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“So many parents that we’ve talked to over the years want to shop secondhand, but they find the process time-consuming and frankly, quite overwhelming. We wanted to make it easier for them and make the sustainable choice, the easy choice,” said Nicole Boynton, co-founder of Hand Me Up, an ecommerce platform for second-hand children’s clothing that she started with co-founder Kara Livingston in San Antonio, Texas. “Our goal is to keep as many textiles out of the growing landfills as possible, one piece of kid’s clothing at a time.” 

A winner in the  ‘Innovating for environmental sustainability’ category in the 2023 Xero Beautiful Business Fund, Hand Me Up was recognised for their work helping consumers in the US have an easier way to shop second-hand and cut down on clothing waste. We connected with co-founder Nicole Boynton to discover how Hand Me Up started and how she plans to continue driving sustainability through the business.

Keeping children’s clothes out of landfill

Lifelong friends for over 20 years, Nicole and Kara quickly bonded in high school while working on projects like class fundraisers and host camps for kids. They knew from the start that they made a great team. Over the years, they’ve embarked on many journeys together, including motherhood. It was during this time they started a blog and podcast called “Simply Whole Moms.” 

“We spent three years interviewing other moms and sharing everything we could to keep their lives simple while they took care of themselves and their growing families,” Nicole shared. Through this community, they discovered the common challenge parents faced: children constantly outgrew their clothes, leaving them scrambling to purchase new items. 

The idea for Hand Me Up was born. 

Founded in 2021, Hand Me Up offers a unique ecommerce experience that makes shopping for second-hand children’s clothing more convenient and cost-effective for families. The company is also tackling the growing environmental issue of textile waste. Nicole explains, “The average American throws away 80 to 100 pounds of clothing per person per year. We can stop textiles from going into the landfill by recirculating items throughout families across the US.”

Hand Me Up’s main product,  “The Bag”, contains a mix-and-match wardrobe of either 7 or 16 preloved children’s clothing items. When customers visit the Hand Me Up website, they can choose their child’s style and size preferences. From there, the Hand Me Up team of moms assembles the mix-and-match bundle according to their preferences and ships it to them. Once the customer receives their new-to-them clothes, they can refill their bag with outgrown clothes from their children’s closets and get $10 off their next order. Hand Me Up offers both subscription and one-time purchases as well as a deals section on their site, where customers can add items like graphic t-shirts, swimsuits or fancy dresses to their order.

Winning the Xero Beautiful Business Fund was a chance to do more

The pivot to Hand Me Up was a journey of growth and learning for both Nicole and Kara. “We’ve taught ourselves so many skills on this journey and continue to learn daily,” Nicole said.

Sustainability remains at the heart of Hand Me Up, but when starting the business, the team had to be selective about the investments they made. “During the early days, we used whatever packaging we could find just to get the business up and running,” Nicole said. “We used poly shipping bags from Amazon and colored tissue paper, and priced out more sustainable bag options before launch, as we just didn’t have the funds at that point to achieve this goal.” 

The Xero Beautiful Business Fund became a chance for them to do just that. 

Packaging was one area that needed a big upgrade and they felt that the sustainability category aligned well with Hand Me Up’s needs and values. “Sustainable choices are the heartbeat of our company,” Nicole explained. 

Nicole and Kara knew exactly what they would do with the funding from the Xero Beautiful Business Fund. They would finally upgrade their shipping bags to reusable branded poly bags made from recycled materials, which are recyclable in the correct facility. They would also switch the colored tissue paper used inside their bags with the more sustainable option of recycled kraft paper. 

“We had a great time applying for the fund,” Nicole recalls. “I vividly remember sitting outside one of our favorite coffee shops recording our submission video. Kara and I both truly enjoy and love sharing about our business and the impact we want to make, so getting to tell our story during the application process brought us joy.”

Advancing sustainability, one bag at a time

Hand Me Up made the transition to recyclable bags this year, thanks to the funds they won from the 2023 Xero Beautiful Business Fund.

“We did a hefty amount of research trying to decide which type of shipping bag we would order, as the model of our business includes sending one bag full of clothes to the customer along with an empty bag and pre-paid shipping label to send in hand-me-downs,” Kara shared. “We ended up choosing double-use, recyclable poly bags from noissue, which are made from recycled materials with soy-based ink. They’re branded and have two adhesive strips, so they can be used twice without any danger of breaking open because they weren’t sealed properly,” explained Kara. 

The bags can also be recycled through re-use or at an appropriate recycling facility. Nicole and Kara are thrilled to offer these new, more sustainable options to their customers. 

But this isn’t the only sustainable change the team is unboxing. The funds also helped the Hand Me Up team purchase large paper-roll holders and recycled Kraft paper to wrap the clothes that they send out. “We’re excited to continue exploring more sustainable packing options aside from the bags, like switching to fabric mailers, and stickers that are made from environmentally friendly materials, to offer an even more sustainable experience for our customers,” said Nicole. 

“Our customers tend to be big advocates for sustainability, so we’re delighted to be able to practice what we preach with the help of the Xero Beautiful Business Fund. We’re hoping to be fully sustainable and eco-friendly not too long from now, so that we can wholeheartedly live out our company’s mission and values.”  

The Xero Beautiful Business Fund is back for 2024 and entries are officially open. The 2023 winners are an incredible group of small businesses and nonprofits who are passionate about solving problems and making an impact in their local communities. We’re spotlighting some of the past winners to hear more about how the fund has impacted their business and helped them achieve their goals. Check out these stories by visiting the blog.

The post How the Xero Beautiful Business Fund helped a platform for pre-loved goods take sustainability further appeared first on Xero Blog.

In May, we announced changes to Xero’s plans in the UK as part of our efforts to simplify Xero’s offering. The new plans, which will launch on 12 September 2024, bundle key features such as Xero Payroll, Xero Expenses, multicurrency, Xero Analytics Plus and bill payments into some plans, making it easier to choose the best option for your business or clients.

We’re now able to share an update on our migration approach and the timing for moving customers to these new subscription plans.

Key things to note:

• For the majority of customers whose subscription plan will include the same or more features for either the same or lower price*, we’ll move you in February 2025.

• For customers that will see a price increase* as a result of the new subscription plan that we’re migrating you to, we’ll delay moving you until September 2025.
  We recognise for some customers this may be a significant price increase when moved by Xero to a new plan, and in some scenarios we’ll offer discounted pricing. We’ll share more on this with eligible customers and partners in the email we’ll send you in late September.
  

This means Xero won’t migrate some customers to the new plans by March 2025 as originally communicated.

Our migration approach and revised timing

We’ll email you in late September 2024, with the details of which plan Xero will move you to and when.  For accounting and bookkeeping partners this email will include a link to a list of subscriptions that your practice holds (note this will only include those subscriptions that will be moved). To determine which plan you’ll be moved to, we’ll look at your current plan – including any add-ons you’ve purchased – and your recent feature usage (that is, Xero Expenses and/or Xero Payroll).

You can stay on your current plan until Xero moves you, or you can choose to move yourself once the new plans launch on 12 September 2024. If you choose to move, you won’t be included in Xero’s migration. As we’ll offer discounted pricing in some scenarios of significant pricing impact, we recommend waiting until you’ve received email confirmation from us in September on how the migration applies to you or your clients before making your own decision about moving plans.

Throughout this process, you’ll always have the choice to choose a different plan to what Xero selects for you. You’ll also be able to change plans after Xero moves you if you decide another plan better meets your needs.

Summary of what to expect and timings

Further information for accounting and bookkeeping partners 

For your clients where you/your practice holds the subscription, only you will receive the information above directly and the migration approach email in September 2024. We’ll include a template in your September email to help you communicate the changes to your clients if you’d like to.

For your clients who hold the subscription, they will have received information about the new plans in May and will receive all information related to the new plans and migration approach listed above. 

We look forward to sharing specific details with you next month. In the meantime, you can learn more about our new small business plans or plans for accountants and bookkeepers. Or sign-up for one of our webinars for small businesses and partners. As always, please reach out to our team via Xero Central if you have any support questions.

*Compared to 12 September 2024 pricing  

The post Our updated migration approach to move UK customers to new subscription plans appeared first on Xero Blog.

