Takeaways from the AICPA Controllers Conference, what’s new at Xerocon London, and how AI is catching expense report fraud

Show Notes VIDEO: Blake chats with Amy Vetter at the AICPA Controllers Conference — LinkedIn — I caught up at the FloQast booth with award-winning executive, author, and keynote speaker Amy Vetter at the AICPA Controller's Conference to chat about how modern accounting departments are refocusing to become proactive service centers as opposed to reactive cost centers . Xero’s half year 2019 financial & operating results — Xero Blog — Xero is up to 1.6 million subscribers, with 380,000 added in the past year. Revenue is up 37%. Annualized monthly recurring revenue increased by 40% to $589.1 million. Xero increases dominance of cloud accounting with 37 per cent growth — Canberra Times — Xero has 981,000 subscribers in Australia and is growing quickly in the United Kingdom, where it increased subscribers by 40 per cent to 355,000. Its growth has been slower in North America, where it has 178,000 subscribers but CEO Steve Vamos said it was "relatively early days" in that market. Xero to spend NZ$10m on Instafile purchase — ZDNet — Instafile is a cloud-based accounts preparation and tax filing solution that connects UK accountants, bookkeepers, and small businesses to UK compliance bodies. We’re accelerating our UK banking connections with five brand new fintech integrations — Xero Blog — Here are five brand new Xero integrations with leading UK fintechs: Tide, Starling, TransferWise, Revolut and Soldo, all of which were made possible by Xero's new Bank Feeds API. 10 new ways Xero will transform how small businesses, their employees and accountants work together — Xero Blog — A roundup of all the new features announced at Xerocon London. Gusto — Simple time tracking — Gusto — Gusto’s new, simple time tracking syncs perfectly with payroll. Review and approve hours with one click, then run payroll as usual. How Small Businesses Ride Their Payment Rails — PYMNTS — NACHA released new statistics late last week on the growth of ACH transaction volume in the U.S. According to the firm, B2B transactions were a key driver of ACH transaction growth in the third quarter of the year, leading NACHA Chief Operating Officer Jane Larimer to describe the ACH Network as “thriving.” Tempted to Expense that Strip Club as a Business Dinner? AI Is Watching — Bloomberg — AppZen, an 18-month-old AI accounting startup, has already signed up several big companies, including Amazon.com Inc., International Business Machine Corp., Salesforce.com Inc., and Comcast Corp. and claims to have saved its clients $40 million in fraudulent expenses. Four In 10 Road Warriors Use Corporate Cards For Personal Items — PYMNTS — Carlson Wagonlit Travel has debuted a study that shows that as many as 46 percent of American and European business travelers have said they used company cards to make personal transactions. In the Asia-Pacific region, that tally stands at about 38 percent. Subscribe Listen on iTunes Listen on Google Play