As most people know Accountants aren’t the most advanced, open to change bunch going around. At 5ways we run a pretty different way of accounting and we also have a lot of tech savy, entrepreneurial clients that we love spending time with. We learn a lot from our clients and (hopefully) they learn a lot from us.

A few months back my business partner and I had a great idea for an online business. We wanted to see if we could put in to action what we had learned off our clients.

One client in particular has a business called Freedom Secret Society (read about it here).

Tim worked closely with us to help us through the start up internet based business process. Being accountants we had plenty of business knowledge, but what we needed was the online business, sales and marketing knowledge.

Only a few months ago we launched Click2 Convert. This business is showing the beginnings of being a great success. The process has taught us a lot about online business.

So what I hear you ask??

Tim is launching an online 8 week course where anyone can learn the skills and get the support to create their own freedom business. Ryan and I are both going to do the course and develop our own freedom business.

It will undoubtedly be an exciting time and we hope to learn heaps of skills that will help both our clients and us in the future. The course is a community environment so feel free to join us in the course or just check it out for your self. It is free to sign up for the first week of information before the course begins. Why not check it out?

To sign up for the free opening week, follow this link:

http://www.freedombusinesstraining.com/fiveways

Let’s GO!!!!!

18 short months ago, Ryan and I started out with the goal of doing accounting differently. We had grown tired of the traditional way of accounting and of the traditional accounting software. From the day we got our first Xero organisation (our own partner edition) we have enjoyed every new client, helping clients grow, and the days spent working with our clients.

Starting the firm from scratch we were lucky and unlucky. Lucky to start fresh with the way we believed accounting should be done, with online systems and no preconceived hangovers from traditional practices. We were also unlucky in that we didn’t have a list of clients to show the Xero system to or to liberate from desktop based systems. Our 100+ Xero files were not converted from existing relationships, rather from new clients that have found us, been referred to us and (dare I say it) been convinced by our persistence.

Reflecting on the journey to 100 Xero files today we are so happy that we proved to ourselves that letting go and setting up a truly modern accounting practice wasn’t going to be the end of the world. The liberation has allowed us to develop systems focused on client value and efficiency rather than simply time and productivity. It has also allowed us to attract like-minded clients and 4 staff that share the dream of client service. Another wonderful part of the last 18 months has been to share the modern practice dream with many accountants from around the world that are in varying stages of realising that dream.

Where to from here – after a brief break to write this blog and have a beer with the team we look forward to an exciting year.

Here are just some of the plans:

1. We will be launching a Xero Conversion service to assist Accountants and Bookkeepers remove the hasstle from converting Xero files;
2. We have bought a Kombi van – While we love working from café’s and client offices, we have always dreamed of an office that comes with us and can be a meeting point for clients and likeminded professionals;
3. Growing the practice – This year will see us strive to double our size, add services and ever improve our client service and the client experience.

So back to it hey.

Here is to 2012 being a massive year for Xero and the Accounting Industry. With some effort and luck we will try and hang on to the ever growing group of truly inspirational accounting firms out there and try to sometimes stick our head up and give the industry a shake.

Let’s GO!!!!!

From: Paul Meissner

When Paul Meissner decided to start his own accounting firm, he wanted to do things differently. He had worked in several traditional accounting firms, small companies with 25 staff, and had become disenchanted with the timesheet-driven culture.

Meissner took a blank sheet of paper and sketched a model for the ideal type of business that he imagined would satisfy himself and future clients. The blueprint was radically different to the typical accounting firm: fixed fee versus hourly rates; highly mobile versus a central office; and highly efficient versus maximising billable time.

“I wanted to work from anywhere. I didn’t want to be tied to a desk and tied to a server,” Meissner says.

This radical model was only possible because it was based on a cloud-based accounting system, Meissner says, which in this case was the New Zealand company Xero.

“I found Xero and it all made sense. The whole collaboration, one ledger (for client and accountant), I could do it from anywhere, I could give my clients a better service. That was the cornerstone.”

Meissner says he otherwise would have paid at least $25,000 for a copy of MYOB Accountants Office for timesheet management, tax form lodgement and CRM, as well as a server on which to run it.

“Usually the first thing you do is go out and buy a PC and a server. You know you’re going to have a heap of documents and need somewhere to put them,” Meissner says.

Because Meissner chose cloud-only programs he was able to work from cafes for the first three months and save on office rent. Staff can work from home, the office or a client’s premises as long as they have an internet connection.

Meissner spent weeks trialling cloud software for document management and CRM (customer relationship management). He estimates that he tested 11 CRM programs and reviewed 15 more by reading blogs and forum posts and looking at their websites. He looked at programs written in South Africa, UK, New Zealand and Australia.