We’re officially on the countdown for Xerocon Nashville at Music City Center over August 14 and 15. And this year, we’re proud to have filled our exhibitor floor with some of the best and most loved apps for accountants, bookkeepers and small business owners alike. 

No matter what business needs or challenges you’re looking to solve, you’ll have over 50 exhibitors to meet and talk to, and many apps from the Xero App Store to try out for yourself. Not sure where to start? Check out our guide to making the most out of our app exhibitors at Xerocon Nashville.

We’re especially proud to introduce our seven event partners for this year’s Xerocon Nashville. Read about them below, and make sure to stop by and meet them along with our other exhibitors as you explore Xerocon in Music City! 

Event Partner+

Bill

BILL for Xero is a simple bill payment solution made to eliminate double entry and piles of paperwork. BILL allows you to automate accounts payable and accounts receivable processes, while directly syncing all payment actions back to Xero for you. Make light work of expense approvals on the go with mobile device bill approvals and single-click payments, so you can save time and keep tight controls over your accounts whether you’re in the office or away.

Event Partners

Amazon Web Services

Amazon Web Services offers scalability, security, and savings for businesses of any size including small and medium businesses, for whom remaining competitive can be daunting. Whether you begin by moving, storing and securing your data, gaining new business intelligence, or finding new ways to serve customers, Amazon Web Services can help you unlock new possibilities. 

Avalara

Avalara helps businesses of all sizes get tax compliance right, no matter where in the world they run their business. In partnership with leading ERP, accounting, ecommerce and other financial management system providers, Avalara delivers cloud-based compliance solutions for various transaction taxes, helping you simplify your international tax compliance. 

Dext

Dext provides bookkeeping automation tools that help small businesses and their advisors collect, organize and record financial transactions. Dext is made up of three products – Dext Prepare for data extraction, Dext Precision for data quality and insights, and Dext Commerce for e-commerce data management – all of which integrate with Xero. Use Dext to help achieve compliant bookkeeping and accounting services accurately and efficiently, saving you and your clients precious time.

GoCardless

GoCardless puts you in control of collecting payments directly from your customers. The GoCardless integration with Xero allows you and your customers to set up recurring and one-off payments, so payment for your invoices is collected automatically. Xero’s global data shows that invoices with an online payment service like GoCardless attached, get paid up to twice as fast as invoices to customers who don’t use online payments. Simply add GoCardless as a payment service in Xero, then apply it to an invoice or invoice template so your customers can pay your invoices online.

Gusto

Gusto is built to be the refreshingly easy way for small businesses to manage their payroll, benefits and HR – all in one platform. Designed to help you complete your pay runs in just a few clicks, Gusto seamlessly syncs your payroll transactions and financial data back to Xero, eliminating manual data entry while ensuring you maintain one unified view of your payroll costs with Xero.

Ramp

Ramp is the platform for modern finance teams, combining corporate cards with expense management and accounts payable in one solution, so you can automate your finance operations. You can quickly sync transaction code values from Xero back to Ramp for quick transaction creation, then sit back as Ramp collects receipts through SMS, email and popular apps and automatically syncs them back to Xero to be reconciled.

Get to know all the apps exhibiting at Xerocon Nashville

We can’t wait to see our incredible community of accountants and bookkeepers at Xerocon in just one week – and we especially can’t wait for you to meet and network with our amazing exhibitors who are ready to show you exciting products that will help take your practice to the next level. Check out the complete list of apps being exhibited at Xerocon Nashville and start a few free trials ahead of time so you can come along ready to meet the exhibitors of your favorite apps. See you there!

The post Introducing our 2024 Xerocon Nashville event partners appeared first on Xero Blog.

Most major economies have had tepid growth, at best, in recent quarters. But how are things on the ground? If you’re a small business owner and you’re thinking that things feel tougher than what national statistics seem to be saying about the broader economy, you’re not alone. The Xero Small Business Insights (XSBI) data shows a lot of small businesses aren’t growing as fast as the major economic indicators suggest. 

There’s a disconnect between small business sales and national economic performance

National statistics help us understand how our economies, populations and societies are doing, which is important, but because they’re high level, they can disguise the small business story. This means they sometimes paint a picture about the state of the economy that doesn’t line up with what small businesses are experiencing. This is where XSBI can step in to reveal how things are going for small business owners, using real small business data. So what is the small business story that the XSBI data is telling us, compared with the rest of the economy? 

We compared nominal GDP growth (y/y) with XSBI sales growth (y/y) for the March quarter in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK and the US (scroll down to see a table with the comparisons). We know from other modelling we’ve done that XSBI sales correlate to movements in GDP. These figures tell us that, for the first quarter of 2024, small business sales growth lagged behind broader economic growth in all XSBI countries except Australia, where the XSBI sales growth rate was only just higher than GDP growth. 

These statistics tell us that in four of these countries people aren’t spending their money in small businesses to the same extent as they are in larger businesses. We know that cost of living pressures mean consumers don’t have much extra to spend once they’ve paid their essential household bills. The XSBI data shows that what little extra they do have isn’t making it to small businesses.

More recent XSBI data shows the situation has become even harder for small businesses in June. Sales actually fell in June in New Zealand (-8.3% y/y), Australia (-3.5% y/y) and the UK (-5.2% y/y).  

What are small businesses doing to manage these conditions?

Queensland couple Rejoice and Adam Thomson operate two suburban cafes in Brisbane, Australia, including Dovetail on Overend. They shared with us how they’re working hard to keep customers coming through the doors. 

After ten years of operations, Rejoice and Adam have just navigated the most challenging period they’ve experienced in business. Turnover was down 15% in the month of June compared to the same time last year, consistent with the June fall in sales seen in the XSBI data for all small businesses in Australia.

“On the ground, we could see customers visiting less frequently, and many of our customers were spending significantly less when visiting, so rather than order breakfast, drinks and a dessert, they might order a coffee and a donut. At the same time, all of our expenses increased significantly,” said Adam. 

“We feel the pain of increasing costs, especially wages. Increasingly, my wife and I take on more work to help keep our wage costs down; however it takes a big toll – we’re working way too many hours and are physically drained.”

Testing new sales channels, reviewing costs and training staff

To solve these challenges, Rejoice and Adam constantly review their financial position, and look for savings wherever possible. This includes finding ways to be more efficient and less wasteful (Dovetail on Overend has almost zero waste), regularly working with suppliers to find the best deal on ingredients and services, and constantly updating prices to help cover the ongoing cost increases.

Adam and Rejoice are also looking at other sales channels and training staff to make them more productive. “We’re really focused on training all our team members to make them as productive, quality- and customer-focused as possible. In addition, we’re constantly trying to increase our online sales through our website, and working towards attracting more regular delivery customers,” said Adam. 

To do this, they’ve started routinely using paid marketing on social media to bring more customers to the cafes, who will hopefully be attracted to purchase the more profitable products they promote. 

“We are seeing good returns on this investment, and have become quite good at reaching our target audience in this way,” concludes Adam.

It’s a tough time, but you’re not alone

If you’re a small business owner, Rejoice and Adam’s story of constantly finding ways to work through the current economic environment may seem familiar. And when this lived experience doesn’t align with stories of national economic growth, you may be left wondering what’s going on and if you’re on your own.

To help you get a sense of how other small businesses are faring, check the XSBI data and reports to see what’s happening in the sector. We provide regular small business data across each country, including some regions and industries, covering metrics like sales volumes, wage increases, time taken to be paid, and jobs growth. If you’re interested in reading more about small business sector performance across Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK and the US, check out the XSBI website.

Table: XSBI sales versus GDP growth (y/y% change)

The post Missing out on sales? You’re not alone appeared first on Xero Blog.

Our annual Xero Awards is a special night for us at Xero. It gives us an opportunity to show our appreciation and admiration for the many incredible accounting, bookkeeping and app partners in our community. This year is particularly special, with the extension of the Awards programme beyond Singapore to include partners across Asia. 

This inclusion reflects the enormous impact that our partners throughout the region have in uplifting Asia’s small business community and providing them with the necessary advice and tools they need to survive and thrive. Selecting a single winner in each category was incredibly difficult from the many exceptional and inspiring submissions we received.

