BASDA Journal 2014-15

BASDA Journal 2014/2015Collaboration in action

2 BASDA Journal 2014/2015

Another successful year of collaboration – a view from the Chair 3

New member showcase 4

BASDA members survey – 10 months on 5

Evolving further to meet key needs of business software developers 6

BASDA’s Special Interest Groups and Working Parties 7

Identity Assurance Working Party 8

HMRC postpones introduction of identity assurance for businesses and agents 8

HR and Payroll SIG 9

Updates on Auto Enrolment, PAPDIS and RTI 9

Financials and Tax (FTA) SIG 10

Updates on Intra EU VAT changes 10

Updates on VAT Prompt Payment Discounts, Construction Industry Scheme (CIS) 11

Interoperability and Data Standards SIG 12

Updates on e-invoicing and the Interoperable Eco-system 12

Marketing SIG – back in action! 14

Introducing the ‘Accountants in Practice’ Interest Group 15

HMRC’s transformation and BASDA’s engagement 16

BASDA Annual Summit 2014 – the highlights 18

Technology will help drive Integrated Reporting 21

Theo Van Dort Award 23

Contents

Another successful year

of collaborationa view from the Chair

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On behalf of the BASDA team, including your representatives on the BASDA General Council, I’m delighted to welcome you to your 2014/15 BASDA journal.

I’m privileged to lead your organisation and I believe that we have had an incredibly productive year – working both for you and with you, and we recognise the changing market and what we must do to best support you through your passion and pains as business application software developers.

We’ve strived to best understand what you want from BASDA going forwards and have already put a number of changes in place and you will experience more over the forthcoming months – all as a result of what you’ve told us is most important to you and your businesses (more on this a little later on in this journal).

I’d like to welcome our new members and I’m delighted to report that even with some increase in costs, we have managed to once again freeze our annual subscription charges – for the seventh year running!

Just reflecting over the past 12 months, here’s a snap shot of some of our achievements:

Strong engagement with the DWP and HMRC to ensure the successful rollout of RTI along with assessing how to build on BASDA’s ‘Interim RTI Solution’ to deliver the outcomes required for Universal Credit.

Worked closely with the Cabinet Office on the challenges around developing the new IDA (Identity Assurance) framework. In particular, influencing how members’ solutions must play a key part in any resulting access control frameworks for the deferred Identity management for businesses.

Our first in a series of key networking events – The Future of Payments – a dinner, talk and discussion took place on 26th November at the Institute of Directors in London attended by 7 leaders from within our membership. A stimulating debate ensued with some fascinating insights from our guest speaker, Julian Sawyer of Piran Consulting, into what is clearly a fast changing and important business topic.

Very effective collaboration with colleagues in fellow Payroll bodies to develop standard file interchange for Payroll developers to interface with Pension Providers (the PAPDIS standard). This will have a major benefit to our members who need to deliver Auto Enrolment solutions to meet the new government Workplace Pension scheme.

A very successful annual summit held at the London Pullman in the Spring where over 50 guests enjoyed a varied and informative selection of speakers and relevant topics, spanning Software Development to Skills Gaps; from Interoperability to Identity Assurance.

A range of influencing responses to various consultations on proposed key changes to legislation where BASDA members have clearly driven the direction being adopted, including providing proof points as to why some proposed changes should not happen!

I hope you find this informative, stimulating and see why it is so important to be engaged with BASDA – your trade body.

Warmest regards

KEVIN HART, CHAIRMAN OF BASDA(BUSINESS APPLICATION SOFTWARE DEVELOPERS’ ASSOCIATION)

KEVIN HART

Frank Woods, General Manager UK and Ireland at Bankstream commented: “I thought the format for the night was ideal as it stimulated a fairly detailed conversation in an interesting and entertaining manner. Food, wine, and venue were all first class, in my opinion.”

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New member

showcase

A warm welcome to new BASDA members in 2014.

Cascade combines .NET browser based HR with HMRC recognised payroll providing you with a fully integrated system. Combining innovation and cutting edge technology, Cascade is used by over 500 organisations giving you the very latest and best with a proven track record.

www.cascadehr.co.uk

Secura, established in 2001, has built an enviable reputation for reliable, resilient hosting with dedicated customer service and support. Secura virtual private cloud solutions are designed to evolve with the needs of a business and deliver responsive scalability, guaranteed performance, flexible pricing and complete security.

www.securahosting.com

Xero is an emerging leader in online accounting software, providing business owners with real-time visibility of their financial position in a way that’s simple, smart and secure. For advisors such as accountants and bookkeepers, Xero forges a trusted relationship with clients through online collaboration and gives them the opportunity to extend their services.

www.xero.com

Kirk IT Ltd: Their HMRC VAT 100 Online Submission Solution has been designed within a multi-tier environment and offers an efficient service to end clients who can submit their quarterly VAT returns via their Web, Windows or Mobile applications.

www.kirkit.co.uk

Selima is a leading developer and supplier of software and managed payroll services. The Selima software suite is an integrated package of HR and payroll software. Clients range in size from 30 employees to over 20,000.

www.selima.co.uk

Web-Clubs, an associate BASDA member, is an independent e-marketing company with over ten years’ experience in online marketing.

www.web-clubs.co.uk

BASDA Journal 2014/2015

BASDA members survey –

10 months on

BY TREVOR SALOMON, BASDA COMMERCIAL DIRECTOR

At the tail end of 2013 and into early 2014 we managed to elicit views from some two thirds of members about various aspects of BASDA including how the organisation might evolve.

