The truth is out; Twinfield has been acquired by Wolters Kluwer. The acquisition is in line with Wolters Kluwer’s strategy to expand its portfolio of products and services.  for the finance and business professional. It is a sign of the times that they have acquired a completely new business model: subscription-based online accounting. It is also an indication that Wolters Kluwer understands the developments in and needs of the market. By acquiring Twinfield, Wolters Kluwer has in one fell swoop attained the market-leading position in SaaS and Cloud Computing in Holland.

“A world of opportunity in combining different products, services and business models to suit many a palate.”

We live in the information-age. The ability to quickly access information and, by means of specialist knowledge, translate it into something meaningful for different audiences is critical. I have written a previous blog about ‘the four new business principles’ ; we can now apply these further still.

“In order to multiply, divide and share first.”

Within Twinfield, we possess a wealth of knowledge concerning the way in which accounts are managed and processed, both by accounting firms and within SMEs. Within Wolters Kluwer, we find a veritable treasure trove of information and knowledge; a global organisation with a portfolio or products and services that will blow you away. Twinfield will become part of the Tax & Accounting division and within that area alone, the offering is vast. As a marketeer, I am furthermore thrilled at the prospect of joining a community that includes the publishing house Adformatiegroep, publishers of the Dutch trade titles Adformatie, het Tijdschrift voor Marketing and Communicatie. Wolters Kluwer even has a successful community dedicated to ‘The New Way of Working’!

To Bind & Digitise

Overall, therefore, there are plenty of opportunities to share knowledge, to link and bind people and to make connections. The intelligence within both parties will allow us to ensure that you, as accountant and / or entrepreneur, will find the information you need, rather than having to search for it. We will have the ability to present you with information and knowledge when and where it is most relevant.

The nice thing about Twinfield online accounting is that the entire process for managing and processing accounts is digitised and automated. Every step in that process involves several individuals: the accountant, the book keeper, the business owner. Each of these individuals has a different way of looking at the financial administration and each also has a different need for the information within. Twinfield online accounting enables each to extract the right numbers and the right information and thereby to get the correct overview.

My enthusiasm increases yet further when I flick through everything Wolters Kluwer offers. What an enormous collection of knowledge, know-how and information! It manifests itself in a variety of formats: from magazines and newsletters to conferences, etc. The organisation also has the experience to disclose and disseminate information through a variety of devices.

We all are very enthusiastic and welcoming of the collaboration and partnership with Wolters Kluwer as well as the opportunity to become part of this wonderful organisation. The playing field is changing, and Wolters Kluwer and Twinfield are changing in line with the market. The synergy between our two organisations can mean nothing but positive changes for you, our customer, whether you are an accounting firm or an entrepreneur. We are going to ensure that you can carry out your work more efficiently and effectively. We will implement the four new business principles together with you so that, in addition to being a professional firm, you will become an enterprising accountant. Information, knowledge and know-how is key. We will package this for you in an application in support of a processing- and publication process. Content is king; as customer you are as well.

If you would like to take part in the discussions concerning the acquisition, please join Twinfield’s LinkedIn group. You can also follow what is being reported in the media by going to hashtag #twfwk on Twitter.

Author: Mark Appel , marketing manager Twinfield. This text is written for and published on our Dutch-companyblog. It’s translated for our UK-blog, but has the original links to Dutch-websites in it.

I fondly recall the memories I have of my grandparents’, Grandma & Grandad Kwakernaat, own grocery on the high street in Nijmegen, Holland and of my Grandad’s little kiosk at The Canisius Hospital in the city centre. It made my day whenever I was allowed to help out with little jobs in the kiosk or running errands to buy supplies, or trimming the runner beans in the shop for Grandma. My grandparents were entrepreneurs, and always busy running their businesses.