Together at last night’s event, we celebrated the outstanding achievements and contributions of our accounting and bookkeeping community. We’re so proud to support our partners as they work towards our shared desire for helping small businesses follow their passion and succeed.

So without further ado, please join me in congratulating our winners:

Asia Small Accounting Partner of the Year

PT Auxilium Perkasa Group from Indonesia

Asia Medium Accounting Partner of the Year

Caltrix (CAL Cloud Sdn Bhd) from Malaysia

Asia Large Accounting Partner of the Year

Chia, Ka & Partners PLT from Malaysia

Asia Advisory Partner of the Year

361 Degree Consultancy Pte Ltd from Singapore; and
Fastlane Group from Hong Kong

Asia App Partner of the Year

Syft Analytics

Thank you again to everyone who entered the awards this year. Looking forward to 2025!

The post Xero Asia Awards 2024: Congratulations to our winners! appeared first on Xero Blog.

Much can be said about the pros and cons of generative AI. But while we can all agree that it is widely-available and disruptive, surely we can also agree that it isn’t the first emerging technology to be available and disruptive (nor will it be the last). It’s just the one we’re focused on right now.

To start to wrap your head around the possibilities of generative AI and the broader AI technology ecosystem, it’s best to start from the ground up. When you look up the definition of technology, it is “the application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes.” With generative AI, we see a lot of scientific knowledge being shared. However, I don’t think many have fully cracked how it can be truly practical and useful in all industries that are exploring it today.

As an example, let’s look at the biggest workhorse for the world’s economies, small business owners. While many entrepreneurs are working tirelessly on their day-to-day operations, many are also hoping to find ways to use AI to boost productivity. And while it does provide some immediate benefits today, like quickly creating basic marketing materials or speeding up responses to some customer service queries, there is so much more potential. But accessing much of that potential requires more time, resources and expertise.

Small business owners deserve the world of emerging technologies to be shaped to their needs, rather than an expectation that they figure out how to make it all work for them on their own. If you’re running a small business, you are already loaded up with myriad tasks you have just to keep the lights on. And of course, you shouldn’t have to do it all on your own.

Who can fix this?

The onus should rightfully be on those service providers in the small business ecosystem that are building the platforms and apps that business owners are using. This goes for the specialized companies like Xero, but also the likes of the consumer tech giants and platforms. We each have a part to play in the shaping process: developing the scientific knowledge of something like generative AI for its specific application for small business use cases, making sure we mold the ‘raw material’ of the technology into something that is directly useful for them. This means an open line of communication should be ever-present between us in the tech realm and our small business customers to ensure we are focused on helping with the tasks that they care about the most.

Also, knowing their key day-to-day tasks and keeping them at the forefront of the development process for AI tools is the best way to enable small business owners to be able to more easily take advantage of the technology in the everyday operations of their business, rather than its adoption being another job they have to tackle.

How do we fix this?

Tech players need to focus on finding, highlighting and amplifying the unique and valuable parts of being a small business. Coming from the tech ecosystem in New Zealand and Australia, we find our geographic distance from the rest of the world has historically enabled us to approach these sorts of challenges from a different perspective. So, that makes it a bit easier to zero in and identify the drudgery and toil tasks that small business owners would gladly outsource or eliminate if they could.

If tech leaders at all levels can take that step back and give small business owners the microphone to share what’s frustrating them, their technology solutions have a big opportunity to accelerate productivity for the small business ecosystem globally.

What does that look like?

Supercharging productivity might sound overly optimistic, but it’s certainly possible with the right approach. In speaking with accountants and bookkeepers as part of my role at Xero, I can see generative AI is already playing an increasing role in some of their workflows as they utilize it to sift through their clients’ data and generate reports quickly, for example. From assisting with preparing for in-depth forecasting meetings with clients to creating entire “fractional CFO” practices, many accountants and bookkeepers are targeting the removal of the tedium of purely manual data interpretation and finding the freedom to help embrace their role as knowledgeable financial advisors.

But they aren’t having to turn into AI experts overnight. To unlock these capabilities, accountants and bookkeepers have rightly placed expectations on the platforms they use – like Xero – to bring these capabilities to the fore. With the help of curated technology platforms and tools, accountants are bucking the common misconception of the accounting profession as a purely number-crunching role, and now have the bandwidth to provide more value and actionable insights for the business owners they support.

And this is just one example of the application of generative AI solutions for practical purposes in a particular industry.

What about the future?

The question remains: does this new technology mean that work as we know it will never be the same? Or will AI replace jobs in small businesses, or across the whole economy? We only need to look at past “revolutionary” technologies like emails, spreadsheets or smartphones to see that the former may be true, but the latter is less likely. Rather than entire jobs changing, the tasks that make up those jobs will evolve and shift.

So, generative AI is not about replacing the accountant, for example, but rather it is about providing more capability and capacity to the accounting profession to focus on higher-value advisory responsibilities. Additionally, the hard-earned trust that accountants have built with their clients won’t just go away and cannot be easily replaced by an algorithm, no matter how smart it is. Because, when the stakes are high and financial livelihoods are on the line, you want someone who is a partner to be alongside you. Someone who you can hold to account for their advice and guidance. And who is more accountable than your accountant after all?

Zooming out and looking at the wider small business landscape, the same logic applies. Having a “human in the loop” is a common discussion in the AI world, but it is table stakes. Humans won’t just be in the loop as a necessary safeguard – they will remain at the heart of every business and its value proposition. Generative AI won’t be taking the wheel away from small business owners, rather it can serve as a valuable collaborator that augments their capabilities and supercharges their productivity. until the next unforeseeable and revolutionary technology comes along to take us to the next level.

This article was originally published on TechRadar Pro on 19 July 2024.

The post Shaping AI to improve the way small business owners work appeared first on Xero Blog.

“The whole point of Building Up is to connect people with barriers to employment to careers in construction,” explained Marc Soberano, founder of non-profit project Building Up. “We help people break the cycle of poverty and make a life for themselves.”

Building Up was one of the 2023 recipients of funding from the Xero Beautiful Business Fund, winning the ‘Strengthening Community Connection’ for their inspiring community building work as a non-profit social contractor. We sat down with Marc Soberano to chat about the project, its mission, how he’s used his winnings from the Xero Beautiful Business Fund, and his vision for the future.

Empowerment through employment

Marc’s inspiration for Building Up stemmed from his desire to use business as a force for social good. “I studied business in school and was really interested in how a lot of the issues we face with poverty and housing are a result of how our economy works,” he shared. 

“It unfortunately often leaves people aside and creates ‘have’ and ‘have nots’,” Marc explained. “We’re never going to turn the world away from capitalism, so how do we use those same principles to bring people into a social enterprise? For example, every company has staff, but how can we be really intentional about creating a company that’s meant to support their staff more than supporting the company?”

Established in 2014 in Toronto Marc founded Building Up to channel his entrepreneurial spirit into addressing two of Canada’s most pressing crises: the labour shortage in the construction industry and rising unemployment rates.

Today, Building Up operates as both a construction company and a non-profit, connecting individuals struggling to find employment with training and careers in construction. The company bids on construction jobs like any contractor, but does it with the ultimate goal of creating rewarding careers for those who’ve historically struggled to find opportunities to work. 

“We run our business to train and employ people,” Marc said. “People work on our job sites and they get the exposure they need for future jobs. We also help them get their driver’s licence, we help them find housing, we help them work out personal situations – it’s less of a traditional job and more of a true partnership.”

Building Up’s employees hail from all sorts of backgrounds – backgrounds which often pose challenges to joining or returning to work. “We work with a lot of refugees and newcomers, as well as with people who are coming out of jail,” Marc said. This inclusive approach ensures those in greatest need of Building Up’s services can access them to start building a better future.

Adding new levels with the Xero Beautiful Business Fund

Marc had his eyes set on expanding Building Up’s mission and reach, but capacity and funding have always been two persistent obstacles. “We receive about 3600 applications every year for 100 spots,” Marc explained. “We’re really looking to grow, and as a non-profit, it’s not like you can go and easily get some equity to think about growth.”