It was encouraging that we received many and varied suggestions from our members and we naturally turned our attention to executing those supported by multiple requests:

Holding meetings outside London and the Thames Valley – as requested, we tried this but the offers from members to use their facilities outside these areas were few and far between and there was an understandable perspective from the majority of attendees to travel the minimal distance possible;

it seems that pragmatism rules. To help optimise people’s valuable time we have, where practical, instigated more virtual meetings and will continue with this approach.

CEO style summits and more networking – a successful annual summit was held in May and, as I write this document, it’s really pleasing to report that feedback on our first executive dinner held late

November at the Institute of Directors was unanimously positive. We will continue to build out our events plan to include a programme of networking dinners in 2015.

Data Protection – originally requested as a potential new SIG (Special Interest Group) but deemed too narrow, albeit important, we covered this topic at a Marketing SIG meeting held in October, looking at the new EU Data Protection legislation which will be introduced in 2015. This session, which also included looking at what data can be sent via email (also a topic suggested in the survey), will be revisited with an update soon as the legislation becomes more clear. Note that data, per se, will receive greater attention through BASDA’s organisational changes for 2015.

Bookkeeping/Serving the needs of accountants – also requested as (two) new SIGS and likely to emerge in 2015 as a new Domain, ‘Accountants in Practice’. Further information will be shared with members as soon as we’re ready to launch.

Cloud and SaaS – these closely linked topics, in which there is increasing interest from members, will be merged next year as part of Data Management and Security. Meantime a Cloud SIG meeting was hosted on 6 November by new member Secura Hosting “Charting the Cloud Journey – the Transition from Server Room into the Evolving Cloud”.

Raise BASDA profile – we have learnt during the course of this year that the leading influential journalists covering the space in which our members operate are mostly those that we knew and had strong working relationships with a number of years back. As a result we’re actively working to renew those relationships and already have positioned our Chairman, Kevin Hart, for a monthly dialogue with one of these journalists in the accountancy media, garnering some good coverage. The feedback is that we punch above our weight with bodies such as HMRC and DWP, and should therefore ensure our target audiences know this.

The intention is to continue to evolve BASDA in line with member needs and market trends, thereby making the organisation even more compelling and relevant to both current and prospective members.

TREVOR SALOMON

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BY KEVIN HART, CHAIRMAN OF BASDA

Listening to our members’ needs, wants and wishes along with the key strategic imperative of ensuring BASDA is highly relevant and beneficial to the wider business software developer community, we have widened our focus and supporting structure – all of which we plan to have in place for early for 2015.

BASDA will focus upon the following six domains (and a selection of current issues):

Payroll, Pensions and HR (RTI, Auto Enrolment)

Financials and Accounting (Pan Euro VAT Handling, Prompt Payment Discount handling)

Accountants in Practice (UK GAAP and IFRS changes)

Interoperability and Standards (E-invoicing, Carbon Reporting, Richer Data)

Data (Processing, Management, Security – inc. IDA and HMRC’s new Transaction engine)

B2B Marketing (Digital and Social engagement)

The above approach will also help ensure that we address key needs of our members – no matter how they deliver their solutions (cloud/desktop/hybrid) albeit applying the right level of focus, where required, to specific delivery platforms.

To enable the required levels of collaboration and engagement, BASDA delivers:

Domain Interest Groups – these spearhead each domain, have their own chair (and deputy) and meet on a regular basis to explore and progress areas of common interest, agree priorities, engagement

strategies and communication plans (including member briefings).

Working Parties – these are specialist teams brought together for relatively short periods of time to address specific issues/opportunities (some spanning multiple domains), with a clear purpose,

output and outcome.

Engagement methods – these include face-to-face, conference-calls, webinars, LinkedIn groups, networking events, summits, AGMs.

Outputs and outcomes – these include the annual summit, AGM, annual journal, regular newsletters, domain briefings, charters, consultation responses, ‘How to’ guides, standards documentation and testing services.

To ensure appropriate oversight of BASDA, our constitution requires that a General Council is established and meets regularly – as the steering group of BASDA. The GC comprises 12 member-elected representatives, plus co-opted persons with the chair and it meets quarterly to ensure BASDA best serves its current and prospective members’ key interests through the right structure and focus – aligning its resources accordingly along with ensuring appropriate governance.

KEVIN HART

Evolving further to

meet key needs of business software developers


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BASDA Special Interest Groups

and Working Parties

BASDA SIGs and Working Parties are driven by members as centres of action to address key and current issues affecting the software industry and its customers. BASDA members come together within these groups to network and to discuss areas of common interest.

Each group decides on its own agenda, within BASDA guidelines. This may be to respond to upcoming legislative changes or develop standards – all with the aim of reducing the burden on software development and support and extending or improving business opportunities for members.

These groups provide a channel for BASDA to engage and communicate with government departments and other influential bodies.

BASDA is always ready to listen to members to help drive debate in any new areas with a view to setting up relevant, topic-specific special interest groups (as has already taken place.See the earlier item on BASDA’s evolution).

BASDA is committed to developing the association through its SIGs and Working Parties to bring maximum value to its existing members and further extend its reach and effectiveness, appealing to small, medium and large organisations alike.

Participation in these groups provide memberswith many benefits including: influence on important issues impacting your business now and in the future, early mover advantage, peer-to-peer networking / benchmarking.

As a collaborative group, BASDA has consistently influenced change and members benefit from the rallying power of BASDA in specific areas of business software.

The following pages highlight some of the recent activity within the SIGs and Working Parties.

To register for any of these groups, please email [email protected]


Identity Assurance

Working Party

BY STEVE CHECKLEY, COMMERCIAL DIRECTOR OF ACORAH SOFTWARE PRODUCTS LIMITED (TAXCALC) AND BASDA LEAD REPRESENTATIVE ON IDENTITY ASSURANCE

HMRC postpones introduction of Identity Assurance for businesses and agentsFor those of us that read AccountingWeb, it can’t have escaped notice that an article was recently published announcing that HMRC had “dropped” Identity Assurance (IDA) for businesses and agents.

