Heads Down, Back to Work for 2025!

[00:00:00] I'm feeling very sorry for our foreign correspondent, Mr John Toon.

[00:00:03] It feels sorry for him?

[00:00:05] Yeah, because he's on the far side of the planet. Everything's backwards over there, upside down, isn't it?

[00:00:10] It feels like a very small release but actually can be incredibly powerful.

[00:00:14] Amacad Bank has reached an impressive milestone. The growth is a response to the frustration felt by many SMEs in the UK.

[00:00:21] QuickBooks Online Advance have now released forecasts. My query on that is going to be how detailed is it?

[00:00:27] Intuit and Amazon have expanded their partnership super clever.

[00:00:31] The goal is to make it easier for Amazon sellers to manage their finances.

[00:00:36] Last year there was a lot of controversy around Intuit and how they work with the accounting space.

[00:00:43] In the UK we see a version of QuickBooks where it's far more collaborative.

[00:00:47] Sage has wrapped up the year with six updates to make the work a bit smoother and more efficient.

[00:00:51] I constantly see like an iterative change, it's always evolving nowadays.

[00:00:54] I'm not keen to see some of them do something.

[00:00:57] What have Xero done?

[00:00:58] It's negative in the fact that they made a bad decision initially, but positive in the fact they've listened, reacted and made a change.

[00:01:05] App Store releases in the UK over the last month or so.

[00:01:08] Jack by Genesis, Flowcast, Circle POS, Trez, Finance, Web3 Accounting.

[00:01:14] Comprehensive Web3 Accounting solution that facilitates workflows, reconciliation, balance calculations, auditing and reporting for Web3 assets.

[00:01:22] Onboarding on-chain and CE5 data sources within hours, ensuring 100% asset coverage.

[00:01:30] That is a lot of buzzwords in one given paragraph.

[00:01:34] I have often wondered how this would impact accounting and businesses that are trying to link real-world assets to something that is a digital asset or digital token.

[00:01:48] Hello and welcome to another episode of DigiTools in a Cruel World.

[00:01:51] I'm joined by my co-host Ryan, Brian Pearcy, who has a tiny violin at the moment for the fact that he's been struggling over the Christmas period with two children.

[00:02:00] I'm very much looking forward to the schools returning as am I.

[00:02:04] We have been abandoned by our third wheel, third co-host John Toon, who is currently venturing to the other side of the world.

[00:02:11] But hopefully will rejoin us by the end of this month.

[00:02:15] And we'll also be doing some interesting interviews at the Finance Takes the Peace upcoming trip that was usually run by Flinder.

[00:02:23] But since their acquisition, I think they've rebranded at least the ski trip.

[00:02:28] So we're looking forward to hear some good elevator pitches, quite literally elevator pitches from the trip this time around.

[00:02:36] Before we go any further, Ryan, how are you?

[00:02:38] Oh, that was a shock there.

[00:02:41] At least straight into the point.

[00:02:42] I am, I'm great actually.

[00:02:44] I feel somehow reinvigorated even after a challenging Christmas period with two small children.

[00:02:52] But no, I am feeling very sorry for our foreign correspondent, Mr. John Toon.

[00:02:58] I feel sorry for him?

[00:02:59] Yeah, because he's on the far side of the planet.

[00:03:03] Everything's backwards over there, upside down, isn't it?

[00:03:05] He must be trying to relearn everything.

[00:03:10] With GPT and everything, you didn't even learn that it's not a big a deal.

[00:03:14] What?

[00:03:16] Yeah, like the toy that flushes the reverse way round.

[00:03:19] Oh, that's hardly gonna make me quite home about it.

[00:03:23] Come on.

[00:03:25] But no, we've sent him out there.

[00:03:27] He, I hope, will report back with lots of interesting news of what's happening over in the Australia and New Zealand area.

[00:03:32] Yeah, he is living the high life and he's greeting all of the good and great of the accounting industry.

[00:03:41] And hopefully that means that we get an inside scoop on any new technologies that are coming into the UK market this year because most of them have hailed from that part of the world.

[00:03:49] Okay, so let's talk about news, shall we?

[00:03:56] All that news this week.

[00:03:57] All that news this week.

[00:03:58] All that bank has reached an impressive milestone, surpassing three billion in business lending and four billion in deposits.