About 75% of Building Up’s budget comes from its operations as a non-profit. And instead of using their jobs to make money, they use them as opportunities to provide training and employment for people. “We feel the challenges of trying to run a business,” Marc shared. “Most companies focus really hard on trying to reduce staff turnover, and our whole business model is to hire people that no one else will hire because they don’t have the experience. Once they become productive, we intentionally have a hundred percent turnover.”

Well before applying for the Xero Beautiful Business Fund, Building Up had been using Xero for various aspects of their operations, from stakeholder reports to organising grants and handling overall finances. “Xero has been in the backdrop of helping manage this organisation since it started,” Marc noted. 

Marc first heard about the Xero Beautiful Business Fund through a Xero newsletter and saw it as an opportunity to advance Building Up’s vision a little further. “The process was great. We just made a quick little video and put it out into the world, and it came back that we were a winner,” Marc recalled. “The funding will support our work and help more and more people who are looking to turn their life around through a career in construction.”

Some of Building Up’s winnings from the fund have gone into launching an entirely new venture, focused on housing insulation. This required training a new crew from scratch and purchasing a new array of equipment, with the winnings offsetting these upfront costs. Beyond insulation, the winnings have also allowed Building Up to further expand its training centre and energise its broader fundraising efforts among other investors and the community.

A blueprint for the future

Building Up’s early successes have only fueled the group’s ambitions. “Our goal is to double our capacity so we can train 200 people in a couple of years from now,” Marc said.

At the same time, Marc plans to expand Building Up’s work in fostering long-term relationships with alumni. This could provide additional career security for these individuals: if they find themselves out of work between projects, they can return to Building Up to mentor new students. “We have an alumni program at Building Up, so if anybody comes across challenges finding employment later on, they can come back, work on our sites, and help mentor the next group of people,” Marc shared.

Building Up continues to build on their strong foundations, aiming to create lasting change and uplift communities. With Xero’s support, they’re able to ensure that their construction business remains focused on building better lives.

The Xero Beautiful Business Fund is back for 2024 and entries are officially open.

The 2023 winners are an incredible group of small businesses and non-profits who are passionate about solving problems and making an impact in their local communities. We’re spotlighting some of our past winners to hear more about how the fund has impacted their business and helped them achieve their goals. Check out these stories by visiting the Xero blog.

The post Constructing a brighter future for people in poverty appeared first on Xero Blog.

In June, we announced changes to Xero’s plans in Aotearoa New Zealand as part of our efforts to simplify our plan offering. The new plan line-up will launch on 12 September 2024 and bundles key features such as Xero Payroll, Xero Projects and Analytics Plus into some plans, making it easier to choose the best option for your business or clients.

We’re now able to share an update on our migration approach and the timing for moving customers to new subscription plans.

Key things to note:

• For the majority of customers whose new subscription plan will include the same or more features for either the same or lower price*, we’ll move you in February 2025.

• For customers that will see a price increase* as a result of the new subscription plan that we’re migrating you to, we’ll delay moving you until September 2025. 

We recognise for some customers this may be a significant price increase when moved by Xero to a new plan, and in some scenarios we’ll offer discounted pricing. We’ll share more on this with eligible customers and partners in our October emails.

This means some customers will not be migrated by Xero by March 2025 as originally communicated.

Migration approach and revised timing

We’ll email you in October 2024, with the details of which plan Xero will move you to and when.  For accounting and bookkeeping partners this email will include a link to a list of subscriptions that your practice holds. To determine which plan you’ll be moved to, we’ll look at your current plan – including any add-ons you’ve purchased – and your recent feature usage (that is, Xero Expenses and/or Xero Payroll).

You can stay on your current plan until Xero moves you, or you can choose to move. If you choose to move, you won’t be included in Xero’s migration plan. However, we recommend waiting until you’ve received email confirmation from us in October on how the migration applies to you or your clients before making your own decision about moving plans.

Throughout this process, you’ll always have the choice to choose a different plan to what Xero selects for you. You’ll also be able to change plans after Xero moves you if you decide another plan better meets your needs. 

Summary of what to expect and timings

We look forward to sharing specific details with you in October. In the meantime, you can learn more about our new small business plans or plans for accountants and bookkeepers. As always, please reach out to our team via Xero Central if you have any support questions.

*compared to 12 September 2024 pricing

The post Updated migration approach to move NZ customers to new subscription plans appeared first on Xero Blog.

The entries are rolling in for the 2024 Xero Beautiful Business Fund and we’ve been thrilled by the response. Supporting and celebrating small businesses is at the core of our purpose and we look forward to helping another 28 organisations this year as they achieve the next level of success. 

Today, we’re excited to reveal the country and global judging panels who will help select the winners of the 2024 Xero Beautiful Business Fund. Our judges are made up of leaders across accounting, small businesses, nonprofits and some of our amazing global and local partners. 

The country judging panel will help us select four winners from each country. Each country winner will receive NZD $20,000 in funding (or local equivalent). Then four global winners will be selected from the pool of country winners. Learn about the judges along with some tips for getting started with your entry and how you can make it stand out.

A big thank you to everyone who’s entered the Xero Beautiful Business Fund so far. You have a few more weeks to get your entry in before the deadline on 27 August 2024 at 5:00pm NZT.

Australia judges

• Theo Konstantas – Sales Director, Australia, Xero 
• Kathy Wilson – Co-founder, Suitcase Records
• Natalie Lennon – Founder & Director, Two Sides Accounting
• Deep Banerji – Chief Product Officer, Deputy
• Syarna Gilmour – Senior Account Manager, Xero 

Tip: There are four funding categories with no limit on how many of them you enter. If you think you qualify for each of them, go all out. You just need to complete an entry form and upload a video for each category you wish to enter – each video must be specific to that category.

New Zealand judges

• Bridget Snelling – Country Manager, New Zealand, Xero 
• Madeleine Hakaraia de Young – Director, Māoriland Film Festival
• Jenny Rudd – Founder, Dispute Buddy
• Manoli Aerakis – Director, Malloch McClean
• Andrew Punnett – Senior Engineer, Xero

Tip: When creating your pitch video, tell us about yourself and how you got into business. We’d love to learn more about you as a business owner and your founding story.

Singapore judges

• Koren Wines – Regional Director, Asia, Xero 
• Ken Leong – Director, 361 Degree Group
• Vicky Hwang – CEO, ATLAS – Chyau Fwu Wine & Spirits 
• Lee Yee Fung – Chief Smart Technologies Officer, Singapore Business Federation 
• Matilda Chong – Onboarding Specialist, Xero 

Tip: Need inspiration for your video entry? Learn about our 2023 winners to see what other businesses are doing.

UK judges

• Kate Hayward – Country Manager, UK, Xero 
• Vangelis Kyriazis – Co-founder and CEO, Syft Analytics
• Ravi Shah – Partner, Vinod Shah & Co
• Michelle Ovens CBE – Founder, Small Business Britain
• Nabeel Nauzer – Commercial Operations Analyst, Xero

Tip: It’s important to be future-focused in your pitch video. In each category, we’re looking for businesses or organisations with a clear path forward that demonstrate how they will use the funds. We want to hear how it’s part of your long-term business strategy or goals and how the funding will help your aspirations. The more specific you are with future plans and ideas, the better!

South Africa judges

• Colin Timmis – Country Manager, South Africa, Xero
• Rushaan Toefy – Owner, Rushaan Toefy Financial Services
• Bulelani Balabala – Founder, Township Entrepreneurs Alliance
• Susan van der Valk – Partner, MGI Bass Gordon
• Sarah Minns – National Account Manager, Xero

Tip: Don’t worry, your pitch video doesn’t have to be fancy. It can be as simple as a self-recorded video on your phone. Check out some of our tips for creating your video.

US judges

• Ben Richmond – Managing Director, North America, Xero
• Claire Van Holland – Founder and Principal, CV Ledger
• Shahir Daud – Founder & Executive Producer and Shivali Gulab, Operations Director, SuvaNova
• Sarah Prevost – Founder, Mintage Labs
• Krista Simpson – Operations Specialist, Xero

Tip: In your video, keep it genuine, keep it fun and most importantly, just be yourself!

