On 17 September, thousands of attendees are expected to return to Manchester Central for the sixth edition of Accountex Summit Manchester.

As the countdown for Accountex Summit Manchester is on, anticipation is building for the free event, that features a huge lineup of software providers, a packed CPD accredited education programme and a post-show networking event.

“Last year’s show was a huge success, we welcomed a 35% increase in attendees!” said Accountex Portfolio Director, Caroline Hobden. “This year we’re excited to deliver an even better show with new exhibitors, speakers and features.”

You will leave feeling empowered

The show will feature a lineup of more than 120 software and service providers, including big names such as FreeAgent, Intuit QuickBooks, IRIS, Sage, Wolters Kluwer, and Xero. Attendees will have the chance to meet the teams behind the brands, experience tailored demonstrations, catch up with current suppliers and gain practical insights.

“For the past three years, I have attended Accountex, and every year I discover a new software solution to enhance my business. This enables me to save time and increase my capacity to serve more clients.” Commented visitor, Mandy Crossley, Director/Accountant for MC Accounting & Business Solutions.

Meet the AAT team

The AAT will be on hand at the show, on stand K17. Their team will be answering questions and providing more information on their association, community and opportunities.

‘The quality of the speakers is exceptional. It’s a ‘can’t miss event’’

The CPD accredited seminar programme boasts 60+ industry-leading speakers, covering a wide range of topics and industry trends. Themes include AI, tax, branding, cyber security, Companies House Reform, crypto, employee engagement, AML and more. With sessions held across four theatres, attendees will gain access to thought leaders and experts shaping the future of the profession.

Thanks to Accountex’s official Accessibility Partner AAT, BSL interpreters will be present at all 4 theatres at the show for the majority of sessions.

Visitor Rebecca Holloway, Associate Director at Harold Sharp Limited commented, “If you want to see all the best speakers from the accounting industry, this is the place to be. There is just so much great content all in one day, you can’t afford to miss it.”

AAT will be running the session: ‘The Gen Z approach to innovating your practice’. Panel host Grace Hardy started her accounting practice ‘Hardy Accounting’ at 21 years old after gaining her qualification during her apprenticeship. She now advocates for financial education and speaks about her journey on social media to inspire other young people to start their own businesses. More details on the session will be released soon.

Accountex Summit Manchester is a one stop shop!

In addition to the education programme and exhibitors, attendees can look forward to a post-show drinks event for networking and unwinding after a busy day.

Accountex Summit Manchester is taking place at Manchester Central on 17 September 2024. For further information and to book your free ticket, please visit https://accountexmanchester.com/. Use priority code ASM243 when booking your ticket.   

This content is brought to you by Xero.

Over the last few months, Xero has released a wide range of product innovations. Accountants and bookkeepers can now enjoy powerful new tools and processes such as eInvoicing, enhanced payroll, and more convenient payment methods including bank transfers.

To keep you up-to-date, we’ve launched our ‘What’s new at Xero?’ content hub and will share everything you need to know in a single place. Here, you’ll find all the latest news, technical guides, and videos – a one-stop shop to keep up with our evolving accounting software. 

Here’s a quick look at the key highlights:

1. Simplify compliance with Xero’s tax and accounts production solution
Xero Tax is a cloud based and accounts production and tax filing software. You can quickly compile sets of accounts and tax returns for submission to HMRC and Companies House, using bookkeeping data from your clients’ Xero organisations.

It’s a collaborative tool with a step-by-step workflow, so your team can share the workload (without anyone needing to sign out of the software first). Along with personal and corporation tax, we’re also bringing you partnership tax to serve more clients. Learn more about that here.

2. Enjoy a more integrated practice management experience with Xero Practice Manager
Xero Practice Manager (XPM) is designed to be a complete solution to help run your practice more efficiently. The platform covers jobs, timesheets, invoicing, client management, customised reporting and will soon include powerful client insights.

Easily allocate tasks to your team, set deadlines, and track progress as you go. Receive timesheets from your staff, which can be used to populate client invoices for billable work. And create reports that track metrics that matter to you.

Soon accountants and bookkeepers will also see a new client dashboard with timely insights on the financial health and key metrics of their clients. All the new features of this integrated Xero Practice Manager and Tax experience are live now in beta. Learn more here.

3. Ease the payroll burden for clients with one simple system

We know how complex managing multiple client payrolls can be. Our latest update to Xero Payroll makes this easier. You don’t need to dip in and out of each Xero organisation to get the necessary information. Instead, you have a clear view of all clients with our new Payroll manager (currently in beta).

This tool gives you a simple way to view payroll data across your client base. By centralising all client jobs, Payroll manager will save you time — making it quicker and easier to address and prioritise tasks. You have a consolidated view of client pay runs and can clearly see whose payroll needs attention first. Read more here.

A single place for all the latest news and innovations

Keeping up with changes in your software is no small task. It’s easy to spend hours researching new developments without deciding what to introduce to your practice. That’s why we’ve launched our content hub – one place to learn about innovations to Xero’s accounting software.

