2017

Accounting, Bookkeeping, Company News, Technology

Will the MYOB acquisition of Reckon APS suffer from the Northern Eagles Effect?

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On the 16th of November it was announced that MYOB (subject to regulatory approval) had acquired the assets of Reckon’s Accountant’s Practice division for $180m. Over the past month, I’ve spoken to more people about the deal, than I care to count. Rarely at my instigation I might add. It seems everyone wants to talk about it! From people close to Reckon to big ticket clients, former staff, current staff and the average man on the street. I was even provided the opportunity of a private audience with senior MYOB execs in a no-holds-barred session in which they laid-bare their core strategies.

I’ve distilled my own thoughts, stolen some from others and now have my opinions and theory of what is to come. Here goes:

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Accounting, Company News, Fintech, Technology

QB Connect 2017 – The review no-one else will write Part 2

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This article continues on from Part 1 from last week.

Whilst in Part 1 I reviewed the “big nuggets” from the Smarter QuickBooks messaging from QB Connect, this week I reflect on my own takeaways from the event and my “access all areas” pass.

The World Event…

An American, a Canadian, an Aussie, an Englishman and an Indian walk into a bar… No, its not a joke, its QB Connect 2017. The bar was the Fairmont San Jose and the topic of conversation was typically accounting and accounting technology.

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Accounting, Company News, Fintech, Industry News, Technology

QB Connect 2017: The Review No-one Else Will Write – Part I

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Alex Chriss, Intuit’s SVP & Chief Product Officer, Small Business, commented that he felt the next 18 months would see more innovation than the previous 2 decades at intuit!

So, I am sorry #StephSocial (who made the point to tell me my conference reviews aren’t designed for her short-attention span #snap), but with this year’s review of Intuit’s annual conference, I have so much to write about, it is actually going to be longer than my previous articles!
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Accounting, Fintech, Technology

Xero 1H18 Results The Verdict: the yays, heys and OKs

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Perhaps it’s ironic that I write this assessment of Xero’s 1H18 results at 10,000m above the Pacific Ocean, on my way to Intuit’s #QBConnect 2017. But 15 hours without kids, work, social media or Stranger Things 2 distracting (well at least 3 out of the 4), is a great opportunity to sit and analyse last week’s results and announcements (whilst listening to the new Gang of Youths album), then get some sleep #winning.

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Accounting, Fintech, Technology

Xerocon 2017 – The Review No-one Else Will Write

Preamble

When Decartes penned his treatise “Cogito ergo sum“, all that he could conclude from critically testing all that he believed to be true was “I think therefore I am”. His very existence was the only thing he could definitively know beyond doubt, all other beliefs could be argued against, ultimately they were opinions or perceptions, not indisputable facts.

A number of people who I met for the first at Xercon this year exclaimed something to the effect: “ah, Matt Paff, you’re that guy who posts those controversial articles!”.
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Accounting, Consulting, Governance

How I Ate My Own Dog Food – Twice Over

Originally posted on: https://www.governright.com.au/

One of my favourite tech. industry sayings is “eat your own dog food” (aka “dog-fooding”). For those not familiar with it, Investopedia explains it as:

A colloquialism that describes a company using its own products or services for its internal operations…The basic premise behind “eating your own dog food” is that if a firm expects paying customers to use its products or services, it should expect no less from its own employees.

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Accounting, Technology

Cloud Accounting Tech Companies: Why my clients didn’t buy your system

Ahhhh, its August, time to take a breath from the crazy time of year for those in accounting and payroll tech implementations and support!

This year, whilst GovernRight and vSure remain my primary focuses, I had the pleasure to work with a few clients on accounting and payroll tech selection and implementations. From a small NFP, to a professional services firm, to one of Australia’s largest hospitality groups, I’ve been lucky enough to be exposed to a broad cross-section of systems and put them all to the test.

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Accounting, Bookkeeping, Fintech, Future, Technology

Halfway Point Update: 17 PREDICTIONS FOR 2017

For the second year in a row, I started the year with my crack at being a futurist, by publishing my predictions for the Biztech/AccountingTech industry for the year ahead. Unlike most other people who make bold predictions, again I am happy to hold myself to account and check-in on how I am going at the halfway point. I’m happy to proclaim my 2017 edition has already surpassed the accuracy of my predictions for 2016, and we’re only halfway through…

So here goes, my mid-year update with my current “gut-feel” probability of occurring in 2016, reviewing my predictions with the benefit of 6 months hindsight:

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Accounting, Fintech, Future, Technology

QB Connect Sydney – The review no-one else will write

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QB Connect Sydney – the review no-one else will write

OK, by now you’ve seen all the other posts, listened to all the podcasts – even if you weren’t at QB Connect Sydney, you have probably got a good feel for what transpired at the SCG on May 18.

Now it’s my turn. Time for the “Matt Paff altReview” treatment. You may have read my Xerocon 2016 review or my QBConnect US reviews (2015 and 2016). My approach is to avoid the excessive platitudes and focus on the constructive elements and call out the BS. So here goes:

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