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The Cloudoffis Bulletin - February Edition

Welcome to 2024!  We hope the year has started well for you and your team.

This marks our first newsletter of the year, and we’re looking forward to sharing monthly updates on industry trends, new product features, and upcoming events for us to connect at.

If you’re attending the SMSF Association’s National Event in Brisbane later this month, don’t forget to come and say hi at our booth. Our team will be there to assist with your SMSF Accounting and Auditing needs. You’ll find more information on how to find us below.

 

Current Trends:

Compliance

At Cloudoffis, we’re noticing a growing trend of industry leaders reaching out to discuss their compliance requirements. This observation comes as no surprise, especially with ASIC recently taking action against 9 more SMSF Auditors for non-compliance.

Across the industry, there’s a growing demand for a structured approach to managing day-to-day tasks, coupled with a desire for peace of mind that compliance processes are up-to-date. Businesses are increasingly seeking solutions that not only support them in running their processes but maintaining historical records whilst also ensuring readiness for potential audits by ASIC or the ATO to guarantee uninterrupted business operations.

If you’re seeking ways to safeguard your business and bolster your team’s reputation, we encourage you to get in touch with us today for a conversation.

Whether you’re already leveraging Cloudoffis and aiming to maximise your experience or exploring our platform for the first time, we’re here to assist with your compliance needs.

Get in touch

 

Product update:

Data security

At Cloudoffis, data security is paramount in all aspects of our operations. We recognise the critical importance of safeguarding both your data and that of your customers to uphold your reputation.

To highlight our commitment to this topic, we have recently published our data security measures. We trust the attached document will provide clarity on our unwavering commitment to protecting your valuable information.

Read in detail

 

Unlock operational excellence

Looking for a way to improve your businesses profitability this year? Our team of experts have shared their 3 hot tips to help you improve operational excellence across your team in 2024.

Get your tips

 

Upcoming events:

SMSF Association

The countdown is on! Not long now until we hit Brisbane for the SMSF Association’s National Conference.

We will have both our customer success and sales team attending, so put us on your radar to come and say hi on Day 1 at Booth No. 42!

 

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5 trends that piqued our interest in 2023 and our forecast for 2024

Recapping 2023

A year in review

It’s been a dynamic year for the SMSF Audit industry, and as we enter the festive season, at Cloudoffis we’ve been reflecting on the pivotal trends that have shaped the landscape throughout 2023.

Read on to see 5 trends that piqued our interest this year and our forecast for what 2024 will bring the industry.

Pricing is no longer a point of difference

Across the industry, auditors are grappling with an increasing challenge to distinguish their value proposition amidst stiff competition. Earlier in the year, we saw this lead to a heightened focus on price as the primary differentiator. However, the reliance on discounting posed a risk to profit margins, and we’ve since seen a strong trend in audit businesses approaching us who are conducting a reassessment of their current operational models to maintain their competitive edge. Leading businesses are differentiating themselves by offering more valuable services to their clients, such as easier ways to collaborate, better insights and faster turnaround times.

Technology Supporting Profitability

The industry has experienced a reduction in the number of auditors compared to 2022, influenced by natural attrition, ASIC’s stringent measures, and the impact of inflation and rising wage costs. Navigating these challenges has made it a demanding year for auditors seeking to maintain a profitable practice. These macro impacts have led to a spike in the number of auditors and accountants who are embracing forward-thinking strategies such as adopting technology to sustain profitability.

Data security

In 2023, Australians grappled with a surge in data breaches, impacting individuals and businesses nationwide. The consequences of data breaches on brand trustworthiness have been significant, leading to a rise in digital mistrust. Incidents from large institutions have prompted businesses to question the usage and protection of their clients’ data and we’re seeing a trend across the SMSF industry to pay more attention to how clients data is stored, shared and what level of access individuals within an auditing firm have to client information.

A Spotlight on Compliance

ASIC’s crackdown on compliance has reverberated through the industry, particularly after a period of no SMSF audits during the COVID-19 pandemic. Notably, ASIC cancelled 364 SMSF auditors licences in January for failure to lodge annual statements. Recent actions against firms for breaches of auditing standards, independence requirements, and registration conditions underscore the intensified regulatory scrutiny in turn, leading auditors are turning to technology for compliance support. We’re noticing an increase in the need for businesses to have a digital record at their fingertips to enable them to react quickly to audit requests and tighter ATO deadlines linked to SMSF processes.

