Today, we announced jointly with Xero, the migration of several thousand internal clients from Sage onto Xero’s online platform in readiness for the roll-out of HMRC’s new Making Tax Digital rules which come into effect in 2018. The migration confirms our status as Xero’s largest UK accounting partner and one of the UK’s most digitally progressive firms.
The incentive for our uptake of online accounting software was also driven by a need to invest inour future and also to future-proof our clients’ businesses.
Richard Andrew, Partner and Head of Accounting, said: “It was a strategic decision for the firm to move the majority of our internal clients to Xero, because it not only proved an effective platform to access small business data and reduce compliance costs, but we also felt strongly about the need to prepare our clients’ businesses for a digital future.
“Although some clients aren’t yet ready to manage their own finances on cloud accounting software, we wanted to ensure that the next generation of business owners could move their accounts onto a business edition of Xero at the flick of a switch. We value close relationships with our clients and by doing things differently, we’re able to help them grow and prosper.”
To manage the migration, we created created a transition team, including a dedicated project manager and a developer to automate accounts migration from Sage to Xero.
Xero Managing Director Gary Turner comments, “I was impressed by Armstrong Watson’s meticulous approach to project managing the migration of so many clients to Xero, as well as the speed at which they achieved it. With the new HMRC Making Tax Digital regime arriving twelve months from now, it’s great to see Armstrong Watson are leading that charge with Xero at the core of their strategy.”
About Xero
Xero is beautiful, easy ¬to ¬use online accounting software for small businesses and their advisors. The company has over 800,000 subscribers in more than 180 countries. Xero seamlessly integrates with more than 500 apps, and was ranked No. 1 by Forbes as the World's Most Innovative Growth Company in 2014 and 2015.