Changing Xero Subscriber if old Accountant is Uncontactable

fisicx said:

My point was about a business bulk buying to offer discounts to their clients and customers. That’s been a thing since forever.

Having control of your data is a different topic. It’s now prevalent if you use any major tech product that you do not have control. As many have discovered you can lose everything if you stop paying the bills. Which is why there is a strong and pervasive argument to keep it or at least a copy on-prem.

Even if you did have top level access to xero a glitch in the system can wipe your account in seconds.

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Yes, I know.

But what's wrong is that people's love of money causes them to ignore common sense.

It's common sense that the business owner should be in control of the bookkeeping software because the business owner is ultimately responsible for the accounts.

This should be Law. Tax Law.

I agree with Ziggy thaf HMRC are seemingly complicit. But that is because HMRC are still on a learning curve with regard to how they manage their list of verified software.

fisicx said:

Except for many small businesses this isn't practical or viable. The builder we use can just about manage texts on his phone. Doesn't even own a laptop. Everything is handled by his accountant. Asking them to download and use bookkeeping software isn't going to hsappen

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The scenario you describe is not relevant to this thread.
My comments relate to the much greater population of business owners who do own computers but have no control over their bookkeeping software because of the way Accountants partner with software companies.
In the case of a business owner with no laptop then they are hardly likely to complain about lack of access to bookkeeping software because presumably their Accountant provides them with paper cooies of the Accounts and Ledgers.
Then when their Accountant goes AWOL like the OP described here, they would then be chasing their Accountant for his paper records instead of chasing their Accountant to grant them access to the bookkeeping software.

fisicx said:

There is no need for me to subscribe for bookkeeping software - that's the job of my accountant. I just need to make sure I have copy of all the data. I cannot dictate to my accountant which software they use.

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You are welcome to be a passive observer of your bookkeeping and accounts and clearly you are in the happy position of being able to hand over control of your bookkeeping and accounting to your accountant.

However, as bookkeeping software has evolved, many businesses now run their Sales Ledger and Purchase Ledger through their bookkeeping software. So clearly, there is a need to be sure that access to the software can be maintained independent of the vagaries of Accountants.

I am a staunch advocate for the business being in control (as much as possible) of things like book keeping software, domain names, email, cloud storage etc.

I have had this stance challenged many times but i am of the opinion that who controls the data controls the business.

I have experienced SAS where the only way to keep to the data was to continue paying an annual licence even after the needs of the business were no longer met by the software. Keeping access to the old records for 6 or 7 years (in case of HMRC investigation) would have meant paying over £70k in licence fees.

On premise and perpetual licences do restrict choice but also risk. Second option is SAS where data stored or backed up locally in a format that can be read by other software. Then comes SAS where the data is kept by the software company and is in a format the nothing else can read. After that it all becomes a risk (however small).

pentel said:

I am a staunch advocate for the business being in control (as much as possible) of things like book keeping software, domain names, email, cloud storage etc.

I have had this stance challenged many times but i am of the opinion that who controls the data controls the business.

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And he who controls the server controls the data.

pentel said:

I am a staunch advocate for the business being in control (as much as possible) of things like book keeping software, domain names, email, cloud storage etc.

I have had this stance challenged many times but i am of the opinion that who controls the data controls the business.

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You do not need to take a stance. In terms of accounting it is a legal requirement that cannot be delegated. As for your other points not doing so is just gross stupidity. But alas.