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