Jeff Phillips, CEO of recruiting site Accountingfly, gave us some interesting stats, including the fact that 70% of those who leave public accounting cite lack of work-life balance as the top reason. Specifically, the drop off in women advancing within firms is happening between senior manager (47% women) and partner (23% women). Joanne Cleaver, who spoke later in the day, gave us some figures from the Accounting MOVE Project, a project that’s using benchmarking data to quantify to firms how well they’re doing in terms of advancing women in the profession. As an example, Rod did a live demo of a new Facebook Messenger bot that allows users to interact with their accounting data via chat using natural language. It means, for example, that Xero will one day be able to code 9 out of 10 transactions automatically with 99% accuracy. For videos, photos, and stories, visit the Xerocon San Francisco homepage. Xero’s also compiled a selection of top #xerocon tweetsand a photo album on Flickr.
The evangelical accountant experience is definitely something that was imported from down under. It started in the 80’s and 90’s with the likes of the “Accountant’s Boot Camp”, and has now taken root in various forms. The influence can be seen in events such as AWeb’s very own Practice Excellence Awards, which this year officially exhalted Paul Dunn as its godfather in chief.
Conscious Accounting
I sincerely hope we can catch up quickly because this stuff is really magical. I go to these conferences and sincerely feel like Xero has come to visit us from the future. I think the primary reason Xero hasn’t been adopted as quickly in the US as many hoped and anticipated is that its vision is so far ahead of the US market.
I have seen posts from others who seem to indicate that its a good event and worth going to. Following on from Xerocon South 2016 a powerhouse crew from Brisbane came together to discuss and dissect the lessons learnt from this conference. The panel discussion and the audience q and a was recorded and will be of interest to attendees and non-attendees alike. If you did attend Xerocon – it reminds you of some of the areas you need to revisit and explore. If you didn’t attend Xerocon – Tracey, Cassandra and Justin have done the hard work for you and bring their own twist to the lessons, highlights and outcomes that Xerocon had for them. Join Dandapani for an 8-day gathering of like-minded souls from around the world to immerse themselves in the authentic study, practice and experience of meditation in the lush, gorgeous tropical surroundings of Kerala, India. You will learn an ancient Hindu way of meditation – a simple, practical and systematic process of calming the senses, and diving deep within oneself to experience the divine within you.
The evening event at Xero is the best party of year in my opinion but of course you don`t have to come along. However, part of Xero’s aims as I understand it, is to great a strong group of Xero partners who share ideas and work together, particularly through the myriad of add-ons available. You will only get the benefit of this culture if you take the time to meet and get to know other Xero partners and the evening event is the perfect setting for this as well as obviously the breaks between daytime sessions too. However, Xerocon is learning about technology that will help your clients. It will give you access to software which will allow your clients to manage their businesses better and make them more efficient. In my opinion, this is why Xerocon is so different from the other conferences. Chartered Accountant Tracey Newman is the Director of Cloud Counting a small accounting practice based in Brisbane.
Xerocon Australia 2014
Xero should look after their current account partners and make sure they are happy as these are the people they need on board to grow their business and reach their target as being the largest accounts package used in the UK. Xerocon Australia 2014 is done and dusted – and what a huge success it was! 1300 people and 83 exhibitors attended the accounting conference in Sydney to get the latest news from the world of cloud accounting. We’ll also be sharing some exciting announcements around product functionality and key partnerships that you won’t want to miss. Of course, you can also catch the farming update, ‘Xero in on your farming clients’, on Day 2 of the conference, with an update on the role that Xero and Figured are playing in the agri financial web in Australia and New Zealand. Day 2’s lineup includes “The Payment Olympics,” presented by PayPal’s Brian McDonnell.
As a Bookkeeper rather than Accountant I found #xerocon a valuable experience. It’s amazing to see new technology and a good product revolutionise an industry. Cheers to the modern business (cos there’s alot of non accountants riding this wave too). Xerocon brought together like minded accountants and showed us the exciting future of the Xero roadmap. For a room full of accountants Friday and Saturday nights were actually big parties. It was nice to meet some of the pioneers in our industry and share our experiences. Bring on #xerocon 2012 – I’ll be back with my paperwork angels this time.
This allowed us to focus all our resources training on best practices in Xero. All our accounting team members are mandatorily Xero certified. Accepting the award now, on behalf of the Futurebooks team, is a validation of the investment we have made towards being Xero brand evangelists in this part of the world and the trust we have in the people behind Xero. Rest assured, it wasn’t—even if the words “epic” and “cloud accounting” rarely appear together. But the true fact is, we’re going to be setting up shop at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre this week during the three day event, and we couldn’t be more thrilled. Since Kounta’s inception, we envisioned it as the hub of a business software ecosystem, and Xero was one of the first apps we integrated with. We saw from the beginning that a POS is exponentially more valuable when it plays nicely with third party accounting apps—and partnering with Xero made all too much sense.