Given the work that we’ve been doing with the Cabinet Office, this came as somewhat of a surprise, especially since only a few days before I’d been at the Cabinet Office discussing the very topic.

After following up with our colleagues at HMRC, it would transpire that IDA for businesses and agents is only postponed, not cancelled entirely. In the interim, we should expect a bolstering of security of the Government Gateway whilst HM Cabinet Office and HMRC further develop their research in this area. As an industry, we would obviously support better security for online methods of submission of information to HMRC but, somewhat obviously, the end user experience has to be commercially acceptable for all involved. It would seem that HMRC and HM Cabinet Office have received that message loud and clear.

With regard to IDA for citizens, this has actually been formally launched under the brand GOV UK Verify. For those of us that sell consumer software, particularly in the tax market, IDA is still a very real matter and its implementation in these markets is still to be addressed.

Naturally, BASDA is well placed to continue engaging with HMRC and HM Cabinet Office (along with other Governmental departments and agencies) on IDA and through this journal and our LinkedIn group, will report back as developments unfold.

STEVE CHECKLEY

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HR and Payroll

SIG

Updates on Auto Enrolment, PAPDIS and RTIBY ALEX ROWSON, TECHNICAL DIRECTOR OF QTAC SOFTWARE AND SIG CHAIR

Auto Enrolment and PAPDISThe launch of the Payroll and Pensions Data Interface Standard (PAPDIS) on Friday 9th October is the first stage of an initiative instigated by the DWP and the Pensions Regulator in their Software Developers Forum.

The Pensions and Payroll Data Interface Standard (PAPDIS) aims to overcome managing the collation and transfer of data for AE – which is one of the biggest operational challenges facing employers because they may need to provide data in multiple formats depending on the complexity of their situation and the number of third parties they need to link to.

BASDA has been involved in this initiative through the HR and Payroll SIG. The formation of the Pensions BIB group, made up of representatives from the Pensions industry and the existing Payroll Industry BIB representative bodies (BASDA, IReeN and BCS), has managed to get the Payroll and Pensions industries to collaborate to start building sufficiently automated solutions to address the implementation issues being faced by payroll bureaux and accountants, as well as small and micro employers.

There has been a steep learning curve for both industries as the intricacies of the data requirements have been examined and a pragmatic solution proposed. It is hoped that additional standards are put in place to allow automation of other data transfers that are part of the Auto-Enrolment process.

It is very welcome that Origo, the standards body for the UK financial services industry, is actively supporting the standard by providing technical support and also actively looking to how they can provide the PAPDIS standard as a free-to-use offering within the framework of their existing suite of Auto-Enrolment standards.

It is hoped that a swift uptake of the standard by both industries will lead to a smoother journey into AE Pensions for employers and their agents.

Kevin Hart, BASDA Chair, comments:

“What a great showcase of the software industry working in harmony with the pensions industry!!

We managed to ‘earn our colours’ when we also worked together driving a much more pragmatic solution for RTI and now we’ve really ‘raised our game’ by collaborating in such a way that will make life ultimately easier for our members and, most importantly, their customers.

I’m very grateful to all our members who have actively participated here – particularly the leadership and contributions provided by Alex Rowson (of QTAC) – our HR and Pensions SIG chair – along with his deputy, Pauline Green (of Intuit).

Now the hard work really begins – getting PAPDIS embedded in our relevant members’ solutions and the Pension provider’s systems, all in time for the next big step of staging employers in summer 2015.

Onwards and upwards!!!”

ALEX ROWSON

HR and Payroll SIG (cont.)


RTIWe maintain an on-going a dialogue with HMRC regarding:

The introduction of new GNS (Generic Notification Service) messages The introduction of automated penalties though the RTI Workforce Issues such as the proposals on the introduction of Scottish Rate Income Tax The payrolling of Expenses and Benefits in the Employment Consultation Forum

We have also been active in trying to deflect the use of RTI for non-PAYE related data collection, since payroll systems would then need to handle additional fields in order to collect data on such initiatives as Apprenticeship Funding.

Shared Parental LeaveA number of members have been involved with BIS and HMRC in the drafting and issue of the Software Developers Guide for Shared Parental Leave, hopefully in plenty of time for inclusion in payroll software ready for the next tax year.

Financials and Tax (FTA)

SIG

Updates on Intra EU VAT changes BY KEVIN MISSELBROOK, CUSTOMER SERVICES DIRECTOR OF THE ACCESS GROUP AND CHAIR OF THE VAT WORKING PARTY

Tax Rate at place of destination At a recent meeting with HMRC, senior officials expressed the opinion that the original timescale for changing the application of VAT rates for B2B goods movements had been ambitious and any changes are likely to be longer term. The original plan was that the VAT Expert Group would make proposals to the EU Commission this summer. Thoughts are that this may not now be practically possible until the end of 2015. There would then be an extensive consultation together with impact assessments, before any progress towards a formal EU Directive.

The proposed changes relate to the application of the VAT rate in force at the place of destination.This would be a similar regime to the treatment of services that comes into effect in January 2015.

VAT on intra-EU transactions accounts for around 600 billion Euro a year and although there is a real political will to have tax charged at the place of destination, there is also a recognition of the values at stake and the need to get the process right.

