I've always been someone who loves manually typing up a big bank reconciliation onto excel. I enjoy getting a big box of records from a client and spending days having to work my way through it all. I was trained to do my bookkeeping using T accounts and large pieces of paper. I should be someone who hates all this modern automation. I should hate Xero with its blue blob and Receipt Bank with its mass of orange.

But I don't. I love it.

Having all of your business figures at your finger tips wherever you need them is an amazingly powerful tool. It means there are no secrets. You can't pretend that things are going well when they're not because it's there, following you around. I believe that accountability is a massive factor in business success. Too often we set ourselves a target and then fail to meet it because the only person we have to answer to is ourselves, and well, we know that last month was hard so we'll let ourselves off this time. The combination of Xero and Receipt Bank is like that business coach that pushes you to achieve. Your sales are too low it shouts! Stop spending! Before you had to wait until after the financial year end for your accountant to point this out. Now the reality check is on your mobile phone.

I believe that there is massive amount of power in the today and automation allows us to utilise it. I am proud to be a Xero bookkeeper and avid Receipt Bank user. I think it helps my clients to grow and achieve. I want them to have their figures as quickly as possible and I want their accountants to be able to access them as well. It's tough being a business owner as the world moves so fast. I don't feel as though having slow numbers is an option anymore.