Matt talked to David, the founder and CEO of Xero add-on Chaser, recognised at 2016’s add-on partner of the year. David qualified as an accountant through the Deloittes grad scheme and went on to head up SME finance teams in businesses that all sold on payment terms.

When first exposed to cloud accounting and the Xero platform 3 years ago, David learned a little about software engineering and had the idea for Chaser. The app was launched in August 2014.

Chaser is designed to help a business transform and carry out credit control using artificial intelligence and automation to improve cash flow. They are enjoying great working relationships though the Xero ecosystem, being introduced to key figures in the industry early on due to the apps strengths.

David explains that Chaser can be configured by users to manage the credit control process, adjusting settings to be unique to the individual business. This can be set right down to individual invoices and creating templates that reflect the unique tone of the user or adapting to different customer types.

Matt asked David about developments in the accounting profession, past, present and future. David said the biggest change he had seen in the last 12 months was moving away from compliance work and into an advisory capacity. Due to advances in the tools available to business owners and accountants, many of the manual data entry has been automated.

By 2021 David sees the opportunities increasing as time goes on. There will always be a need for audits and tax legislation but the development of new tools will increase efficiency savings and give business owners the opportunity to be more reactive and adjust their activities to fluctuation in the market.

https://www.chaser.io/