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UK Bank Feeds into Xero – a week after the release

Last week saw the arrival of the eagerly awaited UK automated bank feeds into Xero.

It is important to remember that Xero are phasing in automated bank feeds and this is the second step in the UK. The first was the bank feed from HSBC in May 2009. Although there have been a few disappointments from clients whose banks are not available in this stage, including my own bank, I personally feel that staging the process is the best way forward. Little hiccups that are bound to occur can be dealt with and solved much more efficiently.

It’s been over a week since the bank feeds were released and, as far as I know, the response has been very positive. Certainly my clients have been very excited about it and love the feeds.

I no longer have to keep asking the clients, who have banks feeds, to upload their online bank statements, something they often only want to do once a month. The feed comes through daily and I can reconcile as often as I want to, usually more often than monthly, because the transactions are then fresher in the client’s mind if I have any queries. This saves time for both of us.

Typically, I’m now impatiently waiting for the next phase so that I can offer this improved service to even more of my clients.

For Xero’s own blog on the bank feed release click here.

Business Forums – Good or Bad Use of Time?

I’ve been meaning to get involved in business forums for many months now but it’s something that keeps dropping down my to-do list. So when @TweetsBySkeet posted a tweet asking who would be interested in reading a blog about business forums, I immediately replied “yes”! I asked him five questions:

1. Do you recommend joining several forums then concentrating on 2 or 3 favourites as best use of time?

In my experience it takes a long time to learnt to trust other people’s judgments.  This process takes even longer online and it usually ends in you thinking the other person is a twit.  Adding a comment, then waiting for a reply, then replying again, leads to a long-term approach to building up a rapport.

I would say, join with friends, avoid the bouncers and people who post regularly and go as a small groups of friends together.  I would also say, perhaps “credit check” the companies on the forum, to make sure you’re happy with who you are talking to and what their commercial interests are before you start taking part.    I have seen people being all nice about one thing, to refer you to someone else who does their other thing.

It always seems much better to be able to carry on a conversation online, with someone you already know, than it does to develop new relationships online.  I’d also go so far as to say, phone up some of the people who use the forum and ask them what they get out of it before you join.  This is your time and you are about to spend it on a very time-consuming activity when you should be “earning a crust” instead.

It would seem some of these people, almost feed of these forums and never actually do anything other than press F5 – “screen refresh” and are very happy for you to improve the ‘post count’ all day long to make the forum look positive and buzzing.  Remember that, you run a business, it can be very costly in terms of time using these forums and this is time that needs to be invested carefully.

However, you need to join the most suitable places for your requirements.

This might be:

• Where your ideal customers hang out
• Where more experienced people hang out
• Where your peers hang out
• Where your suppliers hang out
• Where the end users of your product hang out
• Where your local contacts hang out

2. As with face to face networking, do you build relationships and trust (no selling)?

Listen, you’re in business.  If you are joining to sell, then yes, you want sales.  Achieving a sale direct from someone who hasn’t the first clue who you are, you will struggle.  Would you trust some bird on the Internet?   No.  Neither would I.

The alternative is to have a very clear product for them to buy.

Ask yourself:   for what purpose are you joining?  To make friends?  To find new routes to market?  To understand the market?   Perhaps to recruit advocates?

Before you do any  networking by these “business forums”, you do need to be clear about your own intent.  Sadly, like most things, you only learn how to use them, once you’ve used them.

Most people will get pretty disappointed if they join primarily for sales.  Networking is not selling and it is not marketing either, it is “breaking the ice” and getting to know people for a later day – you’ve still got to be there at the right time, with the right product in the right place.

A forum is a poor place to hang around for an order.  If you join as a group of established friends, it is different, you can all bounce off each other mainly because you are already an established network.

Whatever you do, be clear before you do it.  Joining alone is what everyone does – I’d say, join together, as a group, if you’re new to it.  At least you get a second perspective on everything.

