XU Biweekly - Issue 62 - 26 August 2023

XU XU

Biweekly

Xero’s flagship partner event returns to the U.S. next year

XEROCON NASHVILLE WILL BE HELD AT THE MUSIC CITY CENTER AUGUST 14-15, 2024.

Xero, the global small business platform, today announced that Xerocon will return to the US and be held in Nashville, from August 14-15, 2024. Affectionately nicknamed as “Coachella for accountants,” the event will be hosted at the Music City Center.

It will provide Xero’s community of accountants and bookkeepers from across the U.S., Canada and beyond the chance to connect.

Xerocon is one of the world’s most inspiring and innovative in-person events for cloud accounting leaders. Accountants, bookkeepers and app partners gather for an exciting blend of industry insights, inspiring speakers

XERO ANNOUNCES ASHLEY GRECH AS NEW CHIEF REVENUE OFFICER

and networking with a community of forward-thinking peers. It’s also an opportunity for attendees to gain expert insight into ways to help save time, grow their business and have a greater impact on their clients’ success.

Past Xerocon speakers have included Indra K. Nooyi, former CEO of Pepsico and Kristine Lilly, former American soccer champion.

This week, Xero hosted its latest Xerocon in Sydney. This will be followed by London in June 2024 before moving to Nashville in August 2024. This is a result of Xerocon now being presented as a global event, where it is held in different cities across Xero’s key regions, providing more opportunities for its growing communities to connect.

RACHAEL POWELL, CHIEF CUSTOMER OFFICER TO DEPART XERO AFTER EIGHT YEARS.

Xero, the global small business platform, today announced changes to its executive leadership team to enhance the company’s ability to continue to deliver its vision and best serve customers around the world.

Chief Customer Officer Rachael Powell has decided to depart Xero after eight years to pursue new executive opportunities. Ashley Grech joins Xero in the newly created role of Chief Revenue Officer. Powell worked closely with CEO Sukhinder Singh Cassidy and the Xero Board on Grech’s recruitment and will be with Xero through to October 31, 2023 to enable a seamless leadership transition.

Grech will be responsible for all Xero’s go-to-market

functions globally, including global sales operations, regional managing directors and leadership, customer experience, ecosystem and partnerships and revenue operations.

Prior to Xero, Grech was Chief Operating Officer for Recharge, a payments solution provider and Global

Head of Sales for Square (now Block), a global payments platform that provides business management software for small business to enterprise. Grech is also on the Board of Spreedly, a payment process technology firm. She has an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Busi-

That’s a wrap!

IT WAS GREAT TO SEE SO MANY NEW AND FAMILIAR FACES FROM XERO’S ACCOUNTING AND BOOKKEEPING COMMUNITY AT XEROCON SYDNEY 2023. AS ALWAYS, DAY ONE FEATURED A PACKED AGENDA – AND YOU BETTER BELIEVE THE PACE DIDN’T LET UP ON DAY TWO.

Sharing insights and inspiration

We had another busy morning on the main stage.

The day kicked off with a moving welcome from Te Raranga Whanui Kapahaka group, followed by an insightful conversation between Xerocon host Julia Zimero and Xero CEO, Sukhinder Singh Cassidy. They discussed everything from Sukhinder’s upbringing and early career to life lessons and the importance of finding your superpower.

Next up, we heard some fascinating insights on high performing practices from Australian Country Manager,

ness, and a Bachelor of Science, International Studies from the University of Chicago. Grech is based in San Francisco, California. Grech starts with Xero this week.

Grech said: “I'm thrilled to be joining a purpose-led company where small... Keep reading

Xerocon Sydney highlights from day 2

Will Buckley. He also talked about the ikigai – the Japanese concept of finding a greater purpose or sense of being – to encourage the audience to find deeper meaning in their work.

Keeping AI centre stage

We were lucky to have futurist and entrepreneur Mark Pesce get us thinking about how artificial intelligence (AI) might impact advisory in the years ahead. He spoke about the new landscape

of large language models (LLMs) and explained how to harness tools like Chat GPT.

The lasting message from Mark’s session, however, was that the true power of AI lies in collaboration with humans. He stressed that automation will never replace accountants and bookkeepers, only enhance trusted advisory with smarter and more intuitive tools.

Find out more

The independent user news source for accounting apps and their ecosystems

New Apps & Updates

MYWORKPAPERS BRINGS GENERAL LEDGER TO ITS CLOUD-FIRST WORKING PAPERS

TO EMPOWER ACCOUNTANCY FIRMS TO ACHIEVE MORE, THE AWARD-WINNING CLOUD-FIRST WORKING PAPERS SOLUTION MYWORKPAPERS HAS LAUNCHED ITS INNOVATIVE GENERAL LEDGER FUNCTIONALITY.

This enhances the existing trial balance functionality, which will grant users the ability to import transactional data into the platform.

Importing General Ledger data will initially be available through CSV import with additional integrations being added in the future. This information can then be used to check and vali-

XU BIWEEKLY - No. 62

Newsdesk:

If you have any news or updates that you would like us to consider for inclusion in the next edition of the XU Biweekly, please email us at: newsdesk@xumagazine.com

CEO: David Hassall

Managing Editor: Wesley Cornell Director of Strategic

Partnerships: Alex Newson

Design & Communications

Manager: Bethany Fulks

Creative Assistants: Hebe Vermeulen, Robyn Consterdine

Advertising: advertising@xumagazine.com www.xumagazine.com

‘Xero’ is a trademark of Xero Limited (New Zealand). XU Biweekly and XU Magazine is collaboratively produced by an independent group of Xero users and is not affiliated in any way with Xero. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

© XU Magazine Ltd 2014-2023. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be used or reproduced without the written permission of the publisher.

XU Biweekly is published by XU Magazine Ltd (08811842), registered in England and Wales. Registered office: Office 1, Brunswick House, Brunswick Way, Liverpool, L3 4BN, United Kingdom. All information contained in this publication is for information only and is, as far as we are aware, correct at the time of going to press. XU Magazine Ltd cannot accept any responsibility for errors or inaccuracies in such information.

If you submit unsolicited material to us, you automatically grant XU Magazine Ltd a licence to publish your submission in whole or in part in all/any editions, including in any physical or digital format, throughout the world. Any material you submit is sent at your risk and, although every care is taken, neither XU Magazine Ltd nor its employees, agents or subcontractors shall be liable for loss or damage. The views expressed in this publication are not necessarily the views of XU Magazine Ltd, its editors or its contributors.

date data and see if discrepancies exist thus permitting all of the transactional work for the financial year of the engagement to be done in one place.

This latest development will further enhance the efficiencies already offered by MyWorkpapers and is based directly on recent developments within the platform and on feedback from existing users.

Talking about the benefits that General Ledger offers, Rich Neal, MyWorkpapers CEO, said: “This feature really bolsters the existing abilities of our platform and offers users a far more simple and efficient process when managing their gener-

al ledger.

