In this article, Dan Chatterton - Chartered Accountant at Zyla Accountants shares his favourite software and technology utilised by Zyla Accountants.

If you don’t keep up with the latest advancements in technology, you will inevitably find yourself being left behind in today's fast-paced world.

This statement is true in most industries and accounting is no exception. Fortunately, I’m lucky to work for a practice that embraces cutting-edge technology and is always looking for the latest tools to improve efficiency and productivity.

Here are some of my favourite tools, some of which I’ve been using for a long time, others were new to me when I joined Zyla:

Xero

I don’t believe there is better accounting software for small businesses. Others may be cheaper, but they're not as easy to use. There are many features of Xero that make my life easier. Top of my list is ‘Find and Recode’. It’s such a powerful tool to correct multiple transactions simultaneously.

Typically, I use this where a client uses the wrong VAT type (e.g. ‘No VAT’ rather than ‘Zero Rated’). A few simple clicks and all transactions are coded as they should be. In most accounting software this has to be done one transaction at a time, which is incredibly labour intensive. I don’t expect a client to know the complexities of VAT and why the particular VAT type is important. That's my job! So this feature has saved me and the team countless hours.

Google Sheets

Like most accountants, I love Excel. It’s an excellent tool for analysing data, creating working papers and creating management reports. But I was always frustrated when collaborating with colleagues or clients on a spreadsheet. Enter Google Sheets. They're always live so multiple people can open the sheet at the same time.

They’re easy to share with whoever needs access. And the fact they’re constantly live means you’ll never have those gut-wrenching moments where your computer crashes and you haven't clicked save for several hours.
We share various sheets with our clients for collaboration, either by email or Slack.

Slack

Our entire team works remotely, so communicating effectively is really key. Sure, we have regular meetings and catch ups, but for queries that pop up throughout the day Slack is our go-to. We have internal channels where we can discuss client specific queries. We also have channels with many of our clients where they can communicate directly with our whole team. If someone is out of the office it’s no problem because another member of the team will respond to any query.

We respond to any query within 24 hours and Slack makes this easy to achieve. No missed emails or ‘oops, you landed in my junk folder’. The entire chat history is saved on each channel for everyone to see. Transparent, collaborative and efficient. What’s not to like?!

And my favourite part of Slack is adding custom emoji reactions, such as this one, called ‘zylaquickturnaround’, which we use when a colleague completes a task quickly. This one gets a lot of use 😉

Apron

Data capture from receipts and invoices using optical character recognition (OCR) has been around for ages now The technology is near flawless, saving many hours of data entry for bookkeepers.

Every accountant in the UK will have heard of Dext (which is amazingly powerful, and works really well), but we choose Apron. Apron handles data capture just as efficiently as Dext but has also extended this very useful technology to supplier payments. This means not only can we categorise invoices and push them to Xero, we can also create a payment run for our clients on the same platform. Apron even captures the supplier's bank details from the invoice and ensures a match using open banking.

A handy approval workflow ensures the client approves and pays the batch (with a couple of clicks), and the same batch will appear in Xero ready to be matched to the bank feed!

All this saved time means our team can focus on providing accurate financial data and tailored advice.

Engager App

Most of my years working in practice (and that’s a lot of years!) we’ve used spreadsheets to track tasks and filing deadlines (one for VAT returns, one for year end accounts and corporation tax returns, one for personal tax returns, etc). This was painful to maintain and prone to human error (or just forgetting to update a list when something is done).

Engager App has made task tracking so simple I hardly have to think about it. Tasks are linked to a service we provide to the client, and those services are driven by an engagement letter from that client. So if we’re engaged to provide a service, a task will appear which can easily be allocated to the relevant team member. If that team member completes a stage of the task, or the entire task, they mark it as such with one click. If the next step is for that task to be reviewed by another team member, it will automatically move to their task list.

Most of the deadlines applied are statutory (e.g. year end accounts filed with Companies House 9 months after year end), but my favourite part of the Engager App is adding internal deadlines so we can always strive to be more efficient!

This is just scratching the surface of what the Engager App offers. There's also timesheets, document e-signing, email management and more.

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Zyla Accountants offer a hands-on, jargon-free and refreshingly flexible approach to accounting. Our experienced accountants deliver clear-cut support to start-ups, SMEs and social enterprises to help you focus on what you do best.

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