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, 

(c) mean that you are capable of driving the car as it was designed to be driven, or 

(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.

Improvements to small business concessions - Bill introduced into parliament

From 2012-2013 the small business low value asset immediate write-off will increase from $1,000 to $6,500. The general business pool and long life small business pool will be consolidated into a single pool to be written off at one rate. The 25 per cent Entrepreneurs Tax Offset will be cancelled. Small Businesses will be able to claim $5000 initially in accelerated depreciation for motor vehicles acquired in the 2012-2013 and later tax years. 

(Reminder: a small business has aggregated turnover less than $2 million)

Off-Market Share Buy Backs - Release of exposure draft and explanatory memorandum

The amendments aim to define the appropriate method used to work out the capital/dividend split of share buy-backs and 
provided that where the approved method is used to determine the dividend/capital split certain tax avoidance measures will not apply (i.e. streaming rules). Where a listed company undertakes an off-market buyback notional losses on the disposal of the shares/interests will be denied. The market value uplift will be removed and the time to provide a distribution statement will be extended. 

Increase in Superannuation Guarantee - Bill introduced into Parliament 

From 1 July 2013 the Superannuation Guarantee percentage will gradually be increased from 9 per cent to 12 per cent in the 2019-20 financial year and the Superannuation Guarantee age limit will increase from 70 to 75 years.

Continuous Improvement

The notion of continuous improvement invokes the concept of never being "finished" and always developing out the highest priority items (from the customers perspective) first and using feedback to determine the priority, not a boardroom.  

In true Interactive Accounting style, we have tried to embody the mentality of continuous improvement, focusing on delivering a better experience for our clients and consistently raising the bar. We'd love more feedback from our customers (share your ideas here) on how Interactive Accounting can improve, as, we are far from "finished". 

and

Practising what we preach

As a company Interactive Accounting promotes the evaluation and use of technology for businesses to  streamline business process flows and release bottlenecks from lead management through to debtor collection. Keeping that in mind, we looked at our own processes, business flows and have looked to make improvements embracing the concept of the "Modern Practice" taking it to the next level. 

Thank you

Additionally, we have had feedback from our clients and peers to help ensure that this website is next level in both form and function. 

Always make sure you validate your website and business models with customers, peers and professionals. The last thing you want to do is miss the mark. We just think we've made another step forward, and, we hope you agree. 

Version 3.0 features - What have we changed?

• Calendar Feeds
• About Us
• Events
• Knowledge Base
• Screen recorder for support packages
• Online quoting

Sync your calendar with relevant tax dates

Subscribe using RSS or .ics to keep up to date with either our Interactive Accounting events or your tax events with reminders in your existing tools. Never miss a lodgement deadline again! 

About Us

We've added a bit more about what Interactive Accounting does and provided a bit more of the journey we've taken and what we offer as a business and why. 

As a great little metric, we've filled our marketing/ account management position without the need for any additional marketing since our soft launch on Friday.

Events

We are Interactive. This is not just a branding, this is a way of business. So we've launched a few new events to share the interaction with out clients, networks and partners. We've launched #startupbeers and #xerocoffee. Click here for more information and to see what the events are like.

Free knowledge

Yes, an accountant is giving something away for free. We've made it easy to get access to those questions you always want to know the answer too. 

• Xero basic information
• Getting Started tips for new businesses
• Tax news and tips
• Feedback > what do you want to see next?

Click here to review what we've served up.

A screen recorder for your troublesome issues when you're signed up to a support package

No longer do you have to provide a lengthy email with screenshots, no longer do we have to struggle to understand your problem with accounting or software....

Now, you can simply click a button  and you can record and narrate your screenshot and one of our team will answer your question correctly first time around. 

Modular online quoting - choose the level of service that suits your needs

This has been a long standing goal of Interactive Accounting. We want to provide the ability for our new and existing clients to choose their own level of Interaction with their accountant. 

We now have this functionality linked directly into our website. 

Stay tuned for future blogs and information on the steps to this functionality, but, it's here and will continue to get better, so, our clients can choose what they want from their accountant. 

Change is a constant, we are simply embracing it. We hope you like the new site and look forward to your feedback. 

Taking it to new heights with EM3. 

In case you missed our event last week, we had the honour of having some informative guest speakers; Zendesk, Uber, Gryphon Capital, SpreadCode, Atlassian, Recruitloop, Ninefold, Paycyle/Xero. We learned about innovative ways to measure your success online and to focus on the right metrics for your business, not, just the number of hits it may get.... and the importance of defining and tracking these within your business.

Congratulations goes to.....

JR from Atlassian for winning the best presentation award for EM3. Your wine is on it's way! 

The vote count & the feedback from the event are here, some great looking graphs!