3. How often and how much time would you recommend investing in online forums?

You get out less than you put in to start with, then it grows and about 12 months after, you get out far more.  In that way I would say, it is a very costly thing to do.  Worst still, is all the silly people who started using it before you, will say, “yeah, but you’re not doing it right” and you’ll feel all mixed up about why it is not working.

Fact is, it is an ice breaker.  The quicker you break the ice, speak to people, meet them, the quicker the value you will get out of the activity.  It does all come down to people and naturally, you will have to weed out all the time wasters amongst the ones who are there for reasons that fit with your own.

The good ones you find will be complete gems.!!

On this subject about time, just remember, this is a computer system and you have to come back and read the reply, after the other person has written it.  It could be a 15min cycle.  Four of those and a whole hour has gone.

4. Do online networking forums work better for certain types of businesses than others?

Networking as an activity is something everyone has to do.  For me it is not really a formalized process, but more of a natural way to keep up to date with market changes.   Ultimately, everyone within the market place needs to increase their sphere of contacts within their market place until they hit an optimum level.

You have to ask yourself, once you’ve broken the ice with someone, where you take it.

What is the purpose of the connection?

Some people seem to live on these networks.  In fact, I’d say they feed of them, literally.  If you upset the apple cart, don’t expect these people to pat you on the back, they’ve been there for a long time and will be there long after you have gone.

If you upset the apple cart, they will also, quite happily kick you out of the door as well.

5. What are your top tips for online networking forums?

• Understand the forum you are joining.
• Understand the role it plays for the creator
• Understand who the people are who control and manage the forum
• Decide why you are joining
• Also make a decision as to which parts of your identity you wish to disclose.
• Read about baiting and how to avoid flame wars
• Be aware of the hidden roles people maybe playing out on the forums
• Join each forum with trusted friends at the same time, where possible
• Consider why you are joining and what role it plays for you
• Recognise that you do not need to answer anything, even when you are asked a direct question

Above all, remember that your business comes first and the network is either helping or hindering your development, if it is hindering, try to solve the problems you have elsewhere.  You can always add value, by taking the answer back to the forum later on, which naturally is a great relationship builder.

Final thoughts from @TweetsBySkeet…

Join with friends, decide what you are going to disclose, then build rapport with the people you’d like to develop the stronger relationships with, then take it offline.

What are your thoughts and experiences with business forums? Both of us would love to know.

Are You Prepared for the 20% VAT Rate?

In preparation for the 4th January 2011, Xero have now added the new 20% VAT code for all their UK customers. I’ve not thought much about this until today. After many years of the standard VAT rate being 17.5%, it became a logistical nightmare for many businesses when it was reduced to 15% and then raised back to 17.5%. So, are we ready this time?

In our personal lives, the majority of things we buy will all become more expensive on the same day. Christmas is a period of time when many people spend more than they intended to, leaving themselves in debt in January. In 2011, this will be just when life costs more. If it’s not too late already, have a think about what you are about to spend over the next month and a half. Will you be able to pay off a debt as well as adjusting to having to spend more each month?

How our business lives will be affected depends on the type of business. For example, if you have price lists stating the gross price, these will need to be amended. All products sold in a shop will need to have their price labels changed along with the prices within the point of sale system. If you sell your products or services at a net price + VAT, not much will change except remembering to put the correct VAT code on your invoices.

If your business is not VAT registered, your expenses will become more expensive, and you will need to budget for this or increase your prices.

If your business is VAT registered, it’s good to remember that VAT is a tax you add onto your selling price and collect for the HMRC. In return you can reclaim the VAT part from the items you buy. The money you receive from your gross sales doesn’t all belong to the business. You can “borrow” the VAT part until the return is due, but you have to pay it over, minus the VAT on your purchases, every three months. If you always struggle to pay over the amount due on your VAT return, try to transfer an amount into a savings account each month, ready for the return. If this is something you do already, from January you will need to save more each month.