Accountants Seeking Growth Partners

A noteworthy trend is the emergence of accountants adopting a growth mindset, actively seeking ways to expand capacity to meet increasing client demands. Given the accounting industry’s cloud-first orientation, many accountants are on the lookout for partners aligning with their current cloud-based processes and practices. We’re witnessing a shift towards stronger collaboration through technology between like-minded accountants and auditors to service the industry more effectively.

Outlook for 2024

As we approach 2024, auditors face an unprecedented requirement to safeguard their businesses against compliance risks and streamline operational processes for enhanced efficiency.

The evolving landscape demands a proactive approach to stay resilient in the face of challenges and capitalise on emerging opportunities. Luckily, with the advancement of technology aligned to a constantly changing environment, SMSF auditors who adopt technology and prioritise operational efficiencies across their workflows will be supported to deliver more audits faster, with more confidence, than ever before.

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Simplify manual data uploads and say yes to more clients.

At Cloudoffis, we make it our mission to help Auditors scale, reduce risk and help improve their own customers’ success. That’s why we invested in simplifying the process of manual fund uploads, an industry first, which allows auditors to seamlessly upload manual funds into Auditomation.

In an industry where over 25% of funds are still processed manually, we recognised the urgent need for change to help our Auditing customers to service this segment of the market. We heard from our Auditing customers that they consistently faced challenges receiving & organising clients data when it was delivered to them in various formats including PDF, CSV and XLS. Translating this data into SMSF Auditing Software often led to intricate, error-prone procedures, turning a necessary task into a time-consuming, low-value chore.

Simplify data upload and management

With the launch of the manual funds feature, Cloudoffis is now able to convert any type of manual file, including PDF, Excel and CSV within seconds and make it presentable for auditors to start auditing.

“We have delivered on our vision of hassle-free data upload and management whilst providing flexibility and ease for Auditors irrespective of how they receive information from their clients” said Manish Sheladia, Co-Founder of Cloudoffis. 

The integration of AI has been pivotal to process improvement. Cloudoffis smart technology reads and extracts data from trial balances, effortlessly mapping it to its required destination. This minimises errors and ensures consistently reliable data whilst enabling teams to preview and update trial balances before taking any action.

Automation for efficiency: Save up to 1 hour per fund

Our commitment to efficiency has led us to automate the mapping of individual and bulk transactions to their respective buckets. The innovation significantly accelerates the processing of auditing and financial data, saving auditors up to one hour of admin time per fund.

Over time, the feature becomes more intelligent,  memorising mapping rules for years to come, carrying forward any manual adjustments for the following year and reducing manual effort for recurring line items in the future.

Experience the future of Auditing today

Join auditors who have embraced a simplified auditing process with Cloudoffis. Try this new feature today and revolutionise the way you handle manual fund uploads, whilst expanding your network of clients you run audits for. Unlock efficiency, save time and gain valuable insights with ease.

Schedule a demo


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Import & Export documents seamlessly between SMSF Sorted & FYI

At Cloudoffis, we are constantly innovating to enhance your SMSF workpaper experience. Document management is a time consuming, yet important job to get right, which is why we’re thrilled to announce our latest integration between SMSF Sorted and FYI.  This exciting integration with FYI, a leading Document Management System (DMS), will revolutionise the way you work by saving you time and reducing effort, whilst keeping your important client documents secure.

“With the FYI integration, SMSF Sorted expands the Accountant’s ecosystem, empowering you to manage documents seamlessly. Together, we’ve unlocked the potential of document management.” – Manish Sheladia, Founder, Cloudoffis

Let’s dive into the details and discover how this integration will benefit you.