Canada judges

• Ben Richmond – Managing Director, North America, Xero
• Tony McGregor – CPA, Partner, Freelandt Caldwell Reilly LLP
• Melissa Lenos – Founder, King Business Solutions Inc
• Jeff Blundell – Director of Communications, SciMar
• Sid Bhattacharjee – Senior Product Designer, Xero

Tip: Show us how the funding will impact your business or organisation. We want to see how your business is aligned to the funding category you’ve selected. Having concrete examples in your video will help show the judges how you’ll make your mark as a winner of the Xero Beautiful Business Fund.

Global judges

We have also selected a global judging panel. Our global judges will select four global winners from the pool of country winners from around the world. Those global winners will each receive an additional NZD $50,000 in funding (or local equivalent), in addition to their funding awarded at a country level. 

• Sukhinder Singh Cassidy – CEO, Xero
• Mike Cohen – Global Head of Partnerships, Square
• Kate Dundas –  Executive Director, UN Global Compact Network Australia
• Melissa Laurie – Founder & Managing Director, Oysterly
• Lara Brennan – Partner, Advisory & Outsourcing, Forvis Mazars
• James Bergin – EGM, Technology Research & Advocacy, Xero

Melissa Laurie is the founder and managing director of Oysterly, a social video agency that specialises in creating user-generated content (UGC) for leading brands and a 2023 winner of the Xero Beautiful Business Fund in the ‘Trailblazing with technology’ category. She’s a judge this year and shares what it means to her and what she’s looking forward to seeing from the entries: “As a business owner myself, I understand the challenges of wearing so many hats and experiencing the highs and lows of running a business. I’m excited to support and celebrate exceptional founders who have trusted themselves to take a leap to start something new. That’s a huge accomplishment in itself.”

“Having been an applicant last year, I know how challenging it can be to stay within the 90-second time cap because you naturally want to share so much about your business,” Melissa adds. “I had to think carefully about how to make my message stand out. I’m looking forward to seeing how this year’s applicants tackle this challenge and clearly outline the impact they’ll make with the prize money. I also look forward to seeing their passion and understanding how the business owners intend to use the Xero Beautiful Business Fund.”

The post Meet the judges for the 2024 Xero Beautiful Business Fund appeared first on Xero Blog.

It feels like the magical two days that were Xerocon London just happened, and we’re already preparing to hit the road again for Xerocon Nashville this August! 

It’s the perfect time to not only meet some of the apps being exhibited at this year’s Xerocon, but hear real-life stories on how connecting apps with Xero can streamline your work and expand your possibilities. 

So, how can you prepare ahead of time to meet the app exhibitors, ask the right questions and come away empowered? We’ve got five tips to get the most out of apps heading to Xerocon Nashville. 

1. Write down you and your clients’ business needs ahead of time

Understanding the areas your business needs help in, or processes that are eating up time, is a great first step to knowing what apps will be best for your practice.

• What are your pain points?
  Look at the processes you have in place and speak with your colleagues to get feedback on areas that can be more efficient. Make a shortlist of pain points you hear repeatedly
• What are your clients’ pain points?
  Talk to your clients or refer back to previous appointments to understand what they need most, struggle with, or are repeatedly requesting. Their feedback could be solved by an app that your practice can use, or by apps that you can recommend as part of an advisory service

2. Make a shortlist and get to know the apps exhibited

Walk into Xerocon with a plan of which app exhibitors you want to speak to, so you can cross feedback and questions off your list and find your perfect solutions sooner.

• Explore the apps coming along
  Take a look at the full list of apps being exhibited at Xerocon Nashville 2024 and note down how they integrate with Xero and practices
• Make a shortlist
  Take note of the apps that may meet your business needs and have features that could solve your pain points. 
• Start some free trials ahead of Xerocon
  Many apps offer free trials, and each of the app exhibitors will include a link to their Xero App Store listing. You can connect your Xero account and start a trial in just a few clicks, allowing you to explore each app that interests you and note down features you like and questions you have – all without committing to a paid plan upfront

3. Put together your own personalized agenda

A great part of attending an event as big as Xerocon is the ability to personalise it to your priorities. You can easily scroll through each day’s sessions , and add ones you’re interested in to your own personal agenda. 

If finding the right apps to streamline some of your practice operations and offer clients more is on your priority list, you might want to add these key sessions to your agenda. 

Wednesday 14 August

• Elevate your practice’s service offering with connected apps: Learn how to harness the power of Xero App Store apps to enable you to better service your clients’ needs, from tackling tax obligations and bookkeeping to offering insightful advisory services and a custom app stack for their industry
  Add to my agenda

Thursday 15 August 

• Carbon accounting: the next frontier of compliance: Advisors are rapidly needing to help clients navigate new standards and legislation in the sustainability space. Learn how you can upskill in carbon accounting and offer a valuable service to clients
  Add to my agenda
• Deliver added value and increase efficiency with BILL Spend & Expense: Join us for an invaluable session on how you can add automated spend management to your practice offerings with BILL, featuring a sneak peek of BILL’s new sync with Xero and actionable strategies to take home
  Add to my agenda
• Xero Awards United States & Canada 2024: Meet the app exhibitors set to be announced as the Practice App of the Year and Small Business App of the Year at a special awards ceremony held during Xerocon
  Add to my agenda

DON’T MISS THE APP EXHIBITOR DEMOS: Head to the Xerocon agenda to find the dozens of live app demos happening each day. See apps in action and get a preview of new features and products.

4. Talk to the experts

Take full advantage of apps being at Xerocon by talking to their teams directly. Come along with a list of questions about their product or about recommending apps as an advisory service, so you can maximise your time with them.

Want help ahead of time with your shortlist, or with prioritising which app exhibitors you should speak to? Your Xero account manager can help walk you through the apps being exhibited and suggest the best fit for your needs. 

5. Leave Xerocon ready to take action 

Once you’ve recovered from all the action, innovation and excitement that Xerocon brings, get back to business with an action plan from all you’ve learnt about apps. 

• Write notes on your shortlisted apps
  Narrow down your shortlist to a final list of apps you loved based on the conversations you had, demos you attended, and showcases you watched. Take notes of the benefits and the answers apps gave you to refer back to later so you don’t have to remember it all during Xerocon
• Talk with your team
  Come back to your team and talk through the apps that you think could help solve the pain points your practice identified for you and your clients. This can help you quickly get your team on board and ready to incorporate apps into your everyday operations
• Recommend apps to your clients
  Met some great app exhibitors that could help some of your client’s business needs and pain points? You can get clients started with one-click app recommendations right within Xero
• Turn your trials into subscriptions
  If your free trials went well and your Xerocon conversations solved your questions, then it’s time to make it official! Go through the subscription plans for your chosen apps and pick the best plans for your practice before your trial ends so you don’t lose any functionality

Discover apps that can move your practice forward with the Xero App Store

If you want to learn more about how apps can help benefit your practice and your clients every day, explore the Xero App Store and our guide to using apps as an advisor. 

See you in Music City!

The post Five tips to make the most of app exhibitors at Xerocon Nashville appeared first on Xero Blog.

“After my partner and I were attacked in our home, we had a lot of questions about how to help improve the safety of our neighbourhood and  a create a sense of community where neighbours don’t hide behind high walls,” said Sheryl Ozinsky, co-founder of Oranjezicht City Farm (OZCF), a non-profit project celebrating local food, culture and community in Cape Town, South Africa. 

The Oranjezicht City Farm was one of the 2023 winners of the Xero Beautiful Business Fund, winning the ‘Strengthening Community Connection’ category for their incredible work in community-building. We spoke with co-founder Sheryl Ozinsky about the creation of OZCF and her vision for the future of sustainable organic farming after winning funding from the Xero Beautiful Business Fund. 

Creating a community through good food

“[After the incident], we realised that we needed to make our community safer and more liveable. Nothing brings people together more than good food. Whether you’re a mama in the townships or someone who lives in the leafy suburbs, everyone likes to eat. So a group of us residents started a community vegetable garden on an old neglected bowling green. Neighbours came out with their kids, picked their own veggies, and met and talked to each other, and we solved issues that were a concern for us.