Wisdom comes with age. Once upon a time, my business partner Maurice Tijhuis and I set up our own business: Twinfield. Fully convinced of our imminent success, I threw myself in wholeheartedly. Looking back, I wonder where the courage to take such a step came from. What was the reason and inspiration for this entrepreneurialism? In my case, it was a foregone conclusion that I would take this route in business. Proven when I recently spent an afternoon with my family looking through old pictures and slides of some 40 or 50 years ago. Among the prints was one of me as a boy, standing proud as a peacock in front of Grandad’s kiosk. And now, I find myself full of pride again. Why?

It all started 13 years ago with little more than an idea. Maurice and I gave up our jobs at CODA, and with them all the security we had in our daily lives. I can still recall my parents’ disbelief that I was throwing away such a good job. My mother witnessed the start-up phase, but unfortunately passed away before she could see the growth of Twinfield. My father, however, did see the growth of the company and the fact that I did indeed make the right choice. Unfortunately, he too passed away a few years ago. I still like to think that they are looking down from above.

Now, after 11 years of hard work from the whole Twinfield team, we have reached another milestone. Twinfield has come of age and has been acquired by the listed international organisation Wolters Kluwer.

But back to the start-up phase. It was 1998. Maurice and I had had enough of difficult implementations of accounting software and systems. We decided that online was the way to go and started the preparations that would bring our online subscription-based accounting service to market. The business model was simple: “Mass is cash”. In 2000, we established and registered Twinfield. A difficult year: the internet bubble burst and many ideas and initiatives, no matter how good they were, failed because the market just wasn’t quite ready for them. Nonetheless we persevered and opened an office in the small town of Wijk bij Duurstede. Neither big, nor luxurious, but just what we were after.

What was unavoidable about Wijk bij Duurstede was the long road off the A12 to Wijk; it seemed never-ending. But not a waste of time or effort, because that time spent commuting, completely alone in the car, gave ample time to reflect and to think things through. The first five years were tiresome and exhausting, but also exciting and challenging. They were full of pitfalls and with a massively steep learning curve. In those first few years as an entrepreneur, you really have to learn and do everything yourself. And just how much I have learned in the last 11 years! Looking back it seems like yesterday, although the mirror shows otherwise.

In February 2006, I was interviewed by Remco Mourits, editor at the Dutch publishing firm HUB Uitgevers. My PR agent had told me very clearly beforehand not to wear my heart on my sleeve. But I couldn’t help it; I say what I think and feel to, regardless of to whom I am talking. That is the way I am and the reason why I am where I am today. Remco made a nice little piece out of it. The headline being: “It’s just as well that you don’t know what you’re getting yourself into.”

It is now five years later, and what was true then remains true now. Of course things have changed; Twinfield has grown (significantly), we have many more employees and customers in a number of countries. We have expanded internationally and now have offices in Kiev, Ukraine and the UK. I always get a special feeling when I visit the Kiev office. The employees there live in a different world, but feel as much part of the Twinfield team as the guys here in Holland. Soon they will – eventually, after permission has been granted by the Ministry for External Affairs – be able to come over to meet their Dutch colleagues and to take part in workshops and training courses.

Yet still I get the feeling that we’re not yet done, that we’re still only at the beginning. How do you expand into four different countries at the same time? You need a powerful international strategy. Well, we now have the strategy and can start to expedite it. Twinfield is being acquired by Wolters Kluwer, a fantastic Dutch company, a listed international organisation with the infrastructure, employees and customers in countries where we too want to be successful. And Twinfield online accounting fits perfectly into their product portfolio! So why take six years to conquer one country when it can be done a lot faster and easier?

This does not mean that we are forgetting our Dutch roots, quite the contrary. In Holland, we have a much stronger position than elsewhere. Over the course of many a conversation with Wolters Kluwer, it has become clear that our organisations are like-minded, that we understand and complement each other. Wolters Kluwer is the right business partner to help us realise our aspirations for Twinfield.