“Rather than having to switch between various platforms and data sources, they can now enjoy a single point of clarity through which their work can be done.”

MyWorkpapers says that this latest innovation also ensures that a permanent history is retained by the accountancy firm, which can help in situations where clients, or the practice themselves, choose to move accounting or bookkeeping systems.

“This initial launch is just the beginning, and we fully intend to develop our General Ledger feature to open...

Find out more

By Denym Bird

WE'RE EXCITED TO ANNOUNCE THE LAUNCH OF OUR LATEST FEATURE AT PAIDNICE – SMS REMINDERS! DESIGNED TO PROVIDE EVEN MORE OPTIONS IN YOUR ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE TOOLBOX, SMS REMINDERS BRING A NEW LEVEL OF CONVENIENCE AND EFFICIENCY TO YOUR INVOICING PROCESS.

With an open rate of 95%, SMS significantly outperforms email, whose average open rate hovers around 20% according to Mailchimp. This means the probability of your reminders being seen and acted upon is greatly enhanced when they're sent via SMS.

SMS Reminders work just like our email reminders, but instead, they land straight in your contacts' message inbox. Each reminder contains crucial information about your invoice and a unique URL leading your contact directly to our user-friendly invoice portal.

This new feature is all about enhancing communication and promoting faster responses. By sending your reminders via SMS, you're delivering important information in a format that's more likely to be opened, read, and responded to promptly. That's a win for you and a...

Keep reading

Payments your way:

Introducing flexible Payment Plans to ezyCollect Cin7 Core Enhancements

FEATURES: CUSTOMER TAG DOWNLOAD IMPROVEMENT FOR SHOPIFY, PAY CORE SUBSCRIPTIONS WITH AMEX, HYPERLINKING ADDED TO MORE INVENTORY REPORTS, AND MORE!

Feature 1: Core subscriptions can be paid with AMEX

Impact area: Core Cin7 subscription

Introduction: AMEX has been added as an accepted payment method for Core products and subscriptions.

Feature 2: Shopify –Customer tag download improvement

Impact area: Shopify integration

Introduction: Previously, customer tags are downloaded when a customer profile was initially synced from Shopify to Core. With this release, customer tags are downloaded from Shopify to Core if they are add-

Introducing Release Notes for Receipt Bot

AT RECEIPT BOT, WE BELIEVE IN CONTINUOUS INNOVATION, AND WE UNDERSTAND THE IMPORTANCE OF KEEPING OUR USERS INFORMED ABOUT THE LATEST UPDATES AND ENHANCEMENTS TO OUR PLATFORM. THAT’S WHY WE ARE THRILLED TO ANNOUNCE THAT WE WILL PROVIDE DETAILED RELEASE NOTES STARTING TODAY WITH EVERY NEW UPDATE TO THE RECEIPT BOT APP.

By publishing release notes for Receipt Bot, we aim to foster transparency and enable our users to make the most of our latest features and improvements. Whether you’re an accountant, a small business owner, or a tech enthusiast, our release notes will keep you in the loop with all the advancements in our bookkeeping automation tool.

Our release notes will include the following:

• New Features: Details of the new functionalities added to Receipt Bot, including detailed explanations and use cases.

• Improvements: Summary of enhancements made to existing features.

• Bug Fixes: An overview of issues that have been resolved.

Stay tuned for our upcoming release notes and embrace the future of bookkeeping automation with Receipt Bot!...

Keep reading

ed after the initial sync. If customer tags already exist in Core, these will not be replaced, the Shopify customer tags will be added. No additional user action is required.

Pre-conditions: Active Shopify integration

Users will need the Integration – Shopify permission to edit settings

Feature 3: Shopify –Refund capturing improvement

Impact area: Shopify integration

Introduction: Due to an update in how Shopify handled their refunds for payments done through Shopify payments, Core was not able to get the refunded payment downloaded to the invoice in Core. With this release, we have implemented changes to make this work and bring in the refunded payment to the invoice in Core as well. No additional user action...

Find out more

IN THE EVER-CHANGING BUSINESS LANDSCAPE, TAKING CARE OF YOUR CUSTOMERS’ NEEDS IS ESSENTIAL. WHEN YOU OFFER THEM FLEXIBLE WAYS TO PAY, YOU’RE NOT JUST KEEPING THEM HAPPY BUT ALSO ENSURING YOU GET A STEADY STREAM OF CASH INTO YOUR BUSINESS WHILE AVOIDING OVERDUE INVOICES.

That’s where our latest solution, Payment Plans comes into play. It’s not just a payment method to accept instalment payments; it’s a smart choice that helps you get more money flowing and keep your business sustainable.

Benefits of offering Payment Plans for your business

With Payment Plans, you can offer payment solutions that suit your customers and still have complete control over your accounts receivables.

Minimise unpaid invoices

By offering convenient payment options, you encourage customers to pay their bills according to their preferences, helping you decrease the number of unpaid invoices.

Simplify Recurring Payments

Bid farewell to manual calculations. Set up quarterly, monthly, or weekly recurring payments and let the system handle the maths.

Keep reading

NEW XERO CONNECTED APPS!

RE-FLOW CONNECTOR

UK - A powerful field management software provider, enabling businesses across construction, highways, traffic management, civil engineering, landscaping and rail to digitally transform their operational processes to the next level.

OOMPH CRM

UK & US - Save time and boost productivity with Oomph CRM's complete customer relationship management system, bringing all of your contacts into one place. Create and send invoices/quotes, stay on task with Activities, synchronise your TAX rates with Xero and report on every detail.

CITRUS HR PARTNER UP WITH TELLEROO TO SIMPLIFY PAYROLL PAYMENTS

By Amber Gregory

WE ARE ALWAYS LOOKING FOR NEW WAYS TO HELP SMALL BUSINESSES – IT’S WHAT WE DO. WITH THIS IN MIND, WE’RE VERY EXCITED TO ANNOUNCE CITRUS HR’S NEWEST SOFTWARE INTEGRATION WITH *DRUM ROLL PLEASE* BULK PAYMENT EXPERTS, TELLEROO.

We understand that pay has a huge role to play in the working world, and how important it is to get your employees paid correctly and on time. That’s why we’re always improving our Payroll software and looking for ways to make your life even easier. Because we’re passionate about this, we love working with other like-minded businesses when it comes to developing our software, and believe that offering integrations means our customers get the best of both worlds.

What is Telleroo?

While citrus HR keeps things simple Telleroo promises to take the pain out of

Content Snare's first AI feature! (plus default due dates)

payments – a partnership we know will hugely benefit our customers.

Telleroo is trusted by thousands of businesses and accounting firms to take care of that key part of Payroll – the payment. Telleroo’s cloud-based software allows you to make bulk payments, and with the citrus HR integration it means you can do this directly through your payroll; this means no more copy and pasting information across, and a much speedier process at the end of the month.