“Websites are now really well organised. The features are listed easily, you watch the fluffy tour video and get a feel for what it looks like, and Google them to find out what people are saying in the forums. Anything that looks like it was designed in Excel you close it down and move on.

“The other thing I really liked was that with everything you could take out a trial. (In the past) you used to pick the best looking box at OfficeWorks and spend a grand on it.”

Another appeal of trialling cloud programs was that Meissner could sign up for a free trial, upload live customer data and use the service for a week. He invested more time with Batchbook CRM until he realised that it wasn’t the right fit and exported his information to use in another cloud program.

“I could easily roll (my data) into another system. I hear horror story with on-premise systems,” he says.

Meissner ended up choosing a hosted CRM designed by a local developer and Box.net for document management. Fiveways staff use the desktop Microsoft Office suite on their laptops for document creation and Apple’s consumer MobileMe cloud service (soon to be renamed iCloud) for syncing calendars and contacts to laptops, tablets and smartphones.

The hosted CRM lets clients sign their engagement letters and other documents electronically using the same digital signing protocol used by the Australian Taxation Office. One prospect contacted Meissner by Twitter, then called on Skype and within 12 hours had received and signed the engagement letter, downloaded the debit form and signed on for a year’s accounting services by subscription subscription.

Meissner says he was able to keep his technology costs far lower than if he had bought a server based solution. Fiveways spent $500 for a year’s subscription to Box.net and $25 a month for website hosting and email.

“Compared to buying a server, it’s almost free. I got through half the year by being on the free subscription for most of them,” he says.

Meissner tested SalesForce.com, Capsule and Batchbook CRM and WorkflowMax for document management but found were suited to subscription billing or provided a detailed client interface. Last week he started to design his own platform which he hopes to sell to other accounting firms.

Mobility was an important factor in choosing cloud-based programs. Meissner always checked to see whether a program had an app for the iPhone and preferably the iPad too, and claims he was the first accounting firm in Australia to release its own iPhone app.

Box.net syncs documents between the cloud, laptops and mobile devices and has a protected client portal for customers to access copies of their tax returns and other important shared documents. The Box.net platform also hosts the firm’s internal documents, policies and procedures.

“The phone can ring in a cafe and I can do an engagement letter and debit form from any device and email it straight to clients. I never wanted to tell a client, ‘Wait until I get back to the office’,” Meissner says.

Meissner is selling an associate model which helps other accountants move from hourly billing to fixed price, and advice on the cloud services required to support the model.

Written by Sholto Macpherson from www.boxfreeit.com.au

The Small Business Web is a great resource for Small business owners and they have a great Manifesto. We share their view.

“We think small businesses are the lifeblood of the economy and that it’s from small business that true innovation will arise.”

“We believe small businesses should have access to the same tools and technology that big companies have without paying a huge amount.”

“We know simplifying access and increasing integration to our products and services will benefit all of our customers.”

“We want small businesses to succeed and we want to help.”

Here is our guest blog that was featured. Enjoy!

Case Study: Five Ways Chartered Accountants in the Cloud

This guest post comes to us from Paul Meissner, Director, Five Ways Chartered Accountants. Five Ways Chartered Accountants are Australia’s only online accounting firm, shunning all forms of desk based software.

Cloud solutions have provided our firm with the platform to service our clients efficiently and effectively from anywhere in the world.

In bringing the firm online we searched high and low and came up with a suite of cloud products that enabled us to work completely online.

What do we use:

Xero Accounting – This gave us the platform to assist our clients, engaging and collaborating with them online. Accountants’ traditionally have used out of date client financial info. Xero gives us access to our client’s financial data in real-time which allows us to engage with our clients and give them a better service. We can also streamline the process of providing annual compliance for our clients using the terrific financial reporting in Xero. By working with our clients on the one system our firm can reduce the time we spend on compliance work by almost ½. Efficiencies like this help our bottom line a lot. Clients love using this program as well, enjoying the intuitive design and easy to use nature.

Batchbook Social CRM – Access to up to date client contact information, email history and social media of our clients is paramount. If you have a mobile workforce then you can’t let this information be spread across different computers, phones, etc. High level customer service in our industry relies on our CRM system being easy to use, scalable to our needs as we grow and based in the cloud. No more out of date information slowing down our business. Client service depends on people having access to client information to help them wherever they are. With Batchbook we really like the email tracking system. So much of our business is done on email, having this CRM means that client service continues even if some staff are away.

Box.net document management – Standard documents, letters and client documents are a drain on all accounting firms. In looking for a document solution we needed a way of collaborating with our staff and clients online. With Box.net’s user management and security, we can share different levels of access across all our staff. Client too can each get an area in which to collaborate with us.

