on our website! We wrote a whole page of information for our users once we achieved a decent ranking!
If you could sit down and chat to any historical figure, who would it be? Nikola Tesla. In today’s world everyone wants to secure their ideas using patents; this man saw past all that and allowed his love of his job to come before monetary gain. He has contributed so much to the world we now live in and he was relatively unthought-of until recently. I’d love to meet someone that driven and insightful. I see him as a bit of a Leonardo Da Vinci… except with electricity!
What is it really like to be an accountant? The truth is it can be tough, you have big targets to meet and depending on which route you take you may have your weekends and nights taken up by making social calls with clients. In itself this is a great part of the job, however it just shows how much work you have to do.
What are the most common questions you get asked? At Accountz we get asked almost every question under the sun. Our telephone support service covers all areas of the system and our users like to rack our brains with anything from how to enter sales into the system to which figures they require from our software to input their tax returns online. We also give tutorial lessons to trial users using TeamViewer so questions vary hugely depending on each users’ knowledge of computer systems.
Can you tell us a bit about the early origins of accounting? It would be hard to give a brief summary but the practice itself is as old as the development of writing and counting from the Mesopotamian empire! The ancient Egyptians had a fairly decent auditing system and there is evidence of bookkeeping coming from ancient Iran. By the time the Romans were around they had access to detailed financial accounts.
Double-entry bookkeeping which is the system we use was originally developed in medieval Europe… Although it has been improved upon since then! It was only in the 19th century that accounting transitioned into an organised profession, with the ICAEW being formed in 1880.
What top accounting books would you recommend everyone should read? In all honesty there are several which spring to mind, however unless you are planning on becoming an accountant there isn’t much point. Our system is known for its ease of use and doesn’t truly require any previous accountancy knowledge as we have a step-by-step wizard which will teach you as you go along… However if you’re looking for a quick guide which won’t baffle you with accountancy jargon Accounting Made Simple by Mike Piper is a good choice.
If you won the lottery, what is the first thing you would do? Besides opening a bottle of champagne? Probably take my friends on a big holiday… and give some money to some of the Accountz customers of course!
How would you distribute your winnings? I’ve spent a lot of time in Africa for our new reselling operation and there are several charities here that really need some help. If anyone reading this wants to help anyone in Africa, Malawi is in serious need of some help.
46 | The Entrepreneur | JULY 2014
What do you think the best business to start in the next few years will be? I might be obsessing over Africa a little bit in this article, however the potential for earnings is incredible. The emerging middle class in certain countries is becoming more and wealthier. Plus the potential for an export/import company is huge.
If people don’t have the startup capital required to start an operation abroad then services are always a good idea; it’s a pattern every country follows: as the country gets richer, more services are required. Plus you should always remember when you start a business to save as much money as possible, and we have a package which will help you do just that!
Do you agree with the concept that all press is good press? No, there is too much of a fine line. If your company is constantly getting put down by reviews then there is a problem which needs sorting out. However if a big magazine or newspaper wants to write about you and put you in the limelight as it were then yes, to a point I agree.
If everyone starts doing their own accounting through software, what will this mean for traditional accountancy firms? Traditionally you don’t just use an accountant for your daily accounts. Accountants are also used when you want to have a professional opinion on the finances of a business plan. I don’t think there would be an end to traditional accountancy, but more of an evolution of how accountants are used by business owners. However that is a theoretical question. We in fact work closely with accountants and have developed a system where accountants can have a copy of their clients’ live data at all times using our Cloud feature.
What would you say comes first: the business or the accounting? Interesting question... traditionally potential business owners would create a well-thought-out, precise business plan and then have an accountant run through the details before a business has even been created.
However nowadays we have seen a change, entrepreneurs now tend to create a business and test the water as it were. This is especially true of low cost startups not requiring a huge input of capital. Plus if you are going into an untested market, how can you decide on the potential sales and following financial information? This is true of the creation of smartphones and even the new Google Glass. So nowadays the business comes first and we’re here to help afterwards.
What are the most regularly made accountancy blunders? Towards the end of January we always come across users who are having issues with their self-assessment tax returns. Usually because they haven’t looked at their finances all year! We wrote an article on the subject within our blog to help but usually we help people out of the mess. It never usually happens again, so it’s definitely a lesson people learn by falling over!
How can people make sure that they do not let their accounts slip? Simply by making sure you keep on top of your finances. They really are the most important point of a business from a CEO’s perspective, after all everyone wants to make a profit. So being able to keep a close eye on them at all times is essential.
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