Fintech Insider Podcast by 11:FS
00:39:23 · Sian Kelly, Sarah Kocianski
[00:39:23] S9: Yeah. Yeah. [00:39:24] S0: So one of the things I know you're working on quite closely in partnership with Xero is the HMRC's Making Tax Digital initiative. Can you tell us a bit more about that? [00:39:31] S9: Yeah. So Making Tax Digital, it's gonna come to all clients who are over the VAT threshold from next April. I've been doing a lot of work to get ready for this, and we're part of the beta program with Xero. And I think the beauty for us as a practice is, we've got over 500 clients on Xero, and they are all on Xero already. So going on the beta program, it's a natural extension. We haven't got to wait till next April when a lot of accountants will be having a complete panic. Yeah. And trying to digitally file everything for their clients and finding new processes, new software. We're all completely ready for that because we've worked with Xero. They've now got their solution ready, and we're chomping at the bit ready to test it. So our clients are actually gonna have a very seamless experience of making tax digital hitting them. [00:40:14] S0: Brilliant. So they don't actually have to do anything. If they're
00:40:14 · Sarah Kocianski, Sian Kelly
[00:40:14] S0: Brilliant. So they don't actually have to do anything. If they're [00:40:16] S9: already using it, they would be We've we've we've either got clients who know they're on Xero and know that we're sorting it because we've advised them and talked to them about it. We've sent out a bit of a mail of Xero, helped with that of you're all gonna be compliant. And then you've got the kind of clients where they're more traditional. They do turn up with a box of receipts, which get whizzed through receipt bank. They end up in Xero, and they're also compliant. So I think making tax digital is gonna be a big hurdle for a lot of businesses, and a lot of practices. But for us, it's just a different way of submitting data ready to go. We just need to make sure it works, which I'm sure it does, and that's the point of the beta. [00:40:54] S0: So talking about, Xero and the, you know, the the the benefits that having additional financial services built into Xero, what what is missing do you think? Is there something that you would really like that that is coming down the line?
00:40:54 · Sarah Kocianski, Sian Kelly
[00:40:54] S0: So talking about, Xero and the, you know, the the the benefits that having additional financial services built into Xero, what what is missing do you think? Is there something that you would really like that that is coming down the line? [00:41:07] S9: A key a key area for me or a pain point for as a business owner, I I actually do my own bookkeeping in Xero just to make sure I'm keeping up to date on, like, how to use it and stuff. And I think one frustration for me is that you've got everything in Xero. You've run your payroll. You've got all your purchase invoices to pay, yet I still have to log into the bank, mess around putting PIN codes in to set up a new supplier and setting up payments and setting up all the payrolls. It'd be such a big win if with all the banking changes that are coming, we can be automating that and batching them up in Xero and pushing pay, and that'd be a fabulous service for us then to offer to clients. So it's using Open Banking, [00:41:45] S0: using the payment initiation APIs, and [00:41:47] S9: being able [00:41:47] S0: to just go [00:41:47] S9: pay and it's done. Really looking forward to that sort of thing. And that's an add on service we can sell to clients then because whilst we do a bit of payment service, it it is a concern with the fraud, the emails that you can get in, and this will take 10 pain away. Yeah. 10 pain away. Yes. Yeah. Perfect. [00:42:02] S0: Okay. Well, thank you so much for joining me, Sean. I hope you enjoy the rest of your day, and I hope you find what you're looking for out there on the exhibit hall.
00:42:02 · Sarah Kocianski, Caroline Plumb, Gary Turner, Sian Kelly, Alexis Prenn
[00:42:02] S0: Okay. Well, thank you so much for joining me, Sean. I hope you enjoy the rest of your day, and I hope you find what you're looking for out there on the exhibit hall. [00:42:09] S2: Thank you. [00:42:09] S1: Thank [00:42:09] S9: you. Thank you. [00:42:13] S0: I'm here with Alexis Pren, who is the CEO and cofounder of Receipt Bank. We're here at Xerocon. How are you doing today, Alexis? [00:42:19] S11: I'm delighted to be here. Delighted to be here with you and delighted to be here at Xerocon. [00:42:22] S0: Brilliant. So, I mean, can you give me a little bit of an overview for our listeners who don't know what Receipt Bank is? What what do you do? What pain points do you solve for small businesses?
00:42:22 · Sarah Kocianski, Alexis Prenn
[00:42:22] S0: Brilliant. So, I mean, can you give me a little bit of an overview for our listeners who don't know what Receipt Bank is? What what do you do? What pain points do you solve for small businesses? [00:42:30] S11: So so from day one... Well, almost from day one, we have been the the global leader in bookkeeping productivity, which sounds fascinating. And I can see, Sarah, as an aficionado of this industry, that you're already on the edge of... Literally on the edge of your seats. But, no, we fell into bookkeeping productivity by accident way back in 2011, and we just simply allow bookkeepers to do what they do just a lot, lot quicker. So initially, was about data extraction increasingly from receipts, guess what, and invoices, credit notes, all that kind of the cost of a business. And increasingly now, it's more about actually where in the general ledger those documents actually go. So a typical receipt bank customer would benefit from productivity between around about three, four, five times. And so we'd like to say, just take Fridays off. It's basically code code for what it's all about. So that's what we do. We are the global leader in bookkeeping productivity. We are Xero's number one add on, have been for, gosh, a long, long time. And most reviewed and more Xero customers use Receipt Bank than I think all of the other apps combined. It's something truly extraordinary. I'm probably a little bit out of date, but we are truly at the very heart of the Xero ecosystem.
00:43:44 · Sarah Kocianski, Alexis Prenn
[00:43:44] S0: So on that note, how important is it that Xero continues to build out that platform of partners? You know, when we're looking at some of the potential, you know, financial services products that could be built out from that. Is that key to sort of helping that ecosystem thrive? Are the financial services products on top of it? So you do bookkeeping, but, you know, and you work with zero. How about payments or credit, feeding those to the platform as well? [00:44:11] S11: You know, in terms of pulling things together, simplifying it, streamlining it, you know, inevitably, the world that we live in is connected and increasingly connected. And so anything that Xero can do to to make their own platform more seamless is is bound to be good for the end customer. [00:44:30] S0: So as somebody who spends a lot of time, in and around this ecosystem, what's most exciting to you? What kind of innovations are you seeing, either out there on the exhibit hall or, you know, generally in the airwaves for helping small businesses?