Bulk payments made quick and easy

Time is precious, even more so for a small business, which is why the ability to make bulk payments is such a key benefit. With our new integration you can make multiple payments at the click of a button.

The setup is easy, simply connect your Telleroo account to your citrus HR dashboard in just a few seconds. From there you’ll be...

Keep reading

Get Paid Faster with GuruPayNo More Chasing Payments

GET PAID FASTER - IMPROVE CASHFLOWDECREASE STRESS

Chasing payments on your invoices is one of the most painful, time-consuming and necessary parts of being in small business.

Australia, sadly, has some of the slowest invoice payment rates in the world, meaning that SMBs are acting as a defacto lender for their customers, and that impacts your cashflow, stress levels, and ability to work on your business.

Introducing GuruPay

To help our small business customers get paid faster, WorkGuru is pleased to announce GuruPay - a collaboration between WorkGuru, and our friends at Pinch Payments.

GuruPay will allow you to take Payments by Debit and Credit Card (and eventually by Direct Debit straight from

CONTENT SNARE'S FIRST AI FEATURE IS READY, AND IT'S AWESOME. MORE ON THAT IN A SECOND. HERE'S WHAT WE JUST RELEASED:

• Smart Request (AI)Paste a list of questions or a prompt to create a request

• Quick Request - Send a templated request in seconds

• Request defaults - Default settings for requests, including one for **how many days in the future that due dates should default

You'll find Smart & Quick Request under the "Add New" button in the top right corner. Request defaults are in your Company settings.

Now let's talk about Smart Requests. There are 2 options:

• Paste a list of questions to create a request

• Describe the form you want to create

1. Paste Question List

It's almost as fast to send a request as it is to send

an email. Just paste in your list of questions and Snare AI will create the entire request, ready to send.

This opens up entirely new use-cases. It used to be tedious to send a short request, as you had to create questions one-by-one. Now you just paste in the same list that would would have sent in an email.

Under the hood, it automatically determines what kind of data each question should be e.g. text, file, multiple files, multiple choice etc. For multiple choice questions, it even creates the choices.

Given that it is a predictive model, you should always check over the results to make sure they are correct for your use case.

2. Describe your form

This one can give you ideas for questions to include in your requests. Simply type in what you want the request to do.

e.g. I'm an accountant in Australia, specializing in tax. I'm onboarding new...

Keep reading

Dext and Xero, better together

YOUR DEXT - XERO WORKFLOW JUST GOT EVEN MORE SEAMLESS. HANDPICK THE EXTRA DEXT FUNCTIONALITY YOU WANT TO SEE WITHIN THE XERO AND DEXT PREPARE INTERFACES TO HELP NAVIGATE YOUR WAY THROUGH TASKS IN A FRACTION OF THE NORMAL TIME.

Complete the form below to receive your invite

to the private Chrome store listing where you can download Dextension for free and help make your accounting effortless today.

Please note, at this time Dextension is only available to Dext Prepare Partners who are working with clients on the Xero accounting software platform.

Read more

TO HELP SMALL BUSINESSES AND ADVISORS BOOST EFFICIENCIES

AI-POWERED CAPABILITIES AND PLANDAY’S AWARD INTERPRETATION TOOL FOR HOSPITALITY AMONG KEY NEW FEATURES.

Australian bank accounts) by including a payment link right in your WorkGuru invoice email. This means that you can get paid faster, and stop chasing people for cash! You can even choose to on-charge the processing Fees.

Is it Safe?

Absolutely! None of your Client's credit card details are ever stored in WorkGuru or on our servers. We use Pinch's World Class API and Payments backbone, and integrate it right into WorkGuru so there's no need for messy integrations, or trying to linking separate systems together.

How Do I Get It?

To sign up - go to the Guru Pay section of your WorkGuru account (in the left...

Read more

By Alex Hoffman

IF YOU'VE BEEN USING SYFT FOR A WHILE, YOU MAY BE FAMILIAR WITH AUDIT, OUR VERY FIRST ADD-ON. AUDIT WAS DESIGNED TO HELP YOU EXAMINE YOUR DATA TO ENSURE THAT IT'S ACCURATELY RECORDED AND TO HELP PREVENT POTENTIAL FRAUD. WE'VE RECENTLY REVAMPED THIS ADDITION AND GIVEN IT A BRAND-NEW NAME TO BOOT – REVIEW.

Why the new name? Well, we realized that the name "Audit" may have been a bit misleading as this tool is not reserved for the use of auditors but is rather dedicated to an internal review of your data. This tool can be used by accountants,

bookkeepers, and businesses who want to ensure data integrity and prevent fraud in their organization to make sure that business decisions are guided by valid data. So, we feel that the new name, "Review" gets this message across more clearly.

But it's not just the name that's changed. We've enhanced a lot of the existing functionality in this tool and there are a lot more exciting changes still to come.

What can you find in Review?

With its focus on data integrity and fraud-proofed financials, Review equips you with the following powerful...

Keep reading

At its flagship event for cloud accounting leaders, Xerocon held in Sydney, global small business platform Xero today announced new AI-powered product features and enhanced product experiences designed to help small businesses and their advisors work smarter and more efficiently. The new innovations include:

• Enhanced AI-powered predictions in bank reconciliation and Xero Analytics Plus

• Upcoming generative AI pilots in Xero Central to help deliver a better customer experience

• Planday’s award interpretation tool expanded for the hospitality sector in Australia

• A deeper payment integration with Stripe to bring more features into Xero

• More seamlessly connected practice tools for accountants and bookkeepers

“Xero is committed to continuously innovating to help businesses streamline time consuming and manual processes, while at the same time delivering the right insights at the right time to help them make more informed decisions,” said Diya Jolly, Chief Product Officer at Xero. “By creating simpler, smarter and more seamless platform experiences for our small business customers, Xero can help them tackle common pain points such as managing cash flow and payroll more efficiently, freeing them up to focus on other priorities.”

Supercharging Xero with predictive AI

In the coming months, Xero’s bank reconciliation will apply machine learning to populate new contacts that aren’t already in the business’ Xero contact list. Previously, Xero would predict a contact and account code for transactions only where the business already had a relevant contact. This new feature will help businesses save time and eliminate repetitive data entry, especially for businesses new to...

Find out more

XERO UNVEILS NEW PRODUCT INNOVATIONS

Submissions open for inaugural Xero Beautiful Business Fund

XERO SMALL BUSINESS CUSTOMERS HAVE UNTIL 6 OCTOBER TO ENTER FOR SHARE OF NZ$750,000 IN FUNDING GLOBALLY.

Xero, the global small business platform, marked day one of Xerocon Sydney 2023 by opening applications for its inaugural Xero Beautiful Business Fund, designed to celebrate small businesses, empower success and help accelerate their growth. The initiative is now open for submissions with more than NZ$750,000 in funding available to support the future aspirations of small businesses globally.