[00:04:04] And as one of the UK's only full services banks established solely on SME growth,

[00:04:13] and Alec is on a rapid growth trajectory with an eye on transforming business banking altogether.

[00:04:17] The bank has topped multiple growth lists, including the Sunday Times top 100 and the 2024 Deloitte Tech Fast 50.

[00:04:26] So what seems to be driving the success is their approach to tailored SME banking, which combines powerful technology and the dedicated human support where most are kind of running away from being able to support SMEs.

[00:04:38] They've got an approach to accounts where they've got like a business rewards account with no monthly fees, offering some really good saving rates on the market, as well as maximizing financial opportunities available to their customers.

[00:04:52] So they've got a really honed approach to customer service, which is evident in the strategy.

[00:04:58] And I know that's been covered by quite a lot of the different talks that I've seen Conrad Ford speak at before.

[00:05:04] And also Sophie Hothak, in terms of their SME relationship managers, they help them not only with the banking needs, but also uncovering any kind of growth opportunity.

[00:05:14] The CEO has highlighted the growth is a response to the frustration that has been felt by many SMEs in the UK that have previously been underserved by some of the larger banks.

[00:05:24] And we know some of that growth that Alica saw in its early days came from the fact that Barclays couldn't quite make it work with the AML provision they had in place.

[00:05:33] So they ended up exiting out any of their SME businesses that had multiple directors.

[00:05:39] And I think Alica was in the right place at the right time to be able to take on those customers that were sizable.

[00:05:46] I mean, they tend to be like two, three directors down the back of the industrial estate and they were right there to service them in a very quick way.

[00:05:54] So now they are focusing on being able to do something more on their savings.

[00:06:01] So they've launched the Great British Savings Squeeze campaign.

[00:06:05] So they're advocating for a fairer deal for business savers.

[00:06:09] And the campaign that Sophie, I think, spoke with her about on the podcast last year was how they could then try and get more back to SMEs of a $9 billion a year in savings rates that they are currently missing out on.

[00:06:24] I think it's a great scheme that they're doing there.

[00:06:27] And from my own testament, I've been talking to Alica about utilizing them as a bank in my new business, but I wasn't the right fit for them with what they're doing.

[00:06:36] But the way they handled that and then introduced me to another bank that could do that and resolve it straight away showed that, you know, they're not those, I guess, people that are just like, no, you're not good for us, go somewhere else.

[00:06:46] They actually, even for the, won't be their customers.

[00:06:49] They're really helpful.

[00:06:49] And that just is a testament to their incredible customer service.

[00:06:53] So that's great news.

[00:06:55] I've got another piece of news that is tech related and quite a big piece of news.

[00:07:01] I think we were just talking about it.

[00:07:02] Intuit and Amazon have expanded their partnership aiming to provide millions of Amazon sellers with powerful financial tools to manage their businesses.

[00:07:10] It's a multi-year partnership.

[00:07:12] And QuickBooks will become Amazon's preferred financial management solution integrated directly into Amazon Seller Central, which is a platform where sellers manage their businesses.

[00:07:23] So the goal is to make it easier for Amazon sellers to manage their finances, stay compliant and access the capital they need to grow.

[00:07:31] So super clever because we know that Intuit has already started launching AI tools and they are integrating the AI, AI powered expert platform so that sellers can get real time financial insights and details on like the profitability, cash flow, tax liabilities.

[00:07:50] And it's already proven at the moment to increase some of the success rates for the businesses that use QuickBooks.

[00:07:56] But now it will be available directly to Amazon sellers that use the platform.

[00:08:01] I think this is super interesting from a business perspective, because right there you have all the information about stock management at the same time as your receivables and the typical order values you have.

[00:08:17] So this, as well as QuickBooks Capital will make it so easy, not only to complete things like understanding the cash flow, the tax filings and the obligations that you have under MTD, but also that you can access capital more easily through QuickBooks Capital or within that Seller Central console.

[00:08:37] So, and that they are deeply integrated right at the source of where there is origination.

[00:08:45] I think this is a huge, huge opportunity for businesses, SMEs in this space.

[00:08:51] And I think definitely a jewel in the QuickBooks crown to have such a good relationship with Amazon on this.

[00:08:58] Definitely a huge win for Intuit to move into 2025.