  • Import docs securely from FYI into Sorted
    To save you more time and reduce the risk of error, you have the option to select the default FYI cabinet to upload files to SMSF Sorted ensuring the correct documents are stored in the same, selected cabinet every time. You can also filter the results by year, and cabinet and search for the document name from the Search Bar while uploading any document from your existing FYI Cabinet.
  • Tag line items with ease
    Organising your line items just got easier. Our integration allows you to tag-line items against the documents you retrieve from FYI. So you can say goodbye to manual tracking and hello to an effortless organisation.
  • Upload final workpapers back into FYI
    Gone are the days of bouncing between platforms and having to download and upload final documents. Now, once your workpapers are generated, you can effortlessly save them back into your preferred cabinet in FYI, all from with with your SMSF Sorted portal.
  • Make sure you’re on Sorted Pro to enjoy the benefits
    If you are currently using SMSF Sorted Basic, you’ll need to upgrade to SMSF Sorted Pro to take full advantage of the FYI and Cloudoffis integration. To witness the full potential of the FYI and SMSF Sorted integration, we invite you to schedule a demo with us. Our team will guide you through the integration to demonstrate how it can transform your workflow.

Make sure you’re on Sorted Pro to enjoy the benefits

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Save time and get paid faster with Auditomation Billing

At Cloudoffis, we’re always looking for ways to improve processes for our SMSF Auditing community, so you save time, deliver a better customer experience and improve your bottom line.
When we started to talk to our customers about how much time was spent on billing-related admin processes, we could see this area was ripe for improvement.  Our customers agreed, they needed support automating the process and speeding up the time it takes to get an invoice to a client, so they could get paid faster.

Introducing Auditomation Billing by Cloudoffis

With our new billing add-on, you can save up to 15 minutes of admin time for each invoice your team prepares. For firms auditing 1000 funds, that’s an incredible 250 hours saved per year and around $7,500 in admin costs that can be reinvested back into your business. The new Billing add-on also helps your business get paid faster, which is critical for business cash flow. Xero cites six important tips to speed up payments including emailing your invoices as soon as possible. When talking to Cloudoffis audit customers, we heard that a key reason for their accounting clients to delay their invoice payments included supporting job documentation not being attached to the invoice or the final invoice amount being incorrect. By automating the billing process inside of Auditomation, Cloudoffis helps you to mitigate these breakpoints. We also help increase your team’s productivity by reducing the time spent on invoicing queries. Once the audit is complete, your team’s attention can be turned to new customers to generate new revenue, instead of chasing late payments.

Here are some of the key features of the new Auditomation Billing add-on that will make your admin tasks seamless:

  • Set up billing rules for clients at a global or individual firm level so you have a single source of truth for pricing to ensure consistency across all your clients’ jobs, whilst reducing errors & double handling.
  • Once an audit job is complete, the nominated administrator can add the billing information, including base costs and additional services, to the job and raise the invoice instantly.  The invoice information can be sent from Auditomation to Xero so the invoice is raised immediately.  If you’re not using Xero, the invoice can be raised directly from Auditomation.
  • Once the invoice is raised, it will automatically be attached to the relevant job within Auditomation and can be viewed again with the click of a button at any point.
  • If you need to make changes to the invoice after it’s been raised, you can manage this from your Auditomation account, and if you’re using Xero, the updated invoice information will appear in both Xero and Auditomation automatically, ensuring real-time access to billing information.
  • If your accounting client is using Sorted by Cloudoffis, you can share the invoice and relevant reports directly from Auditomation into Sorted, so you don’t have to bounce between different platforms. You also have the option to download the invoice and reports if you prefer to attach them to your own email.

Over the coming months, we will continue to invest in the Auditomation Billing add-on including adding permissions into the process to ensure your existing stakeholder sign-off processes for customer invoices remain consistent. This feature is free to our existing customers, if you’d like to share your feedback on this new feature, please get in touch via support@cloudoffis.com.au

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First class SMSF: How Macquarie saves 40% by using SMSF Sorted Pro

When Christina Mainey from Macquarie Business Accounting began using SMSF Sorted by Cloudoffis in 2020, she quickly witnessed efficiency savings of more than 40%. It’s big news that SMSF Sorted Lite—a core version of SMSF Sorted Pro which includes powerful OCR tools—is now included with Class at no charge. So thousands of SMSF accountants are ready to enjoy similar efficiency gains. But with a simple upgrade to SMSF Sorted Pro, much more is possible. Looking at How Christina and Macquarie use SMSF Sorted Pro shows why—and is just the start of the SMSF revolution on its way with a groundbreaking AI engine that offers next-generation accounting features.