It started in 1998, with an idea that led to the establishment of Twinfield in 2000. And it is with great pride that I look back at what we have achieved together in the last 11 years.

Andre Kwakernaat, CTO and founder of Twinfield International

The truth is out; Twinfield has been acquired by Wolters Kluwer. The acquisition is in line with Wolters Kluwer’s strategy to expand its portfolio of products and services.  for the finance and business professional. It is a sign of the times that they have acquired a completely new business model: subscription-based online accounting. It is also an indication that Wolters Kluwer understands the developments in and needs of the market. By acquiring Twinfield, Wolters Kluwer has in one fell swoop attained the market-leading position in SaaS and Cloud Computing in Holland.

“A world of opportunity in combining different products, services and business models to suit many a palate.”

We live in the information-age. The ability to quickly access information and, by means of specialist knowledge, translate it into something meaningful for different audiences is critical. I have written a previous blog about ‘the four new business principles’ ; we can now apply these further still.

“In order to multiply, divide and share first.”

Within Twinfield, we possess a wealth of knowledge concerning the way in which accounts are managed and processed, both by accounting firms and within SMEs. Within Wolters Kluwer, we find a veritable treasure trove of information and knowledge; a global organisation with a portfolio or products and services that will blow you away. Twinfield will become part of the Tax & Accounting division and within that area alone, the offering is vast. As a marketeer, I am furthermore thrilled at the prospect of joining a community that includes the publishing house Adformatiegroep, publishers of the Dutch trade titles Adformatie, het Tijdschrift voor Marketing and Communicatie. Wolters Kluwer even has a successful community dedicated to ‘The New Way of Working’!

To Bind & Digitise

Overall, therefore, there are plenty of opportunities to share knowledge, to link and bind people and to make connections. The intelligence within both parties will allow us to ensure that you, as accountant and / or entrepreneur, will find the information you need, rather than having to search for it. We will have the ability to present you with information and knowledge when and where it is most relevant.

The nice thing about Twinfield online accounting is that the entire process for managing and processing accounts is digitised and automated. Every step in that process involves several individuals: the accountant, the book keeper, the business owner. Each of these individuals has a different way of looking at the financial administration and each also has a different need for the information within. Twinfield online accounting enables each to extract the right numbers and the right information and thereby to get the correct overview.

My enthusiasm increases yet further when I flick through everything Wolters Kluwer offers. What an enormous collection of knowledge, know-how and information! It manifests itself in a variety of formats: from magazines and newsletters to conferences, etc. The organisation also has the experience to disclose and disseminate information through a variety of devices.

We all are very enthusiastic and welcoming of the collaboration and partnership with Wolters Kluwer as well as the opportunity to become part of this wonderful organisation. The playing field is changing, and Wolters Kluwer and Twinfield are changing in line with the market. The synergy between our two organisations can mean nothing but positive changes for you, our customer, whether you are an accounting firm or an entrepreneur. We are going to ensure that you can carry out your work more efficiently and effectively. We will implement the four new business principles together with you so that, in addition to being a professional firm, you will become an enterprising accountant. Information, knowledge and know-how is key. We will package this for you in an application in support of a processing- and publication process. Content is king; as customer you are as well.

If you would like to take part in the discussions concerning the acquisition, please join Twinfield’s LinkedIn group. You can also follow what is being reported in the media by going to hashtag #twfwk on Twitter.

Author: Mark Appel , marketing manager Twinfield. This text is written for and published on our Dutch-companyblog. It’s translated for our UK-blog, but has the original links to Dutch-websites in it.

I fondly recall the memories I have of my grandparents’, Grandma & Grandad Kwakernaat, own grocery on the high street in Nijmegen, Holland and of my Grandad’s little kiosk at The Canisius Hospital in the city centre. It made my day whenever I was allowed to help out with little jobs in the kiosk or running errands to buy supplies, or trimming the runner beans in the shop for Grandma. My grandparents were entrepreneurs, and always busy running their businesses.

