Data Plumbing for Accounting Firms

Hi, I’m Scott.

I work in both the Data and Common Ledger’s Engineering Teams.  For me, it’s is a super exciting time to be working in the accounting space in Australasia, and especially in the data sphere.

A little bit of background - my interests are travel, football and sport in general. I’ve been watching and playing football for as long as I can remember. I still play to this day for my local club, and enjoy the continued challenge of improving my game, season after season.

I’ve recently returned to New Zealand after several years in Europe and Asia, working and travelling with my girlfriend. During our travels we met inspiring people, saw spectacular sights and found ourselves in all sorts of interesting and varied work which turned out to be and equally enjoyable part of our time abroad.

I decided that I had a passion for data during my travels, when I found myself setting up algorithms in Microsoft Excel to predict football results. When I returned to Wellington, I became obsessed about databases and programming languages, starting with SQL and Python. I began an internship with Common Ledger while I developed these skills, and the rest is history.

My roles at Common Ledger are Data Scientist and Junior Developer. My specialty areas are developing and interpreting data collection systems to optimise project efficiency.

Since joining the team I have been involved in several significant data projects, interpreting and analysing results to identify patterns and trends and add value to clients. Recently, I have also started working more closely with the Engineering team, working in the programming language PHP to do support and a little development. 

We’re thrilled to be covered by our friends at Staples Rodway in their national publication.  

Background

Staples Rodway is one of New Zealand’s most trusted Chartered Accountancy firms.  They take the changing business environment seriously, for their clients and themselves.  Recently they launched their cloud offering, Real-Time “combining the latest technology with their tradition of integrity”. 

They are accountants focussed on efficiency, automation and using financial data to add value. Simply put, they are a firm hell bent on helping Kiwi companies succeed.

They are the type of firm we absolutely love working with. 

The Numbers  

We’re proud to be covered in the Staples Rodway summer Numbers Magazine edition.  

Read below to learn a bit more about our journey and how we see the accounting industry moving and shifting with our CEO Carlos Chambers.  

Read the article here 

We are serious about data.  So serious that after working closely with one of our customers Lisa from Moore Stephens Markhams we realised we needed to implement a Data Bill of Rights. 

Just like any custodian of data we have obligations which we take seriously.  These obligations spring from principles we have established from working not only with Lisa but with many more of you.  

The Principles  

1  Integrity  The data that we work with will be of the highest integrity when it reaches you.  The definition of “data integrity” that we choose is "maintaining and assuring the accuracy and consistency of data over its entire life-cycle".

2  Bulletproof  Equally we believe that our systems and processes makes that data as Bulletproof as possible - rock solid and highly resistant to failure.

3  Trusted  We will provide you with data you can rely on, day in and day out.  We understand that data is vital to any business - vital to informing operating performance and providing accountants with insights.  

4  Secure  We endeavour to use the safest methods in all of our interactions with data - what’s more we are loud and proud about our security practices.  You can read more here: http://www.commonledger.com/security/

5  Custodianship  Data is the historical record that informs the future and we are the careful custodians of that record.  As a custodian, we will be open and honest with you about anything anything related to your data.

6  Speed  We are in the business of providing you efficient, timely and accurate data.  We will strive to ensure we get you your data as quickly as possible.  But we won’t compromise any of the other principles just to go faster.

7  Made for you  This charter is yours - we want to hear your feedback and what you want and expect from us.

We are always working hard to stick to these principles

We know that as data moves from point to point it is important to have the necessary fail safes in place.  We work tirelessly around the clock making sure that both you and your clients are confident in the information work with every day.

Most importantly, Lisa is happy.  

“I’m thrilled Common Ledger have adopted the idea of a Data Bill of Rights.  As an accountant and trusted business advisor, data is the fundamental building block of our business and our relationship with the client.  We know we can trust Common Ledger and the team.”

- Lisa Hammington

Brian McMillan is one of our favourite customers and we love sharing happy customer stories.

Remember that film with Nicolas Cage, where he would steal cars in under a minute?