Then, we started a small market in 2013 next to the garden as a way of raising funds to pay for the garden’s upkeep. We didn’t have enough produce from the garden, so we reached out to other small-scale organic farmers and traders as demand grew. 

Fast forward ten years, the market is now located at the V&A Waterfront, has over 100 traders who sell everything from meat to fish and cheese, hosts over 10,000 visitors a week, and supports over 35 organic farmers. The market is the bridge that connects small-scale farmers with consumers,” Sheryl explained.

Running a farmers’ market on a large scale in a commercial environment like the V&A Waterfront can be challenging; bad weather conditions can affect the supply and discourage customers from visiting. “To compete with very strong supermarket chains – as we have in South Africa – you need to be on your entrepreneurial toes and interrogate how the business is doing from one week to the next, and year to year,” said Sheryl. “Xero has helped us enormously to keep track of our business, understand how we are performing and where we can improve. It’s helped us to avoid carrying any bad debt.”

Winning the Xero Beautiful Business Fund 

OZCF intends to widen their reach to more farmers and communities around South Africa, but capacity and funding is limited. “We wanted to help organic farmers across the country to start their own farmers markets in their communities,” explained Sheryl. 

“Last year, we worked with the Participatory Guarantee Systems South Africa (PGSSA), a body that certifies small-scale organic farmers as being PGS Organic. With the help of the Xero funding, we created an online course that guides farmers on how to set up farmers’ markets. The course, which ran once a week over four months, was completed by 300 people and we printed a guide book that was distributed to all the attendees.” 

Sheryl heard about the Xero Beautiful Business Fund from Susan van der Valk, the market’s accountant and a partner at MGI Bass Gordon.

“The entry process was simple; just film a short video and send it in. Tell your story, which also gives you the chance to stop and reflect on your journey,” says Sheryl. “It was a massive surprise to hear that we had won.”

Passing on the torch

“If you live in South Africa, there’s a level of responsibility that you carry to not only look after yourself, but to look after others as well. That’s what winning the fund is helping us to do,” said Sheryl. “We can help establish more farmers’ markets around the country, creating a pull for organic produce and encouraging communities to eat healthy food.” 

“So far, two new markets have been established this year, one in KwaZulu-Natal and another in Limpopo,” says Sheryl. 

We’re thrilled to share that the Xero Beautiful Business Fund is back for 2024 and entries are officially open.

The 2023 winners are an incredible group of small businesses and nonprofits who are passionate about solving problems and making an impact in their local communities. We’re spotlighting some of our past winners to hear more about how the fund has impacted their business and helped them achieve their goals.

The post How the Xero Beautiful Business Fund helped a sustainable farmers’ market start to sow new communities across South Africa appeared first on Xero Blog.

This guest blog was written by the team at GoCardless.

Running a small business can mean moving between being a general manager to a customer services contact, marketing lead and, in some cases, debt collector. Without the proper processes in place, managing payments can take up too much time and even result in bigger problems.

In fact, the Office of National Statistics shared that poor cash flow is responsible for up to 90% of new businesses failing. Breaking this cycle can be tough, especially when a quarter of small business owners say they’re uncomfortable talking about money with their suppliers and customers.

The true cost of late payments

According to our research, on average, UK small businesses are paid up to 18 days late. There’s already an upfront concern about people using services or products without paying for them at all. But then there’s the additional time and resources spent pursuing those payments – small businesses spend around four hours every week chasing late payments. If the right processes aren’t in place then manual money management can become labour-intensive, draining time, money and morale. 

Chasing late payments causes avoidable stress on both the payer and payee side of the experience. Customers can feel frustrated by constant reminders to make a payment which may have failed accidentally, perhaps due to an expired card, or perhaps payment has been made but the business can’t see the funds in their account yet.

On the payee side, the inconsistent cash flow makes it hard to plan ahead or invest in essential parts of the business. Poor cash flow can have hugely detrimental effects, with 80% of small business owners unsure if they can pay their own invoices on time, and a further 89% saying the uncertainty around money coming in and out leads to increased stress and anxiety.  

Getting started in three steps

1. Using pull payments

During our recent session at Xerocon London, we emphasised that changing the way payments are collected can put businesses, rather than their customers, in control of their cash flow.

One of the simplest changes that a small business can make is switching from a ‘push’ to a ‘pull’ method. Push payments mean that the payer is in control of when and how much is paid – think of manual bank transfers, cash payments, or one-off card payments. But if a business has lots of repeat orders, such as subscription plans, then switching to a pull method means that they are pulling a pre-agreed amount of money from their customer’s account into theirs. It removes the element of the unknown and gives them greater control.

A prime example of an effective pull method is direct debit as it can be easily automated to collect a set amount on a regular basis, only needing to be set up once by the customer and then continuing to run until the end of the buying relationship.

2. Reduce manual burdens

Businesses can go one step further to eliminate manual processes. Time spent reconciling payments manually and sifting through multiple reports can be significantly reduced by switching to a payment provider that offers integration with the business’s existing accounting software.

Not all providers offer this, so due diligence is needed, but once in place it means being able to manage the end-to-end payments process in one place, just as you can through the Xero and GoCardless integration. 

3. Think online and on the go

Finally, businesses can use payment tools that can be accessed online and on the go. Small business owners needn’t be limited by having to be in a set place to manage their money. Using providers that offer digital- and cloud-based solutions, gives the added peace of mind of 24/7 accessibility.

Making it easy to get paid

Adam Cozens, co-founder at specialty coffee roasters, Perky Blenders, uses Xero and GoCardless to help run the business. With a Xero account that is “very, very busy”, having the two systems talk to each other reduces the burden of invoicing and chasing customers for payments.

“It’s not something we’ve had to worry about. The integration provides the flexibility to invoice each customer within days,” says Adam. “GoCardless automatically takes the payment on the due date, whether that’s payment on invoice, 60 days, whatever.”

Find out more about how you can make the most of GoCardless and Xero. Check out GoCardless on the Xero App Store.

The post Three simple ways to transform money management appeared first on Xero Blog.

On 9 July, we announced that the Xero Beautiful Business Fund is back for 2024. Just as we did last year, we’re giving away more than NZ$750,000 to eligible Xero small business customers across Australia, Canada (excluding Quebec), New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa, the UK, and the US. 

We want to recognise the role of our accounting and bookkeeping partners in driving small business success and we’d love your help to encourage your clients to enter the Xero Beautiful Business Fund. By referring your clients, you could win a range of prizes. Read on to find out how, and what you can win.

Spread the word using ready-made tools

Please spread the word about the Xero Beautiful Business Fund so we can help make the future brighter for small businesses.  You can use the Xero Beautiful Business Fund toolkit, which contains key information and a range of assets from email templates to draft social media posts, flyers and imagery, to share the details with your clients. 

Download the partner toolkit

It’s easy for your clients to enter

Because many business owners are strapped for time and just want to focus on running their business, we’ve made the entry process so simple that it can be done in one sitting. 

Entrants need to complete an online form, and prepare and upload a 90-second video to the competition website. In their pitch video, entrants should provide a brief background about their business, the category they’re entering, their need for funding, and their plans for the future. It’s important they be future-focused, detailing how the fund would benefit their business and their goals.

Businesses can apply in each of the four catgeories, so your clients can go all out to increase their chances of winning. 

Entries close on 27 August 2024 at 5 pm NZT.

Refer your clients for a chance to win

There are prizes up for grabs if you refer your clients to the Xero Beautiful Business Fund!

When small businesses enter the fund, they’ll be asked if they were referred to the fund, and if they were, to name their accountant or bookkeeper and the firm in their entry. Here’s the place in the entry form where a business owner enters the name of their referrer: 

For each successful referral, you’ll have a chance to win: 

• For 1 to 9 eligible referrals, you’ll be entered into a Visa gift card draw (one  entry into draw per referral) with five to be won worth NZ$200 (or equivalent currency). T&Cs apply.
• For 10 or more eligible referrals, you’ll be entered into the draw to win the chance to go to Xerocon in 2025, including a travel voucher to the value of NZ$7,000 (or equivalent currency), plus a Xerocon pass for one person. T&Cs apply.

If you refer any clients to the fund, remember to ask them to list you as their referrer.

