DO YOU HAVE A GRUMBLE ABOUT ACCOUNTANCY?

We have just launched the most minimalist website in the accounting profession. Take a look at it on www.alexanderrosse.co.uk and by all means have a whinge.

THE DEBATE

Let us start off this rant by saying that we support any reduction in the state burden on our clients. By that, we mean the burden of red tape, tax and employer's National Insurance. Any reduction in these is welcome. We support the opposition pledge to cancel the Government's planned increase in NI contributions in 2011. Taxing jobs will either lower profits or less jobs - and some businesses will cease to exist as a result of this.

Which brings us onto our main rant: the election debate so far has been about slicing a small cake. We are all for growing the size of the cake. Along with reducing the national debt (without the necessary action on this, we will be paying more taxes for years just to pay the interest bill), we think the main political parties need to absolutely focus on the SME sector as the engine for growth that will generate the wealth to pay for our future prosperity. We want the focus not on taking more of a small cake, but making the cake bigger, so that marginal rates of tax do not need to rise, while we provide for the public services we all want.

No economy can tax its way out of a problem. Tax in itself is not a solution, but a temporary fix. We have a choice of either generating more successful businesses, which will create the jobs of the future, or hammer these businesses with more red tape and take more of their income away.

We know how we will vote. We are just waiting for the political parties to give us the clear options.

TRADITIONAL BUSINESS MODELS ARE BEING LEFT BEHIND BY ONLINE INNOVATORS

The 2009 recession brought entrepreneurs and bold commercial nous to the forefront. True movers and shakers, such as Alexander Rosse, Cloudreach and Google, are changing the way indispensible business services are delivered. These innovators refuse to be compromised by traditional models and are flocking together in their search for equally creative partnerships.

Alexanderrosse.co.uk, the UK’s first e-accountancy, attracted the attention of the futuristic, Google-centric entrepreneurs who founded Cloudreach. They are one of the first to provide IT services for businesses that realise the future of Google Apps. Many say that this technology threatens the existing domination of Microsoft Office. So how do these futurists see things panning out in the coming year?

“Alexander Rosse has a business model similar to ours, where simplicity is a key feature. People and businesses tend to over-complicate things, which does not add value.”

“Cloud computing, which embraces collaboration, is the way forward. In the future, information will belong to a person, not a device. There is a paradigm shift in most markets every 10–15 years and businesses have to be prepared to push the boundaries of convention,” commented Pontus Noren, co-founder and director of Cloudreach, one of the first IT companies to serve cloud computing technology.

Both Cloudreach and Alexander Rosse operate in an online office environment, sharing appropriate files and viewing their colleagues’ edits in real time.

“Online collaboration is just like sitting at the same meeting table, discussing and altering various documents, calculations and media files. This could revolutionise currently accepted business overhead levels,” explained Rashesh Joshi, director and co-founder of Alexander Rosse.

Pontus believes that in five years 80% of SMEs will use ‘on demand’ email solutions such as Google Apps.

“Running what really is a commodity service in house is simply not economically justifiable today or in the future. A hundred years ago, factories produced their own electricity, now only a handful of institutions have back-up electricity production capabilities. Within 10 years SMEs will not own hardware or software, everything will be available through a utility service-based model,” concluded Pontus.

Perhaps only a few players, such as Google, Microsoft, Amazon Web Services and the likes of telecommunication industry giants, AT&T, NTT, Deutsche, Telekom or BT, would have the capacity to deliver in this way. Maybe IBM Global Services will emerge as the infrastructure provider of the cloud computing sphere. Watch this space.

Pontus Noren