The Xero Beautiful Business Fund is open to Xero small business customers in Australia, Canada (excluding Quebec), New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa, the US, and the UK and will recognise companies who are eager to take the next step in various aspects of their business.

There are low barriers to entry, and to apply, Xero small business customers will need to submit a 90-second pitch video and complete a brief written form for as many categories as they would like to enter:

• Innovating for sustainability: For small businesses who want to take the next step on their sustainability journey. For example, it could be to move to sustainable...

Keep reading

RAVE’s New FMS Feature –Projected Income Report

IN A WORLD WHERE INJUSTICE STILL PERSISTS, THE TEAM HERE AT EXPENSIFY WANTED TO TAKE A STEP FORWARD TO CREATE A LASTING SOCIAL IMPACT IN OUR COMMUNITIES. THROUGH OUR 501C3 CHARITY EXPENSIFY.ORG, OUR COMPANY HAS INITIATED A TRANSFORMATIVE MOVEMENT AIMED AT SOLVING SOME OF SOCIETY’S MOST PRESSING ISSUES.

In this blog post, we will explore the core values of Expensify Inc, the mission behind Expensify.org, and how Inc’s technology is utilized to support Org’s volunteers around the world. Additionally, we will delve into the latest campaign, “Teachers Unite,” and provide readers with ways to contribute and make a meaningful difference.

The Values of Expensify Inc

Expensify Inc is driven by a vision that extends far beyond expense management. Our fundamental belief in creating a fair and just world, where everyone has the opportunity to Live Rich, Have Fun, and Save The World, sets us apart as an organization that is committed to bringing about real change. This vision doesn’t involve empty gestures or hollow words; rather, it focuses on addressing...

Read more

BGL CORPORATE SOLUTIONS (BGL), AUSTRALIA'S

LEADING PROVIDER OF COMPANY COMPLIANCE, SELF-MANAGED SUPERANNUATION FUND (SMSF), INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT AND AI POWERED PAPER-TO-DATA

SOLUTIONS, IS PROUD TO ANNOUNCE THE RELEASE OF A DIVISION 7A LOAN CALCULATOR AND MANAGER

FEATURE IN ITS ACCOUNTING, INVESTMENT AND TAX SOFTWARE, SIMPLE INVEST 360.

"We're thrilled to introduce the Division 7A loan manager in Simple Invest 360," said Ron Lesh, BGL's Managing Director. "This feature equips BGL clients with cutting-edge tools to help them tackle the complexities of Division...

Read more

WOLTERS KLUWER FINANCE, RISK AND REGULATORY REPORTING (FRR) HAS SECURED CATEGORY LEADER POSITIONS IN ALL FOUR CATEGORIES OF THE RECENTLY PUBLISHED ALM (ASSET LIABILITY MANAGEMENT) MARKET UPDATE AND VENDOR LANDSCAPE REPORT PUBLISHED BY CHARTIS RESEARCH.

The company has captured category leadership status in the RiskTech Quadrant for ALM Technology Solutions and the RiskTech Quadrant for FTP Technology Solutions. It has also secured the status in the RiskTech Quadrant for LRM Solutions and the RiskTech Quadrant for Capital and Balance Sheet Optimization Solutions.

The criteria for measuring the performance of solutions and securing category leadership positions includes various metrics including, the quality of data management, integration capabilities, customer satisfaction and market penetration.

By securing a clean sweep of category leadership positions in this year’s ALM Market Update and Vendor Landscape report, the company continues a successful 2023 awards’ season, building on last year’s four #1 positions in the Chartis RiskTech 100 rankings in, Liquidity Risk, Regulatory Intelligence, OpsTech – Tax Processing and Long-Duration Targeted Improvements (LDTI)...

Keep reading

THE BRANCH PROJECTED INCOME REPORT IS A NEW FINANCIAL REPORT – WHICH ALLOWS RAVE FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM USERS TO VIEW ALL ESTIMATES AND VARIATIONS CREATED AND SENT, OR CREATED AND SAVED VIA THE FMS ESTIMATE SUBTAB TO PROJECT INCOME. THIS ABILITY TO VIEW PROJECTED INCOME ALLOWS OUR FMS USERS TO MORE EASILY IDENTIFY AND FOLLOW UP ON OUTSTANDING PROPOSALS, OR VARIATIONS, AND TO REALISE THAT INCOME FASTER..

The Projected Income Report provides a summary of Totals Sent, Generated, Accepted, and Declined for a specific date period (and a suite of other handy filters including the proposals’ acceptance status), with an overall Total clearly displaying the total projected income for that time period. The Projected Income Report is also exportable to CSV, allowing for more granular control if required.

This new report is available now for RAVE...

Keep reading

WE ARE INCREDIBLY PROUD TO ANNOUNCE THAT PAIDNICE HAS BEEN SELECTED AS XERO'S FEATURED APP OF THE MONTH! THIS RECOGNITION IS NOT JUST AN ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF OUR PLATFORM'S CAPABILITIES BUT A REFLECTION OF OUR UNWAVERING COMMITMENT TO THE XERO ECOSYSTEM.

A Partnership

Built on Shared Values

Paidnice and Xero share a common vision: empowering businesses with the tools they need to manage their finances effectively. Our integration with Xero's world-leading accounting platform has enabled countless businesses to streamline their accounts receivables process through features like Late Fees, Prompt Payment Discounts, and Invoice Reminders.

Supporting Xero's Ecosystem

By aligning with Xero, we have been able to enhance our offerings and create tailored solutions for our shared clientele. This award as Xero's Featured App of the Month highlights our dedication to enriching the Xero ecosystem, providing value to both Xero users and accounting professionals.

Join Us at Xerocon Sydney on August 23-24

As part of our celebration, we invite you to join us at Xerocon, where the Paidnice team will be available to discuss how our innovative features can help you get paid quicker. Our presence at Xerocon underscores our alignment with Xero and our shared commitment to excellence in the financial technology space. Join us at...

THE HIGH COURT ENDED A TWO-YEAR TRADEMARK BATTLE, RULING IN FAVOUR OF ADVANCETRACK AFTER COMPETITOR, GREATER LONDON-BASED GI OUTSOURCING REPEATEDLY USED ITS NAME AND BRANDING IN AN ‘ILL-FATED’ GOOGLE ADWORDS CAMPAIGN.

Judge’s ruling could have ramifications for how companies – big and small – use trademarked brands in both their Google Adwords copy and keyword selection. AdvanceTrack MD claims “this is a win for the industry” and for holding outsourcing companies to “higher standards”, and pledges to donate all potential damages from the case to charity.

Outsourcing specialist, AdvanceTrack, has won a landmark two-year High Court case against one of its direct competitors, GI Outsourcing, after the latter used its brand unlawfully in a targeted Google Adwords campaign.