2023 grand prize winner: Iridium Business Solutions

Last year, the team at Iridium Business Solutions in South Africa was active in referring clients to the Xero Beautiful Business Fund. They won the draw for the grand prize and had the chance to attend Xerocon London this year.

Check out the video below which features Simon Magner, Managing Director at Iridium Business Solutions to hear how they got involved with spreading the word about their fund to their clients:

You play a vital role in assisting your clients’ success and guiding them through the challenges of running a business. Whether you work with clients that have been up and running for a few years or many, or have clients that experienced some setbacks, the Xero Beautiful Business Fund can serve as an additional helping hand.

Our aim is to empower small business owners to realise their ambitions. Together, we can make a positive impact in our local communities by supporting aspiring entrepreneurs and fostering the growth of small businesses through the Xero Beautiful Business Fund.

The post Xero partners: Refer your clients to the Xero Beautiful Business Fund and get rewarded appeared first on Xero Blog.

The tax-time crunch is wrapping up, meaning the new financial year is here. And whether you’re looking to avoid the same end- of-financial-year stress next year, or streamline your operations – every small business can benefit from starting the new financial year with the right apps in their app stack.

What’s an app stack?

An app stack is another name for the set of apps that you use to run your business. Using a combination of apps that connect with Xero means that data can flow easily between systems, allowing you to streamline workflows and run your business more efficiently.

We’ve rounded up some of the apps used and reviewed by small businesses around Australia and the world, covering particular areas of your business, so you can kickstart the new financial year.

Apps for expense management

Keeping your accounts payable and accounts receivable in check is a non-negotiable for any business, but it can quickly become time-consuming. Make light work of balanced books with apps to manage your bills and expenses. 

• Dext Prepare: Streamline your expense capture with Dext Prepare. Auto-capture and categorise invoices, receipts and bills and digitise them into readable text before syncing everything to your Xero account, eliminating double-entry.
• ApprovalMax: Build robust and efficient financial controls across both your accounts payable and receivable with ApprovalMax. Import bills straight to Xero and set up automated workflows to speed up the approval process, slashing the need for email follow-ups to get the green light.

Apps for employee management 

Managing employees is one of the most complex aspects of small business ownership. From shift schedules and leave entitlements to payroll and superannuation, smart employee management apps can help you keep on top of the requirements while boosting productivity. 

• Deputy: Whether you’re running a small team or an entire franchise, Deputy syncs easily with Xero to take the stress out of managing your team. Simplify shiftwork, time tracking and labour compliance with optimised staffing levels and drag-and-drop scheduling. Deputy helps you to reduce staff costs and increase profitability by reducing overtime expenses and minimising scheduling errors, and makes pay runs quick work with direct timesheet exports.

Apps for job and project management 

Handling multiple projects and clients at once takes a smooth-running operation. That’s where apps work to help keep each project moving and ensure you can account for every hour and tool spent on the job. 

For construction and trades:

• ServiceM8: Streamline your job management end-to-end with ServiceM8. Create and send custom quotes on the go, manage staff schedules with live appointment updates, and raise invoices in Xero in seconds. 
• Tradify: No matter your trade, manage every job in one tool with Tradify. Send custom quotes, schedule available staff, and update job reports from the field. Slash admin time with a sync to Xero that sends invoices and updates accounts with payments for you.

For professional services businesses: 

• Projectworks: Handle all aspects of your professional service business with Projectworks. Understand your resource availability, ensure accurate time tracking with start-stop work timers, manage rates per project, and raise all invoices and reimbursable expenses in Xero.
• ROLL: Manage your client workflows with ROLL. Capture leads, project tasks and costings and create invoices in ROLL or Xero with a two-way sync so you can focus on the work at hand.

Apps for sales

Offering more ways to pay and selling through multiple channels can become a juggling act, but it doesn’t have to be. Keep your sales data streamlined with intuitive apps that allow you to grow your business and bring in more customers while making light work of sales reconciliation. 

• A2X: Automate your ecommerce accounting from major ecommerce platforms with A2X. Automatically sync sales from Amazon, Ebay, Etsy and more back to your Xero account as invoices to be automatically reconciled for you, for accurate bookkeeping quickly.
• Shopify: Reconcile sales directly from your online store with the Shopify integration by Xero. Automatically sync daily summaries of sales orders for each payment gateway to Xero for simple reconciliation every day. 
• Square: Take payments any way you want and sync sales quickly with Square. Allow payments in store, online, or straight from a Xero-generated invoice. Make reconciliation easy with daily Square transactions summarised and imported to Xero.

Apps for reporting 

Equip your business with powerful apps that help deliver clear and up-to-date financial information to you so you can feel confident about your business’s position at all times.

• Syft: Get more insight into your business with Syft. Build dashboards, reports and forecasts and export them for stakeholders. Understand multi-entity performance with unlimited entity consolidation and don’t miss a cent with a deep integration to your Xero account.
• G-Accon: Leverage the flexibility of Google Sheets reporting with G-Accon. Quickly set up automated imports of your financial data from Xero to Google Sheets or Google Data Studio to ensure your reporting data is up-to-date and reliable.

Kickstart your new financial year with the right apps to work smarter

Make this financial year your best year yet with Xero-integrated apps that are trusted and reviewed by small business owners just like you. Explore apps that automate, streamline and empower your business, so you can focus less on admin and more on what matters. Explore the Xero App Store and our guide to building an app stack to kickstart the FY25 year.

The post The app stack every Aussie small business owner needs in FY25 appeared first on Xero Blog.

Small businesses are the heroes of our economy. Yet they are not well defended when it comes to late payments, which cost UK businesses an estimated £1.6 billion in 2023.*

The problem is politely called ‘late payment’ which makes it sound like a legitimate business practice. But it’s not. Late payments can drown small businesses. Late payers are holding on to other people’s money without permission, so we see this instead as unapproved debt.

Often, late payments mean owners have to use their own savings to pay staff wages or to cover business costs. And it takes a toll on their mental health. 

So what does the public think about this? In our latest report, Settle up. Shining a light on the late payments scandal, we asked them. Almost half (48%) say late payments make them angry. They’re shocked by the scale of it. Two-thirds (70%) see paying bills late as a form of theft or bullying.  

Bad payments are bad business

More than two-thirds of the public (72%) say they would prefer not to buy from companies that don’t pay their bills on time. That’s why we believe it should be easier for the public to see how quickly big firms pay their suppliers.

Just as no good employer would dream of paying its employees late, the public expect businesses to pay their suppliers on time. Four out of five (82%) say companies should always pay their debts on time, whether it’s to their staff or to their small business suppliers.

On the positive side, more than two-thirds (70%) say they’d be more likely to buy from businesses that pay their suppliers properly. So businesses that pay on time could do well by talking about their commitment to their small business suppliers.

No excuses for the scandal to continue

Four out of five people (80%) say there’s no excuse for big businesses to pay late as technology makes it easy to pay bills when they’re due – in an age where consumers can walk into a store and pay for something instantaneously with a watch or a phone through contactless. People hold big businesses most responsible for the late payment crisis. Three out of five (62%) say large firms should tackle the problem. But people expect the government to act too, with the same proportion (62%) saying fixing the problem should be a priority. That’s why we hope to see new legislation implemented by them, as they pledged in their manifesto.

The late payment scandal has been around for too long. We’ve previously set out how to address the problem. And now there’s a great opportunity to tackle it.

*The cost of late payments to small businesses has been estimated as the time value of the outstanding invoice value of all small and medium businesses in the UK. This calculation is based on businesses with less than 50 employees for the UK. This is calculated by applying current interest rates (for small and medium sized businesses) to aggregate small and medium business sales for the period equal to the average days late invoices paid.

The post Settle up. Shining a light on the late payment scandal appeared first on Xero Blog.

What a month! We’ve released more than 40 amazing updates across Xero, made some pretty cool product announcements at Xerocon London, and got ready for the new Australian tax year. It’s been a busy month with lots of highlights, so read on to discover what’s new in Xero.

Global: Void or delete invoices on the mobile app [Product Idea]

Do you use the Xero Accounting app? Well, we have some great news for you! You can now void invoices that are awaiting payment (overdue or due) while on the go using the Xero Accounting app. This requested functionality will help you manage your sales more efficiently when you’re on your mobile device.