KEVIN MISSELBROOK

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Updates on VAT Prompt Payment Discounts, Construction Industry Scheme (CIS) BY JIM ETHERTON OF COINS – FTA SIG REPRESENTATIVE AND CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY ‘CHAMPION’

JIM ETHERTON

VAT Prompt Payment DiscountsThe HMRC consultation on ‘VAT Prompt Payment Discounts’ was published on 17 June and closed for comments on 9th September. This consultation concerns the method of implementing a change which was announced in Budget 2014. From 1 April 2015, where businesses offer prompt payment discounts, they will no longer be able to calculate the VAT on the discounted amount regardless of whether the discount is actually taken up. This will bring the UK into line with the majority of EC countries. The method proposed by HMRC is that the original invoice will show VAT on the undiscounted amount. If the discount is taken up then the supplier and customer will both need to process a credit note(or amended invoice) for the amount of the discount and the VAT thereon.

BASDA submitted a collaborative response in August, having consulted with those BASDA members who provide accounting software including transaction processing for VAT. The members consulted offer accounting software of widely differing types to a wide range of different types of business.

The BASDA response highlighted that the method proposed by HMRC is not consistent with other EC countries and would be difficult and costly to implement. BASDA propose that the method adopted in the UK should be the same as elsewhere in Europe – this would be better for all parties concerned, including HMRC, businesses and software providers.

Improving the operation of the Construction Industry Scheme (CIS)The HMRC consultation on ‘Improving the operation of the Construction Industry Scheme’ closed on 22 September. This consultation concerns a number of proposed simplifications and enhancements to the CIS tax deduction scheme. It covers a range of topics including the requirements for achieving Gross Payment Status, Online Filing and the Verification Process. Within this it includes consideration of the impact of the introduction of RTI for PAYE and whether CIS returns should use the same online channel as RTI.

The BASDA response welcomed some of the changes – and indeed BASDA proposed some of them to HMRC a number of years ago. However, more detail is required on some of the changes before BASDA could support them. There is also a need to ensure that there is a level playing field for 3rd Party Software providers and that HMRC should not directly provide facilities that should be provided through 3rd Party Software.

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Interoperability and

Data Standards SIG

Updates on e-invoicing and the Interoperable Eco-systemBY TIM COLE, DIRECTOR AT CAUSEWAY TECHNOLOGIES AND SIG CHAIR

e-invoicingThe Parliamentary Inquiry into e-invoicing in the public sector was established by Stephen McPartland MP. His report, launched in Parliament on 1st May 2014, concluded that £2billion a year could be saved. Together with the UKNEF (UK National e-Invoicing Forum) and BIS, he has also pushed for the establishment of a revised version of the original BASDA Interoperability Charter to support Government steps towards greater interoperability.

At a recent meeting of UKNEF, Stephen McPartland commented on the follow-up to the Parliamentary Inquiry on e-invoicing that he had led.

He stated that the five recommendations are achievable and realistic and should be supported by all the main political parties. The EU Directive is well-supported by Cabinet Office and HMT and rapid transposition is expected.

The five key recommendations from the report:

The adoption of e-invoicing in the UK public sector supporting economic growth: The Government should encourage transparency and greater efficiency by establishing defined targets for e-invoicing in the public sector, for example, by including how much they pay by e-invoicing and how quickly they pay, in their annual reports.

Learning from the UK private sector: Make e-invoicing a contractual requirement in the public sector and set common standards against the background of the European e-procurement Directives, based upon experience from the private sector.

Learning from other countries: The UK should be moving from average to world leading and, by looking at the experience of other countries, seriously consider whether mandating is required in the public sector.

European legislation provides a framework for change: The Government should ensure that the rapid transposition of the European e-procurement Directives through legislation also confirms an obligation

to adopt e-invoicing. Greater inclusion of SMEs in the public procurement process: e-invoicing solutions should be paid for

by efficiency savings, and be free to small businesses (up to a defined level of activity) to encourage and ensure their involvement.

He emphasised the importance of focusing on the benefits and demystifying the technical aspects, in order to get relevant parties engaged. Local Authorities will need to be persuaded of the benefits and how to remove barriers to take advantage of the cash-flow benefits for suppliers, to avoid ‘big bang’ projects and to help improve VAT collection.

The forthcoming Small Business Bill will contain regulatory powers for government to mandate e-invoicing where necessary and should be in Committee stage by November 2014.

TIM COLE


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The Interoperable Eco-system‘Interoperability provides organisations with the ability to transfer and use information across multiple technologies and systems by creating commonality in the way that business systems share information and processes across organisational boundaries, irrespective of the individual organisation’s systems architecture, software platform and operating model, and in a way that requires no special effort on the part of the customer or end-user. An Interoperable Ecosystem is a functional information environment in which Interoperability has been fully and successfully adopted to support effective business information exchange between all organisations’.

On the 6th October 2014, I facilitated a one hour long panel debate between Antonio Conte (Project Manager, DG Enterprise and Industry – European Commission), Andre Hoddevik (Secretary General, OpenPEPPOL) and Esa Tihila (Co-Chair of EESPA and CEO of Basware Corporation).

Through the session, I explored the challenges faced in achieving open interoperability and the opportunities for effective collaboration between all parties concerned. The development of a core semantic e-invoicing standard, coordinated by CEN; the EU Directive (2014/55/EU) on electronic invoicing in public procurement and the emerging Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) were raised by Antonio. The Digital Service Infrastructures (DSIs) that are within CEF include support for the vision of public services being not only digital by default by also cross-border by default. Specific building blocks include Interoperability of electronic IDs, e-Signature, e-Delivery, e-Invoicing and automated translation.

Andre outlined the PEPPOL vision, which was about enabling businesses to communicate electronically with any European government institution in the procurement process, increasing efficiencies and reducing costs. The original EC funded PEPPOL project ended in 2012 and was transferred to a not for profit organisation under the name of OpenPEPPOL.

