Sage Blog

I had a great day at Sage Connect, the Sage UK and Irelands Accountants Division event at the British Museum this week: buzz, interaction, vision and inspiration.

Now, I’m not grading my own paper here. Yes, as  Head of  Marketing for the Accountants Division, it’s my budget and my team’s responsibility – but that’s precisely the point. The team headed by Lisa Benner did an incredible job and enabled me to focus on the key aspects of the day: customer and partner learnings, Sage’s Cloud vision for accountants, iXBRL and compliance – and real humour from speakers Nick Hewer and Spencer Kelly.

Sage and Blackberry

Main sponsor RIM delighted accountants and our teams with the extent of business tasks you can get done on the BlackBerry – many were unaware that you could do your time and billing on the device, link to Sage 200 and Sage CRM Solutions as Taylorcocks Accountants described in a recent case study

Nick Goode, Sage Accountants Division

. Accountants always tell us: we are a time-bound profession and any savings on task execution means more billing time and faster resolution for customers. We enjoyed a dinner in London with the RIM team and there is real appetite for more mobile solutions for our accountant customers.

iXBRL

Doing new cool stuff on the Blackberry is always enticing – as is, for our customers and for us, tax, compliance and of course iXBRL. Julian Hatt from HMRC did a tremendous job of answering many questions about compliance, setting our customers minds at rest. For example, HMRC are adopting a “soft landing” approach where iXBRL filings will be treated leniently in the first two years after mandatory online filing in April next year. He also confirmed to the audience that expert systems such as the Sage Accounts Production product range are needed, that while HMRC does have an online tool it is only for “occasional use” for clubs, as an example. I picked up a question on the Q&A Panel regarding word tagging – that accounts prepared in Word and Excel will have to be tagged and that we will provide a product for this along with the XBRL enablement of our tax and accounts production software. Your views on outsourced tagging are welcome. With Companies House representatives also present throughout the day (a big thank you again), customers were able to get the information they need live and direct.

Future directions?

I also had the pleasure of welcoming Gina Dyer of AccountingWeb to one of my breakout sessions on Cloud computing and online solutions for Sage Accountants Division.

Through interaction with customers and partners during the sessions, I was able to draw pictures of customer needs: online collaboration between accountants and their customers; mobile access for onsite accounts review and editing; cool ideas like e-invoicing; the real demand for online payments leveraging the fast-growing Sage Pay solution; and most of all, the confirmation from our customers and partners that an “all cloud” position would be wrong; that our vast customer base means one size does not fit all and that our rollout of products and services online over the coming months and years is the right approach.

Sincere thanks to all who contributed to the debates – our only regret was lack of time!

Celebrating Success

Jayne Archbold, the Managing Director of the Accountants  Division, awarded 12  of our customers and partners for innovation, business growth, customer service, beta involvement and more. As each winner took to the stage, a different “money” themed tune blasted out (Pink Floyd, Simply Red, The Beatles and the Flying Lizards – remember them?) – I think it worked, good fun and sincere thanks and congratulations to all our winners.

I loved the way that Gina was able to get a video of Nick Hewer from the apprentice during the drinks reception. Nick had given us the inside view on The Apprentice. I completely agreed with him that the worst ever task execution was the army guy who tried to sell Macro cheddar to the French and cook sausages over a baked bean tin… And thanks Nick for your comments about how Sage grew from a tiny start-up in 1981 to the global giant we are today.

Past, present and future: the iconic British  museum with its Egyptian obelisks at the head of the stairs leading down to the event, where we entered the very real business of accountants, representing every type of British business at work today and every day; and with us now and into the future, the new worlds of online filing, payments, collaboration and services for accountants.

Of the tweets (#SageConnect) and emails on the event, the comment I liked most is that our desire to understand exactly what accountant customers need is palpable. At our core at Sage is Extraordinary Customer Experience, in using Sage products to run your business and in the services we provide.  Feedback, as ever, welcome.