Why Macquarie chose Sorted.

Before SMSF Sorted, Macquarie’s accountants were spending too much time on workpapers—especially with the outsourcing of other firms creating price pressure. Christina knew there were options, but chose SMSF Sorted for the support and integration. “We were already paperless, and we’d trialled a few options—but Cloudoffis SMSF Sorted was head and shoulders above the rest”, she says. According to Christina, the time savings are priceless. “OCR is my favourite because it saves me time as well as the reviewer. Up to 40%—and with the updates and releases we’re expecting that to reach 50% very soon”. Christina also says SMSF Sorted delivered more than she’d bargained for. “I knew it was integrated with Class and BGL—but I had no idea how well. It’s more than trial balances—it has 17 reports with all kinds of checks”.

Next-generation accounting.

For Macquarie, SMSF Sorted Pro is opening the doors to the next generation of SMSF accounting—with the release of a new AI engine for industry-first automation that removes whole accounting steps. “The automated wrap statement reconciliation is next level”, says Christina. “Some of our wrap reports are up to 200 pages—so importing them for automatic reconciliation is a game-changer”. Christina says this kind of automation can often over-promise but not deliver—but not with Cloudoffis and SMSF Sorted Pro. “With other software you expect things and it maybe doesn’t work. With Cloudoffis, you can believe it—and it just gets better with every release”, she says.

Automation and optimisation.

The Cloudoffis AI is built on strong foundations of automating and optimising day-to-day SMSF accounting. Because SMSF accountants have their own methods, Sorted Pro includes 8 ‘Excel-like’ workpapers for easily customised reconciliation checks. Automated push notifications and query alerts keeps workflow moving and save dead time between necessary changes. But for Christina and Macquarie, the bedrock of automation is the over-21 that standardises compliance checks with automated red flags. “With observations, it’s great to double-check my work with observations—whether work tests are met, payment summaries done, pensions allocated—it just really helps”, says Christina.

There’s a portal for that.

The unique Cloudoffis portal—which supports the accounting, review and auditing processes alike—is a huge plus of using SMSF Sorted for Christina. “Our auditors are already using SMSF Auditomation—so we can take full advantage of what’s possible”, she says. “There are fewer queries about workpapers, and we’re using comments to never write anything twice”. But the portal dashboard offers more than just seamless audit integration—it’s a “great snapshot of how many jobs, how many ready for review”, says Christina. “We’re cracking down on budget with very high accuracy”, she says. “It just gets better with every release”.

Your smartest upgrade.

Using SMSF Sorted Pro to revolutionise Macquarie’s SMSF accounting, Christina’s not looking back. “It’s amazing—“I can jump in at night and do a few things, then jump into Class—it’s so easy”. And on whether the upgrade to SMSF Sorted Pro is worthwhile? “Anything less than SMSF Sorted Pro wouldn’t be enough”, Christina says.

Book your live demo today or call 1300-979-457.

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Auditomation and beyond: How a family audit business got its time back

SMSF is about choosing today what gets you ready for tomorrow. For Daniel Surjenko of award-winning SMSF auditors Superannuation Audit Services, moving to the cloud was about creating a better future—for the firm. “In moving to the cloud, we knew we’d reap the benefits of modernisation—including speeding up our process, sharpening accuracy and creating uniformity”, says Daniel. “What we didn’t realise is that moving to the cloud would create a better future—for our family.” In reducing errors, creating flexibility and reducing stress, Cloudoffis gave Daniel and the team more time for living. “We have more time to be a family,” says Daniel.

Writing on the wall.

Superannuation Audit Services was founded in 1996 by Denise Surjenko—Daniel’s wife—to provide independent SMSF auditing services to public practitioners. Since then, the business has built a reputation based on continued excellence and a personalised, on-shore service. They’ve also seen the industry change drastically. “Audit legislation is an ever-changing game,” says Daniel, “Staying ahead of changes is critical—it’s what clients have always relied on us to do.” It’s one of the reasons Superannuation Audit Services performs over 1200 audits annually and has retained foundation clients for over a quarter of a century. “When it came to going paperless, the writing was already on the wall,” says Daniel, “Well before COVID, we’d noticed the digitisation of our industry—we knew we needed to act or face getting left behind.” For Daniel and the team, improving efficiencies was critical—staying paper-based was restricting their growth. “In addition, our clients were going cloud-based,” says Daniel, “We didn’t want to be the bottleneck—we had to integrate or wave goodbye.”

