by Zyla admin | Feb 15, 2021 | Team
Finding the right accountant, no less than a running joke in the small business domain. Why so??
Well, the major reason is that now it isn’t just about finding an Accountant who can take care of your day-to-day data processing needs. Instead, businesses need an accountant who is a jack-of-all-trades. But is it really possible without being a master of none? Maybe!!
Accounting softwares have made it quite possible for accountants to take over a wide range of roles. However, when business owners step into the market in search of Accountants that are both good with numbers as well as tech-savvy, it isn’t easy. What’s even more troubling is a dilemma of accolades that makes an Accountant the right choice for a business.
With over 2,000,000 users and being a primary accounting solution for over 16,000 accounting firms, Xero has made choosing an accountant easy. Our Xero Gold partner status has made it even easier!!
Experience, expertise & excellence, shining brightly like stars studded on our Xero Gold Partner badge. Let’s tell you more about what we’ve achieved and what benefits this achievement brings for your business.
What does it mean to be a Xero Gold Partner?
Xero is cloud-based accounting software that businesses all around the world are in awe with. The extensive list of features that Xero offers has made Accounting on the cloud so much fun. Connecting people, sharing files on highly encrypted servers and ease of accessibility are a few features that have made Accountants switch over to Xero. But how do business owners know if an accountant/ accounting firm really knows their way around maintaining and managing Xero software?
‘The Partner system is designed to recognise advisors who scale within Xero’s network, and it’s there to help small and medium-sized businesses to better identify and connect with the advisor that suits their needs. Xero Gold Status is an achievement that reflects our level of experience with our customers using Xero.’
Initially starting with a Xero partner status when we and our clients use Xero products, we receive points that help us increase our partner status. Basically, now we can flaunt our Xero Gold Partner badge to showcase our expertise and hands-on experience with our clients using Xero.
While Platinum Partner status is the highest, we are already Xero Gold Partner now with just one more star left to be added.
How our Xero Gold Partner status benefits you?
The Gold Partner status isn’t awarded to just one accountant, it is a collective achievement that defines the capabilities of Zyla as a firm. It means that all the members of our firm are at par with one another when it comes to handling Accounting using Xero software. By leveraging the powers of Xero, we can help small to mid-level businesses sort their finances, thereby making their business more profitable.
Our Accounting knowledge combined with our level of Xero expertise allows us to gather in-depth knowledge of your business, allowing you to dedicate resources on growing your business. We can take care of a wide range of accounting needs like payroll, bookkeeping, and other man-power intensive tasks while you are focused on handling your core business competencies.
From setting up Xero to advising you what will work best for your business (including setting up Xero add-ons), we know it all!!
We can also train your in-house team and offer support as and when needed. Moreover, we can flaunt our Gold badge to get you subscription discounts as well. You can consider us as the Xero search engine that has answers to all your queries.
As Accountants, we realise that we aren’t just data processors but in a way for your business growth as well. And with our tech-savvy Accounting model, we bring a solid business model to take your business to the next level of growth
Want to get started with Xero? Need help setting up your Accounting processes in the Xero cloud? Get in touch with our experts to see how we can unlock your business’s potential.
by Zyla admin | May 15, 2020 | Team
Wow what a reaction to last week’s blog, some great and some interesting feedback – I do like the name ‘the mysterious Scottish CA’ but I promised Suzy and Latha this wouldn’t be about me. Over the course of the next couple of weeks what I said I would write about for them is the various different softwares that they use to make their cloud based firm so accessible for someone joining them, even from 400 miles away.
This week I thought I would focus on ‘Slack’ which was the one I was most interested in starting with them. As David Menzies commented ‘great to see collaborative working’ and this epitomizes what Slack is all about. At Zyla, Slack is used as the internal collaboration and communication tool between all of us here at Zyla.
Every client has a channel set up, every software and topic as well as key subjects all have individual channels set up to allow both communication and tracking of progress on work. When I’ve finished a bit of work, and want to send it to Suzy or Latha for review, I message them via Slack, and include a link to the Google Drive where the work is stored thus creating a to do task for the them, as well as making it as easy as possible for the person who is reviewing it. Not only that – it keeps your inbox clearer and lets be honest, who doesn’t want their email inbox clearer!