Coding and allocation time is reduced, but it doesn’t go away. Xero is looking to massively reduce the areas for error the business owner has. Xero looked at what was actually recoded—e.g., most have been recoded from sales and general expenses. From this information Xero can adjust what options are listed in drop-down menus. They are applying machine learning to accounting now, to make it easier for business owners to do their thing and advisors to do theirs, rather than owners trying to be bookkeepers with no training.
I think the majority of us reserved english accountants find it all rather vulgar and distasteful, and for many of the rest it is simply that they cannot see any value recouped for the money that would be spent. Attendees only pay an amount equivalent to value they have gained out of the conference? This will show Xero thinks in a different way and it is so damn cool. I have seen people though who do properly gush about it and now enjoy doing their bookkeeping whereas they saw it as a chore before.
Xero continue to evolve the product to automate as much as possible for the business owner. Business financial information is easier to access to allow the business owner to make better business decisions. The trust stack – trust the idea / concept, then trust the platform then trust the other user. Being unwilling to take the trust leap and try something new. The “blockchain” is an enormous trust leap that will transform the world. A trust leap occurs when we take a risk to do something previously unknown or engage in some way with the unknown, e.g., being willing to buy from an unknown person selling on eBay. The force that gets us from the known to the unknown is trust.
Accountingweb Events
Nearly five thousand people attending from around the globe with 1,700 of them being accountants – can life get more exciting? It was somewhat of a sensory overload across four days and five evenings with a lot of insights and takeaways on the current direction of QuickBooks Online.
- Xero Product Specialist Tim Wright then outlined how this suite of solutions will come together for firms who plan to migrate in time for the new financial year.
- Xero and PayPal are teaming up to create a tighter integration.
- Shaun Burke, Sales Director for Asia, has provided us with data and insights on client retainability and has been a consistent anchor for two years.
- We dissect how accountants can leverage artificial intelligence, machine learning, and big data.
Later on that day, author Rachel Botsman will present her own session, “The Currency of the New Economy is Trust,” which will focus on how mobile apps help foster more intimacy between people and businesses. The human element of business is something we never discount, and our goal has always been for Kounta to enable business owners to foster loyal relationships with their customers.
Highlights From Xerocon San Francisco
Meeting Rod Drury for the first time at Xerocon Auckland in February 2015 was personally impactful for me. His character resonates with what the software is – software for people. It is a software that adds value to businesses, and that aligns with who Rod is as a person. He is not just the CEO of a big brand; he explains how what he’s doing brings value to his accounting partners. This year, the annual conference hosted by online accounting giant, Xero, is being held in Brisbane on the 8-9 September.
The unknown creates uncertainty which is destabilising for some people. Some are more comfortable with the trusting the unknown than others. Technology allows us to trust individuals we might never have been introduced to prior to the current technology. E.g., Airbnb or Uber could not exist without global online technology. Collaborative consumption is a concept that is changing our culture.
This has been true with Johnny MacAvoy, our first Xero account manager six years ago, now Head of Sales at Practice Ignition, and with Sam Thing, our current Account Manager. The Xero Asia team has been fantastic and provided us with constant support. Questions such as, “What have been your pain points in the past and how can we help? ” and the one-on-one approach he has taken on how they can help us grow as a business add a whole new depth to our partnership with Xero. Shaun Burke, Sales Director for Asia, has provided us with data and insights on client retainability and has been a consistent anchor for two years. They also act as a bridge connecting us to the right team members overseas, whether it be in marketing, learning or support.
I went to IrisWorld in September 2015 which was pitched about right. It was a free one day event, but at the same time slick and professional. Xero growth going forward is dependent on keeping partners on side as if they leave they will take their clients with them. If I decided to move to another provider tomorrow then i believe over 90% of our current clients using Xero would likely be happy to move as well. Most clients take our advice as to what is best for them as we are the experts. The main event is for two days, although there is a drinks reception on the evening before Day 1. I think that there might be a few optional events such a certification training on that day as well but they aren’t part of the conference.
For accounting firms, Xero’s presence in the market provides credibility with the local business owners. It gives entrepreneurs peace of mind that the software has a team working in the local market. Helping small businesses get paid faster through initiatives such as its partnership with PayPal and the link to ApplePay. I was fortunate to be the guest of Intuit again this year at the annual QuickBooks Connect conference in San Jose, California at the end of October.
Experience The Best Bits And Dive Into Xerocon In Practice
So rather than looking for harmony, encourage all of your team members to treat each other with respect. No Triangles is the practise of only having direct conversations. If you have an issue with “John” and you discuss it with “Anna” you have created a ‘triangle’ as there are now three people involved. The term ‘no triangle’s means that you would discuss the issue directly with John. Rachael Robertson led the Australian expedition to Davis Station, Antarctica – the second female to lead a team at the Station and the youngest ever leader.