Choosing the right software.

Moving to the cloud was not something Daniel took lightly. “We had reservations about automation in general,” says Daniel, “Our process and filing system was watertight and built to last—we needed absolute confidence that our software could match that.” Initially, Daniel considered building their own software. “While on the face of it, it seemed like the better route would be to build software in-house, giving us complete ownership over it,” says Daniel, “But we quickly realised the costs and risks involved.” According to analytics firm Gallup, custom IT projects overrun by 27% on average and ‘one in six projects had a cost overrun of 200% on average and a schedule overrun of almost 70%.’ ” “We understood how damaging inaccurate cost estimations and project overruns can be”, says Daniel, “The ease, security and transparency we’d get from choosing to buy vs. build made the decision a no-brainer for us.”

Choosing the right partner.

Having decided to buy, it was time to find the right partner. Daniel interviewed multiple SMSF software providers, even flying to Sydney to personally meet with them. “Choosing to work with Cloudoffis was a very considered decision,” says Daniel, “They had the best value to service combination, a second-to-none user interface and user experience, and enterprise-grade security.” “We also had access to their key staff and we trusted them. The exceptional training they provided for our staff meant no one was left behind.” The future doesn’t wait—Cloudoffis’ plug-and-play solution took Superannuation Audit Services from on-boarded to auditing in a matter of weeks. Like Superannuation Audit Services, the Cloudoffis team is based in Australia. It means businesses and their clients can access personal support from an expert local team—on-demand. “We went paperless—without the learning curve,” says Daniel, “Everyone’s loved it.”

Prepped ahead of a pandemic.

With young kids at home, Daniel and Denise often worked remotely—and encouraged their staff to do the same. “Before Cloudoffis, we were still running around with stacks of paperwork,” says Daniel, “Once we moved to the cloud, we could do everything securely online—from document organisation to receiving files, reviewing work, sharing jobs and populating reports. We were well ahead of the technology curve.” When COVID hit—and competitors scrambled to stay afloat amid world-wide lockdowns—Superannuation Audit Services didn’t miss a beat. “We had clients messaging ‘are you still around,’ ” says Daniel, “and we were like ‘nothing’s changed here!’ ”. In fact, Daniel and the team were helping their clients get on the cloud too. “Cloudoffis offers training for clients in how to use their portals,” says Daniel, “Going that extra mile has kept us highly competitive.”

More time for living.

Going paperless has shown Superannuation Audit Services the way of the future. “We can standardise every job—no matter the source. We have uniformity across all staff members—making reviewing easier. We’re freed up to do marketing because we’re not drowning. And we’re quicker—with a faster audit process there’s just more time for everything,” says Daniel. That includes being a family. “We’re less stressed and have a better lifestyle. Despite lockdown, we’re able to stay fit—we go to the park at lunchtime with the kids and have time to help them with school and assignments,” says Daniel. “With SMSF Auditomation we got our time back, achieved growth and are closer than ever as a family.” There’s also excitement about what’s possible with new Cloudoffis AI features in SMSF Sorted for Accountants—which will make the workflow for Auditors even more efficient.. “We’ve seen Cloudoffis evolve—they’re consistently reducing pain points and we couldn’t be happier,” says Daniel, “Compliance review still has a manual, human side—so we’re excited about the possibilities from new releases on the administration and transfer to audit side, like AI-driven data matching, which could transform our efficiency.”

Consistent, compliant and automated, SMSF Auditomation leverages tech to free you from the grunt work—leaving more time for what counts. Book your live demo today or call 1300-979-457.

