MYOB have a significant make or break play in market at the moment and few seem to be commenting on it. And I’m not talking about Practice Management and the abandonment of the the Reckon Accountant’s division acquisition.
QB Connect Sydney 2018 – the review no-one will write
Last November I was lucky enough to be invited as guest of Intuit to it’s annual conference in San Jose, California. I had so much to write about the event and the key insights I garnered, I spread my review across two separate posts:
- QB Connect 2017: The Review No-one Else Will Write – Part I
- QB Connect 2017 – The Review No-one else Will Write Part 2
6 months on and the QB Connect event landed in Sydney for the second edition of the Australian conference. Armed with a “media pass”, I was fortunate to gain entry to the main day of the event and a one-on-one interview with Rich Preece, Intuit’s Global Accountant Segment Leader.
Xero’s revolving door & FY18 results impending
There’s been quite a stir around “the industry” over the last month about the churn of key people at Xero. First there was the “succession” of founder Rod Drury, cased in rumours and innuendo, that bears not repeating.
The concern for (not many) investors (judging by the share price since Rod’s departure) was the timing.
The ACCC has concerns about the MYOB Reckon deal – I have concerns about the ACCC?!
WARNING: This article is heavily laced with opinions and is not suitable for consumption by those who are sensitive to strong views…
At the end of March, the ACCC released its preliminary findings into the proposed acquisition of Reckon’s Accountant’s division by MYOB.
2 documents were released:
- A media release dated March 29, 2018, titled “ACCC CONCERNED WITH MYOB ACQUISITION OF RECKON ASSETS“
- A Statement of Issues dated March 29, titled “MYOB – proposed acquisition of Reckon’s Accountants Group“
In short, I find the media release ridiculous, poorly worded and off-point. The Statement of Issues, whilst not without some substance, shows a lack of genuine investigation, understanding of competition and technical wherewithal.
18 Predictions for 2018 – AuNZ Biztech
Here goes, my 3rd annual attempt at being an accountable, amateur “futurist” in the Cloud Accounting and general Biztech industry.
2017 proved (for me anyway), more predictable that 2016 (remember 2016 was the year of Trump, Brexit, Cronulla Sharks, Western Bulldogs, Leicester..). By my own marking, my 2017 Biztech predictions saw me score a respectable B upon reflection, after a horrid F for 2016.
So again I saddle up with my futurism skills moving in the right direction and a continued promise to be transparent about my predictions.
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17 Predictions for 2017: How’d I go?
For the second year in a row, I started last 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 on how I went.
I’m happy to proclaim my 2017 edition easily surpassed the accuracy of my predictions for 2016, and in a world of continuous improvement, my 18 for 2018 will be even better…
Will the MYOB acquisition of Reckon APS suffer from the Northern Eagles Effect?
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:
QB Connect 2017 – The review no-one else will write Part 2
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.
QB Connect 2017: The Review No-one Else Will Write – Part I
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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Xero 1H18 Results The Verdict: the yays, heys and OKs
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.