Access Accounting - Blog

Access Accounting seeks high-flyers to help drive ambitious growth plans

Following its continued business success Access Accounting has launched a campaign to search for outstanding talent to help drive its ambitious growth plans. The largest independent business and accounting software house in the UK is inviting high-flyers to a recruitment event on Tuesday 27th November at the Holiday Inn, Ransomes Europark in Ipswich from 6.30-8pm and 8-9.30pm.

Restriction by design – we must have been nuts

Growing our turnover every year since we started in 1991 has taken us from a small start-up company to the UK’s largest independent business and accounting software house in our sector. But success in turnover, profitability, and intellectual property is really a by-product of building a successful team and culture.

Business vision! What’s that all about?

One of the greatest truths of life is that pro-active people are far more effective than re-active ones. Pro-active people make things happen because they take action; re-active people see things happen around them because others have taken action. The same is true for any business or organisation.

It’s common for some companies to feel like they are forced to spend money on business and IT solutions. The driving force behind the spending is generally a negative push away from an undesired state or pain. In business this pain can take on many forms. For example:

- Realisation that a critical leadership tool like reports is totally unreliable and inaccurate

- The high cost of maintaining an outdated and inadequate system

- Constant interruptions because of speed issues and system failures

Ignoring these vital signs of a failing system will end in disaster. Staff will leave, sales will drop, costs will sky rocket and the end will be in sight.

Changing your system because of these failings is necessary and unavoidable, if the business is to survive in today’s market. However, the issue here is that the implementation of the new system is re-active rather than pro-active based on design and planning.

Having a clear company vision with goals and aspirations set out from day one is vital and will align every action and spend. The business has to act every day with the end result in mind. Investment in human resources, IT, new capital equipment and research will all make sense if it can be mentally validated against the vision of the business.

Having a vision becomes ultimately beneficial when the leaders of the business plan investment accurately to achieve their goals. Information and the technology that stores and presents this information is a crucial aspect of any business. When the future of the business is planned, investment in the accuracy and reliability of the information which the business needs should be considered carefully.

Pro-active organisations will consider their business system needs for the future, validated against a clear vision. I propose a new phrase for the proactive business: “If it isn’t broke, that’s great! However, will this system provide us with what we need to achieve our goals?”

Mark Fermor, Sales Manager

Sustainable businesses 'should receive tax cuts'

Firms which use sustainable practices in business should be rewarded by the chancellor with cuts in corporation tax, an accountancy company has said.

The Guildford branch of PFK is calling for the cuts as an incentive for other companies to become more eco-friendly, with a proposal of reducing tax to 25 per cent for businesses which are carbon neutral, the Surrey Advertiser reports.

"Business is tired of being harangued over its environmental performance by a government that has increased its tax burden and the level of red tape but given no financial incentive to improve," said Peter Jun Tai, PKF's tax partner.

He added that the government should provide more incentives for companies to make green investments and give them a target to aim for.

Gordon Brown sent a message to homeowners through the announcement of a stamp duty exemption for carbon-neutral houses; it is now time for him to do the same for businesses, Mr Jun Tai concluded.

Earlier this month, head of PC building company Dell told the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas that IT should take the lead in environmental issues.

Do you agree that a cut in corporation tax goes far enough? Are there any other incentives that you'd also like to see implemented? Post your comments.

IT for Profit

There’s no doubt in my mind that the most profitable companies are always those that make the very best use of modern IT.

However, this comment always seems to create debate. Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Cynics are always keen to point out that it is only the most profitable companies that can actually afford to make the best use of modern IT.

"UK software groups face takeover" article - Accountancy Age

How intriguing to read the article in Accountancy Age, “UK Software groups face takeover” (4th Jan, Page 3). It was a real reminder of the year 2000 when the infamous IT ‘slowdown’ started to tighten its grip and when the pace of consolidation in the UK accounting software market really picked up.

Environmental Accounting Issues Outlined

The accountancy profession has to recognise the time has come for a shift in attitudes towards the environment, an expert has claimed.