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How pandemic breakout affected the business & brought a breakthrough

It’s a trying time for businesses. The global economy is reeling from the effects of Coronavirus, impacting the livelihood of people worldwide. In Australia, auditing and accounting businesses walk a tightrope—on one side, remote work has become a safety challenge-on the other, there’s no margin for error in SMSF accuracy and compliance. With the help of Cloudoffis, SMSF business leaders-like hmh Advisory’s Sarah Molinaro-have been able to innovate amidst adversity. Cloudoffis was built for SMSF to be ready for tomorrow-so hmh Advisory used it to stay in front of the remote work revolution. For over a decade Sarah ran the SMSF department at hmh Advisory-in their physical offices of course. “When lockdown hit, we had to adapt fast,” she says. “From one day to the next, our entire SMSF team was confined to home. Our paper-based accounting audit system was great—but it wasn’t going to cut it during the pandemic.”

Poised for paperless.

As a specialist, Sarah came to hmh Advisory to run the SMSF department. She’d re-designed and re-built their paper-based systems for very high standardisation. Sarah supervises a team of 3 to 4 staff and personally reviews every fund before it goes to audit. She’d been looking at going paperless—but was wary of risking quality, and wary of the initial admin investment. “We have over 240 funds, from $100k to $15M—with about half of our clients using our financial planning services. There’s high complexity around member balances, pensions, investments such property and options trading”. “We’d seen Cloudoffis at the SMSF Association conference in the Gold Coast”, says Sarah. “We knew from using their SMSF Auditomation product that they offer great support—but we feared the admin burden, and had some older staff who were unsure about the technology side”.

Pandemic plug and play.

Then lockdown hit—and software was a non-negotiable. Remote work was suddenly required. After APES-110 industry changes, hmh found auditors using Cloudoffis SMSF Auditomation, and made the jump to using Cloudoffis SMSF Sorted for the accounting side. Fears of too much admin were soon blown away. “We were up and running in a matter of weeks,” says Sarah, “The tools worked seamlessly with Class and our existing software, and the onboarding process was smooth—even for hesitant members of our team.” It helps that the Cloudoffis team is based in Australia—giving businesses access to all the local support and guidance they need to succeed. We also run on Amazon Australia servers covered by Australian security law and protocol. “No other provider came close to giving us the reassurance we got from Cloudoffis,” says Sarah, “Having support—and our data—here in Australia was priceless.”

Remote and flexible with the cloud.

For Sarah and her team, opting for cloud SMSF software meant they could continue to service their clients even while working from home-at the same standard and quality they’d built their reputation on. “We have team members  working in different locations. With a secure digital ecosystem, we can confidently deliver anywhere and anytime.” says Sarah, “Working remotely has been a big success.” Digital transformation might be a necessity during the remote revolution. But the future of SMSF isn’t just about today. At Cloudoffis, it’s about getting ready for tomorrow. Our SMSF tools leverage technology to transform underlying processes and supercharge SMSF businesses. “Cloudoffis technology reduces time spent on routine, repetitive tasks, resulting in a much more efficient end of year process,” Sarah says, “It improves profitability, efficiency and allows the team to better leverage their value elsewhere.”

Ready for tomorrow.

The pandemic has changed the way we all do business. For Sarah and the hmh Advisory team, it’s shown them the way of the future. “We can work from anywhere. We’re saving hours per fund. There’s no double handling. And we have an excellent workpaper system that’s easy to use,” says Sarah. There’s also a buzz about what’s possible with the new Cloudoffis AI features. “We use BT Panorama for financial planning clients —we’re keen to try the new features like AI driven, automated platform statement reconciliations—they could be a gamechanger for our efficiency”, says Sarah. Cloudoffis features have helped hmh go paperless, optimise processes and enjoy an end-to-end workflow. It’s transformed their ecosystem into a streamlined, automated, well-oiled machine—all in the midst of a pandemic. Sarah’s advice to SMSF accountants and administrators poised to go paperless with Cloudoffis? “Just do it,” says Sarah. “More and more  of our clients are sending documents electronically, -it’s the new normal and Cloudoffis helps you get ready for it”. The future knocks on every door—at Cloudoffis we’re here to help you answer.

Book your live demo today. In 15-mins, our support team will show you how to get your SMSF business ready for tomorrow..

