"it seems inevitable once Making Tax Digital comes in"
And that my friends is how FUD works.
When MTD was first talked about the cloud-centric companies jumped on it and started suggesting their offerings would be necessary. Say it enough and it becomes a firm thought in the backs of people's minds, believed as though it were true, and then repeated by them to help cement the idea in other people's beliefs.
This is actually still happening.
Just over a week ago, I spotted a tweet from QuickBooksUK linking to a post on their website on the subject of MTD and accounting software. If memory serves, they were suggesting people's choices were either spreadsheets or cloud-based software, and that people who used the former would need to switch to the latter. I tweeted a reply, linking to their original tweet, saying:
"If you read this and don't know better you may be fooled into thinking the two options are spreadsheets or cloud. It completely ignores desktop accounting software, which is and should continue to be a valid option."
If you click the link to my tweet now, you'll see that instead of showing their original tweet it now says "This Tweet is unavailable" - they've deleted it. (Which is why I can't remember the exact wording.)
"Also, let's discuss that 78%. Where is the raw survey data, and how was the question framed? I bet it included use of things like Dropbox, even in a very small way - so in the context used, could be very misleading."
The post they linked to used one of those questionable survey results, suggesting 78% of [accounts/bookkeepers/businesses? I forget the exact wording] used cloud. Tut.
Today I spotted this tweet, leading to this post on their website, in which we find these two sentences:
"In the future, online accounting wont just be a matter of personal preference. The governments plans for Making Tax Digital mean that over the next few years, tax returns will have to be submitted online every quarter."
It's hard not to see that is making a claim that MTD necessitates the use of online (ie cloud) accounting software.
"Don't be fooled by this from @QuickBooksUK into thinking MTD necessitates the use of cloud-based accounts software. It doesn't. Online submission does not mean or need online accounting."
Will they ever stop with this FUD?
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Vince M Hudd - Soft Rock Software
(I only came here looking for fellow apiarists...)
I know - and the chances are that for every comment/tweet/blog post/whatever from the pro-cloud brigade containing inaccuracies, FUD, or deliberate conflations that I see and respond to, there are countless that I don't see. Not so much pissing in the wind, as a *gale force* wind. But I'm stubborn. :)
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Vince M Hudd - Soft Rock Software
(I only came here looking for fellow apiarists...)
The theories behind all this is disrtuptive innovation (Christensen, 1995) and destructive innovation (Schumpeter, 1949). Which seems to have become the foundation stone of much of the innovation coming out of silicone valley that nobody actually asked for, but destroying better products using guerilla marketing tactics seems to be the only way for insignificant players to make market impact.
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Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
Hell will freeze over (or maybe that should be Heaven seeing as Heaven is in the clouds) before the company I work for will use cloud based software.
Hi Julie
Iff MTD for VAT goes ahead as planned next April then you're going to need to keep your accounts on, at the very least, a spreadsheet. You will also need to have some software that will extract the data from the spreadsheet into HMRC systems. I can imagine your boss is getting quite excited about the prospect of going computerised - not!
They really need to be making an announcement pretty soon as to whats happening because the larger firms with specialist software will need to change or update it, which will need to be planned well in advance.
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John
Any advice given is for general guidance and professional advice should be sought applicable to your circumstances.
Yesterday, they tweeted again about MTD, pointing at this post on their website, in which they "interviewed" someone about the subject. In response to a question about what preparations accounts need to make, the response included:
"They should educate the team on the consultations and make a plan to educate clients and convert them (if applicable) from their current methodology to a cloud based (digitally compliant) accounting system."
My reply: "Tut tut @QuickBooksUK - it's a bit too easy to take/infer from the highlighted sentence* that to be "digitally compliant" means being "cloud based" - which is not true. So you wouldn't be implying that - would you?"
* I included a screen grab of the offending sentence.
No response - but point made.
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Vince M Hudd - Soft Rock Software
(I only came here looking for fellow apiarists...)
What date is the article, do you know? It appears to be an outdated one so why QB are linking to it via Twitter is totally beyond me. Given that there is no definite start date yet for MTD, other than VAT registered businesses with a turnover of £85k*, then the article itself is very misleading.
* Less than a year to go, and still no definite information for businesses from HMRC, so this is likely to be postponed anyway.
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John
Any advice given is for general guidance and professional advice should be sought applicable to your circumstances.
Yes, I noticed it reads like something older (at one point it mentions things that won't happen until 2018 - suggesting it was written well before that) - but there's nothing on the page itself to indicate a publication date. The URL does end with ?src=soc&cid=digitaltaxianfletcher_blog_04.05.18 - but I'd guess that's a reference to the latest campaign of promoting the article on social media (you can remove it and the URL still works).
(Just had an idea and looked for it on the Wayback Machine, to see if I could narrow down when it first appeared, but it's not there at all.)
"Given that ... then the article itself is very misleading."
Quite true. It almost seems as if they've posted the link in order to spread FUD and get people using [their] cloudy rubbish. ;)
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Vince M Hudd - Soft Rock Software
(I only came here looking for fellow apiarists...)
Hello,
Yes, you can trust on Cloud hosting but its depend on the service providers who must have the certified services providing certificates from the different level of checking and prove this company servers are able to provide fully secure hosting services without anyone of the issue.
Hello, Yes, you can trust on Cloud hosting but its depend on the service providers who must have the certified services providing certificates from the different level of checking and prove this company servers are able to provide fully secure hosting services without anyone of the issue.
Ah bless, how simplistic.
You should read the thread from start to end... Then maybe go and work in a different click farm where they tell you the whole story.
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Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
Hello, Yes, you can trust on Cloud hosting but its depend on the service providers who must have the certified services providing certificates from the different level of checking and prove this company servers are able to provide fully secure hosting services without anyone of the issue.
And breathe.....
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John
Any advice given is for general guidance and professional advice should be sought applicable to your circumstances.
Hello, Yes, you can trust on Cloud hosting but its depend on the service providers who must have the certified services providing certificates from the different level of checking and prove this company servers are able to provide fully secure hosting services without anyone of the issue.
And breathe.....
Lol.
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Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
Hello, Yes, you can trust on Cloud hosting but its depend on the service providers who must have the certified services providing certificates from the different level of checking and prove this company servers are able to provide fully secure hosting services without anyone of the issue.
And breathe.....
Oh and there was me thinking that Lunna had put together such a fantastic argument that I could hear millions of folk stampeding towards the clouds.
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Joanne
Winner of Bookkeeper of the Year 2015, 2016 & 2017
Thoughts are my own/not to be regarded as official advice,which should be sought from a suitably qualified Accountant.
You should check out answers with reference to the legal position
Data stored in the cloud is nearly always stored in an encrypted form that would need to be cracked before an intruder could read the information. I trust the cloud with all kinds of sensitive and important information. I just make sure that the most important data is encrypted first, encrypted on the cloud server and that I use good passwords. I have been using cloud services for so long and i have not experienced any kind of insecurity regarding my data. Being a accounting scholar i always need to be alert regarding data on Cloud Hosted QuickBooks but it is in safe hands.
Regards, Adrian Gates
Right-o!
An accounting scholar on the wrong side of the pond
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
Was tongue in cheek and based on his duff profile whilst the guy was still online (he was online for ages, about an hour I reckon)