In the old days before Bulletproof Automation, Brian and his team would spend time manually inputting client data into their GL system, Reckon’s APS. 

Typically it would take up to 60 minutes per client each year.  If they were Nick Cage, they would surely be locked up?

Thankfully, according to Brian those days are now gone.

“It took me less than 60 seconds to get the data across from Xero.  Very happy with that…..and very quick to do!"

We’re delighted to give Brian and the Switch Accounting team their very own Gone in 60 seconds experience, for every client, no matter the accounting software.

Get back out on that mountain bike Brian - perhaps you and the family might relive a classic 15 year old action film?

Here’s how Brian and the team did it. 

SEIVA isn’t your average accounting firm. From business planning and strategy advice for start-ups, to wealth management for when those businesses grow into successful enterprises, it’s all about the relationship from beginning to end.

Forget the stuffy offices and old-school practitioners. Hello New York loft-style workspace, a focus on happy team members and a healthy work-life balance. As a Director of SEIVA, Darko shares his love for sport and importantly, family with his colleagues.

Technology plays a big role for the SEIVA team with its 12 vibrant members focussed on pushing the envelope to deliver a superior service for its clients, bringing traditional methods into the now.

When SEIVA made the decision to expand and offer a complete advisory service to all of their clients, it was clear that becoming a fully automated business was the key to achieving this ambitious goal.

SEIVA’s vision is to “transform the lives of business owners to provide the freedom they deserve.” In line with this came the Common Ledger. The ease with which it allowed SEIVA to interact with clients and view their data made the choice a simple one. Adopting a Bulletproof Automation of their internal processes meant that they can now access and transfer every client’s data to SEIVA’s Xero Ledger, regardless of the software that the client uses. This has resulted in a truly integrated process that delivers a top-notch service to each and every client.

A cohesive people-fit between SEIVA and the Common Ledger team is an important driver for Darko, with a shared passion for innovation and embracing new technology.

Common Ledger has enabled SEIVA to achieve their objective of working with clients a lot more closely, guiding them to achieve financial and personal goals.

Our Australia Team have been busy talking to a good number of the 600 accountants at Xerocon Melbourne.  We have uncovered some important findings for delegates and the wider industry.

Learn where accountants themselves see themselves on the compliance automation journey and becoming an Accountant of the Future. 

Tell us what you think.

Meet Brian, a typical Kiwi accountant. Brian is married with two young children and he loves mountain biking. Brian started his Dunedin firm 11 years ago and has grown it from nothing to 500 clients, mainly small businesses in the Dunedin region. Brian’s firm did lots of compliance for clients and a little advisory work when time allowed. Brian wanted to make a change—he knew his firm was doing a good job but he also wanted to offer his clients more.

And Brian wanted more too. One day he worked out that he was doing 55 per cent of his firm’s compliance work—a huge load for the senior partner. To keep on top of things, he’d been working evenings and weekends for 11 years. He missed time with his family. He wanted to get out on his mountain bike and he wanted his Sunday nights back. Brian decided to make a change, and he started with his firm.

Brian’s decision to change is transforming Switch into an accounting firm of the future.

“I got started with Common Ledger and after three days, big progress was already being made at Switch. After 11 years of working Sunday nights, three days was no time at all.”

Brian and the team at Switch have more time to work on the stuff that matters. Compliance is quicker and more efficient and they can focus on adding value to their clients’ businesses. And the best thing for Brian is that he has his Sunday nights back. He’s spending more time with the family and even getting out on his mountain bike.

Switch Accounting was successful and growing but Brian realised his business model wasn’t sustainable. To become an accounting firm of the future, Brian knew he had to make changes, but he wasn’t sure where to start.

Trevor and Chris are a father and son who have a close relationship. They’re both accountants with a strong vision about developing successful and valuable relationships by being genuine business partners to their clients. Trevor and Chris shared a dream – they wanted to own an accounting firm together. Blood is thicker than water after all. They searched hard and eventually bought a business – Nudge Accounting. Then they got to work.

Trevor and Chris immediately hit challenges. The existing client base was not structured to support value-added services and the firm was steeped in low-value compliance work with a long tail of unprofitable clients.