Global: Improved control and customisation of how you get paid [Product Idea]

To make it easier to manage online payment methods and help you customise how you get paid, we’re rolling out the ability to toggle payment methods on and off in your payment settings without leaving Xero. These changes will be complete this month, so if that’s something you requested via Product Ideas or something that you’ll find helpful, be sure to check it out.

Global: Automatically hide empty notes in report templates [Product Idea]

We’ve added more automation to report templates based on a product idea. Empty schedules are now automatically hidden to help accountants and bookkeepers streamline their processes by reducing extra clicks and manual tasks when preparing reports for their clients.

Global: Edit or adjust items from the product and services inventory list [Product Idea]

You can now edit and make adjustments to your items without leaving the product and services screen, making it quicker to keep your inventory list accurate and up to date.

Global: Loved features from classic invoicing, plus tools have been added to new invoicing [Product Idea]

More classic invoicing features are being rolled over into the new version. This includes a more detailed audit trail in history and notes, which we know is important as you make the switch from classic to new invoicing. You’re also able to address a single invoice to a contact group, and copy an invoice and its contact over to another draft invoice. You’ll also see some improvements to the way you email invoices, including a live, side-by-side preview that shows what your email will look like in real time, along with new CC: and BCC: options.

The preview is only available in the new version of invoicing, so make the switch now.

Australia: Changes to Xero Tax for tax time and BAS in Xero [Product Idea]

You asked and we listened. To help with streamlining BAS and automating payments, you can now easily create a draft bill or invoice directly from the BAS statement page once you’ve finalised or filed it for the period.

Do you need to find a specific statement from a particular tax year? No problem. You can now filter completed statements by tax year. And because being able to correct a ‘failed’ activity statement in Xero is helpful, we’ve also recently released the ability to revert failed statements to draft in Xero. Once you’ve made corrections you can re-lodge the statement to the ATO in Xero. Additionally, if your practice uses Xero Tax, you’ll be pleased to hear that we’ve recently released all of this year’s compliance changes, in line with the rules for the new tax year. Check out  2024 tax time changes, and lodgement changes for all the details. 

NZ: New GST filing [Product Idea]

New Zealand GST returns functionality has had a makeover. We’ve been able to develop improvements we know our customers have been wanting like widening the view, and being able to view the count of transactions into the new experience. You can now filter transactions, easily check which returns are due or overdue, and view late claims in the new ‘Late claims’ tab.

UK: Check out the key product announcements from Xerocon London 2024

At Xerocon London 2024, we announced a suite of product innovations to streamline key accounting tasks for UK small businesses and their advisors. The new payments features in Xero will help businesses get paid, and make payments, faster, while new tax and payroll features will enable UK accountants and bookkeepers to manage their clients’ compliance obligations seamlessly in Xero. Watch the  product innovation sessions from Xerocon.

UK: Updates to existing chart of accounts templates

We’ve optimised the chart of accounts templates codes for UK partnerships and sole traders to provide practices with a more consistent experience with reports.

• Enhanced R&D intensive support (ERIS) allows you to claim a higher rate of payable tax credit for R&D intensive companies with periods that either start from or straddle Tuesday 23 April. This is something we know our UK tax partners have been wanting to see.
• Merged scheme R&D expenditure credit (RDEC) is available to claim for any company with a period starting on or after Wednesday 24 April that is eligible for credits under this innovation scheme.

UK: Set custom  leave years in Xero Payroll [Product Idea]

It’s been a busy month in Xero Payroll and some great features have made their way to you. We’d heard from many of you using UK payroll that changing the date an employee’s leave accrues was important. So you can now select a custom leave year for leave to accrue at an employee level, reducing manual work and saving you time. In addition, you can now access historic RTI submissions, giving you greater transparency, and  the ability to self-serve.

UK: Add employee and organisation opening balances within the payroll switching wizard

Within the payroll switching wizard, you can now import employee opening balances from your latest FPS file and enter organisation opening balances to complete payroll setup. This supports an easy, accurate and efficient switch any time during a tax year. 

US: Manage W-9s within contacts

Sending, requesting, and completing W-9s is a task you can do all year round to save yourself time during the busy season. To streamline this process, we’ve added a new tax details section into contacts where you can send and request W-9s and input the information needed for 1099 compliance, making your 1099 reporting experience more seamless.

US: Export your items list and update Avalara sales tax code in bulk [Product Idea]

We appreciate that updating sales tax codes for your products and services took up a lot of time. If you use the Xero integration with Avalara for US sales tax, you can now update your sales tax codes for your inventory items in bulk. You can also export and import your items in a CSV with a new column for sales tax codes, helping you keep your inventory list updated with correct tax information, faster. Learn more about importing inventory items in Xero Central. 

US: New default settings for reports

It’s now easier for you to set up and use reports in Xero with updates to the default settings that better suit your accounting and reporting needs. 

These are just some of the updates that have rolled out in Xero this last month. For a full list of what’s new this July, check out the release notes in Xero Central.

The post What’s New In Xero – July 2024 appeared first on Xero Blog.

We’re thrilled to announce the return of the Xero Beautiful Business Fund for 2024. With a prize pool of over NZ$750,000, the Xero Beautiful Business Fund is back to support small businesses and non-profits in seven countries with their growth plans and help drive future success. 

Small businesses are driven by dedicated and passionate individuals who work hard to contribute to their communities and their local economies. The Xero Beautiful Business Fund is one way that we can provide meaningful support to our small business customers so they can fulfill their dreams or take the next big step with confidence. 

How to enter

Entries for the Xero Beautiful Business Fund are officially open to Xero small business customers in Australia, Canada (excluding Quebec), New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa, United Kingdom and the United States.

Entrants need to complete an online form, and submit a 90-second video at the competition website, pitching their plans for the funding and their business goals. Entrants can apply for as many categories as they like (see below). The entry period closes on 27 August 2024 at 5pm NZT.

What’s up for grabs

The total prize pool of more than NZ$750,000 will be shared among 28 winners. Four winners from each country (one in each category) will be determined by local judging panels, and each will receive NZ$20,000. Four of the country winners will then be selected as global winners by a global judging panel and each will receive an additional NZ$50,000.  

Entry categories

We recognise that every small business is unique, with their own set of challenges and opportunities. That’s why the Xero Beautiful Business Fund offers four funding categories. Here are the details of each, as well as the submitted pitch videos of the 2023 global winners for some inspiration:

Innovating for environmental sustainability

For a small business or non-profit that wants to take the next step in their environmental sustainability journey by minimising their own environmental impact, enhancing the sustainability of current products or services, or developing new environmentally friendly products or services.

Trailblazing with technology

For a small business or non profit that has a future-focus mindset and is seeking to innovate. These organisations want to set the pace and lead the charge using new and emerging technologies.

Strengthening community connection

For a small business or non-profit that has a mission or purpose rooted in serving their communities and making a positive impact. It could be to make a difference in the community they serve, support underserved or marginalised groups, or contribute to social good through innovative ideas or solutions.

Upskilling for the future

For a small business or non-profit that wants to overcome a skills gap, either through upskilling themselves or their employees. These organisations see a path forward with greater access to training and professional development.

Join us in celebrating small businesses

The Xero Beautiful Business Fund is more than just a financial award; it’s a testament to the incredible work that small businesses do every day. We launched the Xero Beautiful Business Fund last year on 6 July 2023 to coincide with Xero Day, which is the anniversary of Xero becoming a registered company. With Xero marking its 18th anniversary this year, the Xero Beautiful Business Fund serves as a way to celebrate small businesses and help them achieve their dreams.

We’re proud to support our customers on their journey, and we can’t wait to see the amazing things they achieve. Stay tuned for more information on the Xero Beautiful Business Fund. Over the coming weeks we’ll be sharing stories from last years’ winners right here on the Xero blog.

For full entry criteria, details on how to apply and 2023 winner profiles, please visit the Xero Beautiful Business Fund web page. Submissions close on 27 August 2024 at 5pm NZT and winners will be announced at the end of October 2024.

The post The Xero Beautiful Business Fund is back for 2024 appeared first on Xero Blog.