Xerocon goes off!

A huge thank you to the 800 attendees and over 25 exhibitors at Xerocon NZ 2013. It’s by far the biggest Xerocon to date globally and more than twice the size of last year’s event.

From the feedback personally and on social media, we are pumped that people were getting huge value and it’s being seen as essential attendance for accounting and bookkeeping partners, whether making the transition or well on the up-and-up, as well as add-on partners.

People loved Rod’s keynote and all the info revealed by the product managers, seemed to appreciate the hard-hitting critiques of the profession from Viv Brownrigg and Greg Sheenan, and found lots of useful material amongst topics such as marketing, training, and add-ons in the streams. The API and Add-on day prior was also a huge hit capped off by a fascinating panel discussion on business funding.

The Gala Dinner and Awards evening topped it all off. TV personality Jaquie Brown added to the glamour with flawless MCing and Auckland band Halo got the dance floor humming right from the get-go.

The Xero Partner Awards recognise our top partners in New Zealand. Congratulations to all the winners:

Xero Partner Award Winners:

Xero MVP - Peter McCarroll, Lower Hutt
The Xero MVP is a new award for most valuable professional. The award this year is for a partners outstanding contribution to the Xero Community in 2012. No photo as Peter wasn’t present.

Fastest Growing Partner - Curtis McLean, Wellington
Judged on the number of organisations added in this financial year-to-date. This is for revenue and customers in the 2012 calendar year.

Partner Website Award – Enable Business, Wellington, Auckland
Judged on the overall look and feel of the design, degree of co-­branding partner and Xero representation, content and layout. The tipping point for the winner was the fact that they made the effort to design their site to work well and look good on mobile.

Partner Innovation Award - Finman Services, Paraparaumu
Finman marketing/biz dev manager Josh Ambler pulled together a comprehensive 12-month marketing plan with very clear objectives, which have driven new business leads and taken them to Gold this year.

Emerging Add-On Partner of the Year – Quotient, Hamilton
For Add-­on partners less than 18 months old and based on their rate of growth of joint customers.

Training Partner of the Year – Training & Beyond, Christchurch
The Training Partner of the Year Award recognises the quality, popularity and range of Xero training services offered.

Bookkeeping Partner of the Year – Katalyst Office Management, Auckland
This is based on the highest number of Xero organizations the partner is invited into and also highest level of service.

Add-On Partner of the Year – Unleashed, Auckland
The Add­-on Partner of the Year Award is for the top achiever of the year based on volume of joint customers.

And finally:

Partner of the Year - Winstanley Kerridge, Blenheim
This award has been judged on the number of organisations the partner has brought onto Xero.

See you at the next Xerocon!
Posted on Xero Blog 25 February 2013 by Richard Wood

First Central Otago Xero Gold Partners!!

We are super stoked to finally be awarded GOLD PARTNERSHIP status with Xero.

We believe Xero is a smart accounting tool that suits a lot of our clients needs. It means we can have up to date information at our fingertips from which to advise our clients. This in turn helps our clients drive their businesses forward and have their fingers on the pulse of their own progress.

Xero is cool and we want our clients to hear all about it!

Smarty Pants Fee Smart Award

With more awards than you can shake a stick at, we are stoked to add to the cabinet an award for our very own Andrea Kircher. Andrea was noted for being Fee Smart's 2009 runner-up "NZ's most Effective and Sensational Accounts Receivable Person." Ace!

Xero Making Accounting Sexy

At Findlay and Co we are fans of Xero. If you haven't had a chance already you had better check out what these movers and shakers are up to.
We are proud partners of Rod Drury and his team and we blown away to be awarded the 2009 Xero Partner Innovation Award. What an honour, thanks Xero!

Hawaii

At Findlay and Co we started off the year with conference and training for our Partners Wayne and Scott and Business Manager Marg. It just so happened that Coaching Club with Rob Nixon was in Hawaii this year. Excitingly our Management team actually won their trip and conference fees with a presentation they made in a 2009 training seminar.
The days were a mixture of sun, seminars, golf, presentations, socialising and fun. The week was capped off by Marg taking home the award for "Contribution to the Coaching Club Community" and Findlay and Co being inducted into the Rob Nixon hall of fame. Nice!