The 12 steps that took Morrows from a new partner to Xero award winner in 3 years

Three years ago Graeme Marks from large Southbank Firm Morrows attended an ‘Intro to Xero’ session I ran in Melbourne. He was there to perform due diligence on whether Morrows should sign up as a partner of Xero.

Last week he was on stage at Xerocon South, Australia’s largest accounting conference, accepting the ‘100% Xero’ award.

Xero has over 10,000 partners in Australia. Three won awards. This is how Graeme and Morrows did it:

This is how Graeme and Morrows did it:

1. They had a goal

From the start Graeme was clear that Morrows wanted to become a 100% cloud based, advisory focused Firm of the Future that delivers outstanding client service. All steps and decisions were based around this goal.

2. Senior staff were involved from the start

Numerous times I have seen junior accountants sent to do due diligence on accounting platforms. These junior accountants report back to Partners, who pat them on the back and nothing happens. Morrows understood technology was driving the biggest change the accounting industry has seen and sent two partners to decide on partnering with Xero.

3. They invested and continue to invest in training

Once the decision was made to partner with Xero they got all staff certified. All Xero partners have two certification options:

•  Access Xero’s free online training
•  Pay for in person training. Morrows paid Xero $1,750 for a Xero trainer to come and train all staff.

The result was all staff being confident to advise clients.

This investment continues as each year I come back (for free) and provide lunchtime product update sessions to ensure staff are across changes and enhancements to the Xero platform.

4. They didn’t force clients onto Xero

Surprised? No, they didn’t force them. Instead….

5. They ran client events

Morrows invited all clients to events where myself and Graeme presented. Having seen the product it was then up to the client on whether they would change. Together we have run 6 events. Obviously they were successful….

6. They moved banklink and cashbooks over

They moved in bulk their banklink and excel clients to Xero cashbooks. This includes one large family group comprised of 40 entities!

7. They earn CPD by coming to Xero roadshows and Xerocon

Alongside their standard tax updates Graeme and staff haven’t missed a February roadshow or Xerocon since signing up as partners.

8. They began using Xero add ons

After achieving Xero Gold Partner Status and gaining an understanding of the Xero eco-system through attending Xero events, the next step was to move into the add on space. Morrows now use ‘horizontal’ add ons such as CrunchBoards to provide real time advice to clients and ‘vertical’ add ons such as inventory systems for large manufacturing clients.

9. They created a role for a ‘cloud specialist’

Two years ago Morrows recognised a market demand and hired a ‘client systems advisor’. This role is to analyse, recommend and implement integrated system for clients to improve their businesses, as well as post conversion training and support. The role sits alongside the business services team, freeing other staff to concentrate on compliance and growing client’s businesses through advisory.

 10. They contracted a Practice Studio Partner

Leading up to 1 July 2015, they moved their practice management, tax and work papers and 1,000+ client ledgers from MYOB to Xero. They also moved their documents to Microsoft Sharepoint. They are now 100% cloud based and have turned off the server. They didn’t self implement, they hired a professional to complete this project.

11. They faced a great deal of change management

The road to the award hasn’t been without its challenges. Like all Firms they faced many change management issues, some initial decreases to productivity and even some staff turnover. This was overcome by the leaders of the Firm being 100% committed to their goal of being a 100% cloud based advisory focused Firm.

12. The spoke to me. A lot

Perhaps the smartest decision made by the Xero leadership team was to hire ex practitioners as account managers. The current Xero partner team includes practitioners from a number of top accounting Firms. We work with Xero partners to discuss strategy, best practice, identify where a Firm is currently and plan for what they can become.

Over 3 years, Graeme and I have had at least 10 meetings, including lunches, meetings at Xero HQ in Melbourne and catching up for a beer or two at Xerocon, with topics ranging from the state of the industry to marketing.

If you are an accounting Firm and would like to know more please feel free to send me a message directly. If you are a business looking for a new accountant I couldn’t recommend Morrows enough.

Find out more about Morrows Xero Services.

Jeremy Sutton
Senior Account Manager @ Xero | Accounting | Technology