From XU Magazine, 
Issue 24

Cloud accounting: A road to better spending?

Managing costs is vital for business success, but price comparison is a time-consuming process. Fortunately, tech-focused accountants are fully equipped to facilitate smarter buying decisions for their clients.
This article originated from the Xero blog. The XU Hub is an independent news and media platform - for Xero users, by Xero users. Any content, imagery and associated links below are directly from Xero and not produced by the XU Hub.
You can find the original post here:

The digital takeover of the accounting industry has given accountants access to more information on their clients’ businesses than ever before. Increasingly, accountants are differentiating themselves by widening their remit and capitalising on the business insights made available to them. One area emerging for accountants to branch out to is business cost-management.

Challenges to business cost-management

For many businesses, their cash flow struggles can be pinpointed to a lack of focus on spending. UK SMEs overpay by an estimated £5bn per year on utilities alone, with some businesses paying more than double others for exactly the same service.

Businesses simply don’t have the time or inclination for effective cost-management.  

Suppliers know this and take advantage. Pricing isn’t published on the web, loyal customers are penalised with hiking tariffs, and a lack of standardisation prohibits comparison. Unlike domestic consumers who have protections through price caps and cooling-off periods, businesses have to fend for themselves.

The role of cloud accounting

Cloud accounting has made it easier to look into a clients’ spending at the click of a button. With real time insights, it’s much simpler to spot when a monthly bill spikes or a particular utility is draining cash.

When a client’s bills are uploaded to their cloud account, cost-management becomes even more accurate as you can see, in one place, the exact spend on a line by line basis needed to make truly precise comparisons. Even so, you’re still left with the task of calling multiple suppliers to see what prices they offer.

Improving spending in just a few clicks

Reducer was created to combat these challenges, eradicate the lengthy price comparison process, and offer businesses an easy route to smarter spending.  

The software allows accountants to facilitate better buying decisions by using the invoice data attached to their clients’ cloud account to source cheaper deals across up to eight spend areas.

Reducer works well if:

  • You’ve already gone down the digital journey and are avidly uploading bills to your cloud platform
  • Your business clients are brick and mortar businesses rather than remote freelancers or contractors
  • You’re already in the process of going through quarterly or monthly updates with clients
  • Your clients trust you and are open to change
  • You’re in the UK

The result of the partnership is a personalised cost savings report with accurate quotes for a business to choose from. Following our complimentary consultancy service, we handle any switches, making the transition as simple as possible for both parties.

Simply connect, share, and save your clients an average of £1,500 each year. All in just a few clicks.

Why leave it there?

To book in a call and see how much your clients could save

Straight to your inbox

Subscribe to our newsletter for updates as they happen
We hate spam too. We NEVER sell our mailing list.
Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.