AccountsIQ has revealed the latest changes to its Cloud Accounting solution and took a look at what it will roll out in 2020. The full details were included in a blog last week and are worth taking a closer look at. They include the addition of several new reports, support for auto-reversing journals, platform improvements and mobile app enhancements. There were also a few bug fixes included in the release.
Reporting improvements
- Supplier (Vendor) Bank Account Details Audit Report. This report presents a full audit trail of all changes made by users to the supplier (vendor) account bank accounts. It can be used as a historical record to verify any such changes made for assurance purposes. Changes are listed in descending sequence, showing the latest changes first.
- Purchase Commitment by Approver which contains a breakdown of expenses by BI Codes and by GL accounts. Expenses, including any that have had purchase orders raised, completed and invoiced. This helps the budget holder identify the current status of their budget.
- Bank Payment/Receipt Reprint. This produces all Bank receipts and Bank payments. This report has been enabled for Global Admin users only, by default.
- Sales Orders & Invoices Listing Extract. Produces a filtered list of invoices or orders which can then be exported to Excel for further analysis.
- Outstanding Sales Orders and Invoices. Provides a list of outstanding sales orders by status, including not delivered, not invoiced and not posted to the GL.
Accounting enhancements
It is now simpler to create auto-reversing journals. By checking a tick box, accountants can ensure that journals auto-reverse at the start of the next period, saving time during and after the period end process.
AccountsIQ has added support for a consolidated group VAT return to HMRC under MTD. There is a caveat though as AccountsIQ notes: “The system may not cover every VAT rule that applies to your group and the accuracy of the values submitted remain your responsibility.” However, this functionality will make life easier for accountants and improves compliance with MTD.
Platform enhancements
AccountsIQ has added an optional two-factor authentication feature that customers can switch on if required. This leverages a mobile app such as Microsoft Authenticator or Google Authenticator. Rather than use SMS, the app then displays the single-use code that must be used alongside the user name and password. If the device with the app is lost, users can also have a longer more complex one-use code that enables them to login.
It has also added a new API method to support the posting, payment and allocation of invoices in a single transaction. The API was created to work with third-party applications such as EPOS or eCommerce integrating with Sales Order functionality within AccountsIQ. With a single API, the system validates and performs multiple tasks within AccountsIQ.
Enhancements to Mobile App
There are also several improvements to the mobile apps for both iOS and Android versions. They include:
- Push notifications for expenses awaiting approval and when an expense claim is approved.
- It is now possible to edit submitted expenses and users have the choice of leaving them as pending or re-submitting for approval.
And in the rest of 2020
The blog also highlights what customers can expect during the rest of 2020. They include:
- The ability to create bulk emails within the system. This includes generating emails based on lists of customers, suppliers and invoices. Potentially available in May.
- Enhancements to onboarding tools for AccountsIQ. This enables customers to rapidly replace an existing chart of accounts. A second toll will enable rapid data import into the existing chart of accounts. These are especially useful during acquisitions as well as customer onboarding. Potentially available in May.
- A rewrite of the item management functionality. The new version will work in both Chrome and Internet Explorer. It will enable companies to view stock items in a searchable grid by location or by their movements. Available by the end of April AccountsIQ will continue to develop functionality with new item maintenance screens for both stock and non-stock items with support for Chrome.
- A PowerBI & Excel OData Connector for Extracting Reporting Data. Users can extract the data using a link can then carry out further analyses with Excel or PowerBI. It intends to pre-package management accounts report for this. Beta availability for this functionality is provisionally June.
- AccountsIQ is also working with FCA approved Open Banking Partner to enable real-time banking feeds from the main UK & Irish high street banks. It expects to announce something in the coming weeks.
- The Supplier Batch Payments function is undergoing a redesign. It will support Chrome but also support a stepper-based flow for making supplier batch payments through the product.
Enterprise Times: What does this mean
AccountsIQ focuses on providing improvements to its software that make the life of finance teams easier. Compliance and security are two important areas for businesses. While the information on what applications AccountsIQ supports for its 2FA is not clear, this is a sensible step. This is especially true in a work from home environment where companies want to ensure that their data is accessed by employees. Whether there is further flexibility in the 2FA functionality is unclear but is a timely addition. The consolidated VAT returns to HMRC also goes a step further than many of its other competitors.
Of the future enhancements, the bank feed is probably one that will be welcomed by many. Once added it will be interesting to see how quickly the company adds auto reconciliation and other functionality that works well with real-time data ingestion.
Perhaps surprisingly there was no mention of the progress on localisation for Australia that AccountsIQ announced only a few weeks ago. There was no mention of any additional localisation that the company may be working on either.