His Honour Judge James Tindal passed his judgment on the long-running battle between the two outsourcing companies, held at Birmingham Civil Justice Centre, ruling in favour of AdvanceTrack.

He concluded that GI Outsourcing, through a third-party Midlands-based marketing agency, had infringed the trademark of AdvanceTrack and was also liable for passing off AdvanceTrack’s trademark as its own – breaching laws protecting brands from companies illegally using Google to target their competitors.

AdvanceTrack [the trading name of...

Find out more

Read more

AdvanceTrack wins two-year High Court battle over competitor’s Google Adwords trademark breach

Wolters Kluwer emerges as Category Leader in all four quadrants of the 2023 Chartis ALM report

Empowering Change: Expensify.org – Uniting Tech and Generosity to Fight Injustice

US Roadshow Accelerate

Xero brings the product announcements (and the noise)

THIS YEAR’S US ROADSHOWS WERE NOTHING SHORT OF INSPIRING, WITH ACCOUNTING, BOOKKEEPING AND APP PARTNERS SHOWING UP FROM ALL OVER THE COUNTRY TO ATTEND OUR EVENTS IN

AUSTIN, ATLANTA AND LOS ANGELES.

Joining us were leaders from Gusto, Poe Group Advisors, and futurist Elatia Abate to highlight how you can tap into the voice of the customer, capitalize on

growing technologies, and capture the moment you’re in now.

Our events focused on product updates that are either currently in play, or coming down the pike at...

Read more

Celebrating Excellence: The Australian CFO Awards return for a second year

AFTER AN OVERWHELMING DEBUT IN 2022, THE AUSTRALIAN CFO AWARDS ARE RETURNING FOR A HIGHLY ANTICIPATED SECOND YEAR.

Nominations are now open, inviting submissions from across the nation to

celebrate the remarkable achievements of finance professionals and teams who have demonstrated exceptional expertise and transformative contribution to their organisations on behalf of the finance function.

“We’re thrilled to announce the return of the Australian CFO Awards, an

UPCOMING EVENTS

event dedicated to honouring financial leaders who epitomise excellence,” shared Adriana Amato, Founder at the Australian CFO Community. “We invite the business community to participate and look forward to recognising those...

Read more

Chaser CEO finalist for Innovator of the Year, Women in Credit Awards

IAM THRILLED TO SHARE THAT SONIA DORAIS, CHASER'S CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER HAS BEEN SHORTLISTED FOR THE INNOVATOR OF THE YEAR AWARD AT THE WOMEN IN CREDIT AWARDS 2023.

The Women in Credit Awards are the only awards to exclusively champion women in credit and their allies. They champion the work of exceptional women and those who empower them across the credit and financial services industry. They support and uncover achievements among inspirational women in the industry.

The Innovator of the Year Award will recognise a woman who has demonstrated achievements that bring something new such as a change in process, strategy, or technology. See below why Sonia was shortlisted for this award, and view the full shortlist here.

Find out more

IN A RESOUNDING TESTAMENT TO INNOVATION AND EXCELLENCE, FIGURED HAS EMERGED AS THE RECIPIENT OF THE PRESTIGIOUS AUSAGRITECH SCALEUP AWARD. THIS LANDMARK ACHIEVEMENT NOT ONLY REAFFIRMS FIGURED'S COMMITMENT TO TRANSFORMING THE AGRICULTURAL LANDSCAPE BUT ALSO OPENS AN EXCITING NEW CHAPTER FOR ACCOUNTANTS SEEKING TO EMBRACE CUTTING-EDGE AGRI-TECH SOLUTIONS.

Redefining agri-tech excellence

Figured's recent triumph at the AusAgritech Awards is a celebration of its unwavering dedication to revolutionising agriculture through the fusion of technology and...

Read more

LET YOUR CLIENTS DO THE TALKING: TIPS FOR MARKETING SUCCESS

By Karen Bennett, Chief Marketing Officer, Bright

mission to include them in a list of case studies on your website or social media.

2. Understand your clients

With so many firms falling into the small business category, you won’t be alone in having limited resources to invest in marketing. Activities like updating the website, posting on social media or running ads may fall on team members who have to fit them around their ‘day job’. An out-of-date website, no recent reviews and a poor social media presence are all an instant turn-off for many prospective clients today. While you might not have the budget for a dedicated marketing professional, there are simple and effective ways to market your firm.

1. Get the word out

If someone has a memorable meal in a restaurant, they tell their friends about it –and accountancy isn’t much different. Delighted clients tell positive stories about the brilliant service they’ve had. This often happens organically, but don’t be afraid to ask supportive clients to post a positive review on Google or Trustpilot. You can also ask a client’s per-

Understanding your clients allows you to tailor your service to meet their needs, while also informing your marketing strategies. Companies with more resources for marketing put a lot of effort into understanding their clients – their behaviours, values, life-stage and more. An alternative to this is to build deeper and more personal relationships with them. In a world of lowcost and often impersonal accountancy services, your reputation as a trusted advisor will help you stand out. It could be as simple as considering their age – the soon-to-retire owners of a tea shop will have a drastically different plan and outlook from an ambitious start-up firm hoping to disrupt their sector.

3. Go after small and digitally savvy businesses with digital marketing

Your established clients may still be using legacy systems and manual processes. However, with the average age of a business owner continuing to fall, the generation of digitally savvy business owners will have little time for outdated prac-

tices. Of course, you’ll be using the latest tools to provide clients services, so you should portray this through your marketing efforts. Furthermore, it would be best to utilise digital platforms to deliver this message to your target audience.

Social media isn’t just for pictures of your food anymore, it’s an essential platform of everyday life, and as such, is the perfect environment to capture the attention of your prospects.

4. Penny for your thoughts

One of the best ways to sell yourself to potential clients is to demonstrate exactly what you can do. Industry blogs, business and industry magazines, podcasts, webinars, and conference panel sessions all welcome experts to comment, discuss and pen thought leadership articles on a whole range of topics. That might be about new regulations, sector-specific issues your clients are facing, or even how you’ve made service a priority.

Whichever route you take, as in most areas of business or life, it’s all about preparation. If you want to stick to the more traditional clients and don’t have a burning desire to serve the digital native disruptors, that’s fine – ultimately, it’s about...

Find out more

Forecasting Process

By Michael Ford, Founder & CEO, Castaway Forecasting

OVER THE YEARS, I’VE WRITTEN MANY WORDS ON THE PHILOSOPHY OF FORECASTING, WHAT MAKES A GREAT FORECAST AND WHY FORECASTING (DONE RIGHT) IS CRITICAL TO THE SUCCESS OF ANY BUSINESS. IN THIS ARTICLE, WE’RE GOING TO CHANGE THE CADENCE A LITTLE. I’D LIKE TO OFFER YOU A SIMPLE FRAMEWORK FOR BUILDING GREAT FORECASTS… CLEAR, PRACTICAL, HANDS-ON STEPS YOU CAN PUT INTO ACTION TODAY. NOTE THAT THIS IS A SIMPLIFIED VERSION OF THE PROCESS WE USE HERE AT CASTAWAY. REACH OUT TO US IF YOU WANT A MORE COMPREHENSIVE EXPLANATION.