Wisdom comes with age. Once upon a time, my business partner Maurice Tijhuis and I set up our own business: Twinfield. Fully convinced of our imminent success, I threw myself in wholeheartedly. Looking back, I wonder where the courage to take such a step came from. What was the reason and inspiration for this entrepreneurialism? In my case, it was a foregone conclusion that I would take this route in business. Proven when I recently spent an afternoon with my family looking through old pictures and slides of some 40 or 50 years ago. Among the prints was one of me as a boy, standing proud as a peacock in front of Grandad’s kiosk. And now, I find myself full of pride again. Why?

It all started 13 years ago with little more than an idea. Maurice and I gave up our jobs at CODA, and with them all the security we had in our daily lives. I can still recall my parents’ disbelief that I was throwing away such a good job. My mother witnessed the start-up phase, but unfortunately passed away before she could see the growth of Twinfield. My father, however, did see the growth of the company and the fact that I did indeed make the right choice. Unfortunately, he too passed away a few years ago. I still like to think that they are looking down from above.

Now, after 11 years of hard work from the whole Twinfield team, we have reached another milestone. Twinfield has come of age and has been acquired by the listed international organisation Wolters Kluwer.

But back to the start-up phase. It was 1998. Maurice and I had had enough of difficult implementations of accounting software and systems. We decided that online was the way to go and started the preparations that would bring our online subscription-based accounting service to market. The business model was simple: “Mass is cash”. In 2000, we established and registered Twinfield. A difficult year: the internet bubble burst and many ideas and initiatives, no matter how good they were, failed because the market just wasn’t quite ready for them. Nonetheless we persevered and opened an office in the small town of Wijk bij Duurstede. Neither big, nor luxurious, but just what we were after.

What was unavoidable about Wijk bij Duurstede was the long road off the A12 to Wijk; it seemed never-ending. But not a waste of time or effort, because that time spent commuting, completely alone in the car, gave ample time to reflect and to think things through. The first five years were tiresome and exhausting, but also exciting and challenging. They were full of pitfalls and with a massively steep learning curve. In those first few years as an entrepreneur, you really have to learn and do everything yourself. And just how much I have learned in the last 11 years! Looking back it seems like yesterday, although the mirror shows otherwise.

In February 2006, I was interviewed by Remco Mourits, editor at the Dutch publishing firm HUB Uitgevers. My PR agent had told me very clearly beforehand not to wear my heart on my sleeve. But I couldn’t help it; I say what I think and feel to, regardless of to whom I am talking. That is the way I am and the reason why I am where I am today. Remco made a nice little piece out of it. The headline being: “It’s just as well that you don’t know what you’re getting yourself into.”

It is now five years later, and what was true then remains true now. Of course things have changed; Twinfield has grown (significantly), we have many more employees and customers in a number of countries. We have expanded internationally and now have offices in Kiev, Ukraine and the UK. I always get a special feeling when I visit the Kiev office. The employees there live in a different world, but feel as much part of the Twinfield team as the guys here in Holland. Soon they will – eventually, after permission has been granted by the Ministry for External Affairs – be able to come over to meet their Dutch colleagues and to take part in workshops and training courses.

Yet still I get the feeling that we’re not yet done, that we’re still only at the beginning. How do you expand into four different countries at the same time? You need a powerful international strategy. Well, we now have the strategy and can start to expedite it. Twinfield is being acquired by Wolters Kluwer, a fantastic Dutch company, a listed international organisation with the infrastructure, employees and customers in countries where we too want to be successful. And Twinfield online accounting fits perfectly into their product portfolio! So why take six years to conquer one country when it can be done a lot faster and easier?

This does not mean that we are forgetting our Dutch roots, quite the contrary. In Holland, we have a much stronger position than elsewhere. Over the course of many a conversation with Wolters Kluwer, it has become clear that our organisations are like-minded, that we understand and complement each other. Wolters Kluwer is the right business partner to help us realise our aspirations for Twinfield.