Esa Tihila shared the work of the European E-invoicing Service Providers’ Association (EESPA) and the importance being placed on achieving open interoperability between service providers. Esa reports that EESPA members processed at least half of all e-invoices in Europe. In 2013 this amounted to 840 million e-invoices a growth of 19% over 2012 volumes. To Esa, Interoperability and open network were the key drivers.

Following a series of discussions around these three perspectives, I sought a view on whether PEPPOL and EESPA would consider jointly reviewing how they could work more closely to push for greater interoperability. Both Andre and Esa supported the idea. This would bring together the European Public Sector and the European Service Providers – which could send a strong message to companies across the public and private sectors. The following day, a meeting was held between the two associations and I have since produced a proposal for joint discussions that is now with both Associations to be reviewed.

An Interoperable Ecosystem is essential in order to provide the necessary links and electronic transaction flows between, and within, the public and private sectors.

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TREVOR SALOMON

BY TREVOR SALOMON, COMMERCIAL DIRECTOR OF BASDA AND CHAIR OF THE MARKETING SIG

B2B marketing had virtually stood still for the past couple of years with little or no new tools for the marketing community to embrace. By contrast, in the consumer space, the digital revolution and the take up of social media had really gathered pace, pretty much changing the face of traditional techniques and breathing new life and energy into a full frontal approach to its target audiences. These new methods of reaching out have finally arrived and rapidly taken off for B2B marketers across the board so there is no shortage of interesting and challenging topics around which to plan future SIG meetings for BASDA members.

The first of the re-launched SIG meetings was held in July with Geraint Holliman, Head of Planning at Direction Group, leading a lively workshop on the topic of content marketing. Geraint is an internationally recognized subject matter specialist and covered a lot of ground including talking about the fundamentals of content marketing which he defined as “any information provided by a brand in a format which is relevant, compelling and timely to the audience’s needs at the point at which they engage with it and that does not overtly seek to sell the brand or its products.”

He discussed how content marketing builds brand trust and an authority position and reviewed its relationship with social media and search engine optimisation. As a practitioner of his craft Geraint provided examples of what makes for genuinely effective content and shared ideas about how to create it, including how to break it down into components and repurpose it. He also gave examples of the very best content marketing in practice much of which, unsurprisingly, emanates from the USA where they are ahead of the game. He concluded by providing thoughts on how to measure its effectiveness in the stages leading to lead generation.

In October Charlotte Graham-Cumming, Joint Managing Director of Ice Blue Sky Limited, brought us up to speed on the impending new EU Data Protection Rules whereby B2B will become subject to opt-In for the first time in the UK. She covered the current data protection landscape advising why things are changing such that we will have one market, one rule and one governing body and a far tighter definition of personal data than ever before in relation to B2B. Whilst it felt as if the EU was making it harder rather than simpler for marketers, Charlotte emphasised that this would be an opportunity to improve marketing albeit that users will be far more in control of what they receive via stringent opt-in legislation. There will be far reaching impacts on web visitor tracking software, email and campaign marketing and even a requirement for customers to have to agree to hear from their existing suppliers. Databases will need to be ‘cleaned’ and tightly managed for compliance purposes. It is evident that we will need to revisit this topic as the legislation becomes clearer and a definite date is set for it to hit the EU statute books. Its impact on B2B marketers will be significant.

Finally, I would not want to end this review of the Marketing SIG without a mention that some of the old marketing chestnuts are also still very much alive and kicking. It can be assumed therefore that we will convene meetings in 2015 on subjects such as getting the best performance from telemarketing and finding new, more relevant ways to measure the return on the public relations budget.

Marketing SIG –

back in action!


STEVE CHECKLEY

BY STEVE CHECKLEY, COMMERCIAL DIRECTOR OF ACORAH SOFTWARE PRODUCTS LIMITED (TAXCALC)

As you would expect from an organisation that is funded by its members, BASDA is always looking at ways that it can improve its services and deliver maximum benefit to its membership.

At a recent council meeting, the subject of Special Interest Groups (SIGs) came up, in tandem with a review of member feedback (direct and via survey). In recent years, there has been a lot of change in the regulatory framework of UK businesses and accountancy practices, with still more to come. When looking at the membership of BASDA, it’s obvious that members that serve firms of accountants (and by extension their clients) cross many SIGs and could be better served by a forum that broadly covers all software products that our practitioner customers use (and, potentially, bookkeepers too).

As such, I’d like to introduce the ‘Accountants in Practice’ Interest Group. The intention is that this forum will meet every quarter to receive commercial input from speakers on various matters that affect our software products in this market. BASDA can also take on board issues arising to take up with representatives of the bodies of the organisations that regulate them.

Through the work that we have undertaken with respect to Identity Assurance in particular, we have built up some solid relationships with HMRC, HM Cabinet Office, Companies House and even Members of Parliament themselves. Indeed, one of the recent key wins has been the introduction of a Tripartite Forum with HMRC, software developers and representatives of agents and their governing bodies. I’d like to discover the problems that our industry and our customers face and use these new relationships to deliver solutions for all to benefit commercially.

I am delighted to have been asked to chair this forum ( I will also be asking for self-nominations for a deputy chair) and, with the support of the BASDA office, we will arrange quarterly meetings that I aim should commence around February 2015.

So what will we include in our first forum?

Well, aside from the appointment of a deputy chair, on my own personal radar is the provision of an API for the submission of EU VAT under the new (and snappily titled) Place of Supply Digital Services and VAT Mini One Stop Shop Regulations. Currently it would appear that when launched on 1 January 2015, B2C reporting on the sale of digital products to customers in EU member states will only be feasible through a web form on the HMRC site. Bookkeeping and VAT filing software would surely benefit from this.

I’m pretty sure that members are aware of changes to the financial reporting environment, the new CT600, replacement tax return filing transaction engine and so on. What else do we need, as an industry, to find out more about and lobby on?