Before we get into the detail, I’d like you to keep in mind the 3 foundation beliefs of forecasting:

1. We judge a forecast by the quality of the conversations it creates and the conversations that created it, so the process is far more important than any individual forecast

2. Forecasting is not about trying to predict a certain future. The goal instead is to be highly prepared for an uncertain future

3. A forecast should never be just a maths exercise. Great forecasts tell the story of the business, where it is heading and how it intends to get there

With those words in mind, let’s get into the process. Creating a great forecast works through 5 stages:

4. Preparation

7.

8.

The first time through may take some time. We’re investing time in designing the future of the business, something that entrepreneurs don’t do nearly enough of, so the effort is worth it. The good news is the process gets quicker and easier over time as the forecasting ‘muscle’ gets stronger.

Step 1: Preparation

This step is critical to the outcome. Preparation involves getting clear on:

The Purpose of the forecast - what we’re building, the audience we’re building for and why we’re building it (the question/s the forecast needs to answer)

The Business we’re forecasting - the business model, historic performance and how success is defined

The Approach to the forecast - the level of detail, the forecast ‘mood’ (aggressive, realistic, conservative) and how the outcomes need to be communicated

Step 2: The story workshop

With the preparation done, it’s time to bring the team together. Get advisors, business owners and (ideally) operations personnel together to design the business story that will underpin the forecast. My strongest tip… close the laptop and get away from the keyboard. This is a creative session that works best with whiteboards, sticky notes and coloured markers. Keep the

agenda simple and focused. Start the session by summarising the Purpose of the forecast (what, who & why), followed by a quick walkthrough of financial performance over the last few years. Numbers are the accountant’s super-power, so tell the story as you see it. Pay close attention to signs of distress and success. These will be hot-button topics for the business… helping here is a high-value exercise.

Keep it brief, but touch on the drivers of operating cashflow and the cash conversion ratio (ie profit and working capital), focusing on changes, trends in specific areas, and the overall picture. Look also at key movements in fixed assets, investments, equity, funding and cash. Your aim is to set the scene for the next part of the workshop.

Now have the owner or manager recap (again briefly) the recent history of the business in their words. We’re aiming to connect the financials with the business activities that drive them… suppliers, products, customers, competition and the industry overall. The areas they’ve focused on, changes that have been introduced, the things that have worked and those that haven’t.

Next, shift the focus to the next 12-24 months. Where do they see the market going, what risks and opportunities do they see ahead, what changes do they want to make, what concerns them.

By this time, the group is primed for the most important part of the session...

Keep Reading

WHEN YOU DELIVER A GOOD SERVICE, YOUR REPUTATION HELPS YOU ATTRACT NEW CLIENTS – ESSENTIAL IF EXISTING USERS ARE APPROACHING RETIREMENT OR WINDING DOWN THEIR BUSINESSES.

5. The story workshop

6. Build the forecast model

Analyse and optimise

Communicate

A simple framework for building great forecasts

Asia’s largest technology- centric event for accountants and finance professionals returns

Parlez-vous français?

GET READY TO TRANSFORM IN 2023. THE ACCOUNTING AND FINANCE LANDSCAPE IS CHANGING, HOW DO YOU MAKE SURE YOU’RE A PART OF THIS GROWTH?

The Accounting & Finance Show Asia is now in its sixth year and is the go-to event for accountants and finance professionals from SMEs, large enterprises and accounting firms across the region looking to discover and implement the latest digital innovations and technology solutions in their organisations.

The events of recent years have accelerated technology adoption across Asia at an unprecedented rate, with businesses of all sizes and across all industries realising years-worth of digital transformation in a matter of months.

Businesses of all shapes and sizes are now re-evaluating the technologies they have in place and assessing whether they meet their needs both for right now and the years ahead.

The Accounting & Finance Show Asia brings together the businesses and accounting firms who are actively sourcing and purchasing technology solutions to ensure they can streamline their processes, safeguard their businesses and leverage data in everything from their decision making to em-

ployee and client engagement.

We have an engaged community of accounting and finance professionals across Asia, and we will bring thousands of them together in-person on 10-11 October 2023 at Suntec Convention Centre, Singapore to discover the very latest digital innovations.

Whether you’re looking to target SME finance teams, finance functions in large enterprise or professional services firms providing accounting and bookkeeping services, or all the above, the Accounting & Finance Show Asia is where you can generate new business.

SME Finance Leaders

In the Asia Pacific region, SMEs comprise 90% of enterprises and employ 50% of the workforce. This is a huge market and cannot be ignored as a business opportunity. At the Accounting & Finance Show Asia you can meet Asia’s CFOs, Finance Directors, Heads of Finance, Finance Managers and Business Owners from micro, small and medium sized businesses in all industries.

Enterprise Finance Leaders

The roles of CFOs in large businesses have been transformed by technology Events and will continue to evolve over the years to

come. Digital transformation and technological innovation can be the finance leader’s best friend. Reach and engage CFOs, Finance Directors, Heads of Finance, Finance Managers, FP&A Specialists, AR/AP Specialists who are leading large businesses across the region.

Accountants and Bookkeepers

Accounting firms across Asia have seen their processes, ways of working and the nature of their offerings transform dramatically in recent years. Corporate services firms continue to shift and adapt and are hungry to discover the latest solutions to help them to stay future-ready and grow their client base. Managing Partners, Partners, Directors, Accountants and Bookkeepers of accounting and bookkeeping firms, professional services firms and corporate services firms will all be present at the event.

With 5 dedicated conference theatres, there’ll definitely be an opportunity for your organisation to showcase thought-leadership and get your brand in front of your target audience.

Digital Innovation

Be inspired by the region’s digital finance and...

Keep reading

WHAT IS MENTAL HEALTH?

By Tim Hoopmann, Speaker & Trainer

MENTAL HEALTH AFFECTS HOW WE THINK, FEEL AND ACT. IT ALSO AFFECTS OUR EVERYDAY LIFE, SUCH AS WORK AND RELATIONSHIPS. LOOKING AFTER OUR SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL WELLBEING IS AS IMPORTANT AS KEEPING OUR BODY HEALTHY. WHEN WE’RE FEELING EMOTIONALLY HEALTHY, WE CAN BE FULLY PRESENT WITH OUR FAMILY, FRIENDS, AND COMMUNITY.

Research shows that good mental health is linked to:

• improved learning

• creativity

• higher levels of productivity

• better social relationships

• good physical health

• increased life expectancy

Mental health is a state of mental well-being that enables people to cope with the stresses of life, realize their abilities, learn well and work

well, and contribute to their community. It is an integral component of health and well-being that underpins our individual and collective abilities to make decisions, build relationships and shape the world we live in.