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Make SMSF Automation Your Secret Weapon-And Cloudoffis Your General

SMSF accounting used to be a headache. Tedious document-handling, manual reconciliations, repetitive tasks. It chewed up too much time. But not anymore. Cloudoffis has always been built on using automation to improve efficiency and standardise workflow in SMSF preparation and auditing. But now we’re launching a new wave of artificial intelligence features designed to get you ready for tomorrow. The new financial year is just around the corner. If you’re still wasting energy on boring manual tasks, it’s time to try something new. What if you could automate the repetitive stuff, slash input times, get on top of compliance, and speed up your workflows? With Cloudoffis you can.

Liberate Your Expertise

You’re paid to be an SMSF expert, not to do repetitive work. In fact admin elements in SMSF workflow are a big waste of the human talent resource that comes with your years of SMSF experience. Cloudoffis handles the admin stuff, so you can do what you do best. You’re not hired to match  up pages—you’re paid for the human expertise of SMSF preparation. So Cloudoffis takes care of the repetition and lets your expertise take centre stage. When liberated from admin, your ‘signal to noise’ ratio changes—and you have more time and attention for the real value-add work. So Cloudoffis doesn’t replace human beings—it makes them more effective.

One Giant Leap

Cloudoffis was always at the cutting edge of SMSF accounting and auditing. Auditomation has changed how auditors can scale. Now we’re taking it to the next level with new accounting and administration features in SMSF Sorted—with truly intelligent automation. We didn’t settle for automating basic tasks. Sure, they might save you some time. But accountants still have to spend hours poring over documents or manually pulling data into Excel, before you can start applying your expertise. So we took a giant leap, and infused automation with artificial intelligence. The new Cloudoffis AI module scans your PDF statements, integrates with your SMSF admin software, automatically pulls and matches key data—and then reconciles automatically. It uses OCR and machine learning to read your documents, check transactions and reconcile financial data. The Cloudoffis AI automates what previously might have taken up to 8 hours. It helps reconcile tax distributions and components, and holding balances as well as ATO documents—all at the click of a button. There’s a machine learning dimension to this—it gathers anonymised data and applies the patterns, collecting the best thinking in SMSF preparation and applying benchmarked judgments. No more manual input or tedious checking. Hours of work, done in seconds. Seamless. Bulletproof. You’re welcome!

Crystal-Clear Vision

For auditors, reputation is everything. An overlooked breach can cost your client money and put your practice at risk. We’ve got that covered too. Cloudoffis automatically prompts you to enter the information you need to comply with the requirements of the ATO, SISA, SISR and other relevant legislation. There’s a steel thread of compliance throughout the Cloudoffis platform. Automated compliance gives you peace of mind and crystal-clear vision. You stay focused on the preparation or audit, and nothing is missed.

Blaze a New Trail

For accountants, moving your workpapers online is just a first step. The real productivity gains come when you reshape your workflows. Other platforms store data in spreadsheets, but Cloudoffis is different. We built an automated set of workpapers within the Cloudoffis system, so information is always in context, always updated. And we leverage best practices and benchmarks across the industry to bring industry best practice into your workflow. This makes it easy to collaborate between your team and your auditor in a secure environment—seamlessly and with a full audit trail. By standardising and automating repetitive processes, Cloudoffis lets you easily hire new talent, support junior staff, and deliver rapid training. So you can scale on demand, gain efficiency, and blaze a new trail.

Ready for Tomorrow

We first used automation to liberate expertise—for SMSF auditors and accountants. Now we’re using AI to reshape the entire SMSF landscape. But we’re not stopping there. Future versions of Cloudoffis AI will support ATO and ASIC interpretation, plus advanced document management for registrations, trusts, and deeds. Cloudoffis is designed by SMSF specialists to deliver the accuracy, efficiency and reliability your practice needs for SMSF administration and auditing—today and tomorrow. To book a demo, visit us at cloudoffis.com.au or call 1300-979-457.

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The Emerging Auditor: Finally, we could scale an independent auditor

Auditor independence has rocked the way our sector does SMSF. Small auditors face a stark choice—exit or grow. So scaling SMSF audits matters more than ever—especially doing it accurately, sustainably and profitably. That’s just what Platinum Audits CEO Matthew Williams has done. Platinum Audits has gone from 85% paper-based to 100% paperless. Along the way he’s positioned Platinum audits perfectly for the audit growth opportunity knocking after APES-110. As SMSF develops there are winners and losers—we talked with Matthew about how Platinum Audits is ready for tomorrow.