Nick Goode, Head of Commercial Marketing, Sage Accountants Division

The end of the tax year is a busy period for all employers and we constantly work to improve our payroll software and the support service, SageCover, we provide to make this time of year as simple and as painless as possible for our customers. One of the key things an employer needed to do was to send their payroll information to HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), by the 18^th May.

Gary Ging, Sage Payroll Team (enjoying a Newcastle summer)

Online filing

This used to be a laborious task of having to produce two copies of the P14 form for every employee who worked for you during the year and the P35, which summarises all of the information on the P14s. This was all mailed in the post to HMRC (at the employer’s cost) or you went to your local tax office to deliver it personally. And don’t forget that you also have to give a P60, on paper, to all of your employees still employed by you at the end of the year.

The introduction of online filing has changed the way in which employers can send this information to HMRC and this year was the first year in which all employers, with a few exceptions, were required to submit their year end information online. Not only is this much easier than printing lots of paper work (it’s now just a couple of mouse clicks) but it gives you an immediate response from HMRC to tell you that they have received the information and if everything was ok or not.

How did we do?

We recently received our annual Vendor Report from HMRC detailing how our payroll products performed over the 2009/10 on-line filing period and we were once again very happy with the figures – 436,104 successful employer submissions for a total of 7,218,432 P14s.

Since the introduction of on-line filing we have always exceeded the previous year figures but the most pleasing aspect of the latest report is that it’s not just about the quantity of submissions but also the quality.

The Vendor Report doesn’t just tell us how many successful submissions were made using Sage Payroll software but also how many were unsuccessful, and this year there were 661. No, that isn’t a typo – out of 436,765 submission attempts there were only 661 failures.

This gives us a 99.85% success rate, which I think is pretty phenomenal considering the number of submissions made. And whilst 661 submission attempts were unsuccessful, this does not mean that 661 employers who use our products were not able to submit at all – our submission data shows that these employers did make a successful submission after correcting the original problem.

And I don’t refer to the number of failed submissions as ‘only 661’. We believe that this number is too high and so we have already set ourselves a target of improving these numbers for next year – not only on the number of submissions but we’re going for a 100% first time success rate.

On a final note, HMRC have changed their regulations and so from the 2010/11 year end it will be possible to give your employees their P60 electronically. Within Sage Payroll this will mean that you can either continue to print them on paper or email them directly to your employees, complete with password protection.

Gary Ging, Sage Payroll Team

When we originally sat down to discuss the Top Tips guide for businesses, back on a cold and rainy afternoon in Newcastle (some say just a typical summer’s day), we wanted to give our customers something really useful, something different and most of all something positive.

100 Top Tips guide

Several coffees later we made a decision. Who better to provide business advice than our customers? And so the Moving Forward…100 Top Tips guide was born.

Top tips for businesses, from businesses

[A couple of people have had problems downloading the guide. If you're one of them then please email me I'll send you a copy. Cath - catherine.sheldon@sage.com]

When you download the 100 top tips guide you’ll get a collection of business tips from some of our 800,000 customers. A rather handy reference guide for all types of businesses. Oh, and did I mention it’s free?

And for our customers that sent us their business advice? Well, they get to promote their business, show off their knowledge, and be one of five possible winners of an iPad. Not bad.

Within hours of asking our customers to share their tips they started to pour in.  In fact, we received everything from the down right wacky (you know who you are) to the fresh and innovative. Of course, quite a few of our customers said their top tip was to use Sage business software…so thanks for that

Some of my favourite top business tips

Tip 6

“Invest in your employees. A happy workforce is a productive workforce. Staff need to be kept motivated. Clearly define their role in the business and make them feel part of a team.”

Susan Nisar, Swimshop

www.swimshop.co.uk

Tip 53

“Your existing clients are your best source of referred business, a great Customer Relationship Management system will keep you in touch and strengthen the relationship. Always ask clients for feedback, positive feedback makes a great testimonial and negative feedback should create your action plan.”

Grahame Johnson, Opus Accounting Ltd

www.opusaccounting.co.uk

Thanks Grahame. Being Sage we’d obviously recommend our CRM software ACT! by Sage for that one.

