The Xero Awards is an opportunity for us to showcase and celebrate the achievements of our accounting and app partners.
With an outstanding array of partners in the Xero community, it’s difficult to recognize just one partner in each award category. We’d like to extend our sincere thanks to everyone involved in the Xero community, we couldn’t do it without each and every one of you. And to the winners, congratulations!
This year’s judging panel included select Xero executives, as well as special guest judge Laurie McCabe, Co-founder and Partner at SMB Group. Of the winners, Laurie noted what set the winners apart during the judging process:
“All of the winners–as well as most of the entrants–center their practices on helping clients take friction out of their businesses so they can focus on growth,” Laurie explained. “The winners take time to understand their customers’ goals and how they’re running their businesses today, and the help them to streamline their business processes to get routine work done more efficiently.”
Here are the winners:
Partnership Impact
The winners of this new award demonstrate significant impact to a mutual small business client through collaboration, out-of-the-box thinking and a high-level customer centric approach. This award honors those involved in the collaboration – including the accountant/bookkeeper and app partner. This year’s award went to Beyond Balanced Books and Hubdoc!
Beyond Balanced Books has realized efficiencies through using Hubdoc and Xero because of the amazing integration. Hubdoc has helped Beyond Balanced Books streamline its services by making the process of getting documents from clients easy for all parties.
Rewiring the Economy through Service
This award goes to an individual or firm that has shown a commitment to their community and rewiring the economy through pro bono or volunteer work to underserved businesses or individuals in need. This year’s award went to Cloud Accounting & Consulting.
Stephanie Holt, the firm’s Chief GSD Officer, provides pro bono advisory services to the members of a local business women’s group, and other non-profits such as Gratitude America, supporting military veterans after deployment. Her passion lies with giving back to the community through her services, and knows that “$1 of her time, can save them $10,000 in mistakes.”
100% Cloud
This award celebrates a partner who has shown innovation through the use of 100% cloud technology. This year’s award went to Bean Counter 4 Hire.
Owner Michael Levy says, “we believe in small business entrepreneurship so much that we want to help anybody we can be as successful as they want to be. This is why we started Bean Counter 4 Hire, LLC and why we have partnered with Xero.”
Bronze Partner of the Year
This award recognizes an exceptional bronze-level accounting or bookkeeping practice that uses Xero to offer continual value and innovation to clients. This year’s award went to Ara Haddadian, CPA.
Ara says by using a paperless process, they are able to help business owners take the friction out of their bookkeeping process and focus on the growth of their business.
Silver Partner of the Year
This award recognizes an exceptional silver-level accounting or bookkeeping practice that uses Xero to offer continual value and innovation to clients. This year’s award went to Hawkins & Co. Accounting.
In partnership with Xero and the local Economic Development Corporation, the firm is training small businesses in bookkeeping and understanding Xero. Hawkins & Co was recognized as the “Small Company of the Year” in the 2016 Business Excellence Awards by the local Chamber of Commerce.
Gold Partner of the Year
This award recognizes an exceptional gold-level accounting or bookkeeping practice that uses Xero to offer continual value and innovation to clients. This year’s award went to MATAX.
At MATAX, they provide insight and forethought for their clients in addition to bookkeeping. They provide Xero training and customized guides for their clients’ business processes. Founder Dawn Hatch is deeply involved with Xero as a member of XPAC, a Xero Hour host, and Xerocon speaker.
Platinum Partner of the Year
This award recognizes an exceptional platinum-level accounting or bookkeeping practice that uses Xero to offer continual value and innovation to their clients. This year’s award went to Bookkeeper360.
A 100% Xero firm, Bookkeeper360 is deeply involved with the Xero community. Founder and CEO, Nick Pasquarosa, is an XPAC Member, Xero Hour host and Xerocon presenter. Bookkeeper360 is currently building a client portal to enable clients a single sign-on to Xero and ecosystem apps to make accounting easy for small business owners.
Emerging Partner of the Year
This award celebrates a Xero accounting or bookkeeping partner that uses Xero to offer continual value and innovation to clients and shows the potential to deliver increasing value-added services to clients. This year’s award went to Flow CPA.
Founders Cecilia Gordillo and Natasha Mclaren-Doerr launched Flow CPA in January 2017 as a fully cloud-based accounting practice. The firm provides robust advisory services, which begins with creating an action plan with a client to help them identify goals and develop KPIs, which are then tracked through Xero and Fathom.
App Partner of the Year
The winning app partner demonstrates a high level of customer satisfaction and commercial success from January 2017 to date. The award also highlights continuous improvement in areas like customer care, design, quality, functionality and technical innovation. This year’s award went to Expensify.
Expensify is a Preferred App Partner meaning that its has more than 3000 customers using the integration with Xero and more than 300 marketplace reviews with a 4.4 rating. Expensify is so easy to use and efficient that Xero has made the switch internally to use Expensify globally for our own employee expenses. A recent study by Forrester concluded that small businesses that implement Expensify enjoy a 598% return on their investment in time gained back from the improved workflow.
Emerging App Partner of the Year
Presented to an emerging app partner who demonstrates a high level of customer satisfaction and commercial success, this award showcases excellence in areas such as customer care, design quality, functionality and technical innovation. This year’s award went to Veem.
The Veem integration for Xero is designed for users who are looking for a simple way to pay around the globe. Veem offers a fee-free option to send money to over 60 countries. Payments can be set up on Xero and approved with one click on Veem – eliminating double entries and allowing bookkeepers to prepare payments on their clients’ behalf. Veem has re-invented international payments using multi-rail technology that leverages blockchain and treasury means of moving money in 60 countries.
Industry Specific App of the Year
The winning app partner addresses the needs of a distinct industry and demonstrates a high level of customer satisfaction and commercial success. The award spotlights continuous improvement in areas like customer care, design, quality, functionality and technical innovation. This year’s award went to Loft47.
Loft47 is a simple, easy to use, real estate accounting and compliance workflow automation service. They calculate and assign commissions, deductions and facilitate payments to all parties in real estate transactions. Loft47’s agile team takes Xero feedback seriously and is constantly looking for ways to innovate for their user base.
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Tags: Accounting, Advisory, Digital Currency, Technology