Efficiency is the cornerstone of all businesses and the cloud has enabled us to turbo charge our business. While these products help and improve the financial performance of the business it also saved us from the capital burden of coming up with the cash to buy computer hardware and have an office to keep it all in.

Overall the move to the cloud has made our client service more efficient, cut our overheads and made us more profitable. Not bad for a team of Accountants….

Cheers, Paul.

If you run a lawn mowing business, and you’re not with Five Ways – you need to call Ryan and get 2011 off to a great start.

Five Ways are well aware of the complexities of running a lawn mowing business and have seen first hand the software Franchisors have given you to ‘run your business’ on. The good news is IT DOESN’T NEED TO BE THIS HARD!

During 2010, we helped simplify many businesses with the smart use of technology.

We know you work long hours, so why not let us navigate your paperwork required by the ATO, at the same time we can simplify your scheduling and billing systems so you can claw back your evenings and weekends.

Our experience from seeing your colleagues’ businesses struggle with outdated software and time-consuming systems compounded by lazy Accountants gives you an opportunity to partner with an Accounting firm that understands your business & has a proven track record helping your peers.

The following is a special bundle of services from Five Ways specifically for your business.

· No cost or obligation meeting over coffee so we can understand you & your business needs

· Xero Subscription (The worlds easiest accounting system)

· Online Scheduling Software subscription

· Quarterly BAS preparation and lodgment

· Annual Financial Report & Taxation Return

· Tax planning meeting prior to June 30

· Meeting to discuss your draft tax return & financial performance including any recommendations for next year.

All from $189 (excl GST) per month.

If you want to catch up for a coffee with Ryan, call or text 0423 481 061 or email ryan@fivewayschartered.com.au

January is a fantastic month to get organized, don’t put it off for another year.

If you are like me and spend a lot of time away from your desk or are constantly emailing yourself copies of documents for viewing away from the office – then you need the Dropbox app.

Dropbox is a ‘cloud storage’ service, which lets you store all your documents and any other digital media online giving you access anywhere, anytime on any internet capable device.

The iPhone app available here, gives you access to your files using either 3G or Wi-Fi connectivity.

Once you have created an account (free with up to 2gigs of storage – then a tiered pricing model) you are presented with three menu options.

Favorites – this is where you can download your digital media into your iPhones internal memory for ‘offline viewing’ (for example while on a flight)

My Dropbox – lists all the files that you have stored in Dropbox from your computer

Settings – lets you link your iPhone to your account and you can also view how much capacity you have left

One great feature of iPhone app is that it instantly recognises when a previously synced file has been modified, meaning you will always have the latest version of your files every time you access them.

Although numerous apps have similar functionality – we recommend Dropbox and use it internally because of its simplicity and intuitive interface.

We give Dropbox 4.5/5

Please feel free to comment here, tweet or follow us on Facebook. The feedback will be used to make the blog more usable for everyone.

^Ryan Tietjens

Today I wanted to focus on an app that every small business owner should know about – Shoeboxed.

Tagline:

Use your iPhone to store and organise your receipts. Sounds boring – but trust me, once you start using it and clawing back your evenings from in front of the computer– you too will be excited.

Snapshot:

If you are like the majority of small business owners I work it, you will have a bulging wallet – not necessarily overflowing with cash, but full of paper receipts for expenses you have paid yourself on behalf of your business. Along comes another GST reporting period and you have to sacrifice an evening or two entering in your expense reimbursements after you have located all your receipts.

Thankfully this is now history – similar to desktop based accounting software J

With Shoeboxed – All you need to do is simply photograph your receipts (hand written ones too). That’s it. Your photos are sent up into the ‘cloud’ where Shoeboxed enter your receipt data into a number of useful formats. You can then send your organised receipts directly to us as your Accountant or upload the .CSV file into Xero.

Some key features of Shoeboxed

• Eliminate annoying tasks like scanning and data entry
• Capture receipts as you go to avoid hassle later
• Get accurate data from human-verified extraction
• Save time on expense reporting
• Export receipts to PDF, Excel and others
• Maximise your deductions
• Go paperless with your receipts

Bottom Line:

The app is free to download from here. However if you would like all services mentioned above, monthly subscriptions start from $19.95. If you are a client of Five Ways – you can bundle this service with your accounting subscription.

I personally use this app, and give it a solid 4/5.

Please feel free to comment here, tweet or follow us on Facebook. The feedback will be used to make the blog more usable for everyone.

^Ryan Tietjens

Every week I spend countless hours browsing the outer limits of Apples App Store. I don’t consider it unproductive time; to be honest the contents of the App Store have made me personally more productive and have shaped in some ways how we, as an Accounting Firm work and connect with our clients.