Tip 95

“Keep spirits up, the best sales people are not the ones who get all the deals, but the people who can pick themselves up and carry on when things fall down.”

James Esom, Patchsave Ltd

www.patchsave.com

A big thank you

Thanks to all our customers and businesses who took part. You’ve helped to create an essential collection of business and advice and tips. We had a great time creating this guide and it was clear from day one that  people were more than happy to share their advice with us and others.

Congratulations to our five lucky winners; I’m sure you’re enjoying your new iPads.

Your free business top tips guide

We hope you find our 100 Top Tips guide useful. We’d love to hear from you, so let us know what you think.

Andy Atkinson, Sage Small Business Division

Here at Sage we’re busy organising a special event for our Sage accountants on the 21 July. If you’ve not come across a Sage accountant before, you’re probably wondering what they are.

What are Sage accountants?

Well, Sage accountants aim to deliver the best possible service to their customers when it comes to Sage software and services. So, if you’re looking for an accountant it’s a great place to start.

It’s a really important relationship to us, so not only do they get training, specialist software and dedicated support from us, this year we are inviting them along to an exclusive event, Sage Connect 2010.

 Sage Connect 2010 event

Sage Connect 2010 gives our accountants a chance to stay ahead of their peers with the latest information from industry leaders, as well as inside information about us, and what lies ahead.

If you’re one of our accountants, you should have received your invite by now, and hopefully you’ve already got it in your diary. And here are the  keynote speeches you’ll get to see:

• Julian Hatt from the HMRC who’ll be talking about the Corporation Tax and iXBRL aspects of Lord Carter of Coles’ 2006 Report: Review of HMRC Online Services, as well as HMRC’s approach towards transitional measures and extraneous developments that are impacting on the implementation of iXBRL
• Spencer Kelly from BBC’s “Click” will be giving an insight into business technology and emerging trends
• Michelle Sansome of the Accounting Standards Board will provide an overview of plans and timelines for International Financial Report Standards for SMEs and Microentities
• Jack Mansfield from Companies House will speak about eFiling plans and future developments

Help shape the way we develop our software and services

Have you got ideas or opinions regarding our software? Then, you’ll have a chance to pose your questions to the Sage team, including Jayne Archbold (Managing Director of Sage Accountants’ Division), and Heads of Research and Development for some of your key Sage software. You’ll also find out how to become a BETA customer and help with shaping Sage software, and as a taster get the first glimpse of the features in Sage Practice Solution.

Workshops

There’s a wealth of workshops available to you, with something for everyone. Personally I’m looking forward to ‘Cloud Computing? What, Why and How?’

Celebrating success

We’re particularly excited to introduce our Sage Accountants’ Awards 2010, which will be co-hosted by Nick Hewer from BBC’s The Apprentice.

This is a chance to celebrate and recognise the achievements of accountants in practice, and the contribution they make to UK businesses. With our Pulse survey showing that 60% of small businesses want sound business advice and consultancy from their accountants, it certainly seems like the right time to celebrate the contribution made by Sage accountants to British business.

If you’ve been entered we wish you the best of luck.

Come and join us

One of the most productive aspects of conferences is networking, and we’ll be hosting a drinks reception in the evening. You’ll have a chance to have a more informal chat with other attendees and the Sage team, so we’re looking forward to seeing you there!

If you’d like to join us, please send an email to sageconnect2010@sage.com

Daniel Duran, Sage Accountants’ Division

Jim Scott, Head of SageCover

You don’t need me to tell you that HR and payroll is a major concern for businesses. That’s something your employees will do if you get it wrong! But you might not know that seven out of ten small businesses have needed to seek advice on HR and payroll issues that have impacted their business. 

The challenge for small businesses is the speed that the legislation changes. The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) identified that twenty significant changes have been made to the UK employment law since January this year.

Barometer for British Business

During May we carried out our Sage UK omnibus, this surveys 1,500 of our 800,000 customers to get a better picture of the challenges facing UK firms and provide a barometer for British business.

