The latest accountancy news
February 2017
How big business is putting the squeeze on small business
Next month, a report is expected from an inquiry by the Australian Small Business Ombudsman into late payments. The inquiry is both uniquely Australian and, at the same time, part of a wider global conversation [...]
Graham Lowe’s 12 Dynamic Principles: What is a winning team?
Xero has teamed up with rugby league legend Graham Lowe to bring his 12 Dynamic Principles to life. A highly-respected rugby league coach and administrator, Lowie’s observations and general life lessons (from dropping out of [...]
Earthquake rollover relief
A Supplementary Order Paper to the Taxation (Annual rates for 2016-17, Closely Held Companies, and Remedial Matters) Bill released today by Revenue Minister, Judith Collins provides depreciation recovery roll-over relief for businesses affected by the [...]
Xero hits the streets for Love to Ride bike challenge
Love to Ride is all about showing more people how easy and enjoyable cycling is, and is a fun, free challenge to encourage you and your colleagues to experience first hand joys and benefits of [...]
Bring your statutory reporting into the future with report templates: Now available for Singapore and Hong Kong
We’re very excited to announce that Report Templates are available in Singapore and Hong Kong. This is a huge step forward in the future of cloud accounting. It’s going to change the way you work [...]
Xero for iOS, we’ve been busy
Time for a feature round-up! The team have been busy, which has given me a lot to cover in this post. So let’s not waste any time (seriously you’re still reading the intro?) and jump [...]
I imagine … more small business dreams becoming a reality
As the Xero Roadshow reaches its final week – encouraging accountants and bookkeepers how to use technology as a product of their imagination – we asked Melanie Power, Head of Bookkeeping in Australia, why she [...]
RSA: Architecting a large-scale migration to AWS, securely
In a session at this year’s RSA Conference in San Francisco, I shared with some of my cybersecurity industry peers how, at Xero, we orchestrated our massive migration to Amazon Web Services. It was a project which [...]
Top 5 takeaways from Xero’s 2017 Tax Time Survey
Xero conducted our annual tax time survey in the US, asking more than 900 of our accounting partners questions around what they expect to be different this year. We covered everything from how they approach [...]
Business valuation: A critical piece of a business owner’s financial puzzle
There are a few jokes that only accountants will love, like “It’s accrual world” … Like most jokes, there’s usually some truth to it, especially with this one. It’s estimated that roughly 90% of business [...]
This successor shares 3 ways you can ensure a smooth leadership transition
Planning to sell or buy a business is never easy. When facing succession planning in a rapidly changing workforce, it takes time, clarity and thoughtfulness. In a recent Xero webinar, Adrian Simmons, CPA, shared his [...]
The nomadic lifestyle of today’s small business is the future
Affordable office space in bustling cities is famously hard to come by. Only last week, news reports broke that London’s Silicon Roundabout, famous for housing some of the UK’s most aspirational and innovative entrepreneurs over [...]
I imagine … our future together with technology
As the Xero Roadshow reaches its final week – encouraging accountants and bookkeepers how to use technology as a product of their imagination – we asked Melanie Morris, Head of Bookkeeping in New Zealand, why [...]
How Xero’s brand and values convinced me to join the team
I’ve been working in the technology gig for a while now. Before I joined Xero as Global Head of Brand Strategy & Marketing, based out of New Zealand, I ran marketing with Tait Communications, Coretex, [...]
Phones, drones and automobiles: an update to Fixed Assets
Nearly all small businesses have fixed assets. Whether that be phones, drones, automobiles, or everyday items such as computers and office equipment, everything needs to be accounted for. We know Australia has some of the [...]
How artificial intelligence and machine learning will transform accounting
As Xero CEO Rod Drury recently said, “Every small business, accountant and bookkeeper now has a supercomputer working for them.” So how did we get to this undeniably exciting, and perhaps even mildly scary, point [...]
Risky Business: A BDO expert on small business risks
Andrew Sloman, the National Leader of BDO’s Risk Advisory Team, discusses New Zealand business owners approach to risk, and how they can no longer afford to avoid proactively identifying risk and mitigation. New Zealanders may [...]
Xero Gravity: Jonathan Byrt & Jesse Leeworthy – Bromance in a bottle
When drinking tap water is better for the environment and 1,400 times less expensive than purchasing one-time use water bottles, you’d think everyone would be doing it? Meet Jonathan Byrt and Jesse Leeworthy, the best [...]
These 4 startups share their top tips for getting investor ready
For many startup owners, their businesses financial lives are disconnected and highly fragmented. Meaning, when it comes time for one of the most important stages in their business’ lifecycle — getting investor ready — it [...]
Xero + SVB = Helping startups get investor ready
Securing investment is a mountain of a task for many startups. It requires a crisp pitch, a sound business case and it opens you up to a lot of financial probing. To help move this process [...]
Gordhan should prioritise SMEs in 2017 Budget Speech
Whilst all eyes are on expected tax increases, it’s vital that Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan prioritises small business growth in his 2017 Budget Speech on February 22nd. It was great to see some measures announced [...]