An important moment for IRIS Elements 

We’ve recently had some fantastic news that we wanted to share about IRIS Elements.  

The software, released in May 2021, has been accredited by the Institute of Certified Bookkeepers (ICB).  

This is no small achievement, as bookkeepers put accounting software to the test on a daily basis. They need to confidently capture accurate data at all times – not only does this mean they can comply with statutory requirements, but it also ensures they can advise business owners about important and often strategic decisions. 

 To get this accreditation, each solution must undergo a comprehensive review from someone who knows what ‘good’ looks like and is well-versed in all that the industry demands.  

Accordingly, the review looked at the benefits, strengths, and value for money that IRIS Elements would bring users. 

Building an accounting powerhouse for the cloud 

Released in 2021, IRIS Elements has come a long way in a relatively short time for an accounting platform – especially one which we wanted to be more ‘revolution’ than ‘evolution’. 

Although we already had decades of experience creating great desktop software, our mission with Elements was to incorporate our experience into something built from the ground up to embrace the latest technology and ways of working. 

This ambitious project, launched by a team of 300 developers, was to be fully ‘cloud native’. This would make it an intuitive, comprehensive accounting solution you could use from anywhere with an internet connection; it would also reassure accountants and bookkeepers with its rock-solid cloud security architecture. 

This was challenging enough, but the start of the Elements project coincided with a nationwide lockdown as part of an effort to combat COVID-19. What our teams achieved while adapting to a new era of home working is remarkable, and you can read the full story here. 

We’ve always felt we could be proud of the end-to-end platform. It was originally launched for small firms before growing into a solution that can help medium-sized firms with more complex requirements. 

Today, Elements is an accounting powerhouse that continues to add greater functionality (more on that later). 

Learn more about IRIS Elements

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The ICB review  

Conducting the review of IRIS Elements for the ICB was Rebecca Williams, MICB.  

She founded Rebecca’s Finance Tutorials and the award-winning firm Eccounting.  

Furthermore, Rebecca has been a long-term customer of IRIS Elements. 

At the forefront of her review for the ICB, Rebecca says it was important that “we chose a system that we trust, has flexibility, that we can grow with.” It also had to ensure compliance with the relevant standards. 

She explained how useful it was to have checks built in that help make sure data is up-to-date and tagged properly – such as the Trial Balance integrations between Elements and other products like Xero and QuickBooks. 

Compliance and accuracy functions, meanwhile, were singled out for ease of use and prompts that flag missing information. “This has saved me personally many hours of review and re-review prior to submission and approval,” she wrote. 

Praise for the interface 

One of the design principles we strive for at IRIS is intuitiveness – we want to make our software easy to use from day one.  

We were delighted, then, to see that Rebecca’s review recognised our platform’s interface. “The clean, user-friendly design makes navigating the platform a breeze, which is particularly important for reviewing process and controls as the Managing Director,” she said. 

She added: “I have been using IRIS Elements for close to two years, and it has transformed the way we operate.” 

Other areas highlighted 

IRIS Elements was described as being “tremendous value for money”. But what else did Rebecca like? 

Functionality: Elements was described as robust, working as a second set of eyes to make sure that clients have approved financial statements – and that Companies House and HMRC have all relevant documents. 

Performance and reliability: Elements is a smooth application, according to the review, “ensuring that our operations are never disrupted”. 

Comprehensive documentation: Although we strive to make Elements easy to use out of the box, we also have detailed guides, which Rebecca discussed favourably in the review. 

Customisable dashboard: This lets you see whatever information you want when logging into Elements, something Rebecca underlined as a strength of the software. 

Regular updates: The updates, online information and support team were all highlighted in the review. 

Security: Rebecca said strong security measures in Elements inspired confidence in the firm, and we can’t think of any higher compliment in such a sensitive industry. 

Accreditation is another crucial moment in the IRIS Elements story 

This accreditation from ICB not only means a lot to IRIS, but it also shows how Elements is being recognised for the things we hoped it would be, even as we strive to deliver yet greater functionality. 

Recently, IRIS Elements was named a finalist for ‘Best Cloud Support Provider’ and ‘Multi-Hybrid Cloud Product of the Year’ categories at the Computing Cloud Excellence Awards 2024. In 2023, IRIS won ‘Cloud Vendor of the Year’ at the Computing Cloud Excellence Awards and ‘Cloud Innovation of the Year’ at the UK IT Industry Awards. 

What’s next for IRIS Elements? 

In winter this year, we’ve also confirmed we’re aiming to launch the first version of our IRIS Elements Enterprise Edition Tax and Accounts Production modules. These will help larger practices and their equally complex clients move to the cloud conveniently and at a pace of their choosing. 

Learn more 

Read the full review from Rebecca Williams, MICB. 

IRIS Elements: one platform, one shared client record

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