The mental health continuum

It can be hard to talk about mental health. Maybe your family and friends feel uncomfortable talking about it. Maybe you don’t know where to start or how it relates to you. Beyond Blue have developed the mental health continuum to help you talk about social and emotional wellbeing. It will give you the words to describe how you’re feeling, and to ask how others are feeling. It can also help you decide what steps to take to look after your mental health right now.

Why a mental health continuum?

Our mental health is not a static state. It can change gradually over time. We might start to feel unsettled but move back to feeling healthy in a few days. Or we might move from feeling unsettled to really struggling. This is when we may need to seek professional support. Many of us will experience a mental health crisis in our lives, but we don’t stay in crisis. We’ll move beyond the crisis into a period of healing and then another healthy period when we’ve recovered.

Let’s take a look at each section of the mental health continuum:

1. Healthy

I feel capable and confident in my ability to handle daily pressures. I am thinking clearly and am hopeful about the future. I will maintain my healthy routines and stay connected with loved...

Find out more

By Laura Binns, General Manager, Accounting & Finance Show Asia

SEE INTO THE FUTURE OF MONZO

SWITCH OVER TO THE NEW-LOOK HOME SCREEN FOR A BETTER OVERVIEW OF ALL YOUR MONEY AND MORE INSIGHT INTO YOUR SPENDING HABITS. WE'D LOVE TO HEAR WHAT YOU THINK!

Head into Labs in the app (you'll find Monzo Labs in your Settings) and you can try our new Home screen layout.

FinTech News

We've been working on this new design for a while now, experimenting and iterating with members of our Community to make sure our updates are solving problems and improving Monzo for everyone.

Now we're excited to let as many people as possible give it a try. We'll be rolling out this new screen to everybody later this summer, and we'll be back to explain how that will work in more detail nearer the time. In the meantime, we'd really appreciate your feedback.

A better overview of all your

money

We're making it easier to keep track of everything you've got going on with Monzo at a glance, with a new-look overview and optional insights about your...

Keep reading

Revolut join TRUST to prepare for the Travel Rule and protect their customers' data

REVOLUT JOINS TRUST - A SOLUTION DESIGNED TO ADDRESS THE UPCOMING CRYPTO REGULATION CHANGE KNOWN AS THE TRAVEL RULE. THE RULE WILL APPLY IN THE UK FROM SEPTEMBER 2023, AND IN THE EU FROM EARLY 2025.

We’re partnering with TRUST (The Travel Rule Universal Solution Technology), ahead of new incoming regulatory requirements for cryptoasset transfers.

TRUST will support us to comply with a new

regulatory requirement known as the Travel Rule.

The Travel Rule requires Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs) to collect data on cryptoasset transfers, to ensure transparency and traceability.

In the UK, the new rules will apply in September 2023. In the EU, the new regulation was adopted by the European Parliament in April 2023 and is expected to be applied in January 2025.

The TRUST solution...

Read more

GoCardless

partners with Kolleno, an AI-enabled financial operations platform

BANK PAYMENTS AND AUTOMATION WILL HELP CUSTOMERS SIMPLIFY THE END-TO-END PAYMENT PROCESS AND GET PAID FASTER

GoCardless, the bank payments company, has announced a partnership with financial operations platform Kolleno to enable CFOs, Financial and Credit Controllers to schedule and automate their invoice collection.

The integration enables a step change for Kolleno customers: by using GoCard-

less’ direct debit functionality, they can now proactively collect payments instead of waiting for the customer to pay. And with automation removing the need for manual payment tasks, businesses can reduce stress and free up their valuable time.

In addition, Kolleno customers are able to make use of GoCardless Success+. This feature uses machine learning to automatically identify and schedule the optimal time to retry failed payments and recovers, on...

Find out more

Accept contactless payments with only an iPhone

FOLLOWING THE APPROVALMAX AND AIRWALLEX PARTNERSHIP ANNOUNCEMENT IN THE UK IN APRIL 2023, BOTH COMPANIES ARE EXCITED TO SHARE THE EXTENSION OF THIS INTEGRATION TO THE AUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND BUSINESSES FROM TODAY. THE ANNOUNCEMENT COINCIDES WITH XEROCON SYDNEY, ONE OF THE LARGEST ACCOUNTING EVENTS OF THE YEAR IN AUSTRALIA, WHERE BOTH APPROVALMAX AND AIRWALLEX ARE EXHIBITING AT THE ICC ON THE 23RD AND 24TH

Square Sellers across the UK Can Now Offer Buy Now, Pay Later Through Clearpay

OF AUGUST.

The expansion into the Australian and New Zealand markets will allow accounting partners to provide clients with a comprehensive solution that streamlines financial controls and approvals for international payments and processing through the combination of ApprovalMax and Airwallex’s advanced financial technology.

Airwallex batch payments in ApprovalMax allows users to create a batch of payments...

Read more

Steffan Tomlinson joins Stripe as chief financial officer

TODAY, SQUARE LAUNCHED ITS FIRST INTEGRATION WITH CLEARPAY IN THE UK, PROVIDING “BUY NOW, PAY LATER” (BNPL) FUNCTIONALITY TO SELLERS ACROSS ONLINE AND IN-PERSON COMMERCE.

This marks another key milestone in the global integration of Clearpay (known as Afterpay outside the UK and Europe) following the acquisition of Afterpay by Block, as the UK will be the first market to launch BNPL

available across all platforms at the same time, including in-store, online and can also be integrated by Square’s developers and partners.

“Since opening our website in the pandemic and incorporating Clearpay into our payment systems, we were very pleased to be informed that Square would be integrating Clearpay directly into its ecosystem,” said Jane Lyon, Founder of Lornashouse Lifestyle. “We have been delighted with...

Find out more

STRIPE, A FINANCIAL INFRASTRUCTURE PLATFORM FOR BUSINESSES, TODAY AN-

NOUNCED

THAT

STEFFAN TOMLINSON WILL JOIN THE COMPANY AS CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER.

Steffan has more than 25 years of experience in the finance industry, most notably with Confluent, Google Cloud, and Palo Alto Networks. His career spans seed-stage startups to Fortune 25 companies across the technology landscape, from cloud computing to security and networking.

Steffan has a track record of

scaling financial operations for high-growth companies like Confluent and Palo Alto Networks, which saw significant increases in customers, revenue, and margin during his tenure.