More recently, we are finding hi-tech, low cost solutions for clients on the App Store – bundling accountancy services online, with apps that assist with everything from scheduling, building quotes, capturing receipts to tracking vehicle mileage.

There is no doubting the iPhone & iPad have moved away from what was a ‘must have’ fashion accessory, to be considered a serious business tool. From High Court Judges & ER Doctors, to start-up businesses – iOS devices are making strong headway.

This week I will showcase the apps that occupy the precious real estate of my iPhone 4’s home screen that you as a small business owner might find useful.

‘5 apps from Five Ways’

App 1: ABBYY Business Card Reader

Tagline

Tidy up that collection of business cards in your top draw, or throw out your 1970’s business card holder & save your contacts cards into your address book simply by taking a photo.

Snapshot

If you are like me, and make a ton of contacts on a weekly basis – this app will make the home screen on your iPhone. It allows you to transfer contact information from business cards directly to your contacts by using the iPhone’s camera.

The app uses the iPhone’s camera as a scanner, takes a photo then applies some magic (optical character recognition) to populate the text fields in your Contacts. Best of all, it actually works (most of the time) and is fairly accurate with contact fields.

Bottom Line

You can download a ‘Free” version which will allow you to test the character recognition software, however you can’t save details into your address book. The paid version retails for $12.99 – slightly on the expensive side for an app but worth every cent if your collection of cards spans 6 months or more like mine did. Check it out here.

ABBYY Business Card Reader – we give it a solid 3.5/5

If you have any apps that you think deserve a mention, let us know about them.

Please feel free to comment here, tweet or follow us on Facebook. The feedback will be used to make the blog more usable for everyone.

^Ryan Tietjens

“Is Private Health insurance worth it?”

Firstly it’s worth noting that I’m not talking about the cost vs. risk of if you may need health insurance. What I want to focus on is the Tax and financial factors that you should consider.

In a Tax sense there is the ‘Medicare Levy Surcharge’ that imposes an extra 1% tax if you don’t have Private Health Insurance and you earn over $75,000 (or $150,000 as a couple). Really worth noting is that changes to the tax rules now add back to your taxable income things like Reportable FBT, Rental and other investment losses (negative gearing) to your income when applying the $75k threshold.

As a good guide, if you pay $90 per month in health Insurance ($1,080 per annum), the Tax income amount at which you start to be paying more tax in Medicare levy than dollars in insurance is $108,000.

My key points for people to consider:

- At $100k income your getting close to being out of pocket not having insurance;

- Insurance saves you money on your medical bills during the year through rebates;

- If you’re anything like the baby factory my friendship group are, then there is a far better reason to get health insurance.

If you’re young, single, carefree and earning below $60k you might be too busy partying to worry, for everyone else it’s a real consideration financially.

So there you go. Armed with some tax knowledge for the next BBQ session with family and friends.

Keep your comments coming, tweets are great or follow us on Facebook. The feedback will be used to make the blog more usable for everyone.

Paul Meissner – Director, Five Ways Chartered

“I’m looking to start a business, what structure should I have?”

Between Income tax, Capital gains tax, GST and stamp duty, the cost of getting this wrong can be HUGE!

This blog can’t cover all the areas of tax structuring, but what I want to do is cover some really important points to get you started:

a. These day’s (with a litigious culture) there aren’t many businesses that fit in a sole trader structure (basically a personal ABN and maybe a business name). Start as a sole trader and see if the business can support your income, but once the business gets going then get your structure right;

b. Kids are cute and expensive, with a Family Trust kids of any age can get tax free income. They can’t get a lot if they are under 18, but it all helps keep the money in your pocket;

c. Having a Company somewhere in the structure (usually as the trustee of a trust) provides asset protection. That’s really important. Don’t let a disgruntled creditor risk your personal assets;

d. Companies alone aren’t a great business or investment structure. CGT, tax treatment, complexity of accounting and stamp duty all have some real traps with companies;

e. For businesses or investments with 2 or more individuals or families, partnerships are a start, Unit trusts can work and there are some real benefits in getting your accountant to explore hybrid trusts.

Getting your tax structuring right provides huge tax benefits (both Capital gains tax and income tax), asset protection and even improve your chances getting bank finance!!

With Paul Hogan in the news today I want to share one of my favourite tax quotes: In the words of the late Kerry Packer:

“I am not evading tax in any way, shape or form. Now of course I am minimizing my tax and if anybody in this country doesn’t minimize their tax they want their heads read because as a government I can tell you you’re not spending it that well that we should be donating extra.”

Keep your comments coming, tweets are great or follow us on Facebook. The feedback will be used to make the blog more usable for everyone.

Paul Meissner – Director, Five Ways Chartered