3 in 4 IRIS Accountancy Suite users missing out on brilliant time saving feature

We’ve recently learned that about three quarters of our IAS customers are failing to take advantage of a brilliant time-saving feature available in the core IRIS software.

And it’s even more important now because it helps accountants to meet the requirements of Making Tax Digital VAT – coming in just 8 months.

The feature we’re talking about is IRIS Connector. It enables you to automatically import data from your bookkeeping solution directly to Accounts Production, importing trial balances ready to prepare the final accounts.

Many users either may not have realised that Connector was available to them, others may be fearful of doing things differently in case things go awry. Some might just be in such a rush so do things the way they already know or don’t think there’s a quicker or better way to do it.

But using IRIS Connector will unquestionably save you time and it’s going to reduce errors that need investigation and working out. Your processes will be much more streamlined.

HMRC recently revealed more information about the reforms, including digital links. It wants to get accountants away from manually tapping away on the keyboard, inputting figures from one system to another, so the idea is everything is digital across the board. HMRC wants it all to be automated, which is exactly what Connector does. See our blog here for more on digital links.

Importing from online bookkeeping solutions ensures all records are digitally linked, as HMRC wants. IRIS Connector also allows importing from CSV - whether that is in a desktop solution or excel files. This also matches HMRC’s requirements. This will ensure compliance once VAT returns are to be submitted under MTD.

Connections are available from:

• KashFlow
• Xero
• FreeAgent / IRIS OpenBooks
• QuickBooks Online
• MyWorkpapers

A few simple selections are all that’s required, and you can seamlessly import from your clients online bookkeeping solution. Alternatively, import using a CSV file or link the client to your MyWorkpapers account.

Select an import map to match the charts of accounts. This will be remembered on second and subsequent imports. Next, review and make any adjustments to ensure the figures are going to the correct account codes. Any new codes added to the import map will be saved for next time.

Furthermore, you can import figures for periods other than the complete accounting year, e.g. monthly or quarterly, from KashFlow, Xero and FreeAgent in preparation for submitting figures more regularly to HMRC, whether that is the VAT return or income tax. This also allows management accounts to be prepared.

If using KashFlow, you can drill down back into KashFlow and see the transactions, make changes and import the new figures.

We recently hosted a webinar on IRIS Connector and the benefits of using this great feature. Watch it here.