The survey found that only 22% of firms employ a dedicated specialist to deal with HR and payroll issues. But for the majority it’s a huge challenge to find their way around the complex legislative landscape by themselves.

Understandably, many are seeking specialist advice such as our HR Advice service.

Working with our SageCover team also gives me a clear idea of the issues facing businesses. This team provides help to our customers in the day-to-day running of their business, and they’d certainly agree with the survey; there are a large number of businesses struggling to get to grips with HR and payroll issues.

Critical to business success

There is no question that HR and payroll is about far more than pay, rewards and policies. It is about knowing your employees and understanding their needs in order to establish a long-term and productive relationship. Getting your company’s HR and payroll right is critical to the success of the business.

Firms need to be in the best position to take advantage of every new opportunity as we emerge from the recession, and having a highly committed and motivated workforce underpins that. People understandably have a low tolerance when it comes to errors in things so personal as their pay or paternity leave, so making sure your business has the correct procedures and support is vital to maintaining a competitive business.

Staying up to date with HR and payroll issues can seem daunting if you’ve not got dedicated resource in your business, but here are some things you can consider:

Getting to grips with legislation

Legislation affecting payroll changes regularly, so make sure you are always up to date with the latest developments by dedicating at least one hour a month to reviewing the HMRC website. The HMRC also runs EmployerTalk forums, which take place every week across the UK.  The sessions last for half a day and include three half-hour presentations on relevant topics and an ongoing exhibition.

If you’ve got SageCover with your Sage 50 Payroll software then you’ll already have access to expert HR Advice. But, if not, then you might want to consider signing up for our free HR legislation alerts or join our comprehensive HR Advice service.

How much is employee absence costing you?

According to the CIPD’s 2009 survey, the average cost of absence per employee per year is now £692.  Capturing your company’s HR information using software will help you to monitor absences and spot trends. This can help you identify potential gaps and plan ahead. You can also work out the cost of absence to your business and identify if this is an area that needs to be addressed.

Jim Scott, Head of SageCover

At the start of June we were finally able to launch our e-Business Benchmark report- a study of views and opinions of over 2000 online businesses currently operating in the UK.

Sage Pay's Amy Monro

For months, we’ve been compiling the views and opinions of online retailers to uncover what makes an e-commerce business successful – from attracting people to their sites through to delivering the goods.  And our report is now here!  It covers marketing, influencing a purchase, making it easy for people to pay and security and fraud, combining statistics and case studies from real businesses. Plus, valuable insights from e-commerce professionals including Graze.com, Hawes & Curtis, and Ethicalsuperstore.com.

So what did we find out?

Well, that the internet is awash with window shoppers.  We found that only 7% of those that visit a shop online actually commit to making a purchase.  Flitting from site to site, it takes a lot to entice today’s shoppers!  We all know that even when we have a full shopping basket, it doesn’t necessarily mean we will end up buying.  So why is this?  It seems to me that there are two sides to success in converting sales, the emotional and the technical. If you are running an online business you will need a mixture of the two to ensure you’re not losing customers at the crucial stages.

Getting the balance right

The modern shopper often looks for emotional reassurance from a positive review, an accessible security policy, a special offer to make it more affordable or inexpensive delivery options.  These factors support and encourage your shopper through the process. It’s what helps to differentiate you from your competitors and after all, an alternative is just a click away, so it’s important to get this bit right.

E-business Benchmarking Report

Once the shopper has filled their basket, the real checkout process begins and this is where the technical reassurances come in.  Factors such as customised payment pages and a seamless checkout go a long way to position a company as ‘reputable’ and continue to build the customers trust.

Equally, so do the types of payments you accept.  As well as the usual card types, if you’re selling high-value goods, for example, you might want to consider offering Amex.  But if you’re targeting the younger generation, PayPal e-wallet might be an option.  These are crucial elements as there are very few environments today where you hand over your money before receiving the goods.