Accusations of complicity in the failure of markets to combat the problems posed by climate change and other factors have meant accountants need to confront the problems of the environment, according to Roger Adams from the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (Acca).

Writing in Accountancy Age, the executive director noted that the profession must make its contribution to tackling climate change through its work on the Prince of Wales's Accounting for Sustainability (Acc4S) project.

"The Acc4S initiative has a projected life of about one year and lifted off on a groundswell of goodwill," said Mr Adams.

He added: "The profession has a lot to contribute but must be ready to acknowledge that, belatedly in Stern's view, the time for a major paradigm shift may have arrived."

Represented on the steering group alongside Acca are the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy and the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.

In other recent news at Acca, the body recently signed a mutual recognition agreement with its counterpart in Canada.

Is this initiative too little too late? As part of the accountancy profession, are you already being proactive in 'doing your bit' for the environment? Could the industry as a whole be doing more? Let us have your comments.

Driving for change…but still feeling the pain

The business software market continues to mature - so much so that the reasons and drivers for change sometimes don’t outweigh the fears of failure or limits of prescribed benefit.

Having worked in this industry for over a decade, I'm aware of how complex all software has become. In most sales situations a company is often buying an upgrade to their existing solution on ‘gut feel’ or the confidence the sales person is radiating, rather than a documented process of real benefits.

For a successful system implementation, these three factors are important…

1. The sales person must communicate to you that they understand who you are, what you do and where you are going, listing the immediate and future requirements of your business. Without this information documented, the chances of a working solution that does what it says on the tin is minimal.

2. The product provider must demonstrate a solution to fulfil your entire requirement. The promise of the next version or sexy feature should not influence you decision.

3. You must insist that the provider documents sales and project requirements which deliver on promise. With modern integrated software solutions that fulfil your whole requirement the sales-to-installation process can be lengthy, documented promises cannot be forgotten.

If you follow these guidelines and insist on quality documentation and project planning you are less likely to replace one system with all its problems for another system with a different set of issues. At Access Accounting we, and our Access Specialist Centres, are more interested in understanding your business and how you want to work, before considering which software and features are appropriate.

This is a proven formula for success for the customer and software provider alike. Long term relationships are created and referrals are a natural bi-product - and that’s exactly how it should be.

Steve Ashman

Standard Audit File (SAF-T) for VAT

Well, we released the Standard Audit File in our software on 10^th August and I was expecting a barrage of complaints in the media along the lines of us supporting a “Big Brother” state. This Standard Audit File is part of an international initiative to allow tax authorities to take data from businesses in a common data format. This will then allow them to run tests and integrity checks on the data electronically to ensure that tax is being properly accounted for.

We are the first software company to release this in the UK and we had been geared up to defend our stance - but so far, all has been quiet. We did get some coverage in Accountancy Age and today we have had our first user enquiry about the facility.

In Holland, this type of system has been in place since the late eighties and is used by both the tax authorities and the accountants in practice.  Here, it’s adoption is likely to be slower with HMRC only just starting to promote the technology as one of the components within their new BSI specification for accounting software. I guess we’ll just wait for the interest to grow.

Kevin Misselbrook

Investing in People

People are the lifeblood of any company. A cliché perhaps, but I can’t help being a great believer in the importance of investing in staff whether this is through training, self-development or enhancing their current role to make it more rewarding. Quite simply, we’ve found this approach to add great value to the company.

This whole philosophy is part of our ‘always recruiting’ culture where we’re constantly on the lookout for talented individuals with spark, passion, creativity and vision – even if no role currently exists for them. There’s no denying that this approach does take time and effort. What’s more the whole process doesn’t stop there, as you’ve also got to constantly “sell” the idea of a career to all staff. The process is therefore ongoing, requiring commitment from us as directors to encourage people who want to develop their career - and inspire them with the possibilities that are open to them. 

However, we’ve found this to be time well spent, having a positive impact on staff retention - which can only be good for us as a company!

It would be interesting to hear from other businesses that have also tried this approach or indeed have other approaches to HR that they would like to share.

John Beech