The best thing of all (once you are used to the VAT increase), if the amount you are due to pay to the HMRC is higher than usual, you have probably sold more than usual. Good news!

A Big Day for Xero – First Automated Bank Feeds (Australia)

For all of us in the UK who use Xero, we’ve been eagerly waiting for the promised UK automated bank feeds due around the end of November 2010. In order to be able to do this, Xero teamed up with a company called Yodlee, an online banking solution provider, a while ago. Today has been an exciting day for Xero as the first Yodlee bank feeds have been released for Australian users. This is one step closer for us in the UK.

For all of you who are not using Xero, I shall explain why this is so exciting.

One of the best things about Xero is the ability to be able to do the majority of your bookkeeping while doing your bank reconciliation. Traditionally, all accounting transactions are entered into a system then they are checked against the banks (bank reconciliation) to make sure everything has been accounted for and the bank balance agrees with the balance in the system.

In Xero, the sales and purchase invoices are entered as “normal”, then you upload your online bank transactions as often as is convenient for you. From the bank reconciliation screen you are able to enter payments for any purchase or sales invoices, create cash transactions and reconcile any transactions that have already been entered into Xero. This saves an enormous amount of time bookkeeping.

Once the automated bank feeds are released, even more time will be saved because you will no longer have to upload any transactions from your online banking. Your Xero account will be updated daily. You will be able to log into Xero every day, reconcile and have a completely up to date accounting system within a few minutes. You will always know where your business stands financially. You will always know your bank balance. You will always know which customers have paid (and who hasn’t!). You will always know which suppliers are due to be paid and when you have the funds to pay them.

How fantastic is that? Personally, I can’t wait!

If you’d like to read more, here is the link to “UK Bank Feeds – a new way of working” by Gary Turner, UK Managing Director

This is Xero’s own blog “First Yodlee Feeds have Arrived” which includes a short video of how it all works.

Is Facebook Like Marmite?

My comment on a Facebook post from The Real Stuff “Do you think Facebook is like Marmite?” lead to a twitter friend @TweetsBySkeet asking if I was going to blog on this. I think he was joking but I’ve decided that I will!

My reply to the post was “Possibly…I like Marmite but I’m not so keen on Facebook. I’m gradually warming to Facebook, can you do that with Marmite?”

Facebook was the first social media platform I joined. It took me several attempts, every time I decided to sign up I gave up because of all the information about myself I was asked to enter. I was a very private person then (things have changed!) and felt very uncomfortable giving out these details. It was Karen Cotton, @beacon4training, who forced me to sign up by refusing to converse with me by any other means!

For at least a year, I only ever used Facebook to instant message with Karen.

Then I discovered Twitter. Karen also had something to do with this, she asked me to attend a Twitter workshop she was running with her business partner Lee Brookes. After a slow start I fell in love with Twitter (I blogged about this) and it is still my absolute favourite form of Social Media.

So, what about Facebook? I knew I needed to do something about my apathy for a long time. It was Karen & Lee who came to the rescue again. I attended a workshop they presented about Facebook and LinkedIn. It was there I discovered Facebook Pages. I realised I would need to build one of these for Totally 4 Business to keep up with the Social Media explosion.

Facebook is just not intuitive to me. I managed to make a fan page but it was hard work and I really wasn’t sure I knew what I was doing. Gradually I’ve started to understand how it works and I’ve been making an effort to make posts and share other posts I like. And, “…I’m gradually warming to [it]“

My most common mistake is to think I’m sharing a post on my business page and it ends up on my personal page but I’m getting there.

Like Marmite, I thought you either loved or hated Facebook. I’ve now come to realise that although Facebook will never take the place of Twitter in my heart, it is growing on me.

There is a peculiar ending to this story. The morning after posting my reply to The Real Stuff, I had a tremendous craving for Marmite on white toast. I couldn’t have anything else for breakfast. It’s been a long time as I rarely eat bread now, but I did that morning and it was absolute heaven!