For any input onto any of the above or to put your name forward as a deputy chair of the forum, please contact Lynne Wallis by email on [email protected]

Introducing the ‘Accountants in

Practice’ Interest Group

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HMRC’s transformation and

BASDA’s engagement

KEVIN HART

BY KEVIN HART, CHAIRMAN OF BASDA

As a result of the level of engagement we have developed and achieved with HMRC, I have the pleasure (and responsibility) of representing BASDA at HMRC’s Senior Stakeholders events – held 2-3 times a year with fellow senior stakeholders across other business and citizen areas, including the major accountants, auditors, charities and some press.

It is here where we learn of HMRC’s performance, key strategic imperatives and areas of focus along with input from the Treasury Minister, HMRC’s executive directors and non-execs with interactive debate on a number of key topics.

The government and the nation’s expectations of this department, and the respective challenges they face, are significant. Here are a few key metrics for the year 2013-14:

£505.8bn tax revenue brought in (up £30.2bn on prior year)

34.7m visits to their online services (6.6% up on prior year)

£235m saved in cost efficiencies, inc. 60,000m2 of space saving (= c. 8 football pitches)

Just under 60,000 full time employees (down from around 92,000 in 2005)

HMRC’s digital agenda is paramount to them achieving many of their objectives and it is here, in particular, where we are focusing many of our efforts to influence and collaborate strongly, for we have a wealth of learnings that can be applied to best effect, and to the benefit of all.

I’m certainly finding the relatively new executive more open and engaging with our stakeholder community and, having personally lobbied for a number of years – on behalf of our members, I am now sensing real progress in a number of key areas which will enable us to deliver even greater customer experiences:

Risk rule sharing – this is something that, as application developers, we have often found ourselves at a disadvantage compared to some of HMRC’s own free offerings, for we cannot provide the optimum

experience to our customers as certain items may fail or prompt intervention post our submission sequence and these can also result in customer support issues. HMRC are starting to share such information and we are working with them on this controlled rollout.

Pre-population (of known data items) – this is similar to risk rule sharing. However the disadvantage is more pronounced here for, if we cannot surface known information that may impact what our customers send, or subsequently process via their payments, then we cannot suitably assist/advise customers in their submission preparation stages. HMRC are starting to plan and test what information can be shared and, again, we are working with them on the delivery of this.


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API (Application Programming Interface) provision – arguably, a means by which we can achieve the above data and some business rules interchange but, more importantly, a fundamental philosophy by which HMRC services are made open to our community, from which we can then incorporate within our offerings. This pain point has been prevalent with most, if not all, of HMRC’s services and in not providing such, it exacerbates the above (negative) differentiation issues, plus the risk that any possible integration has to be bespoke (due to differing methodologies).

We are now seeing a sea-change in HMRC’s evolving strategy as they plan to make APIs a fundamental approach to the delivery of new and existing services and we are acknowledged as a lead party (by HMRC) in raising the focus and so priority of an API strategy.

Tri-partite engagement (HMRC, BASDA and Accounting and Auditing bodies) – over the years we have found that, whilst BASDA and the Accounting and Auditing trade bodies have similar agendas, HMRC have (by way of their organisational and legal structures) treated us as completely separate entities with little alignment. This is a real problem and challenge for many of us who also produce solutions that are consumed by Bookkeepers/Accountants/Auditors, for we cannot undertake collective discussions on policy, strategy and implementation areas. Consequently, we often end up investing disproportionate amounts of time further down the line ‘fire-fighting’ rather than working together to the common good,

in order to optimise our development and delivery efforts, minimise customer support overheads and deliver great customer experiences.

Having achieved a tri-partite approach during iXBRL development (albeit only part way through the journey), we more recently capitalised upon the IDA programme (Identity Assurance – the new security approach being mandated and lead by the Cabinet office) and increased our level of tri-partite lobbying. I’m pleased to advise that we held the first Tri-partite meeting in October 2014 and identified a number of initial areas of focus – more information and updates to follow through our ‘Accountants in Practice Interest Group’.

These engagements also chime strongly with HMRC’s (and, indeed any other government or private sector trading party’s) strong desire for customers to get it right first time, every time and I trust that you can see the level of progress we are collectively achieving here on your behalf (often with member representatives involved, many of whom do not have such access to HMRC in their own right).

This feels like the dawning of a new era and so to take full and earliest advantage for your business, do please ensure that you engage with your respective Interest groups/working parties and join their LinkedIn groups so that you too can be a part of how we continue to drive our influence and greater engagement with HMRC.

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BASDA Annual Summit 2014 –

the highlights

The 2014 BASDA Annual Summit was held at the Pullman Hotel in London in May, where members heard from a varied and stimulating line-up of speakers.

A brief summary of the sessions...

JUSTIN BOWSER

RICHARD ANNING

Justin Bowser, Vice-chair of the Chartered Institute of Marketing Technology Marketing interest group, who also sits on the Cabinet Office “SME Panel”In his Keynote Address Justin provided his insight into the current software industry landscape, discussing the opportunities and challenges for business software providers.

In particular, the ‘disruption’ of cloud/mobile delivery means that software is increasingly subscription based with the user expectation of doing anything, anywhere. Social media is of increasing value in user collaboration and empowerment.

He encouraged developers to embrace and harness new ecosystems, including employee and customer collaboration to enable customers to be amazing in their jobs and do incredible things through their use of software. An example given was the GCloud procurement framework; a big change to the government procurement process with its ‘cloud-based first’ approach and made easier for smaller suppliers to get on board.

Over the next two years, customers will expect interoperability to come as standard, with real-time predictive analytics that provide greater insight, empowerment and control of their business.