“We had a problem on our hands – we started offering our value-added services but most of our clients weren’t interested. It was messy.”

Trevor and Chris faced a major obstacle in realising their dream. They had to shift from being a compliance-focused firm with clients on low price points to one that streamlines its compliance for a client base which values Nudge as a business partner and is willing to pay for that service.

Trevor and Chris weren’t going to let the challenge come between them and their dream. They thought hard about their vision for Nudge and developed a new client-centric value proposition, effectively “unlocking the power of the numbers”. They reviewed their existing customer base and communicated the new proposition, while increasing their prices to reflect the greater value being offered by Nudge.

They restructured their firm, using Common Ledger to streamline their compliance services. They harnessed the data they were able to gather to provide customised reports to clients.

Trevor and Chris now have the data they need to provide valuable advice to their clients and spend more time than ever before in front of their clients.

In addition to the benefits of having a single, automated compliance workflow, the Nudge team is able to offer more value – Nudge accountants spend more time thinking for their clients and less time doing. Nudge’s growing client base is increasingly high value with a higher revenue opportunity.

Nudge is humming.

“We see ourselves as genuine business partners for each of our clients – we’re their biggest supporters. We’re realising our dream of building and owning a profitable accounting firm as father and son, one which is built on partnerships with our clients.”

“I see our team at Nudge as accountants of the future – we are client focussed and leveraging technology – ultimately we are a team of genuine business partners adding true value to our clients.”

For full infographic visit http://www.commonledger.com/ipsos-research/

Accountants live in a rapidly-evolving environment with a wealth of new software and technology available to them to improve efficiency.  At the same time, their clients are increasingly looking to accountants for guidance and advice as they also navigate a fast-changing world.

“Continuously assessing and improving our strategic advice services is a high priority for us. We realised early on that this is increasingly what clients are demanding and are focused on understanding our clients and their businesses,” Trevor Schmitt – online accounting firm Nudge

Leading global research company Ipsos Marketing has conducted a market study on behalf of Common Ledger which has uncovered valuable insights for the Australasian accounting industry.

You talked and we continue to listen.  When we rolled out the June enhancements to the mapping function in Common Ledger, we promised not to stop there, and we haven’t.

We continue to execute on our goal of simplifying accountants’ lives as we roll out new improvements to make our best in class mapping even more elegantly simple.

Here are what we have released:

1) Grouping account codes - account lists are now ordered according to revenues, cost of sales, expenses, assets, liabilities and equity

2) See the accounts that are relevant - account mapping options are for like account types (asset to asset; liability to liability etc)

3) Not sure what is in an account code? - Now you can have a peek at the transactions for the each of the client accounts.

4) Using a desktop General Ledger tool?

​Great news, we have added the ability to add your own accounts in Common Ledger or to use one of our account templates. ​You now have the freedom to add or remove any accounts that you like. No more painful .csv uploads.

Mapping is faster and simpler than ever before.  Log in to Common Ledger to see the changes in action.

The Common Ledger small businesses survey has uncovered some fascinating findings about what they want from accountants.  We want to understand what businesses both expect and receive from their accountants.  While still early days, some of the responses make for an interesting read.

Many of the small businesses surveyed feel that reporting happens with just a push of a button. There is no value in reporting and they want to see more from the experts - accountants.

Here is some of the data:

“Reporting is unimportant. We know that stuff already - we send the reports to the accountant anyway.  What we really need is for them [the accountant] to contact us throughout the year, to make sure we are not spending money that we don’t need to.”

“What we want and need from our accountant is the knowledge that we do not already have.  It’s the changes to tax or to depreciation that they need to help us with.“

“It's not about the reports, you can do those online.  It's about knowing the ins and outs of business and the pitfalls and loopholes, when it comes to taxes, things are always changing, it's hard to keep up to scratch.”

We will publish the full results once we have completed the results.

Any accountant will tell you that life should be simple but sadly, in most cases it is anything but.

To help resolve this, ‘simplify’ has become a mantra at Common Ledger HQ.  When our Hero firms asked for it we listened.

