Brad Clarke is Client Manager at RfM’s offices in Ulverston and Barrow and our resident Xero cloud accounting expert. Meet him here.
Brad joined RfM Accountants in 2014 as an Accounts and Audit Assistant, his first professional role after graduating from the University of Central Lancashire. In his first few years with the firm, he gained broad, hands-on experience advising clients on VAT, company accounts, tax, farming accounts – and everything in between.
In 2018, with four years’ experience under his belt, Brad moved up to the position of Accounts Senior. He continued to work directly with clients whilst undertaking more complex accounting work. Brad was also learning the ropes with a new software package that RfM was starting to introduce to clients.
Kashflow, a cloud-based accounting package, was billed as the future of accounting for small businesses. No more cashbooks and spreadsheets – small business users would be able to access and update their records online and save time with automated processes.
Whilst Kashflow provided a good introduction to cloud accounting, it would not prove to be the business finance best solution for many of RfM’s clients.
“When we began to offer Xero as an alternative, that’s when I really discovered all the possibilities cloud accounting opens up to clients,” says Brad.
“There are loads of useful features built into Xero as standard which will make life easier for every size of business. But what’s even better is that you can uniquely customise the software with plugins and addons to tailor it for a specific type of business or sector.”
We asked Brad to give us his top five reasons why businesses should choose Xero:
1. Organisation
“Xero keeps you organised. I love the way it presents all your accounting information together in one place.”
2. Reporting features
“You can run a wide variety of reports that, historically, would have taken lots of time – and a degree in accountancy!”
3. Customisation
“You don’t need to tailor your processes to work with the software – you can make Xero work for your specific business.”
4. Compliance with Making Tax Digital
“Xero is approved by HMRC and integrates seamlessly with their online systems. It’s the best product out there in terms of compliance.”
5. User-friendliness
“We have clients from one-person companies to large organisations that use Xero. You don’t need to be an accounting professional to use it; we’ve supported lots of clients to move to Xero from cashbooks, spreadsheets and desktop software packages.
“In general, it makes our clients’ lives easier. But we are, of course, always on hand to help if they run into any problems or need some specific advice.”
In 2019, Brad became Client Manager acting for clients across the Ulverston and Barrow offices.
If you would like to know more about moving your accounting processes to Xero, please contact your usual RfM advisor or email Brad Clarke.