Gerard Lennox: Software industry veteran and iconoclast Gerard has helped a number of software companies and web agencies with their marketing and product development. During this talk Gerard looked at fashions in software development, trying to understand which are fads (doomed to die taking your development dollars with them) and those that will be game changers that actually last and make money.

Richard Anning: Head of the IT Faculty of ICAEW Together with his colleague, Kirstin Gillon, Richard shared key insights from recent research, outlining benefits, risks, concerns and attitudes and how they are working with government to improve cyber security.

Audit Insights: Cyber Security is the work of a group of external audit experts from large and medium-sized audit firms with many years combined experience of auditing companies, who concluded that:

Businesses need to consider ‘cyber’ in all business activities (reputation, business impact).

There needs to be an acceptance that breaches will happen, with the ability to respond to incidents when they do happen.

There is a benefit in sharing information threats. Most businesses don’t get the basics right – difficult to manage disparate systems, small companies don’t have the resource.

Most breaches are down to individuals.

Legislation is moving for the EU to be more open about data breach information.

The Cyber-security Information Sharing Partnership (CiSP), part of CERT-UK, is a joint industry government initiative to share cyber threat and vulnerability information in order to increase overall situational awareness of the cyber threat and therefore reduce the impact on UK business.

CiSP allows members from across sectors and organisations to exchange cyber threat information in real time, on a secure and dynamic environment, whilst operating within a framework that protects the confidentiality of shared information.

www.cisp.org.uk


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David Rennie: Industry Engagement Lead for the Identity Assurance Programme (IDAP), a part of the Cabinet Office’s Government Digital Service (GDS). David provided a briefing from the Cabinet Office on the forthcoming implementation of Identity Assurance, the biggest change to the way that we, as software developers, help our customers to interact with government digitally. Driven by the Cabinet Office, the plan is for IDA to be deployed in each government department. The key driver is fraud prevention with a fundamental change to online security to replace the Government Gateway. GDS is working with each government department on their specific requirements and the HMRC, for example, are listening to BASDA’s input. March 2016 is the date set to switch off the Government Gateway, but only if HMRC is ready.

The Skills Challenge in an economic upturn: How to recruit and retain the right staffOur panel of experts shared their insight on staff recruitment and retention:

Mark Stoddart, Head of Talent Acquisition at SAS UK, advocated in-house recruitment for reducing the cost and time to hire increasing the quality of staff hires and reducing staff turnover. For them, LinkedIn has been a game-changer and accounts for 30% of recruitment, with 40% from referrals and 30% from direct networking. As well as recruiting the right talent to fit the business need, the internal HR team also focus on the development of existing staff backed by career progression plans and retention bonuses.

DAVID RENNIE

Tim King, Managing Director at independent specialist agency Matchking, explained how the agency route provides a cost-effective service for clients by handling the whole process from creating a job description through managing applications and filtering candidates. With sector specialist expertise and experience, the agency can identify and target the most likely candidates, use their own pool of ‘passive’ contacts and effectively promote the company’s brand.

Patrick Traynor from LinkedIn Talent Solutions highlighted how LinkedIn has become a key enabler in matching the best opportunities with the best candidates. Good quality candidates aren’t always pro-actively looking for new job opportunities. LinkedIn provides the tools to advertise jobs to relevant candidates and to engage them with company information that differentiates the company brand, including video for example. In terms of staff retention, LinkedIn have an ‘internal’ tool which gives employees access to view all internal jobs.

BASDA Annual Summit 2014 – the highlights (cont.)

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Why Interoperability standards are essential for an open and competitive marketPhilip Virgo, Technology advisor to Government and Business, explored the slow take-up of e-invoicing by government, which costs £billions. Open standards for interoperability need to be enforced to speed up the process. Progress is difficult because the public sector is used to big consultancies with big fees and is not geared up for change, with very little business flowing through GCloud. One advantage of interoperability should be the reduced risk of using SME suppliers. The big challenge is to make standards less boring!

Interoperability: An update on developments within the UK and EU to accelerate the adoption of interoperable business processes Tim Cole, Director at Causeway and member of the UK and European e-invoicing forums, explained the Government and EU initiatives that are driving the adoption of interoperable business processes, including the proposed introduction of a ‘new’ Interoperability Charter adapted from the BASDA Interoperability Charter based on the following principles:

To take pro-active steps to ensure the interoperability of their services and solutions so as to play their part in the interoperable Ecosystem.

To respond to the requirements of the public sector as it adopts working practices and solutions that require access to an interoperable Ecosystem.

To work to improve education and awareness of interoperability and actively promote the use of interoperable systems within the public sector.

To support their customers in achieving compliance with the appropriate legal and regulatory provisions, standards, industry best practices and agreements that support establishing an interoperable Eco-system.

Members are encouraged to support the new charter, embrace interoperability ‘practically’, exploit BASDA standards and engage with BASDA to push forward the agenda.

Using LinkedIn as a powerful tool in business generationGill Barstow, of Orbit Business Development, provided practical advice on the possibilities of using LinkedIn as an integral part of the business development process. Using LinkedIn as a business generation tool provides valuable insight into a potential client and key contacts. It can enable relationship-building, avoiding ‘gatekeepers’, build business networks and facilitate introductions to 2nd and 3rd degree contacts.

BASDA members were offered a special rate to attend one of Gill’s workshops.


BASDA Software Thought Leaders’ Summit 2015

‘Capitalising on a changing world’

Hold the date! Tuesday 2nd June 2015 at BMA House, London

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Technology will help drive

Integrated Reporting

JYOTI BANERJEE

BY GUEST CONTRIBUTOR, JYOTI BANERJEE

There is a clamour of voices demanding the rebooting of capitalism, from academics (such as Michael Porter) and politicians (like Al Gore) to investors (such as CalPERS) and Occupy’s street activists.