It started in 1998, with an idea that led to the establishment of Twinfield in 2000. And it is with great pride that I look back at what we have achieved together in the last 11 years.

Andre Kwakernaat, CTO and founder of Twinfield International

“Getting data in” efficiently still seems to be the primary focus for many practices and it’s a good place to start because the technology to automate data acquisition is proven and practices are attracted by the efficiency gains, particularly if they’re responding to client demands for fixed- and value-based pricing rather than traditional hours-based billing.

But if they are also in the business of providing advice to their clients, then obtaining meaningful information from the raw accounting data is the name of the game and their thinking soon turns to the other end of the process, i.e. “getting data out”, making adjustments, etc.  Therefore the availability of flexible reporting and dash boarding tools becomes paramount.

Twinfield used the ICAEW’s XBRL Road Shows last Autumn to promote the “single source” approach, where there is one set of accounting data which supports everything from data entry to monthly management accounts and annual returns (including tax). The move away from paper accounts to iXBRL is a great boost for this concept, especially for online software providers. However, most practices have yet to adopt the single source approach because they chose to meet the HMRC deadline by “XBRL-ising” their existing processes, which typically involved buying a tagging tool to ‘bolt on to’ Microsoft Excel/Word, or upgrading to a new version of their existing accounts production software.

But it’s not going to be long before accounting software providers make separate final accounts software a thing of the past. Then it will be possible to make adjustments as part of the audit and final accounts reporting process which are reflected directly in the source accounts.  It will also be possible to drill back from final accounts directly to detailed transactions and on to scanned source documents, such as purchase invoices and receipts.  This will significantly speed up audit and investigation processes.

Sitting in the midst of this is the complexity of taxation.  Tax is a complicated area requiring specialist knowledge and it seems likely that this will remain a separate domain.  I think the specialist tax software providers with the brightest future will be the ones who provide an open way for single source accounting systems (such as Twinfield) to obtain the input they need to build a complete submission to HMRC for both annual accounts and tax returns.  Such solutions will enable accounting software vendors to tap into the expertise of the tax specialist while retaining the integrity of the single source, which ensures efficiency throughout the accounting process.

Moving to a single source approach is the next logical step for forward thinking accounting firms who want to maximise their efficiency while taking advantage of the collaboration opportunities inherent within online systems.

Mark Davies,
Country manager Twinfield UK

I recently started to organise a 10 year re-union for a rowing crew who raced at the Henley Royal Regatta.  We live all over the place (one person is even in Hong Kong these days) and we’ve hardly seen each other in the last decade, so where to start?  I decided to create a Facebook group and send out invitations to the others to join.  Sure enough, we are all now members of the group….except for one.  I made contact with this person by e-mail but he’s not keen on the idea of joining Facebook because (in his words): “I like not being found on t’interweb” and “a few years ago someone said that it was getting easier to find most of your friends on the web…I tried it and sure enough, there are lots of friends…and my wife, all discoverable by anyone with a computer, usually along with a mugshot! I find the idea mildly worrying…”.  Fair enough and a feeling shared by many, I’m sure.

Our company partners with accountants and our product is a web-based accounting system.  Now, accountants are some of the most conservative and risk averse people in the world.  They don’t like change and a lot of them question the integrity of the web and the value of social media in business.  The way I see it is this….

The internet, and social media in particular, is like a fast running river.  If you jump in carelessly then you might drown, but it’s safe to dip your toe in and test the water to see if you like it.  Most people fear that they will suffer from information overload, but that’s because we have this in-built fear of missing something important.  Not only is it impossible to read everything in the online world (in fact in the world!), it’s not how social media works.  You don’t have to read all of it, it’s OK to take a look every now and then when it suits you.  And there excellent tools for managing and organising all of this information into topics that are relevant to you.  So you can let the river flow by and take from it what’s important to you personally or in business.  For instance, paper.li is a web-based tool for creating your own personal online newspaper – if create your own list in Twitter then you can have your very own personal newspaper containing only the things that interest you.