[00:09:01] This feels like it's advertising and marketing without really needing to spend it because you're going to get all those people that are using the Amazon Reset platform or will move into it as that continues to expand.

[00:09:14] I'm going to be looking straight into it.

[00:09:15] It just makes sense.

[00:09:16] So, yeah, huge win.

[00:09:18] And I guess there's just more and more stories from QuickBooks Online.

[00:09:22] They have now released forecasts into QuickBooks Online Advanced.

[00:09:26] So if you've not been on any of the podcasts before, QuickBooks Online Advanced is, I guess, the premium tool at the moment for QuickBooks Online.

[00:09:33] We believe they've got a new platform called QuickBooks Online Enterprise, which is for much bigger businesses.

[00:09:38] But Advanced is for as you grow out of the, I guess, the plus version.

[00:09:43] You're expanding.

[00:09:44] You want more functionality.

[00:09:45] You can just upgrade straight into QuickBooks Online Advanced.

[00:09:48] And they have brought in Forecast for financial planning.

[00:09:51] Now, everyone knows what Forecast is, but the fact is built in directly into the platform.

[00:09:55] And I want you to look across, I guess, your actuals compared to what you're predicting rather than just budgets to build that out and vary that inside the platform is a big win, I think, for Intuit here.

[00:10:07] Now, my query on that is going to be how detailed is it?

[00:10:10] I think most of the time when the financial platforms bring out a forecast tool, it's quite basic and looks much more like a budget rather than one where you can kind of build out over time.

[00:10:20] I think we're going to need to delve into this in a bit more depth to really understand how automated it is, how much you can do with it.

[00:10:29] But you can convert forecasts into budgets, run them reports against either your budgets or your forecast.

[00:10:35] So it enables a lot more variability inside the platform.

[00:10:38] So big first step, something they said they were going to be doing and is now in the platform for users of QuickBooks Online Advanced.

[00:10:46] Very nice. And I've also got something else from QuickBooks.

[00:10:50] There's a lot of QuickBooks news today.

[00:10:52] So as of March 8th, 2025, so this year, QuickBooks will no longer support tags, regardless of the QBO version you're in.

[00:11:00] But there is a migration option coming in February 2025 to move the existing tags to custom fields.

[00:11:06] So the change will impact all QBO users.

[00:11:09] But the upside is that starting in February, users will get one additional custom field for Simple Start Essentials and Plus plans.

[00:11:17] QBO Advanced will keep its 12 custom fields.

[00:11:19] So for accountants and business owners, it means it's time to migrate the tag data before April 30th, the deadline this year from March 8th until that date.

[00:11:30] The tag data will be read only.

[00:11:32] And after May the 1st, you will be completely unable, inaccessible.

[00:11:37] So you have the option to migrate the tags manually or to use a new tool to make the switch.

[00:11:43] But then again, there's a note from them to make sure you download any tag related reports before the end of April and start planning for the shift to custom fields for a smoother reporting experience going forward.

[00:11:53] So big, different, I guess something that like you might want to be aware of in terms of deadlines.

[00:12:01] Are we done with QuickBooks news or is there anything else that we want to cover on them this week?

[00:12:05] No, it's not ended. They're obviously doing a lot across Christmas.

[00:12:07] So everyone else is sleeping or, you know, filled up with midspies.

[00:12:11] And that's the time that Intuit shines with rolling out things.

[00:12:14] Maybe because like such as tags, it's not the best news.

[00:12:17] I think there's not really that much of a negative.

[00:12:19] They've already got the custom fields in place.

[00:12:22] There's more structure around custom fields.

[00:12:24] It makes sense to transition that across.

[00:12:26] Hopefully it will be very slick.

[00:12:28] But something that is slick, something that is a big win for QuickBooks is they have integrated AdSum's instant VAT refund platform into,

[00:12:37] the QuickBooks online platform.

[00:12:39] So if you've not listened to our prior podcast, we talked a lot about what AdSum are doing and the instant VAT system they have is that as soon as you have filed your refund through,

[00:12:50] through AdSum, it will come into your bank in as little as 24 hours, which can make a big difference for those businesses that are always on refunds.

[00:12:56] So what QuickBooks have essentially done is it means that they can now access the instant VAT directly through the QuickBooks online platform and they don't have to leave it.