The common thread is that today’s model of capitalism overemphasizes short-term financial data and neglects information that gets at the true sources of sustainable value creation – things like innovation, brand equity, customer loyalty, and key stakeholder relationships. Corporate reporting today emphasises compliance, boilerplate and legalese. As a result, we have a massive glut of filings, press releases, analyst reports and articles focused on financial data. The system has lost sight of the point of reporting: to give companies access to financial capital by communicating their value to investors.

The consequence of the systemic failure of this lopsided model is that companies focus on short-term financial performance – because that is what they believe investors are interested in – to the detriment of long-term value creation. Investors, meanwhile, compensate for the lack of knowledge about issues central to longer term value by pricing in a risk premium. This can result in market valuations that do not reflect the fundamental performance or prospects of the business, leading to a misallocation of capital and reduced visibility for investors, reinforcing short-term decision-making. And it is business that pays the price through more expensive capital, while furthering a flawed model of capitalism.

Fortunately, there is a better way to communicate about the sources of value creation: integrated reporting. Such reporting integrates material information about a firm’s financial performance with information on sustainability performance and intangibles such as intellectual and human capital.

Where did it come from? Integrated Reporting is now a movement across the world. It is a global coalition of regulators, investors, companies, standard setters, the accounting profession and NGOs, led by the International Integrated Reporting Council (the IIRC). Together, this coalition shares the view that communication about value creation should be the next step in the evolution of corporate reporting. Alongside more than a hundred companies globally, the IIRC produced the International <IR> Framework, which defines a new direction for corporate reporting – this framework was released in December of 2013.

It has only been less than a year since that release, but it is astonishing to witness the growing momentum that Integrated Reporting is experiencing. To illustrate this, a number of jurisdictions have already chosen to adopt <IR>, including South Africa and Brazil, with Singapore and Malaysia in the throes of making similar decisions. Currently, both Japan and the European Commission have announced initiatives to change corporate reporting in their jurisdictions, including the use of <IR>. And then in October, the B20 (the business arm of the G20) recommended that financial stability across the world needed the use of two standards, IFRS and Integrated Reporting. So things are changing rapidly even in the traditionally slow-moving policy world.

Integrated reporting technology initiative (continued)


Whatever the changes at policy level, most companies will fully experience Integrated Reporting when it becomes part of the warp and woof of their management practice – Integrated Reporting will only be successful in changing the capital allocation paradigm if companies practice integrated thinking in their organisations. In modern companies, this means the application of technology to the transition from the current model of corporate reporting (largely financials only) to the holistic view presented by the next generation of corporate reporting and management.

It is for this reason that the IIRC has decided to create a network of technology companies that could work together on technology and reporting issues. In brief, the <IR> Technology Initiative – launching in November 2014 – seeks to build a deep understanding of how technology can be applied to assist <IR> adopters (on both sides of the report production and consumption value chain) achieve their goals, and to consider how the evolution of corporate reporting is impacting – and being impacted by – technology.

The idea is to create a network of technology companies that collaborate on issues relating to future directions in corporate reporting, and the changes in technology that need to happen to enable these changes. Equally, the group needs to look at changes in technology that could have a causative impact on the reporting value chain.

If integrated reporting can play its role in better corporate performance, holistic investor engagement and the proliferation of a longer-term model of capitalism, it will not have come a moment too soon. It needs the involvement of business software companies to drive the pace and scale of adoption of this much-needed new generation of business thinking. Will you get involved?

Jyoti Banerjee is leading the <IR> Technology Initiative, a programme of the International Integrated Reporting Council, a global not-for-profit organisation headquartered in London. Jyoti has spent over 20 years engaging with technology companies on go-to-market and business strategies. To find out more about the work of the IIRC, please see www.theiirc.org

Theo Van Dort

Award

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The 2014 Theo Van-Dort award was presented by BASDA to Norman Green of CGI at the members’ annual summit event on 13th May, in acknowledgement of his notable work in driving collaboration between government and the software industry, working closely with BASDA and others over the past 15+ years.

The Theo Van Dort award commemorates the work of Theo – a memorable co-founder member of BASDA, who regrettably lost his battle with cancer in 2005.

This annual award was created to recognise individual(s) who have made significant contributions, ‘above and beyond’ to the benefit of the UK business software industry.

Norman has been involved with the Payroll Specialist Group of the BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, for over 20 years, most recently as chairman. He has represented the Payroll Software industry in consultation with many government departments on payroll and employment related matters.

Norman has often been alongside BASDA, supporting Alex Rowson (chair of the BASDA HR and Payroll SIG) in negotiations with HMRC, most recently relating to RTI.

Kevin Hart, BASDA Chair, presented the award:

“BASDA is absolutely delighted to present the ’2014 Theo Van-Dort’ award to Norman. He has been instrumental in driving government engagement with the business software industry, particularly to ensure that RTI was delivered in a least risk manner for us, as software developers, and our customers. Norman is a great industry ambassador with highly credible domain knowledge and for BASDA, he has always been a highly trusted, supportive and influential industry colleague.”

Norman Green comments, “It has been a pleasure for me, as representative of the BCS, to work alongside BASDA over the years, to help influence government to do the right thing for our members and their customers and I am truly humble to receive such an accolade.”

NORMAN GREEN

Business Application Software Developers’ Association92 High Street, Great Missenden, Bucks HP16 0AN

T 01494 868030 E [email protected]

www.basda.org

The BASDA website includes blog articles from members and guests to keep you up to date with current issues:

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...and don’t forget, you can always talk to Lynne Wallis, the BASDA office manager on 01494 868030 or email [email protected]

BASDA Journal 2014-15

Documents

Transcript of BASDA Journal 2014-15