Welcome to the new look account mapping:

Suggestive mapping - we do the heavy lifting for you with our machine learning.  Common Ledger will automatically suggest account codes for you.

Work on what matters - the new look mapping means you only have to map accounts that have transactions against them

More information - now you can easily see what account types your client account codes are.

We are not stopping here, and are constantly looking for ways to simplify the Common Ledger experience.  More enhancements are in the pipeline and we will update you as these are released.

Startups are all about constant change - some of that change is external, and some is internal.  This month marks some internal changes at Common Ledger that will put us in a great position for our next stage of growth.

Drew Broadley has decided the time has come for him to depart the business.  Drew is leaving for personal development and financial security reasons and we all wish him well in his future endeavours.  We have always had succession planning as an integral part of our business plan and are well positioned to manage this change without disruption.

We also have some exciting news on the talent acquisition front.

We are happy to let you know that Richard Rowley is joining the engineering team.  A senior Software Engineer and API expert, Richard has joined us from Xero where he has been an integral part of the engineering team.  Richard built the TradeMe API and has been working on the Xero API for the last few years.  We are thrilled to welcome him aboard, both for his technical ability and experience and to continue growing our close relationship with Xero.

Secondly, the Common Ledger board of directors has appointed co-founder Carlos Chambers as CEO.  As the business moves into its next phase of growth in New Zealand and Australia the board decided it was the right time to appoint a CEO and that Carlos had the required skills.  He has the full support of co-founders and the wider team.  Carlos has been tasked with developing the ongoing strategy and reconfiguring the executive team in line with that strategy.

Melbourne Accountants, you can be Heroes too 

Our vision is to empower you to operate at the very forefront of the industry, utilising technology to improve the compliance process and ultimately re-imagine and truly understand the advisory function.  

The Hero Programme is designed to achieve this vision by enabling your firm to unlock this value for all clients through the integration of Common Ledger.

After seeing our New Zealand Heroes accelerating ahead of the competition, the accountants of Melbourne put their collective bargaining powers together and asked to be turned into Heroes.  

So, we did what any great lover of accountants would do - we decided to give those accountants their own dedicated Hero Programme launching this May.

But quick!  Speed is of the essence, with only a few slots left for those would be Melbourne Heroes.

Do you know an Aussie accountant who deserves to be made a Hero of the accounting industry?  

Register their interest here and let them know that their country needs them and it’s time to suit up.

You are about to become a Hero of the accounting industry!

We know that the compliance process has been deeply frustrating for you and at times, downright painful.  We are pretty sure that you don't want to be spending your valuable time dealing with manual processes, typing numbers into your GL system or trying to get the right data file from clients.  

Then there is a another issue, where you and your clients have a diverse set of technology needs and that there is no "one size fits all" solution.  

Our cloud-based product allows both freedom of choice and a single process that provides accountants ongoing access to their client financial data regardless of the accounting software the client or accountant use.

Our vision is to empower you to operate at the very forefront of the industry, utilising technology to improve the compliance process and ultimately re-imagine and truly understand the advisory function.  

The Hero Programme is designed to achieve this vision by enabling your firm to unlock this value for all clients through the integration of Common Ledger.

[Enter Your Name here] get ready to suit up.

Accountants have a dilemma.  

How do they remain relevant when struggling with the pace of technology change and fulfilling the long-standing promise of being a trusted advisor?

The plethora of software choices mean accountants are fighting to gain efficiency and improved productivity over the compliance function.  Throw in an increasing need for value-added advisory services and accountants are being thrown into a state of inertia.  As the world evolves at an ever increasing pace, accountants are struggling to keep up.  It’s clear that they need to keep up - for their own and their clients’ sake.

Software development and adoption is speeding up

Accountants are facing a wave of new technology enabling them to better collaborate with their clients.  We see software vendors investing large amounts of capital and developing innovative software in order to outdo one another and get ahead of the pack.  

Clients face changes too.  They now have a greater choice over the accounting software they use - both cloud and the traditional desktop, to manage their businesses.  This is great for them.  Accountants on the other hand are reeling from the increased pain of managing the compliance and financial statement preparation process because of their clients‘ technology decisions.  

