8 ways IRIS can help you better collaborate and connect with clients

By Paul Onions | 6th September 2013 | 4 min read

 

There is a major change to accounting standards coming soon. The change should not be underestimated, could be a steep learning curve for accountants, and planning for it should start now. No, this is not a blog post on iXBRL from 2010, but the change that is coming is equally as significant.
 In recent times, International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) have been developed to provide a common accounting framework and ‘language’ for businesses across the world. Slowly but surely the IFRS framework is replacing many of the different national accounting standards around the world. 
For practices in the UK, we are seeing a slight variation on this theme. From 2015, the current UK GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) accounting standards we all know and love are set to be replaced by a new framework developed by the FRC. The FRS 101 and 102 standards are based on IFRS, but with some changes to allow for Companies Act 2006 legislation and a few other localisation amendments. 
As you no doubt know, IFRS has been mandatory for all publicly owned limited companies and subsidiaries since 2005. The good news is that FRS 101 will allow parent and subsidiary members of groups currently applying full IFRS to report using a reduced set of disclosures moving forward. So, this should mean less time spent on preparing such accounts.
All other medium to large sized companies (FRSSE companies are excluded but changes are planned here too) will need to comply with FRS 102 from January 2015. This is a significant change not to be underestimated and your planning and preparation should start now. The changes will have an impact on all accountants and consideration will be needed on how you can ensure that your clients meet the new requirements for company disclosure.
IRIS has an unbeatable track record of being prepared for new legislation and statutory requirements well ahead of the deadline. We delivered IFRS compliance for publicly listed companies ahead of time in the lead up to the initial transition in 2005, we made iXBRL a straightforward process and delivered a solution some 6 months ahead of schedule, and we are now focused on delivering FRS 101 and 102 updates to support accountants in practice and industry.
To help you prepare for FRS 101 and 102 we have put together a free guide: "5 key facts about FRS 101 and 102". This guide looks at the following topics:
• What are FRS 101 and 102?
• Why are these standards being introduced?
• Who will be affected?
• When does the changeover to FRS 101 and 102 take place?
• How will these changes affect the software that accountants use in preparing accounts and returns?
Download the free guide now (Link to whitepaper)

As much as we love technology and the new possibilities it grants us, it also has the result of making society more impatient. Instead of sending letters by post, people can email or instant message each other. You can download music, films and books without ever having to walk to a shop. So how do you offer a similar instant service to your clients?

We offer a range of cloud based products which can help you better collaborate and connect with your clients. 

The following are the top 8 ways we feel we can help you get closer to your clients through a more collaborative approach.

1. Be alerted when large or unusual transactions are added .

2. Encourage your clients for topical tax information – IRIS WebPortal takes the pain out of developing and maintaining a website, enabling you to build an interesting and informative online presence without diverting time and energy from your business.

3. Use an efficient way to access your clients’ data – IRIS OpenSpace offers an easy and secure way to instantly transfer confidential documents between yourself and your clients.

4. Market to your clients based on information in Data Mining – Using practice management software you can improve client communication by sending highly targeted marketing campaigns. Browse our range of PM products such as IRIS Practice Management and our cloud-based option IRIS Elements Practice Management which can help. 

5. Directly import your client’s IRIS OpenBooks trial balance into IRIS Accounts Production – Save time and improve accuracy with automated trial balance imports. Looking for this to be all accessible in the cloud? Look no further than IRIS Elements Tax and Accounts.

6. Automatically alert your clients when their tax return is uploaded to IRIS OpenSpace.

7. Your client electronically approves their tax return in an efficient way – Improve compliance, while saving time and money with e-approval via IRIS OpenSpace.

8. Provide online payslips to bureau payroll employees through an efficient way – IRIS OpenPayslips reduces your payslip distribution time to practically zero, while also reducing your carbon footprint.

To find out more about client collaboration please click here.