I think as well as the distinction in sides there is also a distinction in the accountants involved.

There are those who think that clients actually want statutory accounts/tax returns and are only comfortable existing in that historical world, and then there are those who want to make their clients more successful. The ones who fall into the latter will go on to great things, the former will find that as technology allows ease of preparation then that market will become very restricted. Effectively the service they provide becomes a commodity, and so very price sensitive.

I guess there are, in reality, at least two different dimensions to the "accountant side" of the Xero equation.

1) Statutory accounts - Ideally I don't want to think about these at all. If Xero (or whatever) is up to date and has everything in it's right place I'd be thrilled to just be able to click a button and have a set of abbreviated accounts for Companies House and a full set for records and HMRC (including iXBRL). Unless it produces ALL these it all seems a bit pointless as you are going to end up having to use another piece of software anyway.

In theory though it would be great and I wouldn't much want to edit the report.

2) Management accounts - The Xero 'Management Report' in the UK is already excellent and something that I've seen really impress clients. Things like the cash flow statement, monthly comparatives, working capital & profitability metrics are to me far more valuable than a set of statutory accounts.

In answer to your question though I would like to be able to edit the management report. Being able to include some more industry specific KPIs would help me give clients some metrics that they can really focus on to improve their business. If I can prepare a client template once and then click a button every month it would save me a lot of time.

@Azizi - hi there. I don't think I made myself clear in my post. As I said above, I advocate the brave new world. All I was trying to say was that, in accountancy practices, when working with a client using a cloud product, the accountant will be unwilling to make wholesale changes directly in the clients accounting data, without confirmation from the client first. In this scenario, extracting a trial balance into Excel to then produce working papers is, I believe, more likely. This is what I mean by "offline" - i.e. using Excel not working directly in the accounting data. Thanks for your contribution.

We live in an increasingly online world and most people these days will not be able to run their business without being connected to the internet. So the thinking that I can do my work offline without connected to the internet is somewhat safer is a fallacy.

True cloud systems bring to small businesses what was only available before to large systems - the ability to enter and roll back transactions. Many of them have the ability to roll back a finite number of times - features even the best desktop applications would mean you have to juggle data files.

At the end of the day a lot of this misconceptions are based on the traditionalist approach that allows people to think that locking up their offices makes their data somewhat secure. (Queensland floods anyone ?) Cloud operators are working on educating businesses on moving to the cloud and sooner or later we will all get there.

Remember the time when accountants used nothing but ledger books ? Well times change. I am very sure there will be a market for traditionalist accountants - but with businesses adopting newer and more efficient methods of cloud accounting and cloud lodgements perhaps they need to spend a bit more time understanding how this works.

Azizi Khan,
GovReports.

My view is that it is a change management issue, not only for the accounting firm itself (the partners, team members and support staff), but for their clients as well.

The majority of clients from traditional firms have been used to for years, visiting their accountants on an annual basis. If this were to change and all of a sudden they were to use a new online system, and (heaven forbid!) be in contact with their adviser on a more regular basis, they may not like it!

This is where it becomes an education process. Explaining the benefits of their accountant having access to real time financial information throughout the year so they can provide more meaningful advice and not after the fact (at the end of the year).

Also, by engaging a bookkeeper (or for us - Xero consultant) we are safe in the knowledge that the records are accurate at year end as the checks and balances have been performed throughout the year. More efficiency gains at year end.

We have a percentage of our client base that we do just prepare year end statements and tax returns for. But we do prepare interim statements for tax management purposes, and to provide insights before year end.

At Cloud Accountants we have been fortunate that we have not inherited clients that have older systems, or have developed habits over time. All of our clients use an online system (Xero), and are on agreed monthly fees depending on the level of service they require.

Cheers,
Justin

In such a context, simpler reporting is tinkering around the edges.

If the government is serious about supporting small businesses in a meaningful way, they ought to be pushing small business stakeholders to devise services and frameworks that provide them with better internal reporting, to use your label.

Simpler external reporting will help but the focus is wrong headed and it's not a recession fixing solution.

Gary Turner
Managing Director, Xero

Our current provider gives us free support, dedicated account manager, free practice software and 25% discount (which we pass on). They do not charge us for being part of a 'club'. I was considering Kashflow at the outset but decided their £800 fee was out of question since, as you say, we are providing them with sign-ups at zero cost.