SME Blog

Internet technologies

Recently I was in Amsterdam.  No one appeared to believe me when I said it was work.  Why is that?  Amsterdam really does have the reputation of one hell of place to have a good time.

In truth, the hospitality of the Dutch and in particular André Kwakernaat and his team at Twinfield made the whole visit a pleasure.

Twinfield provide the No 1 Online Accounting System in Europe with over 18,000 users and growing fast.  As well as excellent English the Dutch do appear to excel when it comes to using internet technologies.  They must also be the only country in Europe that actually has TV adverts for online business systems.  Like a new Harry Potter novel they are flying off the shelves.  Now before I get carried away I must disclose I use Twinfield where I work.

I like Twinfield because, put bluntly, it can make peoples jobs easier and help them run their businesses better.   I think that message often gets lost.  I see too many systems where users are faced with the cockpit of Concorde or the system is only available on the accountant’s pc. 

Twinfield and the internet appear to be a winning combination to me because:

• IT management is handled by Twinfield; just log on through the internet via a web-browser
• The system is rented; no upfront capital cost
• Automated data entry and reduced manual input
• Integration with the other systems in use e.g. CRM, EPOS etc

In fact, I like Twinfield so much that we’ve rolled it out at work under the banner of GJ Online.  Go on tell me the downside I really want to know.

Technorati Tags: small business medium sized business sme smb blogging accountants  sme-blog

Philip Woodgate

Accountancy Age Awards

My firm, Goodman Jones, has just been nominated for an award for best use of internet.  I'm not arrogant enough to think the award is in the bag, but at GJ I've had some good natured teasing about acceptance speeches.  We've thought of some daft ones and here are our current favourites:

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1. Gwyneth Paltrow approach - downpour of tears and emotion about love of accountancy;

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2. Rock Band approach – can’t be with you tonight as they are currently on audit just outside the M25 circle;

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3. Marlon Brando approach – decline the award and send a native American Indian in our place (to protest against the SOX);

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4. Goodman Jones Rocks!

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Any more suggestions gratefully received.   

Technorati Tags: small business medium sized business sme smb blogging accountants  sme-blog

Philip Woodgate

M class (continued…)

In a recent SME Blog post I stated that there are 26,000 medium-sized companies (or M’s) in the UK. Jyoti Banerjee in his recent post asks is this right?  I’ve taken my answer from UK government statistics.  Jyoti takes his from using a broader approach and his figure comes to 150,000. 

Jyoti and I use different definitions for an M and not surprisingly come up with different answers.   Malcolm McLelland contacted me from the US.  He believes that definitions are important.  He comments:

To me one of the most important outcomes of getting our business taxonomies right is that we never collect data until we define the business units for which we're collecting data. And without such data, we don't really know much of anything about certain classes of businesses (as you all suggest!). This means government policy and things like business credit policies might be less than economically efficient.

In the states we have data on revenues, wages, employee counts, and firm counts by "standard industrial code" (now "NAICS" code) by a finely graded series of *firm employee count sizes*; running from 1 employee to 1-4, 5-9, 10-19, 20-99, 100-499, and 500+. So in the states the only apparent problem is in the industrial coding of firms; i.e., how best to develop a taxonomy by economic characteristics such as production inputs, production functions, or production outputs.

His comment on the connection of government policy and data collected is particularly fascinating. Good management needs relevant, up to date information with which to make decisions and that must be the same for governments and policy making.

I recently met up with Paul Druckman (former Institute of Chartered Acountants in England & Wales president). Paul is clearly aware that there is a need for relevant data to seek to focus government attention on the challenges facing medium-sized businesses.  He and Jyoti are involved in the M Institute.  The M Institute is a new organisation, with the objective of being the trusted information source and support infrastructure for medium-sized businesses.

Why are M’s important?  This is one area I think both Jyoti and I agree.  M’s have superhero powers.  They pack a powerful economic punch and are invisible.  Unfortunately, being invisible is one superhero power M’s could do without.

Technorati Tags: small business medium sized business sme smb blogging accountants  sme-blog

Philip Woodgate

Interview mistakes

In Recruitment and the SME Competitive Edge there are some tips for the SME employer.  The flip side from the employee's point of view is covered in a slide show at BusinessWeek in the Twelve Job Interview Mistakes.  They are all quite obvious, but a quick recap is always good if you are looking for a new position.

One mistake BusinessWeek give demonstrates how technology is changing society.  They call it oversharing.  In simple terms search the candidates name on the internet and a whole host of information can come up. Watch out the Myspace generation it won't just be CV's recruiters look at in the future they will also be reading your personal web page.

Technorati Tags: small business medium sized business sme smb blogging accountants  sme-blog

Philip Woodgate