Xero continues to impress and amaze me and many other accounting professionals.  If you are not familiar with Xero yet, you can watch this webinar with Jamie Sutherland, Xero’s US President, for an introduction and demonstration of Xero.  

Since busy season in the US is almost over, soon I will have more blog posts and webinars to help you learn more about Xero.  Plus, I want to share things from my experience at Xerocon in Auckland, New Zealand in February.  It was a great opportunity to meet and network with accountants and ‘bookies’ from New Zealand and Australia.  I discovered that although the tax laws are different, we all face many of the same challenges including getting timely information from clients and more.  I look forward to sharing some of my insights and observations with you.

For now, I wanted to share this update from Jamie Sutherland, US President of Operations:

Xero Mini Coopers at Xerocon in Auckland

First, Xero just released their March 2013 results and I’m happy to say that we continue to double the business. We are now at 157,000 paying customers and $43M in annualized subscriptions. Things are firing in Australia, we’ve added more sales leadership to the UK, and the foundation is laid in the US. It truly feels like the end of the beginning. We are just getting started. There is so much opportunity in our space and we are confident in the direction of our software platform, business model, and the team we are building.

 In addition to the market release, below are a few other recent major announcements.

 1) We hired Stuart Mclean as Chief Revenue Officer who came to us from Google and will be leading the global sales, marketing, and training teams.

2) We opened up some new space in Los Angeles to support our growing base of Xero accountants

3) Armanino, the largest private accounting firm in California, is moving its outsourced accounting division to Xero showing that our product is meeting the needs of accounting firms of all sizes.

Xero Partner Program, Training and Certification

It is free to join the Xero Partner Program for accountants and bookkeepers.   If you want to get certified, there is online training or live events in many cities.  I’ll be in Boston, Chicago and Kansas City in June and would love to see you at one of my events.  But, there are several other live training events in various cities.  Details for certification training and other Xero training:  http://events.xero.com/us/events-catalogue/28-partner-training

Platinum Sponsor for Ultimate Accounting vCon

I’m thrilled to have Xero as a Platinum sponsor of our upcoming Ultimate Accounting vCon.  In the virtual conference (May 16-17, 2013) topics include

• escaping the hourly pricing trap
• handling sticky client communications
• assessing and monetizing client’s accounting needs
• learning value-add services above and beyond compliance
• gaining estimating and pricing skills.

All sessions are filled with hands-on demos, case studies, and checklists.  2013 top tier sponsors include Xero, Personable and Bill.com.  Xero’s session is the following:

Assessing and Monetizing Your Clients’ Needs: Core Accounting Systems

Every client is different when it comes to their core accounting needs. In this session we’ll cover the hot new market trends in accounting systems, how to package both services and software products, and the fast-growing accounting suite from Xero. You’ll learn:

• The major changes in accounting systems and how to stay on top of them without becoming overwhelmed.
• How to price your services while including a client’s core accounting system.
• The basics of Xero, how it’s radically different, and what it looks like inside.
• Some high-payback tips on how to quickly assess which accounting system is best for each client.

Plus, there are a lot of other great sessions to help you build and grow your business.  Check out the details or register at www.accountingvcon.com