Take a look at our content hub to learn about more upcoming product changes, such as our upcoming Tap to Pay feature, or our conversational interface Jax (Just Ask Xero) powered by genAI. We’ll share the essentials of how to empower your practice, now and in the future.

Go ahead and browse our content hub to learn more about the products mentioned above, or book a call with one of our experts if you want to learn more.

This content is brought to you by Xero.

AAT is a highly regarded qualification and as a result, students who have successfully completed Level 4 are able to progress more quickly through chartered status. We talk to one apprentice who was able to fast track her career as a result.

If you have completed AAT Level 4 and are thinking of becoming a chartered accountant, did you know that your AAT qualifications mean you could achieve this status in just two years?

Or, in the case of Louise Waters, 28, an accounts assistant at Fairburn’s Eggs in Skegness in Lincolnshire, in just over a year.

“Last April, three months after completing AAT Level 4, my manager asked me if I would be interested in doing ACA,” she explains. “I was keen to progress and carry on learning, and because I had completed AAT, I was exempt from some of the Certificate Level coursework. I also decided to take two exams at a time, which means that I have just three ACA exams before I qualify at Advanced Level.”

That means Louise would be a fully qualified ICAEW Chartered Accountant, enabling her to take on more responsibilities at work and boosting her accountancy career prospects. She has been able to do this in such a short time because of the AAT-ACA Fast Track. Her Level 4 skills and her practical work experience give her exemptions from some parts of the course and have enabled her to progress swiftly to earn the ACA qualification, from the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW).

“I have always been interested in finance and I did consider an accountancy apprenticeship when I left school, but I was pushed towards a university degree,” she explains.

A passion for business and accounts

After Louise completed her A levels, she studied International Business Management at Northumbria University and International Marketing and Management at Université Claude Bernard Lyon. She then worked at a local accountancy practice preparing statutory accounts, VAT returns and assisting with external auditing. 

“My year out in Lyon consolidated my interest in finance, and in particular in mergers and acquisitions,” she says. “When I came back to England for my final year I was applying for roles in practice, and my first job was with a local accountancy firm.”

Louise started with AAT Levels 2 and 3, studying at home in the evenings and weekends, and paying for the training herself. Then in 2021 she was headhunted for a job at Fairburn’s Eggs, a large family business supplying 14 million eggs a week to national supermarkets. Her manager, Alan Metcalfe, the finance director, offered to support her through AAT Level 3 and 4 as an apprentice in the finance function, and then on to ACA, a qualification she had always hoped to achieve.

“It is hard work studying for a professional qualification while working full time but Alan and the team at Fairburn’s have been so supportive,” she says. “Alan is very good at protecting my study time and making sure people don’t come and give me tasks to do when I am studying in the office.

AAT skills have a practical application

Fairburn’s Eggs is a family firm with a focus on sustainability and is undergoing an overhaul of its invoicing process and programme to achieve zero carbon status.

Thanks to her AAT training, Louise has been able to start working and taking on responsibility for this right from her first day at work.

“I have been able to delegate these two key projects to her which are absolutely crucial to our business strategy,” Alan says

One of these is the firm’s vision to become carbon neutral, a project which involves replacing the lorry fleet to reduce emissions and working with suppliers to help them become carbon neutral.

The second is the overhaul of accounts, from the warehouse to logistics and transport, to ensure full traceability of eggs and to ensure that all invoicing can be handled by Sage 200.

“AAT was definitely a good way to ensure an excellent grounding in accountancy before moving on to higher qualifications,” she says. “I feel that working in industry combines my business degree with my love of accountancy and my fascination with business. LJ Fairburn is a family run business that is innovative and not afraid of change. Thanks to my AAT-ACA pathway I have the confidence to talk to people in every department. This is an exciting time – we have extended our factory, invested in solar panels, and brought technology into the warehouse. I learnt about sustainability as part of my AAT study and it is great to be able to apply my skills in a practical way.”

Improved career prospects and greater responsibility

As a result of following the AAT-ACA apprenticeship pathway, Louise has benefited from more experience, greater responsibility and financial incentives to complete her training. 

“I feel that my AAT training provided a strong foundation, especially in core accounting concepts, which were beneficial in both professional exams and daily work. I can recommend the Fast Track because it means you have a structured path towards chartered status using the AAT skills you already have as a foundation to build on.”

Alan says Louise’s prior accounting knowledge meant she could take on responsibilities straight away, move quickly through ACA study, and become an integral part of the team.

“Louise is very hands on, and good at problem solving, thanks to her AAT training,” he says. “I have seen her mature and grow in personal confidence as as has progressed through her ACA studies. She is hard working and brings creative energy and a positive vibe to the team.”

Turbo-charge your career with the AAT-ACA accelerated pathway

ACA is an internationally recognised qualification, and the Fast Track route is designed to enable you to build on your AAT skills and speed up your accreditation by giving you credits for the AAT knowledge you already have. Like Louise, this could open new career opportunities, greater skills and responsibilities, and the potential for promotions and pay rises.

