to engage then you need to keep it educational, informative and entertaining, that way people are more likely to engage with it and hopefully share your content with other friends. Posting tips on some of the products you sell is a good example.

Don’t use Facebook as a tool for posting sales propoganda. So, no blatant selling of your product or service. Think about why people are on Facebook, they are not looking for something to buy, they are there to socialise and have fun.

With that in mind, keep your tone conversational like you are talking naturally although don’t bore them with endless posts about what you are having for lunch, what your cat did yesterday or any other irrelevant, dull topics.

Should you allow people to comment on your Facebook wall?

Personally, I believe you should as it creates trust. If you don’t then you have to ask yourself whether marketing on Facebook is really relevant for your business. By allowing comments however, you have to be prepared to manage them and actually ‘listen’ to what people are saying. If you are concerned about bad language then you can moderate this by setting up the automated moderation tool.

Allowing people to post to your wall can also be a great customer service tool where people can go and ask questions about your products or service.

Remember

It is not a one sided communication channel, it should be a two way process. In fact, you should actually encourage people to spark a conversation.

This is by no means a definitive guide but hopefully it will help you get started in the right direction and start seeing some results.

What is VOIP?

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 02:25:00 GMT

So you've heard people talk about it but what exactly is VOIP? Here's a brief summary of what VOIP is, the pros, the cons and what you need to get started.

Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) is basically voice communication over the internet and is now widely used in todays consumer market and business sectors to reduce telephony expense...no more expensive phone bills!

VOIP for home use

Back in the days when the internet was not so popular, which is hard to believe I know, we were all paying extortionately high international call fees to keep in touch with our friends and/or family members. Now, thanks to the rise of internet and VOIP, international communication is no longer an expensive task at all.

What do you need to make a VOIP call at home?

The setup of a home VOIP is fairly straight forward and can be done within minutes. Most VOIP routers bought from the VOIP provider would have been pre-configured which makes everything to be plug-n-play. A typical VOIP configuration for the home user requires the following items which can be easily obtained from any computer store:

A VOIP provider (click here for a comparison list of Australian VOIP providers)
An internet conection
A VOIP enabled router (some standard internet routers have these built in but others don't, you will need to check)
A traditional telephone

VOIP for business use

In the business environment, the telephone system is usually be more complicated. Generally speaking, a receptionist will be the first point of contact of all telephone calls. After the call has been answered, the call are is put on hold while the receptionist intercoms the desired colleague. The call is then put through to the corresponding person.

The above scenario would easily be achievable with a PBX (Private Branch Exchange). A PBX is a switch which can be transferred calls back and forth. There is both office based PBX hardware and cloud based PBX systems on the market. While they all can get the work done, the office based PBX hardware usually costs thousands of dollars up front but the cloud based PBX usually un on a monthly subscription basis.

What's good about VOIP?

Its cheap! Since VOIP is all based on the internet, the cost for using VOIP is comparatively lower than the telephone companies. The difference is even more significant in long-distance communication.
A conference call can be done anywhere with anyone. It is not limited geographically, or to the number of people participating in the conversation.
It enhances efficiency.

What's bad about VOIP?

VOIP relies on a stable internet so the quality of the internet connection can greatly affect the quality of VOIP. In the case of a blackout or your internet connection drops out then VOIP is not usable at all.
This also means that it may not be as reliable or clear as traditional telephone.

What we think

Whilst VOIP can bring a lot of convenience and savings in cost, it is always limited to your internet connectivity. Also, you should never solely depend on VOIP as your only telephone system. Always have a back up plan such as a mobile phone just in case you need it in an emergency.

Xero Acquires WorkflowMax

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 18:25:00 GMT

Xero’s Acquisition Mantra:
Xero has maintained it’s speciality is delivering a Small-Medium accounting tool focusing on the single ledger since it’s inception. Looking to open up it’s platform through it’s API to other developers.

Workflow Max is widely used by Accountants in the Modern Practice as the preferred Workflow tool featuring document storage, Tax (in New Zealand) and the ability to track leads and communication with clients.

Xero & Workflow Max History

Xero openly acquired 15.9% of WorkflowMax in December, 2010 in order to assist in facilitation of building out the tax modules for New Zealand.

The acquisition of the remainder of WorkflowMax has been undertaken to tighten up the links between WorkflowMax’s practice Management and Xero’s Practice Management suite. With all accountants with >20 Xero subscriptions now getting WorkflowMax gratis.

From Left to Right: Chris Spence (co-founder), Guy Pearson (Interactive Accounting), Gavin George (co-founder). Xerocon 2012 (NZ)

Xero’s intentions for WorkflowMax

Xero will leave WorkflowMax as an application in it’s eco system as a standalone and will not close it’s integration points in the open market with the view that other firms and clients that use it will continue to build up Xero’s accounting partner acquisition.

Personally, I can’t wait for Xero’s design and UX/UI team to have a field day with this application!

There is an ever increasing move for Accounting firms to move online, this acquisition will no doubt speed up the process. With Hubone’s sync engine (Microsoft, WorkflowMax and Xero sync tool) and Practice Ignition (client facing modern practice) coming in to production shortly, our industry is set to speed up it’s move towards a connected way of doing business.

Congratulations

A huge congratulations to Gavin and Chris, WorkflowMax’s Co-Founders, their lean, mean and green application has come a long way since I first laid eyes on it in 2009 and I’d like to take this opportunity to thank them both for providing kick ass service, a great sounding board and a beer or two from time to time.

Resource	Cost
1. ATO - Small Business Benchmarks	Free
2. ANZ - Industry Analyser	Free
3. Contact your relevant business or industry association and ask if they collect any information about performance standards for your industry.	Free
4. Join in a business group that may already track the data you are searching for or have information on best practices. You will need to participate by providing your financial data into the pool	Free
5. Conduct customer surveys on what experiences they have had and what they want	Free
6. Visit the competitors either locally or in another city and pose as a customer.	Free
7. Talk with suppliers	Free
8. Talk to your employees. Often they are a great source of customer feedback, ask whether process are efficient or if they have any ideas.	Free
9. Talk to experts at trade conferences and online forums.	Free
10. Talk to peers on professional networking sites like Linked-In.	Free
11. Examine the financial statements and reports for public companies.	Free
12. Benchmarking for small business - Industry Profiles	$500
13. Small Business Analysis - Customised report comparing your business in your industry	$2500