[00:13:04] They can work directly inside it.

[00:13:06] And I think this is a, it feels like a very small release, but actually could be incredibly powerful for those businesses that are always getting refunds on their, on their operations.

[00:13:14] Interesting that we've had, like you said, a big flurry of news.

[00:13:18] I'm always intrigued about what is like by definition Intuit and QuickBooks and it's relative, like it's so, what I find so interesting is their brand strategy in different jurisdictions often means that they have a lot of distance between what is Intuit, what is QuickBooks and what is, are all the other products that they have within the suite.

[00:13:38] Um, but in America, I know that like last year, there was a lot of controversy around Intuit and how they work with the accounting space.

[00:13:48] It's much more in the UK.

[00:13:50] I think that we, we see a version of QuickBooks where far more collaborative.

[00:13:55] Um, I'd be intrigued to know how much of that philosophy from Intuit in, uh, 2024 would carry forward to the strategy of QuickBooks in the UK in 2025,

[00:14:07] because that was less collaborative, I guess, with the accountant and more so that it's like a direct to business platform.

[00:14:14] Um, but yeah, it looks like a lot of the types of things that we're seeing here still anchored towards the accountant, which is great news.

[00:14:22] Um, something different from someone who is always collaborating with accountants.

[00:14:26] And I say safely that Sage is one of those, uh, you know, gold standard in some of that collaboration in the previous year.

[00:14:34] So Sage has wrapped up the year with six updates to make the work a bit smoother and more efficient.

[00:14:38] Uh, what's new? The first is their client management now lets you send bulk or individual emails directly and track all communications with the new activity log plus.

[00:14:48] Um, and you stay organized with a new file storage solution.

[00:14:51] Um, for Go proposal users, for those that use Go proposal, custom date formatting is now available globally, making proposals clearer and reducing contact errors.

[00:15:00] Sage's Stripe integration now supports Google and Apple play for seamless branded checkout experiences.

[00:15:05] And if you're using Sage accounting, invoice customization is now fairly easy.

[00:15:10] It lets you add your logo for professional branded invoices, which is perfect for MTD.

[00:15:16] Um, MTD for income tax that is.

[00:15:18] And finally, Sage's final accounts now includes an update all data button in Sage personal tax,

[00:15:25] which eliminates manual re-import and saves you time, especially for self-employment income.

[00:15:30] Um, it's like a, uh, a running sweep of different updates that took place just before Christmas.

[00:15:36] So in case you missed them, um, great news for, um, Sage users on that front.

[00:15:40] Yeah.

[00:15:41] They're constantly releasing new little bits.

[00:15:42] It'd be good to see a big release from Sage actually.

[00:15:44] I constantly see like an iterative change.

[00:15:46] It's always evolving nowadays.

[00:15:47] Um, and hopefully in 2025, uh, maybe in the first quarter, we see a big release.

[00:15:52] I'm kind of keen to see some of them do something big.

[00:15:54] Um, but look, we've, we've talked about, uh, Intuit and QuickBooks.

[00:15:58] We've talked about Sage.

[00:15:59] It's only fair to talk about Xero.

[00:16:01] So what have Xero done?

[00:16:03] Well, they've, I guess, started by rolling back a big change in their pricing plan.

[00:16:07] Now this came out from pretty much every accountant in the UK going, this feels mental.

[00:16:12] Um, now if you're, I guess not following this, this is where, uh, Xero bundled pretty much

[00:16:17] all of their add-ons into packages.

[00:16:20] So they released ignite grow comprehensive and what was already their ultimate and then rolled

[00:16:24] in, um, Xero, uh, projects, zero payroll, um, zero expenses, et cetera, into those various,

[00:16:30] uh, bundles depending on what they felt was right.

[00:16:33] And one of the big things that, um, account said was that the payroll element just did not

[00:16:37] feel correct in that you couldn't get it on the lower ones.

[00:16:40] You can only use it for a single employee as you grew up.

[00:16:42] And then you had to be on a much bigger package before you go beyond a single employee.

[00:16:47] The brilliant thing is that Xero has listened to this and they have changed the way you can,

[00:16:51] uh, engage with payroll.