OK, so there are some good tools available, but it still requires at least some of your time, so is it importan enough to bother with?  The reason why you should at least dip your toe in is that there are already conversations, news items and events happening about things that you’re interested in that are only made available on the web.  (The reunion I’m organising is a case in point.)  From a personal point of view, if you don’t join in then you’re potentially turning your back on friends and family (and especially children) who are already using it and finding that it has already become a great way to stay in touch.  For example, my son is cycling from the UK to New Zealand, he’s currently in Uzbekistan and we keep in touch via a host of things that are all web-based:  e-mail, Skype, Google maps, Flickr, WordPress, Whatsapp and Facebook.  It certainly beats having to wait for the occasional post-card from who-knows-where to indicate that he was indeed alive at the time it was written!

Another example is my 82 year old mother-in-law.  We all clubbed together to give her an iPad for her birthday (in January).  She has never owned a computer and hardly ever touched one, but now she’s able to join in with her children and grandchildren to share thoughts, photos, news and generally keep in touch.  For me, this is absolute proof that the internet has led to the creation of devices and tools that are truly user friendly and of great benefit to people from all walks of life, even if they previously had no access to the online world.

For businesses of all types (including accountants!), choosing not to participate in the online world means turning your back on an important communication channel to your existing and future customers.  Just as important, you’re also going to become increasingly out of touch with what’s happening in your industry because online is always the source of the latest information and you can be sure that someone, somewhere is talking about your industry and maybe even your company.  Wouldn’t you like to know what they are saying?

It’s easy to look back and marvel at the distance we’ve travelled in the last 10-20 years in terms of technology.  The speed of evolution (and, hence, obsolescence of old technology) can sometimes be daunting, but it’s where we are and more people are joining in every day.  The ability to keep in touch, progress business deals and handle administration by cooperation and collaboration in the online world is rapidly becoming the norm and it’s time to get involved in order to give yourself the opportunity to benefit and thrive in the future – both personally and in business.

Mark Davies,
Country manager Twinfield UK

Once upon a time I ran my own business; I came across a product that I absolutely loved, started to import it and before I knew it, it was on the shelves in a number of retail outlets. From my point of view as a business owner, it was a great feeling to see things take off – but keeping track of payments and cash flow was an overwhelming task.

When I cast my mind back, I recall numerous Excel spreadsheets where every week more columns were added to keep track of the exceptions related to adjustments in payments and part-payments. With the knowledge I have now, of course I would have set things up in a completely different way. That knowledge has come from working at Twinfield for the last year and a half and being intricately involved in the latest developments and happenings in the accountancy sector.

Keeping track of money going out and coming in – the lifeline of any company – is so much easier these days. Someone once put it to me most simply: “Mark, it’s really quite straightforward. You buy something and then sell it on with a mark-up; there is nothing more and nothing less to it.” As true as it gets, of course, but properly managing purchases, sales, payments etc. can be a complicated and difficult challenge.

Nevertheless, it would appear that we are starting to see two previously disparate parts of the financial world come together: the banking world with information about balance sheets and the accounting world with details of invoices and payments. Combine these two aspects of your business finances online, in real-time, and suddenly you have the insight that you, as business owner, need: knowledge of whether you can fulfil your legal and financial requirements and obligations. It is now possible to truly link the banking and accounting worlds, and more than that, this link now also appears to have a term of its own – connected accounting. It is this link that ensures that information contained in the balance sheet or bank account is automatically updated within the financial accounts. In Holland, Twinfield has established this connected accounting with ABN AMRO and it will soon be working with Rabobank too. We hope that there will soon be the opportunity to do the same with the leading UK banks.

