1. The modern practice: Four software mistakes to avoid
Jackeline Velez, Senior Account Manager Houston
Beautiful accounting software

2. Jackeline Velez Beautiful accounting software
Senior Account Manager, Houston
Beautiful accounting software

3. practices participated
Xero Partner Benchmarking Series
ANIMATION HAPPENS AUTOMATICALLY AFTER TRANSITION
lose the other numbers add a star or Xero dot for the locations
5500
practices participated

4. 90% of Xero subscribers are connected to an advisor
Connecting equals success
23% net profit increase when a business is connected to an accountant
Xero’s mmission is so to
Small businesses
accountants
90% of Xero subscribers are connected to an advisor

5. NURY SAENZ – H&R Block Franchisee, Enrolled Agent
“Adding advocacy to my practice has had a big impact on client retention…and, I’m getting paid for the value of my knowledge. Advisory services is the true definition of value: where knowledge meets technology.”
NURY SAENZ – H&R Block Franchisee, Enrolled Agent

6. “Things like royalties can get really complicated for musicians
“Things like royalties can get really complicated for musicians. I like to be able to take a really complex problem and to be able to boil it down, and explain it to the client so they understand it - and they’re able to make good business decisions based on that.”
TATE HENSHAW - Xero Gold Partner

7. “I would rather face root canal surgery with no anesthetic than do bank reconciliations…”
DEVAN SABARATNAM

8. Accountants have learned through experience that the easy and intuitive choice is very often the wrong choice

9. Mistake one:
We will try online with a couple of clients, then decide if online works for us

10. Impact on revenue growth
10.6%
8.3%
13.4%
15.1%
4.8%
0-5
6-35
36-99
300+
clients online

11. small businesses switched accountants in 2017
ANIMATION AUTOMATICALLY HAPPENS AFTER TRANSITION
390,000 in 2017 full year
390,000
small businesses switched accountants in 2017

12. Number one reason clients leave:
We signed on with an accountant who is an expert with online accounting and apps, and terminated our old accountant because they had fallen behind on technology.

13. Cost of not moving clients online
Regretted client terminations
9-7% 3%
1.1%
New clients
9.8
28.5
54.9
Revenue growth
4.8%
10.6%
15.1%
Pay raises
0.6%
5.5%
2.8%

14. Mistake two:
The talk about advisory services is over-hyped

15. Full advisory services
What is the opportunity?
ANIMATION STARTS ON CLICK
$6450
Full advisory services
Basic services
$1875

16. Average revenue per client
+$1800
$6450
ANIMATION WILL HAPPEN AFTER TRANSITION WITH A 2 sec DELAY BETWEEN EACH COLUMN
Virtual CFO
+$1250
Payroll
+$1525
Full Advisory & Compliance
Bookkeeping
$1875
Accountancy
$1875
$3400
$4650
$6450
$6450

17. Mistake three:
Focusing first on easy to implement software versus strategic foundational software

18. The not-so-good firms start with ‘popular’ apps that avoid touching their core systems
Project tracking
Realtime messaging
Task tracking
CRM
Social marketing

19. The best performing accounting firms start with practice apps that deliver efficiencies
Automated data extraction
Online practice management
Online compliance workflow
Automated payables
Automated client comms
Financial analysis and forecasting

20. Mistake four:
We let our clients choose and therefore support many online platforms

21. Multiple systems escalate costs

22. ANIMATION STARTS AFTER TRANSITION, CLICKING IS REQUIRED TO GO THROUGH SPEECH BUBBLES
I keep my receipts in shoeboxes
I use spreadsheets to do my figures
I use a desktop accounting platform
I like using invoicing apps
I prefer online accounting

23. Mistake Four: The best performing firms define their client engagement models and
then fit clients to their design
Innovators
Early adopters
Early majority
Early majority
Late majority
Laggards

24. Four mistakes Four solutions Stick to desktop, try 3 clients
Be strategic, ensure scale
Stay with compliance for now
Build a plan, it takes time
Adopting low hanging fruit
Tackle the core functional apps first
Supporting everything
Stick to 3, max

25. Single ledger, data & docs
Different by design
Born in the cloud, seamless app integration, unlimited users, customized reporting
Xero
Xero HQ
Single ledger, data & docs
Connected apps
Xero HQ apps

26. Firms are moving online quickly
ANIMATION STARTS ON CLICK
2017
2015
Optional
Essential
2019

27. Actions It’s easy to start Join the Xero community.
We will share the best way to get started.
It’s easy to start
Let Xero help, call us anytime…

28. Yes, lets have a slide for Q&A.
Questions

29. xero.com/us/industry-report