I reckon we are now experiencing our greatest challenge in our 20 years history in finding more quality Sage and Xero staff as we expand. This is especially the case in London although Bristol is almost as bad. Recently we received 33 serious applications for a book-keeper position. We narrowed that down to four good enough for interview, then speaking on the phone reduced this to two. The best candidate took a position before our planned interview, leaving one who just wasn't good enough. So we start again! READ MORE

Looking at our historical figures, January is usually a buoyant month for enquiries and this year is no exception. In one day alone we had three red hot prospects - in Derby, London and Bristol. So we wonder why, also whether it would apply to other businesses. READ MORE

What's the biggest challenge in expanding your business? Is it resources or is it winning orders? Is it IT? In fact your most likely challenge, even if you don't realise it, is going to be funding. Yet that seems counter intuitive because more sales equals more income - so what's the problem? It's simple to explain - it's a timing difference, in short the money goes out before more money comes in. That's the bit that needs financing. where's it coming from and how much do you need? READ MORE

Talking about "The Cloud" is becoming common nowadays but nine years ago when we first hosted Sage, I was the man from Mars. No one would risk it, mainly because it was simply 'too new'. We used it for clients who didn't need to know! With the advent of new forms of accounting software such as Xero, naturally in the Cloud, with massive marketing budgets it's become normal and indeed arguably preferable to the old fashioned software on the local pc. READ MORE

 We all know the importance of producing management accounts and experience a wide variety of challenges in settling down to a regular reporting pattern. There they are, nice neat numbers, perhaps in colour with graphs but how sure are we of the quality? Is it sound? Does it reconcile? What’s in the Suspense account? Does it correctly incorporate opening balances from the previous year? READ MORE

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We've just launched BookCheck Advanced Reporting. It's a huge breakthrough which we've been seeking for many years in linking Sage to Excel easily. Previously the only method was ODBC which although powerful is pretty hard work and a worry to many. Our software works as Excel functions so no ODBC and no rekeying. This transforms Sage reporting into the unlimited possibilities of Excel - any layout, colour etc. READ MORE