And if, as a business owner, you want the process to be completely seamless then you really also ought to be carrying out your invoicing online. A sales invoice can be composed online, then sent either digitally or by post. The details will be automatically added to your financial accounts and, thanks to the connected accounting, when the payment is received it will be automatically reconciled. If payment isn’t received within the terms of the invoice, the debtor will automatically appear on the debtors list and reminders automatically sent either digitally or by post. How much more efficient this is compared to the old paper process!

OK, this might sound as if it’s too easy to be true, but any of the increasing number of accountancy firms or bookkeepers who process financial accounts in Twinfield could demonstrate in minutes just how straightforward and effective this really is. Embrace the new way of working with online invoicing and the connected accounting, and sit back and reap the rewards.

Mark Davies
Country manager UK
Twinfield International

Maintaining financial accounts is a necessary evil; at least that is how it’s perceived by many entrepreneurs within the small-to-medium business community. Nonetheless, accounting records contain a wealth of information that, when used in the right way, could readily help generate extra income. The way in which you carry out your bookkeeping or accounting can furthermore contribute to cost savings. Here are four tips to help you achieve this:

Tip 1: Work collaboratively online with your bookkeeper or accountant
Online collaboration is the ideal mechanism for identifying potential cost savings. By digitally exchanging information, including invoices and bank statements, you will cut out the physical process of collecting and sending these by post, thereby reducing the risk of error as manual input is minimised.

Tip 2: Carry out your invoicing online
The National Accounting Enquiry conducted in the Netherlands in 2010 found that almost 50% of SMEs with between one and 50 employees compose sales invoices using Microsoft Office applications such as Word or Excel, and I’m sure it’s at least this figure in the UK. In many cases, these invoices get sent to the accountant who then manually re-keys the information. By using an online accounting package, however, in collaboration with your accountant, the process becomes completely automated. Instead of creating documents in Word or Excel, you simply open your web-browser to efficiently compose an invoice in your own house-style. Debtor details don’t have to be input anew each time; neither do details of products or services provided. Instead, at the simple click of a button, the invoice is composed with all the relevant details and can either be printed or sent electronically. And, because your accountant uses the same online package, the invoice is received and details copied across to the business accounts automatically without any need for manual re-keying. An additional advantage is that reminders and debtor lists are automatically generated and updated as payments are made.

Tip 3: Link your bookkeeping to your bank
Bank statements become a thing of the past the moment you link your bookkeeping to your bank; instead, your self-learning online accounting system will be able to automatically process bank statements and reconcile them with your sales and purchase invoices on a daily basis. By processing bank statements in this way, both you and your accountant will save time. You will also both have greater insight into your business’s actual financial status and a real-time understanding of how well you are able to meet legal financial obligations such as .

Tip 4: Carry out simple bookkeeping tasks yourself
Keeping your financial accounts up to date can be a real task. Nonetheless, there are some elements of it that you can easily do yourself. One example is entering purchase invoices. Typically, you would collect your invoices and post them to your accountant who will input the details. If you carry this task out yourself, you will free up time for your accountant to then dedicate to supporting your business in a more qualitative way. A modern online accounting system can be set up to present conceptual information in such a way that the accountant can focus on checking and investigating; an efficient way of working together online while you retain good visibility of any expenditure incurred.

By following the tips as described above, in addition to making cost savings you will be laying the foundation for generating extra income; you will be more aware of your business’s financial status and thereby less likely to suffer unwelcome surprises or financial setbacks. In addition, you will create a situation whereby you can quickly react to changing market conditions. This new way of working offers a wealth of opportunity, even in relation to your bookkeeping. In the next blog, we will take a closer look at this concept. In the meantime, good luck!

Mark Davies
Country manager UK
Twinfield International

In an earlier post I tried to define “cloud computing”.  You would think this term had been flogged to death by now, but there are discussions happening all of the time trying to define it in terms of the various kinds of technology that are available.  That leaves me cold, even as someone who works in the technology industry!  What we need to focus on are the differences it makes to people who use technology, not the technology itself.