 

Photos from the evening here

 

Wisdom

Check out the videos here

Our summary just won't do the presenters justice

Michael Folmer-Hansen, Zendesk

Zendesk provides help desk platform that is aimed at improving your customers experience and support level. Growing to 10,000 customers in a short space of time, they have arguably one of the best websites I’ve seen and incredible conversion rates. Michael spoke about product placement, standing out in the crowd and "keeping it military".

Allan Jansen, Uber

UberConsult Solutions started as a web development “shop” and has experienced rapid growth in the past 6 years resulting in joining the Fast 100 BRW ranks amongst other accolades. Uber is the Enterprise Agency and has successfully delivered major projects for clients including Canon, Australian Pharmaceutical Industries and DP World.

Peter Bush, Gryphon Capital

Peter brings to the table experience from tax, commerce and now a private bank/fund/venture capital firm. Peter's focus was on explaining what a potential investor looks at and the importance of understanding metrics in driving your business and looking to impress your current or potential investors.

Maxim Cherepovitsyn, SpreadCode

Max was one of our startup presenters. Spreadcode specialises in planning, plotting and building iPhone/iPad & Android Apps.

John Rotenstein, Atlassian

J R is a metrics whiz from the Australia startup, turned powerhouse, Atlassian. Having seen their office and dashboards first hand, they measure EVERYTHING and share the information openly in house... it’s no surprise they have some amazing results and a great success story to tell.

Michael Overell, Recruitloop

Michael is proof that innovation can exist and break out whilst working for a large corporation. An ex accountant and management consultant, he has co-founded a start up that does recruitment with a twist, in a service that Interactive Accounting will be using moving forward.

Dennis Graham, Ninefold

Dennis focused on the AIDA model, Awareness, Interest, Desire & Action. AIDA looks at the conversion funnel of interest to sale and what triggers there are in “web speak” to discover where you are able to tweak your message, content, ads to ensure that you land the business you seek.

Stuart McLeod, Paycycle/Xero

Brave enough to present without a slide deck, Stuart associated business metrics to real life desires, goals and aspirations. Paycycle was a lean Startup that went from inception to sale to a listed company inside of 2 years. Although only meeting quarterly on business progress and metrics, Stuart said their focus was on what the metrics actually meant and how they could use them to take advantage of future opportunities.

Interactive Accounting - New Services Announement (Setup, Bookkeeping and Investment)

Lastly, as an experiment in online metrics Interactive Accounting launched an update of it's current site to promote our new services (Setup, Bookkeeping and Investment) and it's online quoting system. Check out our website to see what's new. We've seen a boost to our site and new business inquiries since the launch, what can you do to tweak your online presence to drive new business?

 

 

Click here to view the awesome content from Entrepreneur Meetup 3

The next meetup and it's topic is TBA/TBC as we go back to the drawing board to listen to the feedback and improve yet again. If you're keen to suggest any ides, please join the conversation on twitter #iameetup3

 

Register your interest IA Meetup #4 here

The venue, time, theme and register of attendance will be put together shortly and will be available shortly. 

 

Feedback from the evening

The big news this month is centred around the two-day Tax Forum which kicked-off in Canberra today. The forum brings together around 200 representatives of the community, business, unions, government, academics and other tax experts, to discuss priorities and directions for further tax reform in light of the Henry Tax Review. The outcome of day 1 is that small business, big business and unions have failed to find common ground on most issues including cutting the corporate tax rate to 29% however most agree that simplifying the tax system is the way forward.


Tax Update

Tax Law Amendment to Research and Development has received Royal Assent. 
From 1 July 2012 The R&D tax concession will be replaced with the new R&D tax incentive.

The R&D tax incentive provides a:
 
• 45 per cent refundable R&D tax credit for eligible companies with aggregated turnover of less than $20m; 
• 40 per cent non-refundable R&D tax credit for other entities.

This equates to 150% tax deduction for eligible companies. The eligibility criteria for amounts that can be claimed has been restricted. Click here for more details


Proposed Changes to claiming GST upfront on Hire Purchase Agreement for small businesses who are on a cash-basis 
An Exposure draft titled GST financial supply provisions from 1 July 2011 allows small businesses accounting on a cash basis to access full input tax credits upfront when they enter into hire purchase agreement

 
Draft legislation for Small business tax law amendments
 The amendments are due to be effective from 1 July 2012 but will only be introduced if the mineral resources tax passes. If the Government is defeated in the Carbon Tax the existing rules will stay in place:
 
• increase the small business instant asset write-off threshold from $1,000 to $6,500
• consolidate the long life small business pool with the general small business pool, resulting in a single pool
• enable small businesses to claim an initial deduction of $5,000 for motor vehicle purchases
• abolish the Entrepreneurs Tax Offset