Introducing Xero to Fijian Accountants

Not even the rainy Suva weather could deter eager participants from attending the dynamic workshop held by Business Link Pacific at the iconic Grand Pacific Hotel.

In early November, Business Link Pacific (BLP) hosted a unique Accounting Practice Workshop in collaboration with the CPA Fiji Branch Council. The workshop focussed on introducing Xero, a New Zealand cloud-based Accounting software platform for SMEs; the event also served to catapult an introduction of BLP and its services to a far wider share of Fiji’s financial advisory industry.

The full day workshop was opened by the New Zealand High Commissioner, Jonathan Curr and facilitated by the two Business Link Pacific advisors, Emma Crawford-Falekaono and Marney Price.

More than 70 workshop participants were captivated by the two women as they covered topics such as ‘Driving Efficiency in your Accounting Practice’, ‘Moving your Accounting Practice to the Cloud’, ‘The Xero Platform & Xero reporting’ and ‘Training your clients on Xero.’

Xero, a tremendous success story, is now a billion-dollar entity and is focusing its attention to expand its footprint in the South Pacific Islands with their cloud-based software, great service and pricing. It’s a perfect scenario to benefit the often more remote and logistically challenged SMEs in the South Pacific Islands.

While small island nations comprise a very small share of the international marketplace, the South Pacific Islands are very close to home and therefore are an important market for Xero.

Despite many Fijian Accountants not being as familiar with Xero’s accounting packages, Xero has clearly identified a niche. Their uniqueness is in their cloud-based formats and access that allows even the outer range and rural and non-urban operators to have access to premier Accounting services through local providers.

To further engage the general public, newspaper and TV coverage organised by Webmedia South Pacific played a vital role in giving the Fijian audience a wider introduction to the core range of BLP programmes: Diagnostic and Referral Services, Subsidy Schemes, Quality Assurance Systems, and Technical Assistance and Mentoring.

The workshop also gave BLP the opportunity to bring into the spotlight its services to the local private sector and promote working together for the success and betterment of the Fijian economy.