If you don’t know about the network, then where have you been? It is a public facing platform where anyone at all can view our customers’ ideas, questions and problems.

The Clear Books team are constantly monitoring what is posted on the network and the most popular ideas are made into a reality within Clear Books. These are a few that have been implemented recently:

Mileage tool

Option to mark invoices as posted or hand delivered

Unallocated option for credit notes

Credit notes and part allocated credit notes are now included on customer statement

 
Got an idea? Get it in the network ASAP.

We at Clear Books recognise this issue and have come up with a solution – ViaPost.

ViaPost is a UK company that will print off your Clear Books invoices and send them to any UK address from as little as 42p (+VAT). Not only is ViaPost typically 30-60% cheaper than traditional postal systems, it also reduces the carbon footprint of a posted invoice by 80%, as they will print the invoices close to their destinations.

ViaPost also provide a free check when every invoice is sent to verify the postal address and ensure that it is a valid UK address.

This new integration with Clear Books can be enabled in Settings > Organisation > Toggle Features. Once it has been enabled you will need to go to Tools > ViaPost to get started. If you don’t yet have a ViaPost account, click Create an account with ViaPost.

You can then get posting your sales invoices, quotes, bills and expenses, by going into the invoice and using the ViaPost button.

We hope this feature will make getting paid even easier for you – let us know how you get on!

]]> http://www.clearbooks.co.uk/2013/05/14/clear-books-delivers-viapost/feed/ 6 http://www.clearbooks.co.uk/2013/05/10/have-your-say/ http://www.clearbooks.co.uk/2013/05/10/have-your-say/#comments Fri, 10 May 2013 12:56:42 +0000 Tara Smith http://www.clearbooks.co.uk/?p=15424

Clear Books is and always has been, developed around the need of  our customers. We want to provide you with the best online accounting software out there.   We will be holding a focus group this month and really want to hear your feedback on our upcoming developments. There’ll be an opportunity to meet other small businesses, check out the Clear Books digs and enjoy a spot of lunch…. on us!   If you are interested in taking part in this customer focus group on the 30th May please register your interest with Tara.

Due to popular demand Clear Books is going to start hosting “Introduction to Finance” seminars.

We are aware that not all customers can be experts at business finance. With this in mind we have designed a new seminar aimed at SMEs with little or no prior knowledge of accounting and finance, or for businesses who want more confidence and insight into their small business financials.

The two hour seminar will be held in a welcoming environment at Clear Books HQ and is hosted by our lead Support Accountant who will be able to answer any financial queries that make your head spin!

Please see the topic areas outlined below:

• Why businesses need to keep track of finances.
• Brief Overview of Corporation Tax, Income tax, PAYE.
• Brief explanation of VAT.
• Managing customers and suppliers.
• Establishing control over your records.
• Understanding financial reports.

There are two seminar times for you to choose from on the 21st May:

10am – 12pm

2pm – 4pm

Seats cost £100/person + vat. Spaces are limited so please make sure you book early to avoid missing out.

Please email Tara to book your place now!

This event was the second in what we envisage to be a long line of fresh, fun and exciting networking events and the feedback was extremely positive.

100% of respondents  said that they would attend another Clear Books networking event and the reason it was so popular was the relaxed atmosphere of the event making it easy to strike up meaningful but also fun conversation with attendees.

We have tried our hardest to make these events about you guys rather than Clear Books, but it turns out you’re interested in finding out how we’re getting on and what new features/technical developments the team has in the pipeline as well. With this in mind, next time we will give everyone in attendance a sneak peek into what has been happening here at Clear Books HQ.

There have also been suggestions of a business challenges forum session where everyone has the opportunity to share the challenges they are facing running a business and get advice from people who may well have experienced these issues before. We all want to succeed and, hopefully, all want to help each other do the same, so hearing about how others have overcome the challenges they have faced will be extremely helpful.

What we want to know now is what you would like from the next Clear Books networking event? Like the idea of a business challenges forum? Or are you more interested in coffee and a chat? Let us know – these events are yours after all.

To access this feature, head to Tools > C. House and type the company name or number that you are searching for.

The information that you will be able to view includes historical graphs for:

• Book value
• Cash
• Liabilities
• Current assets

We will also be providing you with downloadable, detailed financial documents, key financial information, shareholder information and active/ past directors of a company.

We hope you find this tool useful and as always don’t forget to let us know what you think.

We can and we have! Staff Room is now live and ready to take on the HR tasks required to run your business and make sure you’re not bogged down in admin.

Staff Room makes sure that all of your employee data is stored in one place. This includes: holiday requests, sickness and lateness, qualifications, contacts details, birthdays and staff handbooks.

Clear Books, Open Payroll and Staff Room are fully integrated and only require one log in. What’s more, if you want to use both Open Payroll and Staff Room we can offer you a discounted subscription rate.

As with all our products – Staff Room comes with a fully featured free trial and unlimited email support.

Take out your free trial today of our online HR software.

“Do any of you use Magento?”

If you do, we would love to hear from you to find out what your experience is with the platform, and whether you would be interested in testing our planned integration?

Please email tara@clearbooks.co.uk to get involved.

I’m no accountant by any stretch, but I enjoy numbers, I like people and I’m great with Clear Books. However, I was missing that added bit of something – and I now know what that was.

I was asked if I’d like to spend a week working with one of our Accounting Partners, Beaufort Chancery. Roger Moore (I kid you not) welcomed me into his practice for five days of work experience where I was able to work with Clear Books from an accountant’s perspective.

My main responsibilities included migrating a client over to Clear Books from another accounting provider. Setting up clients on Clear Books includes importing their customers and supplier’s data, as well as processing bank transactions for the last financial year. All statements had to be imported or recreated in the system so in order to keep track of money which had been received or owed.

As some of you may know, you can now process your payroll with Open Payroll, a payroll platform created by the Clear Books team. The introduction of Open Payroll to Beaufort coincided with the start of the new financial year so it was great for them and myself to enter all client details into the system and prepare them for upcoming payroll.

Overall I had a great week and feel the experience I have gained working with one of our Accounting Partners has strengthened my system knowledge, bringing me more confidence, understanding and empathy towards our customer base!

We’re giving you the exclusive chance to learn the secrets of success from the experts themselves at Advantage Business Partnerships.

Advantage Business Partnerships is a Management Consultancy Firm that provides coaching, mentoring and training for owner-managed businesses. We are lucky enough to have one of their highly skilled team members presenting at next week’s Speed Networking event to give you top tips on winning profitable clients.

Not booked your spot at the event yet? Don’t panic, there are still spaces available. Email me today to find out more and confirm your place.