As an example, for any of the 50 software packages available in Australasia, accountants must learn to operate, manage and extract the financial data from each of those 50 packages.  What does this mean for the accountant?  Many processes, lots of time and plenty of manual complexity.

The path to deeper relationships with your client

On the other side of the coin, the industry is pushing accountants to become advisory focused and encouraging deeper client relationships beyond compliance.  Client and economic factors further reinforce the need for a shift.  As businesses continue to operate in a landscape of diminished barriers to entry, accountants need to be well versed in the industries and markets where their clients are doing business.

The accepted view is that greater advisory is the way forward in order for advisors to remain relevant.  The question is, what does this mean in today's world?  More importantly, how do accountants go about it?

Which side of the fence do you sit on?

Technology?  Or advisory?  Or both?  It seems to us that both of these are stopping accounting firms from changing their business model to remain relevant in the unfolding new global economy.

We want to know what you think.  

Do accountant’s have a dilemma?  Does the business model need changing?  Is technology an enabler to improved service?  What more do accountants need to better serve their clients?  What does it mean to be an advisor in this day and age?

We want to hear from those of you who live with these choices day in and day out, working with clients at the coal face and delivering solutions to help them grow their businesses.

Tell us what you think about the Accountant’s Dilemma.

The evolution starts here

Over the next 12 weeks we are publishing a series of blog posts presenting the views of accountants and other influencers on the Accountant’s Dilemma and Common Ledger powering the heroes of the accounting industry - the Accountants.

Hi, I’m Matt and I love travel, programming and beer.  I had travelled to 40 countries before I turned 30 and I would love to hit 50 by age 40.  Why?  I like to think of myself as a lifelong learner who loves experiencing new cultures, their sights and sounds and of course good food and beer.

I’m also a new and proud dad to Ruby - she’s not named after the programming language, and if we have a son he won't be called PHP (the language we write code in at Common Ledger).  While having a young family means there is less time for travel it still leaves plenty of time for programming and beer. 

It’s taken me slightly by surprise but recently I’ve found my way into software for the accounting world and am developing a love for this too.  

I’ve worked at both startups and large corporates gaining valuable experience but have discovered I prefer the startup world.  What motivates me?  I’m engaged and activated by the exciting problems, pressures and challenges that startups face.  I’m reluctant to be pigeon holed into very specific roles or job descriptions - startups give me the ability to have responsibilities and add value across multiple disciplines.

One day a friend mentioned Common Ledger to me, as an exciting growth business in the accounting space.  I took a look on Twitter and saw there was a programming challenge out for a PHP role they were hiring for.  I wasn’t looking for a job but I wasn’t going to let a challenge pass me by.  

I succeeded - one email conversation lead to another and before I knew it I was contemplating a move to Wellington and lining up a house to buy, something we never could have done in Auckland with the crazy house prices.  I never thought I would find a job through Twitter.

An added benefit was Common Ledger’s head office and product team was in Wellington.  My family and I had been thinking about moving down, to be closer to family and friends, Common Ledger was an amazing opportunity with perfect timing.

I was convinced Common Ledger was a good idea - the founders and team are a great bunch.  Most importantly, I was impressed with the way they operated and the vision they had.

I have an Aunty who is an accountant, so my own accounts have always been "handled" for me but I had always wanted to understand accounting better.  What’s more, the accounting software ecosphere is an extremely exciting place right now.  The pain we are addressing is incredibly deep and the timing is perfect for what we are trying to achieve.  There is never going to be a one size fits all accounting software solution for everyone so what we are doing will become increasingly important.  New players will come and go and our agnostic approach, connecting them all means accountants can focus on their core job - doing great work and giving valuable advice to their clients.  Ours is an insanely hard problem to solve in some aspects - but I love a good challenge.

It’s powerful and exciting when I explain our vision to accountants, and how Common Ledger will improve their business and they just "get it".  Their eyes light up - they can instantly see how our software makes their lives easier and empowers them as advisors.