Why not have a look at Totally 4 Business Facebook page and let me know what you think? And while you’re there, if you “Like” it, please click on the button.

Tracking Stock on Xero

Xero now has the ability to very simply track stock. The release on the 29th September 2010 included an update to what was previously known as Price List Items and is now known as Inventory Items. Click on the video link below to see a short summary of the new feature.

All items that are added to the Inventory Items can be used to automatically fill in lines on sales and purchase invoices and credit notes. The information from these invoices and credit notes is collated in the Inventory Items Summary, showing how many items have been bought and sold, along with the net quantity, between the dates selected.

Inventory items can be imported from a csv document to save time. Editing a significant number of items can be made quicker by downloading the list into a csv document, making the changes, and then importing back into Xero.

Xero plan to have more in-depth reporting into Inventory Items and the ability to enter opening balances in the future.

http://www.viddler.com/player/f769b124/

Do Your Sales Invoices Help You Get Paid?

Sales invoices are incredibly important. If you don’t send them to your customers, you’re not likely to get paid!

If the information on your sales invoices is incorrect, your payment is likely to be delayed. Make it as easy as possible for your customers to pay you.

Using  a computerised accounting system (eg Xero), all the required information is entered at installation, along with your logo, and everything is taken care of. But it might be worth printing out one of your invoices periodically, just to make sure.

Each invoice is required to have a unique number, this is usually a sequential number, and will be supplied automatically on a computerised system. Otherwise you will need to find a way to make sure you give each invoice you issue has a unique number.

It’s good to have your logo showing  prominently on your invoice so that your customers easily recognise who it’s from.

Next, make sure the company name and postal address are correct and easy to read. If you are an incorporated company and your registered address is different from your postal address, this should also be shown, usually in small print at the very bottom of the page (along with your company number). If it is not easy for your customer to find out where to send their payment it’s likely to be delayed.

Check the customer’s name and address are spelt correctly. If the customer uses several addresses, make sure you are sending the invoice to the correct one. If you’re not sure which address to send it to, it is worth the extra couple of minutes finding out, rather than having it returned to be credited and re-issued, delaying the receipt of payment.

The invoice should be dated. Many companies save all their invoicing until the end of each month and do them all in one go, dated the last day of the month. If possible, invoice the customer as soon as you’ve sent the product or completed the work. This brings the payment due date forward, helping to ease your cash flow.

If you are VAT registered, your VAT registration number has to be shown on your invoice. This is because if it’s not and the customer is VAT registered, they will not be able to reclaim the VAT portion. Obviously, nobody wants to pay VAT if they don’t have to.

Whilst on the subject of VAT, if you’re registered, the value of the goods or services should be shown excluding VAT. The rate of VAT and the amount is then shown separately. It goes without saying, the total amount payable, including VAT, should be clear and easy to see.

Describe the goods or service being supplied. It can be hard to find a middle ground here (especially for services), too much or too little information can lead to disagreements of what was actually decided in the first place. The more invoices you supply, the easier this will become.

In my experience, once a sales invoice is received, the customer automatically assumes the terms of payment are 30 days no matter what is printed on the invoice. If your terms of payment are less, I suggest you make this clear to your customers before the transaction takes place. Then clearly state the terms of payment on your invoice along with the date you expect to receive it. At least if you don’t receive it by this date, you can contact the customer and refer back to the information supplied on your invoice.

Another tip to receive payment into your bank account faster is to supply your bank details. It is usually easier for your customer to pay directly from their bank into yours instead of writing and posting a cheque. It is much better for you, as the cheque process can take several days; the customer writes the cheque on the day payment is due, even if he posts it first class that day, it will already be overdue by the time you receive it. Then you have to pay it in the bank and it will be another three days before it appears in your account – 4 days late at the earliest.

What do you like to see when you receive an invoice? What makes you want to pay an invoice?

Happy invoicing!!