To me, cloud computing is about being able to use my applications and data from wherever I am, via the most appropriate device.  It gives me maximum flexibility and efficiency, it makes it easy for me to use the appropriate style of access depending on where I am (e.g. Windows applications on the PC at my desk, iPad or iPhone apps on the move or at home).  It also makes it easy for me to organise and share things with others.  Services such as Dropbox, Issuu, Flickr and YouTube are good examples of how easy it is to store things in the cloud and share them with others.

Of course, because it’s cloud computing, I don’t worry about maintaining hardware or software, in fact I have little or no knowledge of the infrastructure that’s required to make it happen, it just happens automatically.  Applications installed onto particular devices (for example, iPhone apps) use the cloud to store and access the data.  Software updates are no issue at all because they flow down automatically from the cloud when available.

Things are much different for me today than they used to be, because I store a lot of things in the cloud that previously had to be maintained locally.  Now I have one set of consistent information that’s synchronized across all of my devices – what a joy!  For instance, all of my contacts, all of my internet bookmarks, all of my to-do lists, all of my ad hoc notes, all of my e-mail, some of my pictures and videos.  From a business standpoint, we can store literature and other documents in the cloud and make them available to others too.  So we save time and money by, for instance, not having to print brochures any more.

Moving to the cloud has also opened up a whole new world of applications which make information and tasks easier to manage.  Evernote is a great notes app, for instance.  Hootsuite and Flipboard are superb for organising social media, an area I had reservations about because of the tidal wave of information that might hit me.  These tools make it easy to manage multiple social media channels and organise the vast world of Twitter into a rich news-media-like style that focuses on the topics that interest you.

One of the most remarkable things about using cloud computing is the number of good quality solutions that are available for free or very little cost.  In the past it would have cost hundreds of pounds, perhaps thousands.  But today I receive many of these services and applications for free, but even those that charge are usually so cheap that I really don’t have to think about the cost.  I just downloaded the iPad version of the “To do” app for £2.99, less than a pint of beer.

Cloud computing has enabled me to enter a whole new world that’s more enjoyable and efficient than the old one – I’ll never go back.  I’m not alone, over a year ago over 80% of US internet users were using social media in one or more ways, today a lot of businesses are using it for marketing, collaboration and recruitment.  In the (not too distant) future, the vast majority of people in the developed world are going to be using cloud computing to manage aspects of their home and business life.  That’s why my recommendation to others is to start using it, even if only in a small way for now.  See where it takes you, I think you’ll enjoy it and you’ll be protecting your future livelihood.

A recent question on AccountingWEB asked:

“Like many others, a fair amount of my time is being taken on chasing cients for information for their tax returns.  I would be really grateful for any ideas and suggestions how to change this. ”

I think a complete change of mindset is needed (on both sides).

Transparency is the answer

This ia a perennial problem and, in my opinion, one that will disappear as the pressure builds on accountants to deliver value and, at the same time, improve margins.  Why?  Because of increasing competition in the accountancy services sector and increasing expectations of clients who are already adopting new ways of working with their custoemrs and expect their accountant to do the same with them.

As the adage goes, the strongest or fittest will not necessarily be the ones who survive, it’s the ones who are best at adapting who willl have the greatest advantage.  Accountants who are able to adapt and become more involved with their clients on a week-to-week or even day-to-day basis will automatically resolve the challenge of gathering information because they will already be playing an active role with their clients and already have access to the required information.

There is no way of achieving this using traditional systems because they don’t allow transparency of information between client and accountant.  But in the online world, information and responsibilities are easily shared, which enables the accountant to more easily adopt the role of financial adviser and provide services that play a meaningful part in the client’s business.

Collaboration is the key word here and it has the potential to dramatically change the landscape for accounting services.  I believe that it will be better for both accountants and clients.