“The Fast Track can be a very intense experience and it involves a lot of study, but it has been worth it,” Louise says. “The harder you work, the more you get out of it, and the more responsibility you enjoy. It has given me the confidence to aim high and aim for head of finance or a finance director as my long term career goal.

“I really enjoy the atmosphere here at Fairburn’s Eggs,” she says. “It is friendly and progressive, and the company has grown significantly over the past decade. They are really interested in investing in new technology and embracing change, and they have invested in my professional development, enabling me to grow.”

From an employer point of view, the sooner a trainee accountant is qualified, the sooner they can take on roles and responsibilities and make a full contribution to the finance team.

Using the AAT-ACA Fast track pathway makes great business sense and can mean your staff member achieves chartered status in just two years.

Why training your own new finance talent makes business sense

When replacing a key team member of the finance function, the choice is often between recruiting an experienced accountant or taking on an apprentice and training them up. Not only does the latter option make good economic sense, but it can also yield surprising benefits.

“Employing an accounting apprentice has been a positive experience which has brought new talent and enthusiasm into our finance team and helped drive the business forward,” says Alan Metcalfe, finance director of Fairburn’s Eggs.

LJ Fairburn is a progressive family company and one of the largest independent egg producers and packers in the UK, supplying 14 million eggs a week to national supermarkets from a network of 45 producers.

Alan and the senior management team have overseen exponential company growth from £10 million to over 100 million turnover over the past ten years. Fairburn’s has transitioned from being an egg producer selling to a middleman to directly supplying major supermarkets, leading to significant business transformation. Its transport fleet has expanded from a few lorries to 35 on the road.

“LJ Fairburn has grown rapidly from being a very small operation, and has undergone a lot of changes, which has been quite demanding for everybody, because all the processes and the procedures have to keep up with the changing business,” he says.

AAT-ACA is the ideal route for motivated apprentices

After a qualified accountant left the team in the finance function, Alan decided to take on apprentice Louise Waters, 28, and support her through AAT Level 3 to completing her ACA Advanced qualification. Louise has been able to benefit from the AAT-ACA Fast Track pathway, which gives Level 4 qualified AAT members a number of exemptions, meaning she has progressed through her training in under two years and now is able to take on greater responsibility.

Initially, organisations are sometimes wary of the time and effort that might be involved in taking on an apprentice who needs close supervision and training, but Alan says Louise joined with substantial accounting knowledge, allowing her immediately to take on key tasks such as account reconciliations and end-of-month/quarter reports. She also demonstrated strong problem-solving skills and autonomy in handling customer queries and internal issues. 

“We are a small finance team, and the company is run by family directors so flexibility and problem-solving are critical due to the dynamic and expanding nature of the business,” he says.

Louise was the first AAT apprentice and her grounding from AAT studies have meant that her role and responsibilities have expanded significantly as she progresses through her role. 

Among the changes which Louise has helped implement are an enhanced drive for sustainability, which involved her working with outside consultants to draw up a zero-carbon business model and upgrading the invoicing and stock control systems to make them compatible with Sage 200. Both projects she has handled on her own with minimal input from Alan and has used her knowledge on sustainability and technology that she learnt in AAT Level 4.

What are the advantages of the AAT-ACA Fast Track pathway?

Alan says AAT provides a foundational base, allowing candidates to gain confidence in their ability to handle exams and acquire essential accounting knowledge. This prepares them better for the more demanding ACA qualification and the discipline of work and study. In particular, the pathway works due to:

• A gradual learning curve: AAT offers a step-by-step learning process, making the transition to ACA smoother.
• An enhanced skill set: ACA builds on existing accounting skills and progresses them to a more detailed level, particularly in financial management and business decision-making, which are directly applicable to day-to-day business operations. 
• A future-oriented perspective: ACA training helps in understanding not just historical financial data but also planning for the future. 
• An accelerated qualification: Exemptions enable apprentices to qualify more quickly.

Alan says Louise’s presence in the team has made a real difference, as she came in with a deep foundation in accounting skills and was already accustomed to combining work and study. 

“Louise is responsible, keen and good at problem solving, and over the time that she has been working, she has come less and less to me for help,” he explains. “With the rigours of the ACA qualification, you’ve got to be very focused on passing your exams, so you need that mindset.

“From an employer perspective, the AAT-ACA Fast Track pathway works well because the sooner your apprentice qualifies, the better for their own professional development because they can focus on their work alone, and the sooner we can develop them as well.”

What are the benefits of supporting apprentices on the AAT-ACA pathway? 

For the employer, hiring AAT-qualified candidates means they come with a solid understanding of accounting principles from day one and need less supervision. For the student, there is the benefit of not having to take on university student loans or extra debt.

“In a growing company, you want people who are ambitious and want to get on and Louise is a good example of that,” Alan says. “From a financial point of view, it makes good economic sense. Apprentices bring a new energy to the company. They’re young, they’ve got lots of energy, their knowledge is up to date, and they can bring fresh ideas around technology and sustainability. It’s great seeing people develop and it helps our succession planning. We want to be in a culture where people grow and meet their goals, and when everyone’s going in an upward direction that creates positive energy.”