The Mayonnaise Jar & Two Coffee Cups

Do you forget about what is important in your life? It’s so easy to get too involved in the little things that really don’t matter.

The following was sent to me by a friend (I have no idea who the original author is) well over a year ago. I’ve just come across it again and thought I’d share it.

The Mayonnaise Jar & Two Coffee Cups:

A large mayonnaise jar is full when filled with golf balls.

A box of pebbles can still be poured into the jar to fill the spaces between the golf balls. The jar is still full.

A box of sand can then be poured into the jar to fill the spaces between the pebbles. The jar is still full.

Two cups of coffee can be poured into the jar to fill the minute spaces between the sand. The jar is still full.

The mayonnaise jar represents life.

The golf balls represent the important things in life – family, children, health, friends and favourite passions. If these were the only things in your life, it would be full.

The pebbles are the other things that are nice to have – job, house, car.

The sand is the small stuff.

If the sand had been put into the jar first, there would have been no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. In other words, if you spend much of your time and energy on the small stuff you will not have time for the things that are important to you.

The moral of this little story? Pay attention to the things in your life that make you happy. There will always be time to clean the house etc, this is just sand. And remember that no matter how full your life may seem

there is always room for a coffee with a friend!

It’s Time to Tackle That Box of Receipts!

That box in the corner of your office. The one that contains receipts, invoices, bank statements, unopened post…and anything else you couldn’t find an immediate home for. You’ve been meaning to sort it out for weeks, months, possibly a year. Well, now is the time to do it!

You will need a large floor area (a table won’t be big enough) where you won’t be disturbed. If you’re going to be interrupted before finishing you will need to be able to shut the door to keep the cats/dogs/children away from undoing all your good work!

You will also need a pack of A4 envelopes, each marked with appropriate months eg January, February etc, plus a couple of spares to hold whatever else appears, a highlighter pen and a large bin or bin bag.

Lay out the envelopes in month order.

Start with the top item in the box, if it’s unopened post, open it;

If it is rubbish, put it in the bin

If it is paperwork needing to be kept but not financial paperwork, put it on top of an envelope marked “to be filed/actioned”

If it is an invoice or a receipt, find the date, highlight it and put it on top of the envelope marked with the correct month

If it is a bank statement, put it on top of an envelope marked with the bank account details (you will need a separate envelope for each bank account and credit card account

When the box is empty (hooray – you got there in the end, well done!), you will have several piles of paperwork all over the floor. Put each pile into the envelope it is sitting on to prevent any mix ups.

Open each envelope marked with a month and put the paperwork inside into date order (this is why you highlighted the date, as you will be seeing numbers everywhere by now) and put it all back into the envelope.

Open each envelope marked with a bank account or credit card account and sort the statements into date order before placing them back inside. If there are any missing, make a note on the front of the envelope so that you can order them from the bank or download from your internet banking.

All the paperwork that was in an unmanageable mess is now sorted into date order (congratulations, what an achievement!) and ready to be entered into your bookkeeping system by you, your bookkeeper or accountant.

Filing your paperwork when you receive it saves an enormous about of time, even though it seems to be quicker to put it into “that” box, to be dealt with some time in the future. How to keep control of your financial paperwork was covered in my previous blog

http://totally4business.wordpress.com/2010/08/30/organising-bookkeeping-paperwork/

I once had a client who had become so overwhelmed with his financial paperwork he was behind with his tax returns, being chased by the HMRC and being fined by them. It all arrived with me in about 5 shoeboxes and several carrier bags! It took me hours to sort out (and yes, I was charging by the hour as I had no idea how long it was going to take me!) before I could even begin to record it. Needless to say I was very proud of the neatly filed paperwork when I was finished and the client was extremely relieved, but because he was so far behind the HMRC went through it all very thoroughly and he needed a lot of support from his accountants. All in all, a very costly exercise.

So congratulate yourself again for tackling that box that has been causing you nightmares. Well done.