As well as using it for internal workings above, they have taken it one step further and created an online community and help hub for their clients through a second community. I should mention at this stage that a community is essentially a hub where you login into to see what communications you have access to. So for all of their clients, there is a one stop shop for updates and information – which has been greatly received by clients during this current pandemic. With emails there is always a chance a spam filter will not like a word in the email and send something to junk, and by using Slack, clients know this won’t happen and get notifications when updates are shared. And what’s even better – clients can share their experiences through here without concerns.
All that leaves me to say is are you getting this service from your current accountant, and if not, would you love to be part of the Zyla Community? If so, drop us an email at [email protected] and let us introduce you to Slack.
by Zyla admin | Oct 21, 2019 | Team
We first started Zyla Accountants by working from home, coffee shops and meeting clients at their offices. As our client base has grown we have seen the value in joining a co-working space so that we have a place to meet our clients and to be involved in the co-working community.
We started our co-working journey at wework in Hammersmith and Brook Green but soon moved as we did not find a sense of community and the beer on tap was not a deal breaker for us. The idea of wework is great but unfortunately the execution of wework doesn’t quite match.
Next we moved East to Plexal City in the Olympic Park and we loved it there! The layout of the workspace itself is what drew us so far East and being surrounded by innovative tech startups was a perfect mix for us. In the end we decided to move because the commute become too long for us as we live closer to West London.
This brings us to our first private office at The Workary Avonmore as part of Wimbletech, who have transformed under-utilised library + public space in partnership with local Councils to ‘make it possible for entrepreneurs to live good lives, to grow their businesses within spaces that they love, around people they care about, whilst contributing and giving back to their local community.’ We are proud to have moved into our first private office as we expand the team and we love the community environment at The Workary. We also feel that we are far more productive and focused having our own private space.
Key points for us when picking a co-working space have been:
- Environment / productivity
- Community
- Location
As always, there are tax implications to consider when switching to a co-working space.
The tax implications of a work space depend on the amount of time spent there and also the duration, for limited companies the questions to consider:
Are you going to spend more than 40% of your time there?
Are you going to be going there for more than 2 years?
If both of these conditions are met then this constitutes ‘ordinary commuting’ and your travel and associated costs ie food & drink expenses are not tax deductible.
1) Working from home
Obviously you will have no travel costs and the expense of working from home can be tax deducitble. As a sole trader you’re allowed to take a proportion of all your home running costs prorated for number of rooms used for business and numbers of days worked from home. Or alternatively you can claim a flat rate allowance per month for your light, heat and power. The flat rate allowance is set by HMRC and depends how many hours you work from home each month:
- 25-50 hours: £10 per month
- 51-100 hours: £18 per month
- 101 hours or more: £26 per month
As a director of a limited company you cannot claim any fixed costs and the HMRC flat rate allowance for use of home is £4 per week.
2) Working & meeting clients at coffee shops
This will be deemed a temporary workplace therefore expenses are tax deductible.
3) Hot desk at a co-working space
If you use a co-working space occasionally and pay a daily rate every time you do so, this will still be classed as temporary. For a limited company if you only spend roughly 2 days a week there and do not plan to be there for more than 2 years, expenses are tax deductible.
4) Fixed desk / private office at a co-working space
As your usage of the co-working space becomes more permanent your travel and food expenses may not be tax deductible. As a sole trader if you’re working there on a regular and predictable basis, you can’t claim back the associated travel costs. For a limited company if the company directors and employees in question expect to be at the space for two years and spend at least 40% of their time there, you can’t claim back the associated travel costs.
If you need any further guidance on your current workplace situation and travel expenses get in touch [email protected]
by Zyla admin | Aug 27, 2019 | Team
Suzy Kerton is the co founder of Zyla Accountants
Suzy qualified as a Chartered Accountant with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS) at Baker Tilly. Shortly after achieving her accreditation, she completed an international secondment to Baker Tilly Argentina.
Having since completed an MBA with Imperial College Business School and an exchange at ESAN in Peru, Suzy has acquired in-depth experience in financial accounts and R&D schemes, as well as the CFO of a start-up. She is passionate about making accounting understandable for all businesses, regardless of their size, setup or location.
Suzy’s role as CEO ensures she can focus on growing Zyla Accountants client base whilst ensuring operational efficiency and good use of new accounting technologies within the firm.
