The QuickBooks Connect conference brings many diverse small to medium sized business owners, entrepreneurs, accountants and developers together to grow, educate and connect the community. Every year, they gather to hear new perspectives, ideas, and approaches from brilliant speakers. The conference included interactive breakout sessions, deep dives into QuickBooks, and peer-to-peer learning through hearing Intuit leaders and business experts suggest ways to find innovative solutions and skills to grow your business.
Business Sherpa Group is proud to be have participated and attended this year’s conference with Dext!
The Dext Panel
Partnered with Dext, our Controller, Brandon Brown joined speakers Jeremy Hubick, CPA, CMA, Sean Duffy, CPA, CMA and host Alex Jenner to answer the following questions:
- What are SMB owners most concerned about?
- What are SMB owners looking forward to?
- What services are they looking for from their accountant?
The panelists shared their insights to bring value on how to meet the needs of Canadian SMBs, using data collected from over 500 businesses across Canada.
Key Takeaways
When COVID-19 spread globally, organizations were forced to close their doors and transition their services remotely. Many small and medium sized businesses were relatively unprepared because they did not have the resources to adopt working from home so quickly.
This was one of the biggest struggles the group saw with SMEs because many still relied on paperwork and accounting systems that were now out of reach. Those SEMs who were able to talk to professionals and tech-savvy accountants received better guidance to manage their business for the future and were able to adapt. The pandemic introduced a new generation of widespread desire for finance digitization that would allow SMEs to work anywhere while also improving their systems and services.
Based on the panelist’s research, SMB’s account for 99.8% of all Canadian businesses and almost half of this group are looking to grow within a year post-pandemic.
As observed by the panelists, these growth-minded businesses recognize where they lack financial organization and how to develop a close relationship with their accountant by viewing them as a partner rather than a utility.
The panelists and their teams of accountants have begun answering these new needs of SMEs by offering value-add services which entails more guidance, expertise and time spent with the client. This has empowered their customers to tackle their finances with confidence and a better understanding of how to manage different situations.
The session concluded with a conversation about what accountants should focus on in 2021 as SME’s continue to adopt digital finances and grow. The panelists offered their insights of managing business operations, getting expertise from professionals, and embedding themselves into their client’s business.
We highly recommend checking out the video above and connecting with panelist to learn more!
Bio
Brandon Brown, CPA candidate, is the Controller and accounting team lead at Business Sherpa Group. Brandon is energized by organizations who embrace innovation and is well versed in digitizing organizations finance functions by leveraging technology to find efficiencies in workflows and effectively provide organizations with timely and accurate financial reports.