So whether you’re an online trader or just simply an avid online shopper, we’d like to know about your emotional and technical reassurance factors…

Download the E-Business Benchmark Report today

Contact us at marketing@sagepay.com

Amy Monro, Sage Pay

It’s been a tough few years for the accountancy industry. And the toll taken by the recession has had very direct consequences for us all.

In an effort to cope with the economic downturn, we all know that many firms have had to freeze or even cut salaries, with some asking staff to accept reduced working or conditions in a bid to increase efficiency and minimise redundancies.

Steve Porter, Sage Accountants' Division

But now, as tentative recovery begins, accountants are starting to ask when they’ll be rewarded for their loyalty – and those personnel who settled for less will soon be asking for more.

So will they be successful? And will firms face even more difficult decisions in the months to come as a result of previous cost cutting?

What will the effect of the recession have on current staff whose careers have halted during the downturn and how will the new raft of summer graduates find their way in this changing landscape? One thing is for sure, there is no shortage of young people wishing to join the profession.

Almost 10% of all UK university leavers currently pursue a career in accountancy in some shape or form. The vast majority of these still enter the ‘big four’ firms – KMPG, Ernst and Young, PriceWaterhouseCoopers and Deloitte & Touche.

Although there is a small decline – the number of qualified workers employed by the top 50 firms has fallen by about 3,000 or about 5% over the past year – this means there are still almost 57,000 accountants working in the UK.

Access to such a large talent pool has been part of the problem. Having such a large number of staff and graduates to choose from means that in recent years employers have been able to offer reduced salaries as people compete for jobs.

In turn, new joiners have found themselves having to lower their pay expectations, sacrificing financial gain in return for job security.

Those already in position when the recession began have seen salaries frozen or hours shortened. And the introduction of four-day working weeks and optional extended leave have also been seen across the sector, as part of a longer-term strategy to stave off redundancies. Other smaller firms have laid off management staff and replaced them with less experienced, cheaper graduate recruits.

While this type of cost cutting might work well in the short-term, industry experts warn it could prove costly in the long run.

Although it could be argued that having such a large pool of talent to choose from means it is possible to secure strong candidates at reasonable rates, the departure rate of staff in such an environment is likely to be high.

If firms continue to offer non-competitive salaries even when the economic climate begins to improve, personnel will move on – wasting money and time spent on training and career guidance.

With this in mind, firms are urged to resist cutting training in a push to reduce costs.  Some argue that companies who don’t train their staff are far more likely to have problems later on – that those who invest in developing the talents of their employees are much better placed to weather tough times.

In some of the larger companies employers are offering accountancy professionals salaries that will not entice people to move, and those people who do move are more likely to do so with reluctance or because they feel they have no choice.

In order for employers to find and retain the most talented candidates on the market, there needs to be some change in the way they attract talent. Going on the understanding that people will be happy just to have a job isn’t feasible for the future, and there must be more forward thinking in the market.

As soon as there is evidence of an upturn, there will be huge unrest in the market if employees do not feel suitably engaged with employers or feel that they are not gaining enough recognition for their work. And unless comprehensive succession plans are in place, companies may not be prepared for a loss of skills and people when the market moves on.

So as the economic climate continues to change, how we attract, retain and reward staff looks set to be a talking point for some time to come.

Steve Porter, Sage Accountants’ Division

With the World Cup fast approaching many people are looking forward to watching some of the world’s best footballers in action. But with a lot of the early matches taking place during the day time and the opportunity to stream games on your computer live for the first time, there are concerns that it could create a serious drain on productivity in the workplace as well as internet bandwidth. It has been reported that two million employees in London alone are expected to tune into matches during work hours.

Planning for every eventuality

It has been well documented in the past that employee sickness levels often rise during key sporting events, so every business, regardless of size, must accept that the World Cup could potentially impact their business and contingency plans should be put in place. However, it was encouraging to see from research conducted amongst our own 800,000 customer base that only one in ten businesses (10.7%) are expecting the World Cup to lead directly to absenteeism.

Taking the appropriate steps

There are a number of measures that employers can take to ensure productivity levels remain high around the World Cup and if handled considerately firms can use the event as a great way to build morale and ensure employee satisfaction.