Today, more than 100 global players process more than $1 billion of revenue every year on Stripe, and Stripe products are used by many of the world’s largest companies including Amazon, Uber, BMW, Airbnb, Maersk, and Microsoft. At the same time, more than 5,000 new businesses—including innovative startups... Find out more

Square Go, Square’s New Booking App, Seamlessly Connects Consumers with Beauty and Personal Care Businesses

SQUARE GO PROVIDES CONSUMERS ACCESS TO ONE OF THE LARGEST NETWORK OF BEAUTY AND PERSONAL CARE BUSINESSES IN THE INDUSTRY, WITH MORE THAN 250,000 PROFESSIONALS OFFERING

2 MILLION SELF-CARE SERVICES

Today, Square launched Square Go, a consumer booking app that provides an end-to-end booking experience so consumers can search, discover, and schedule with highly-rated independent service providers in their area. The Square Go mobile app also increases seller visibility, helping beauty and personal care professionals grow and retain their customer base.

“Square Go has helped me reach another level of clientele I didn’t know I could by

GoCardless and Xero renew partnership to help small businesses navigate tough economic times

increasing visibility of my business, which also helps us financially,” said Justin Lavalle, Owner of J Lava Salon in Winter Park, FL. “Square Go has added tremendous value to both my salon and clients by creating a professional look and ease of booking for my clients. Now, clients don’t need to stop their work day to call me and schedule appointments, but they can do it all themselves, which also helps save me time.”

Square Go offers new, convenient features for consumers:

• Consumers can book appointments with new businesses in their area based on location, service, and availability, all with a smooth and effortless experience.

Find out more

GOCARDLESS, THE BANK PAYMENTS COMPANY, HAS ANNOUNCED IT IS RENEWING ITS STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP WITH XERO, THE GLOBAL SMALL BUSINESS PLATFORM, FOR ANOTHER FIVE YEARS.

The agreement builds on a long-term relationship which started in 2016, focused on helping small businesses get paid faster. For GoCardless this also represents a doubling down in the accountancy space, a key sector for the fintech as it executes on its ambitious growth plans.

The news comes as small businesses around the world face some of the most challenging economic conditions in recent history, and the pressure is impacting business owners.

According to Xero’s Global state of small business owner wellbeing report, the well-

Novo Launches Novo Funding With $125M Facility From Victory Park Capital

being of small business owners is at a level below that of the general population, weighed down by a range of challenges, including cash flow. Through this partnership, Xero’s small business customers can improve their cash flow and get paid up to twice as fast by seamlessly connecting their online invoice payments to the GoCardless platform.

The partnership enables Xero’s customers to use GoCardless directly within the Xero platform to easily collect recurring and one-off payments without hidden fees. This is through both direct debit, which minimises the likelihood of late payments, and a GoCardless feature to collect instant, one-off payments powered by open banking in the UK and PayTo in Australia.

In addition, small... Find out more

NOVO, THE POWERFULLY SIMPLE® FINANCIAL PLATFORM FOR SMALL BUSINESSES, TODAY ANNOUNCED THE LAUNCH OF NOVO FUNDING, OFFERING SMALL BUSINESSES A FAST AND FLEXIBLE WAY TO ACCESS WORKING CAPITAL. THE COMPANY HAS ALSO SECURED A $125 MILLION FACILITY FROM VICTORY PARK CAPITAL (“VPC”), WHICH WILL BE USED TO PROVIDE WORKING CAPITAL THROUGH NOVO FUNDING.

within 24 hours of receiving the application.

• Instant access to funds:

Once approved, the small business will have instant access to up to $75,000 of working capital via their Novo account.

• Autonomy over fund deployment: Small businesses that receive funding have full discretion over how to use the working capital, from purchasing new equipment to investing in marketing.

PAYPAL HOLDINGS, INC. TODAY ANNOUNCED THAT ITS BOARD OF DIRECTORS HAS APPOINTED SENIOR INTUIT EXECUTIVE, ALEX CHRISS, AS PRESIDENT AND CEO, EFFECTIVE SEPTEMBER 27, 2023. CHRISS WILL ALSO JOIN THE BOARD ON THAT DATE.

The appointment follows a thorough CEO search process, conducted by the Board over the last number of months, with the mandate to appoint a next generation leader with extensive global payments, product, and technology experience, capable of driving growth across the PayPal platform for years to come.

Chriss has the unanimous support of the Board and its CEO search committee following extensive engagement and evaluation across

all of the key metrics that are critical to PayPal's future success.

Chriss is a seasoned and highly successful business leader, steeped in technology and product leadership experience who, since January 2019, has served as Executive Vice President and General Manager of Intuit's Small Business and Self-Employed Group, responsible for more than half of Intuit's revenue.

Chriss currently serves on Intuit's executive leadership team and has led a global organization of thousands of colleagues that delivered QuickBooks and Mailchimp to millions of users around the world. The businesses he has overseen and led at Intuit have become market leading end-to-end customer growth engines and...

Keep reading

Stripe launches Tax for platforms, expanding easy tax compliance to millions more businesses

STRIPE, A FINANCIAL INFRASTRUCTURE PLATFORM FOR BUSINESSES, TODAY LAUNCHED STRIPE TAX FOR PLATFORMS, ENABLING PLATFORMS USING STRIPE CONNECT TO OFFER STRIPE TAX AS A SERVICE TO THEIR CUSTOMERS.

“Help with sales tax and VAT has been our platform users’ most commonly requested feature,” said Michael Carney, product lead for Stripe Tax. “We built

Stripe Tax because it’s a logical extension of payment processing, and now we’ve built Tax for platforms so platforms can offer it to their customers and help them with all aspects of the transaction lifecycle.”

Thousands of software platforms such as Mindbody, Squarespace, and WooCommerce are built on Connect. They operate in virtually every industry, from hairdressing and home repair to holiday rentals, and...

Find out more

“When a small business owner wants to invest in their business growth or simply needs additional funding to cover an upcoming payroll cycle, they have incredibly limited options for accessing capital,” said Michael Rangel, founder and CEO of Novo. “Some use credit cards with exorbitant interest rates, while others attempt to go through a weeks- or months-long application process with a traditional lender and are not able to access the capital until long after they need it. Novo Funding is built to support small business owners’ short-term financial needs and long-term ambitions with a seamless working capital experience.”

Novo Funding offers small businesses a range of benefits, including:

• Streamlined application process: The Novo Funding application can be completed in under 10 minutes, and Novo will complete its review

• Only pay for the funds accessed: Small businesses can draw any amount of funds from their limit, and repayments replenish their available funding.

• Straightforward repayment: Novo provides a clear transfer schedule outlining each repayment, with standard repayment of six months per draw.

“After completing a pilot of Novo Funding in which thousands of small business owners accessed more than $35 million, we heard time and again how Novo Funding was by far the best option for accessing capital,” said Kevin Phillips, EVP of Credit at Novo. “There’s simply no other small business working capital product on the market that combines the speed and simplicity of Novo Funding.”

“Small businesses represent a significant segment of the U.S. economy, and Novo has created a user-friendly product to...

Read more

PAYPAL NAMES ALEX CHRISS AS NEXT PRESIDENT AND CEO