With another epic Xero Awards evening behind us, it’s time for us to reflect on the success of our accounting and bookkeeping community. Judged by Xero leadership and a panel of guest judges from across the accounting industry, the 2023 Xero Awards programme for the UK & Ireland celebrated the rockstar accountants, bookkeepers and app partners across the region.
We were thrilled to award the Sole Practitioner of the Year award to Joan Adams of Adams O’Rourke Accountants. A remote digital practice based in Liverpool, Joan serves clients across the UK and has been running her practice since 2011. Built on referrals, Joan’s practice aims to unlock SME business owners’ potential to build sustainable, profitable businesses.
Judges said that Joan demonstrated an exceptional level of client care and provided real value to clients.
“This is apparent in the initial stages of client onboarding, right through to regular check-ins aided by informed meeting agendas and feedback to ensure she’s continually delivering value to the client,” they said.
Diving into digital
With all clients on Xero, Adams O’Rourke uses a suite of additional tools from the Xero ecosystem to manage onboarding, data capture and Xero health-check reports all the way through to reporting and tax.
“[Joan] is a fantastic example of a sole practitioner using Xero and our ecosystem of apps to improve her business and that of her clients,” judges added.
Innovation is key
Having all of Adams O’Rourke’s clients on Xero, Xero HQ is an integral part of how Joan structures the practice where she has a real-time view of client status and staff allocations. In the next 12 months, Joan plans to have all client work papers migrated to Xero to ensure end of year processes are straightforward and streamlined.
A strong advocate for the reporting functionality in Xero, Joan uses key reports to support client cash flow monitors and profit and cost development. In particular, the Short Term Cash Flow Forecast and the Business Snapshot reports provide extra reassurance for clients to monitor their own financials on a regular basis. For larger clients, the Executive Summary report forms the basis of Joan’s cash flow and profit improvement discussions, as well as the ability to create bespoke management reports, which she says makes it easy and succinct for clients to understand and manage.
“I can testify thousands of pounds of cash has been placed back into client bank accounts because they were able to closely monitor debtor days and work on stock holding values,” Joan said in her entry.
Congratulations, Adams O’Rourke!
To find out more about Adams O’Rourke, visit www.adamsorourke.co.uk.
