The Business Success Group recently attended and passed our tests to become the latest company to receive Xero certification.  We are very pleased to have rocketed to this 100th milestone over the past 3 months, and we’re especially happy to reach that milestone with a company of accountants who truly understand the value of Xero.

Their niche is around supporting entrepreneurial businesses or those in startup mode, and they see Xero as being a powerful tool in delivering business advice on top of traditional accounting services.  Most businesses in startup mode clearly need to keep a tight rein on finances. The real-time nature of Xero means that growing businesses are right on top of their financial position – now, not at the end of the month.   Not many small businesses can afford bookkeepers to keep manual systems up to date, so Xero nicely provides this critical service.

I know its sounds obvious, but it’s really important for small businesses to keep their financial position up to date, they just don’t have the deep pockets to ride out bad debtors and creditors. So in addition to being operationally efficient, the up side is that your business can produce accurate and immediate business reports on your cash position or P&L.  Why is that an up side? Most small businesses generally need to raise money or get credit for something sooner than they think, so being able to quickly show a prospective investor, bank or a finance company where your finances are at – quickly, efficiently and affordably, definitely reflects well.

Would you invest in someone who has their finger on the pulse, or one who says “I’ll get back to you”?

Upcoming Xero certification training dates

All run from 9am to 1pm, please contact your account manager if you’d like to attend:

08/10 Wellington (fully booked)
15/10 Auckland

06/11 Christchurch
12/11 Wellington
13/11Auckland

09/12 Auckland
10/12 Wellington

One of our affiliates, Pennys Worth Ltd based in Auckland will be running a series of training courses for Xero customers starting with a practical, hands-on course covering the basics.

The 3-hour session uses your own Xero trial company, which means all the tasks and examples done while on the course will stay on your system, so you can access them for the following 14 days to remind and refresh you on how you have put in the information. Pennys Worth will also issue copies of handout material to take away with you.

The course will cover the following, plus more:

• Basic bookkeeping principles
• Invoicing
• Paying suppliers
• Expense claims
• Basic reporting
• Bank feeds
• Using ‘Help’
• GST returrns

The course cost is $199 + GST. The dates are: Thurs 16 October – Auckland or Tues 11 November – Auckland

Please register your interest as soon as possible, so we can reserve a space for you.

Contact Pennys Worth by email: penny@clear.net.nz or info@pennysworth.co.nz

Or phone Penny 021 983 297 or Julie 021 0221 8961

Please register if you’re interested in attending.

We commonly get asked if there are any hands-on training courses that provide best-practice guidance on using Xero.

We’ve been working hard to certify several training organisations so they can offer high quality courses. Maria Mullane and the team at Aspire Solutions have just become our first certified Xero Trainers. They’re offering public training courses over the next few months, starting in August. Below is the schedule, along with pricing and contact details.

Training at Xero offices in Wellington (view map)

August 5

Training at Aspire Solutions in Paraparaumu (view map)

August 27
September 11 & 30
October 9 & 30
November 11 & 20
December 10

The cost is $299 per person for a half day (4 hour) training session.

To find out more details or to register please contact Maria or Helen at Aspire on 0800 696 248 or email info@aspiresolutions.co.nz