Skip to main content A year in review: looking back at 2019
It’s been a whirlwind year for the accounting industry and for us here at FreeAgent. From being the first UK accounting software to establish Open Banking bank feeds to launching a new Partner Programme and growing the FreeAgent community to over 95,000 small business customers, it’s been quite a journey!
Here are some of our top highlights from 2019, including some exciting product developments, new integration partnerships and industry innovations.
Welcoming the dawn of Making Tax Digital
The accounting landscape was forever changed by the introduction of Making Tax Digital (MTD) back in April 2019. To help you and your clients prepare for the launch, we released a range of comprehensive features and provided some useful guidance for getting your clients’ accounts in order. We were also delighted to release our direct MTD filing functionality well ahead of the April deadline to help you and your clients adjust to the transition.
Groundbreaking new Open Banking bank feeds
We were delighted to secure an industry first by successfully connecting FreeAgent to the UK’s biggest banks through the new Open Banking platform. Since then, we’ve been encouraging your clients to switch over to Open Banking bank feeds and we’re proud to already have tens of thousands of users enjoying the benefits of these more reliable and secure feeds.
Building product momentum
This year we were excited to release a whole raft of exciting new updates to FreeAgent. Here are a few that we built with you and your clients in mind:
Transferring clients
In August we simplified the process of transferring clients that already use FreeAgent, such as direct subscribers and subsidised NatWest or Royal Bank of Scotland subscribers, to your Practice Dashboard so you can begin working with them in double-quick time!
Managing clients’ VAT returns
For VAT-registered small business owners, claiming VAT back from pre-registration purchases and back-dating transactions can be a real headache. To make it easier for you to support your clients with their VAT woes, we made some helpful changes to these areas in FreeAgent.
Customising balance sheet categories
We also unveiled custom balance sheet categories. This update allows you to create, edit and delete custom assets, liabilities and equity categories within your clients’ accounts. We hope it’s been a handy addition!
Establishing market-leading partnerships
Catering to the growth of challenger banks
Starling and Monzo business banking customers were delighted to hear that integrations with FreeAgent for both of these banks went live this year. Customers of these banks can now link their bank accounts with FreeAgent to pull in their bank transactions on a daily basis and then reconcile them as normal.
Connecting new integrations
FreeAgent now integrates with a host of market-leading partners. Whether you’re looking to try out a practice management software solution such as BTCSoftware and Senta, optimise your appointments with Appointedd or introduce your retail clients to Goodtill, our integration partners have got you covered!
Hosting industry events
We put on more events for accountants this year than ever before, including our ‘Practice of the Future’ masterclass and ‘Industry Insights’ roadshows. Attendees learned about the latest FreeAgent developments, met with our industry-leading integration partners and had the opportunity to take our accreditation exams. If you didn't make it along to one of our events this year, check out the highlights from our Brighton roadshow.
Improving our Partner Programme
At the start of the year we launched a new and improved FreeAgent Partner Programme, which presents super-charged benefits to help your practice thrive, including:
- enhanced discounts for new FreeAgent licences
- co-branded marketing materials to help grow your business
- marketing masterclasses on topics such as social media
- exclusive partner events, webinars and a monthly newsletter
A big thank you!
We wouldn’t have made all the exciting progress that we did this year without you and your continued support - so thank you for choosing to partner with us and helping to make 2019 so fantastic! We can’t wait to see what 2020 has in store!