Using technology to deliver simpler, more seamless and smarter workflows

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At Xero, we are honing in on how we can bring about simpler, more seamless and smarter workflows to benefit our partners and small business customers. This translates to simpler ways in how we collect data and how that contributes to a more seamless process for accountants and their clients, as well as smarter insights to drive business success.

This month at our Asia Roadshows, we are excited to announce our latest product innovations that help accountants and small businesses harness technology to achieve success. These innovations not only save time and reduce administrative tasks for users, but also offer deeper business insights and establish stronger compliance fit in the local markets.

Smarter insights with AI-powered cash flow forecasting tool

It is no secret that one of the key pain points for small businesses is cash flow.

With client data flowing seamlessly into Xero’s accounting software, accountants and bookkeepers are better equipped than they’ve ever been to start having deeper conversations and take meaningful action. Furthermore, the ease of technology access meant that the use of Artificial intelligence (AI) technology is not limited to large corporations.

Xero has created an AI-powered short-term cash flow forecasting tool to give small business owners and their accountants a better view on their financial health to help them make informed business decisions. The short-term cash flow feature projects a user’s bank balance across 7 or 30 days into the future, showing the impact of existing bills and invoices paid on their due dates. The tool is part of our broader efforts to help ensure small businesses are healthy and paid promptly.

Small businesses can use the forecast information to keep up-to-date, understand their cash flow and take early actions. Additionally, advisors can use the tool to understand their clients’ immediate business needs and work with them to recommend solutions or uses for cash surplus, and have deeper conversations to help improve their clients’ financial literacy.

Simpler data collection powered by machine learning and data automation

We know that for many accountants and bookkeepers, up to 30% of their time is still spent on manual data entry. That’s a 1.5 days a week spent on entering raw numbers into the general ledger instead of reading, interpreting and making magic from those numbers.

We’re committed to harnessing the very best AI and machine learning technology to give partners better control of their time. Since the acquisition of Hubdoc, Xero has bolstered the data automation capabilities within its platform.

Today, Hubdoc is able to extract 70% of all financial documents such as receipts, invoices and bills using machine learning. It is also processing 200% more documents a day than this time last year, making it one of the fastest automated platforms on the market. This significantly reduces the extraction time for customers, with documents being processed in seconds instead of hours.

To learn more about how Hubdoc can help increase efficiency in your practice, sign up for an upcoming Xero-Hubdoc Data Automation workshop in Singapore here. We will soon be launching webinar sessions for those outside of Singapore – stay tuned!

A seamless tax filing experience

For GST-registered companies in Singapore, they will soon be able to file taxes directly with the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) through our partnership with Online Pajak. What used to be a laborious and time-consuming exercise can now be simpler and more seamless thanks to the direct build into IRAS’ system. Accountants can now focus on advisory work for small business clients around tax filing season instead of administrative tasks with little value-add. More details will be announced next year so do keep a lookout for follow-up communications.

Simpler and more seamless e-invoicing experience via the PEPPOL network

With Singapore officially joining the PEPPOL network in January 2019, this serves as a strong motivation for small businesses to adopt e-invoicing to facilitate business operations, be it within Singapore or cross-border. We are excited to witness such progressive move by the Singapore government and will work closely with the Infocomm Media Development Agency (IMDA) to drive greater cloud accounting adoption.

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