Seamless workflows for your practice in the new year

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This year has been a challenging year for many with extraordinary change and uncertainty. When the global pandemic first hit, businesses were thrust into survival mode instantaneously. As we continue to adapt to the new normal, businesses are now evaluating medium and long-term technology solutions that can help with business continuity, build business resilience and achieve long-term business goals. For professional accountants, making the switch to remote working and hosting virtual meetings with clients might have posed as huge challenges. You may have also found it harder than usual to access your clients’ physical documents and data when they are stored in the office. Technology will play a crucial role in enabling your practice to continue running smoothly in these unprecedented times.

The financial year-end is a critical time for you and your small business clients. While you are busy closing the books for your clients, the year-end presents an opportunity to take a fresh look at your practice and the tools you use. What technologies will help set you apart from competitors? What tools can save you time and let you work on what matters more?

Here are some tools to help you make the most of your time and get the most out of Xero this financial year-end:

Take control of your work in Xero HQ

Xero HQ is a complimentary tool available exclusively for Xero accounting and bookkeeping partners to manage their clients, staff and activities all in one place. It is also a great place for you to collect and store documents from clients, and connect third-party apps to help run your practice.

One of the most popular features of Xero HQ is Xero HQ Ask. When closing off your clients’ books for the financial year-end, you are likely to have queries or require missing documents. You can simply put in a request via Ask. Your clients will receive a notification and you will be informed when they respond or if there are outstanding requests. No more looking through multiple email threads to find the document you need!

Xero HQ Ask: Customise your queries to include only what you need to ask

Xero HQ Ask: Create templates to ask the same questions to different clients

Xero HQ also gives you insights on your clients, including the banks and apps they are currently using, as well as recommended apps for their industries. You can also discover practice apps to automate routine tasks and make your practice more efficient.

Keep track of your business with Xero’s report templates

Xero’s report templates are available exclusively for Xero accounting and bookkeeping partners to streamline practice workflows and can be customised to suit your clients’ requirements. The reports draw data right out of your clients’ accounts so there’s no need for manual data entry or to export and import data from outside of your clients’ Xero organisations.

Now that you’ve automated the process of generating financial reports for your clients, you and your team can focus on helping clients analyse their business performance and offer advice to help their business grow.

Automate data extraction with Hubdoc

Accountants tend to be swamped with shoeboxes of client paperwork during the financial year-end. Instead of having to manually sort and enter information, let Hubdoc do the work for you. Hubdoc is a data capture and extraction tool that automatically extracts key information from your paper documents via email, mobile, desktop or the scanner, and pushes them into Xero with the source document attached. With Hubdoc and Xero, it’s easier and faster for your practice to collect bills and receipts, enter data, and reconcile bank transactions.

Hubdoc is free to use for your clients on Xero Starter, Standard and Premium plans. If your client is not yet on Xero, we recommend taking advantage of our limited-time only Starter offer of 50% off for four months. This means you can bring your clients on board Xero from just USD 10 a month!

Hubdoc also comes free for your practice with your Xero partnership. This means you’ll earn five partner points for connecting and actively using Hubdoc with your Xero practice organisation. You’ll also earn one point for connecting and actively using Hubdoc on your clients’ Xero subscriptions. Learn more about how your accounting practice can earn points under the partner programme here.

Make all your upcoming financial year-end a breeze

A cloud accounting platform makes it faster for you to complete your clients’ year-end accounts. As you and your clients are working from the same set of data, you will always have access to up-to-date financials with no messy backlog to deal with.

As a Xero partner, you already have access to time-saving features and tools that help to make your financial year-end a breeze, so that you can focus on supporting your clients in the cloud in the new year. Check out our end of financial year resource hub for more tips, tricks and resources.

Reach out to your Xero account manager if you require assistance. If you’re not yet a Xero partner, sign up now to learn how Xero can help your practice streamline workflow, increase efficiency and reduce overheads.

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