First Class Accounts partners with XBert to help reduce costly rework

With innovative AI technology for audit and workflow management, XBert is now supporting First Class Accounts to continue delivering the best in Australian bookkeeping. First Class Accounts clients depend on us to get their books right and we pride ourselves on delivering the industry’s best service. Our partnerships with Australia’s leading fintech firms drive our innovation to streamline our processes and improve accuracy. We’re proud to announce we’ve just welcomed XBert.

An Australian audit and workflow management software, XBert leads our industry with its in-built AI technology that intuitively spots where improvements can be made to bookkeeping data. Co-founder Troy Brown chatted to us about how XBert works and the partnership with First Class Accounts. How does XBert help bookkeepers improve their client service? XBert is a comprehensive audit and workflow management solution for bookkeepers, built specifically for the way they work. We help bookkeepers reduce their manual tasks, sleep better at night knowing the data is clean and healthy, have full visibility across their work and their teams, and streamline their practice processes. We also help bookkeepers grow their advisory with smart business intelligence reports.

What sorts of things does XBert track and improve on?

There are many areas of the books where XBert helps, and different types of businesses can benefit in different ways.Our audit feature (our XBerts – that stands for eXpert Business aLERT) will reduce many of your manual tasks. We have almost 60 risk alerts at the moment and more are being developed as per user request, on a regular basis. XBert is trawling your connected accounting software data multiple times a day and flagging any issues, errors or inconsistencies, so you can check and action if required. For example, XBert scans employee payroll data and notifies of junior employee’s birthday’s and if employee bank details are used across suppliers. The continual monitoring of the Australian Business Register for changes to and inconsistencies with a supplier GST (goods and services tax) statuses, business registrations and ABNs are huge time-savers. We’re also in partnership with Xero, QuickBooks and MYOB so XBert’s scanning of attachments in those programs can check imported data from document software.Then we have our workflow solution. We know many bookkeepers are working from complicated checklists or even just from memory – and they find that unsustainable or inefficient when they start to grow their business and in particular, put on staff or try and outsource some of their work. The audit integrates with task and process automation to help bookkeepers streamline their processes and know exactly what needs to be done, when. It also gives you complete visibility across workflow. XBert Analytics and business intelligence reports help you get deep insights into your client’s data at the click of a button.

Explain how you partner with First Class Accounts?

We’ve been introduced to First Class Accounts bookkeepers through some webinars we’ve run to explain XBert.In conjunction with First Class Accounts team we developed a bespoke set of templates based on the First Class model that franchisees can request to be added to their XBert workflow. Our team helps you customise these templates to your specific needs.We are now supporting a number of franchisees to incorporate XBert into their clients’ accounts. For example, we’ve set up Sumi Sivalingam of First Class Accounts in Doncaster, Victoria, with her own customer service mentor Carrie, with whom Sumi can talk to anytime via the communication software program Slack.It is an immediate and personalised service, which is a top priority for us because that is what our clients appreciate.We look forward to presenting at First Class Accounts’ quarterly conferences into the future.

It has been an exciting journey since launching in Australia just a few years ago. Where to from here?

My co-founder Aaron Wittman and I publicly launched at XeroCon in 2019 and it’s been all systems go since then. We’ve received multiple awards and been backed by the Australian Federal Government through their Accelerating Commericalisation Grants. We’ve got an awesome team of almost 20 and growing rapidly.Part of our ethos is to innovate to the needs of our clients. We are constantly evolving XBert to incorporate new functionalities based on user feedback and I think that’s a huge part of why XBert is gaining such traction.We will continue that trend and I look forward to the exciting new opportunities we can offer our clients in the year to come.

Debrah Stanton, General Manager of First Class Accounts, is passionate about helping businesses to think differently as they Reboot, Rebuild & Reconnect.Looking for ways improve your bookkeeping? Search First Class Accounts nationwide list of bookkeepers to find an expert near you.