The Sage Omnibus conducted amongst 1,500 SMEs, showed that many small businesses are planning to adopt different working practices during the tournament. Twelve percent of SMEs will be setting up a TV in the office, 6% changing their working pattern and 2% are allowing staff to work from home during this period.

Top tips for improving staff morale during the World Cup

• Be flexible – By allowing staff to have flexibility over their hours is one way that employees are able to watch specific games. Staff may choose to start early, or finish late, to make up the hours taken or even swap shifts but as long as this has been agreed in advance the company should not suffer as a result.
• Screen games at work –  As long as the business owns a valid TV license, on-site viewing is a great way to increase staff morale.
• Allow the matches to be watched online –  Have clear procedures in place which outline the company’s stance on watching games online. By knowing in advance how many employees will be streaming live games on their computers, the firm can best monitor their bandwidth and ensure their business continues to run smoothly throughout the tournament.

No one wants to miss a rampaging run from Rooney or a dazzling goal from Terry and by taking a proactive approach, companies can enable employees to follow the tournament while maintaining productivity and boosting morale.

For loads more tips to help you manage your people check out our free guide.

Cath Sheldon, Sage Brand Marketing Team

There are a lot of things people don’t know about us here at Sage.  Working here for 11 years, I’m continuously learning new things about this place. For example, did you know that one of the founders of Sage was previously one of the four key navigators for the first Apollo mission to land on the moon? And the name Sage was inspired by a herb poster in a pub! We could have so easily been Thyme – although it doesn’t quite have the same ring.

Graeme Edwards, Sage Mid Market Division

Today we are the only FTSE 100 company in the North East, but something else that a lot of people aren’t aware of is our presence in mid-market as well as small business software. In fact, a third of the FTSE 100 uses Sage software to run their business.

Another interesting stat: every postcode area in the UK has a business using a Sage mid market software solution….

We have kept these kind of things quiet so far, but that’s all going to change…

Last week we’ve launched our “All business, not just small business” marketing campaign to support our presence in this part of the market and change perceptions that we are not just an market leader in the small business space but we are also market leading in the enterprise space too.

Apart from the awareness campaign, there’s lots more going on and coming later in the year are many exciting product launches for larger companies. We’ve also strengthened our leadership team with the appointment of General Managers Bob Anderson and Carlene Jackson in our focused ERP and CRM units.

We hope these strategic hires will help to ensure we are even better placed to meet the more complex business requirements of larger organisations and support the needs of our 20,500 mid-market customers.

Graeme Edwards, Head of Commercial Marketing, Sage Mid Market Division

It’s that time of the year again when we publish our Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) report and it always reminds me just how much we’ve achieved and what great activities happened last year across the business. It’s been another hectic twelve months for the CSR team but we wouldn’t have it any other way.

Leigh Thompson, Sage's CSR Consultant

Here at Sage, we believe that being a responsible business and committing to Corporate Social Responsibility isn’t just about giving money away and getting involved in loads of stuff (although we know this helps sometimes).

Actually, what we really care about is doing the right things, at the right time, in the right way, and that acting responsibly isn’t something we just talk about or do from time to time, it’s a way of life.

Our CSR activity covers our approach to getting greener, engaging our people and treating them in the right way, learning and development, our focus on customers and suppliers as well as community commitment and charitable donations, so there’s a lot going on!

As part of my role, I get out into the community and speak to businesses, small and large, about their own CSR activity, so we can learn from them, and hopefully help them by sharing what we know too.

As well as spreading the CSR word externally, it’s really important  to engage our people. In many organisations, like ours, they’re the power behind your CSR efforts. All you need to do is involve them in decisions where you can, let them know what you’re doing, and how they can get involved.

So whether they’re helping us to support charitable events, volunteering in the community, coming up with new ways to be ‘greener’ or living and breathing our guiding principles of simplicity, agility, innovation, trust and integrity, it’s our people who put our responsibilities into action.

Leigh Thompson, Sage CSR Consultant