Why we chose to become a 100% Xero practice

At the Festival of Entrepreneurs recently, someone stopped at our stand and asked why we only work with Xero. Fair question. The honest answer is that until 2022, we didn't. For years we looked after clients on QuickBooks Online, FreeAgent and Sage as well as Xero, so we know all of them reasonably well, including the bits that used to drive us mad.

As the practice grew, supporting four different accounting platforms became harder to justify. All four providers were constantly making improvements and changes, and staying ahead of every one of them so we could support clients properly was becoming really difficult. On top of that, each platform needed its own training and its own way of doing things. When you're trying to build a team that works consistently, that wears you down. So in 2022 we decided to pick one platform and learn it properly. We picked Xero.

Why Xero

I'll say straight away that QuickBooks, FreeAgent and Sage are perfectly capable, and for some businesses one of them will suit better than Xero. But we wanted more than software that produces a set of accounts and files a VAT return. We wanted to be working with clients all year round with figures that were up to date, and Xero's bank feeds and the apps that plug into it felt like a better fit for the way we wanted to work. It wasn't one killer feature. Most of what Xero does, the others do in some form. We could just picture the whole practice built around it, and that's how it has turned out.

What specialising changed inside CASS

The biggest change has been inside the business, and it's the one I'd point to if anyone asked whether it was worth it. When everyone in #teamCASS is in the same system all day, knowledge spreads without anyone really trying. Somebody works out a quicker way of dealing with something, mentions it, we try it, and if it works it becomes how we do it for other clients too. That simply didn't happen when people were split across four packages. Training new starters is easier as well, because they can get properly good at Xero instead of being half-familiar with several systems. And when someone's on holiday or off sick, a colleague can pick up their clients without fumbling around in software they don't know. Clients still get a service built around their business. The difference is that the team starts from the same place and can cover for each other, and as we've grown that has mattered a lot.

The partnership

We're now a Xero Platinum Partner, and we're proud of that. It reflects the work the team has put into learning Xero properly, and the partner programme gives us training and support that help us keep up with a platform that changes quickly. We like to know what's coming so we can work out which changes will actually help our clients. Not every new feature will, and that's fine. We don't think Xero gets everything right either, and a decent partnership should let us say so. We're committed to the platform, but if it isn't doing the job for a client, the client comes first.

Same platform, different businesses

Being a Xero-only practice doesn't mean every client works the same way. A construction firm and an online retailer have very little in common, and a business with its own finance team wants something quite different from an owner who would rather hand us the lot. Xero is the starting point. What goes around it depends on the business. That might be an app for processing purchase invoices, or a sales integration, or nothing extra at all.

Mind you, software can cause as many problems as it fixes. Three new subscriptions to save someone ten minutes a month isn't a good trade, and more often than not the answer is to use what's already there properly.

Numbers you can act on

This is where specialising has made the most difference for clients. Too much traditional accounting tells owners what has already happened. The year ends, the accounts get done, and months later the owner finds out what profit they made and what tax they owe, by which time they're well into the next year. The compliance work still has to be done, but it shouldn't be the only time an owner hears from their accountant. We'd much rather be the ones who notice margins slipping or cash getting tight while there's still time to do something about it, or who help an owner work out whether they can really afford that next hire.

None of that works without bookkeeping that's reliable and up to date. Xero helps us keep it that way, but a dashboard will only tell you your gross margin has dropped. Why it dropped, and what to do about it, needs someone who knows the business. That's the bit of the job we enjoy.

If you're using another system

Because we've used the other packages ourselves, we know switching isn't a small thing. People know the old system, processes have grown up around it, and there may be other apps hanging off it. So if you come to us on something else, we'll start by finding out how your business runs and what isn't working. Quite often it isn't the software. The books are behind, or the reports don't tell you anything useful, or you only hear from your accountant once a year. Moving to Xero won't fix that by itself. Where we think a move will help, we'll explain what's involved and how we'd handle it. And if you need something Xero genuinely can't do, we'll tell you at the start.

I'm glad we made the decision in 2022. It's helped us build the kind of practice I wanted CASS to be, and we're still finding better ways to use Xero and the tools around it. Whatever package you're on, though, the software is only half of it. It can record every transaction and produce your accounts perfectly well, but what matters is whether your accountant is using that information to help you make better decisions. If you're not getting that at the moment, we should talk.

Let's talk about your business.

Paul Barnes

Founder, Cloud Accounting Support Services Ltd

Xero Platinum Partner