From Little Things

Matthew started as an employee at Platinum, then took ownership in 2011. After a key client left with two-thirds of Platinum’s funds-Matthew learnt the value of resilience. “It was clear that scale mattered—we needed to diversify and grow” he says. Platinum recovered and diversified, growing its customer base from 4 to 14 clients, with 800 funds. Originally Brisbane-focused, Platinum Audits now works across Australia, and plans to grow to 2000 funds by the end of the year. It’s an expansion only possible with the right software, says Matthew. “Cloudoffis automates 40% of our workload—and that’s really just the beginning of how it helps”.  

Goodbye Paper-Hello Cloud

Four years ago, 85% of Matthew’s Platinum Audits business involved paper-based audits. Today, it’s 100% paperless and 100% on the cloud with Cloudoffis. Change can be hard and SMSF is a very moveable feast. Matthew knew that unlocking his team’s collaboration meant getting everything in one place but he expected it to be a tough ask. “As an auditor, I expected overpromising and underdelivering. But Cloudoffis gave me the opposite”, he says. “The support was phenomenal on the phone, online the more we engaged the easier it became.”  

Offshore Without the Exposure

For Platinum audits, moving to Cloudoffis created the systems that Matthew used to hire and train new staff—including the offshore talent that makes margins resilient while growth skyrockets. And in SMSF, offshore hiring is no mean feat. With SMSF unique to Australia it’s a challenge to find trained talent overseas. But at Platinum Audits, Matthew’s met the challenge. With Cloudoffis I’ve been able to standardise systems and make training videos—with most of our training on video I can hire and train faster than I’d imagined possible”. “We bring someone on, and they’re doing audits at an 80% level in literally days—then in just months they’re working at 98% level, and it’s just myself as signing partner doing that crucial 2%”, he says.  With seven of his nine employees working offshore, Matthew uses Cloudoffis to make sure skills remain relevant as SMSF systems evolve. “Individual training modules can quickly be updated as rules and regulations mature which Cloudoffis is brilliant at keeping up with”. “Now I can pick up 5000 new funds, and I know I can hire ten people, maintain quality and keep risk low,” says Matthew. “Otherwise, I’d be up all night worrying about it.”  

Automation as Evolution

So how did Matthew find the time to make those videos on newly standardised processes? Automation was the bedrock of that evolution. Platinum automated 40% of the previously manual checking-so everyone could focus on higher value tasks. It can be hard to trust automation but Cloudoffis is built for repetition. “As an auditor, I trust nothing”, says Matthew. “For the first few months I’d manually check the system. But I never found an error. And I realised—I could rely on Cloudoffis for accuracy. Seeing how it kept up with changes, I realised I could rely on Cloudoffis to stay abreast of compliance changes”. That reliance and trust follows through to the engagement with the Australian-based Cloudoffis support team. “They’re overdelivering on support—there’s a generosity. They’ll call outside hours, they fix any bugs quickly and easily. It’s like having an audit business partner-I can call them and have a conversation about interpretation”, says Matthew.

Your SMSF Audit Future Knocks

“The challenges to scaling an audit business are real” says Matthew. “There’s a fear factor—what will happen to our reputation? There’s a fear of not knowing. But with the systems, processes and people in place—it’s all so possible”. Matthew sees Cloudoffis as a trustworthy partner on the journey. “I assumed their promise of 40% time savings really meant 20%. Actually it’s been 40-50%. Sometimes 60%”. With trust comes opportunity. “It adds up to growth.  By the end of the calendar year, Platinum Audits plan to grow from 800 to 2000 files”, says Matthew. “And because Cloudoffis cover the accounting side with Sorted, we know we have a competitive edge as more accountants come on board”. Auditor independence means more competition. The ‘pure-play’ auditors that scale in the ecosystem will win. With Cloudoffis auditing software as a partner, your business can evolve—and thrive. At Cloudoffis we’re optimistic about the future of SMSF, and we’re ready to listen to your needs. We believe the SMSF software you choose today should prepare you for tomorrow and the years to come. The future knocks on every door – we’re here to help you answer. Auditor, administrator or accountant? Cloudoffis has a solution tailored for you.

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