[00:16:52] So if you did want to, um, use Xero payroll, you can use it on any package essentially,

[00:16:57] but, um, paying one pound 50 per employee until you get up to ultimate in which you then

[00:17:03] pay one pound per employee per month.

[00:17:05] So I think this is, um, it's negative in the fact that they made a bad decision initially,

[00:17:11] but positive in the fact they've listened, reacted and made a change.

[00:17:14] And I think that every business, um, every app should listen to their marketplace.

[00:17:19] And it was pretty much unanimous across any social media platform that I saw that this

[00:17:24] didn't feel right and they've listened and they made the change.

[00:17:26] So well done Xero for doing that.

[00:17:28] And then let's roll it out or let's roll up, uh, app news this, uh, this episode by, as

[00:17:34] I love talking about the app store releases and there's some big ones that have come out

[00:17:39] in the, in the UK over the last month or so.

[00:17:42] So Jack by Genesis hit the, the UK app store.

[00:17:46] Um, and if you've not followed Jack, we talked about a lot, it's one of those new AI powered,

[00:17:49] um, I guess OCR based systems that we think might change the way bookkeeping works still,

[00:17:54] I guess, you know, building the platform out, you've got other than the space such as

[00:17:57] briefcase, but Jack is now on the Xero app store.

[00:18:00] Um, you've got a player such as Flowcast, which we talked about before that kind of

[00:18:04] period end bookkeeping system.

[00:18:06] That's now on there.

[00:18:07] Um, you've got an inventory management system specialized for bookstores.

[00:18:11] That's how unique we get in some of these apps and that's across, um, the global network

[00:18:15] that's called circle POS.

[00:18:17] Um, but one that I thought was, uh, confusing, I think more than anything was one called, uh,

[00:18:24] T R E S.

[00:18:25] So Tres finance web three accounting, which describe itself as a comprehensive web three accounting

[00:18:31] solution that facilitates workflows, reconciliation, balance calculations, auditing, and reporting

[00:18:36] for web three assets onboarding, uh, on chain and C E five.

[00:18:42] I don't know what that is data sources within hours ensuring 100% asset coverage.

[00:18:46] I was like, that is, that is a lot of buzzwords in one given, one given paragraph.

[00:18:51] And to me does not provide me any clarity.

[00:18:54] Okay.

[00:18:55] So I think that's a really cool bit of, of software.

[00:19:00] If this is what I think it is, because I haven't seen enough coverage for web three and web three

[00:19:07] is okay.

[00:19:07] You're building something that is on blockchain.

[00:19:10] So therefore is, uh, an immutable, in some cases, immutable record, like, um, the land

[00:19:17] registry would be an immutable record.

[00:19:19] Um, you have it all documented in a ledger.

[00:19:23] The, in effect, that is what my understanding of how blockchain and web three is used is, um,

[00:19:30] similar to something that you could then say is an auditable record.

[00:19:35] I, I have often wondered how this would impact accounting and businesses.

[00:19:41] Therefore that are trying to link real world assets to something that is a digital, um, asset

[00:19:48] or digital token.

[00:19:50] And that's where web three fields, fills the kind of void of how you're monetizing something

[00:19:56] that's digital and physical.

[00:19:58] And linking together.

[00:19:59] And it's something that I think that is a missing gap in the accounting ecosystem.

[00:20:05] There are accountants that I've heard who work on, um, understanding the real world asset linked to something that's a digital asset and how it really impacts the auditing or the calculation.

[00:20:18] That you need to make from a tax perspective.

[00:20:21] So this looks fairly unique in the space.

[00:20:23] Go on then, listeners.

[00:20:24] If you, um, if you think you can out nerd indie, please do write into us and explain what this is all about.

[00:20:32] And we'll compare notes.

[00:20:33] What indie comes up with against what you write.

[00:20:37] Thanks for joining us on today's episode.

[00:20:39] We will catch you on the next one.

[00:20:40] If you've got any feedback, please do just get in touch with any one of us on the episode.

[00:20:45] Uh, Lee, myself, Ryan and John, other side of the world, Lloyd Potter.

[00:20:49] Um, we are always open to hearing more of your perspectives.

[00:20:53] And definitely if you've got some Intel that you want to provide us on some of the zero releases, then buy them my way first before you give them to anyone else.

[00:21:01] We'll see you next time.

[00:21:02] Bye.