Spring Release includes updates to key compliance requirements plus gives accountants more tools to become their clients’ trusted business advisor

UK accountants and their clients will benefit from a more valuable, collaborative relationship, with the launch of IRIS Software Group’s Spring Release, allowing accountancy professionals to spend less time on compliance and more time building deeper client relationships.

The Spring Release includes updates to the IRIS Accountancy Suite and the IRIS Cloud Suite, which includes KashFlow online accounting and payroll software.

The IRIS Accountancy Suite provides accountants with the most complete set of integrated practice applications available today and is designed to reduce the burden that ever-increasing compliance changes can have on the UK economy. For accountants, the Spring Release promises to speed up processes and ensure compliance following the UK’s recent major overhaul of its UKGAAP accounting standards to comply with International Financial Reporting Standards or IFRS.

The IRIS Cloud Suite is the industry’s first end-to-end cloud offering, allowing small businesses and accountancy practices to collaborate and run on cloud technology.  It has been built to seamlessly integrate with IRIS’ desktop accountancy products, extending the capabilities of the investment made by around one in two UK accountancy firms.

In its Spring Release, IRIS has updated its cloud and desktop offerings to introduce the latest tax and payroll legislation including:

• Legislation updates in IRIS OpenTax and KashFlow Payroll
• VAT MOSS returns in KashFlow
• Integration of IRIS OpenSpace and Payroll
• Full automated iXBRL tagging for new UKGAAP in IRIS Accountancy Suite
• Linking of employment records within Personal Tax through ERNIE Payroll

Part of the IRIS Cloud Suite, IRIS OpenTax now includes self-assessment forms for the 2014-15 tax year, allowing accountants to start preparing their client’s tax self-assessments. IRIS OpenTax includes the new CT600 (2015) return that applies for corporation tax accounting periods commencing on or after the 1^st April 2015.

KashFlow Payroll’s support for Workplace Pensions Automatic Enrolment has been enhanced to assist accountants and their clients in meeting the Government’s reformed pension laws.  The inclusion of a communications module enables business owners to easily generate the necessary, legal communications for employees based on their Automatic Enrolment assessments.

In response to recent changes in European VAT laws, KashFlow has introduced VAT MOSS functionality, enabling accountants to easily create client VAT MOSS returns, ready to be submitted to HMRC.

The Spring Release also highlights a deeper integration of IRIS’ leading payroll solutions with IRIS OpenSpace, the software group’s online collaboration and document sharing portal. The latest updates enable accountants and payroll bureaus to securely deliver reports to employers for electronic approval through a branded client portal.

IRIS is also today unveiling the KashFlow Top 5 Apps, which are third party software integrations that drive some of the greatest efficiencies for both accountants and their clients within a KashFlow App ecosystem of more than 100 cloud application providers. This includes new a partnership with the Gearshift forecasting application, to integrate powerful cash flow forecasting, what-if analysis and planning functionality into KashFlow.

Within the IRIS Accountancy Suite, the Spring Release introduces full automated iXBRL tagging against the latest set of UK taxonomies to fully comply with the new UKGAAP, easing the burden of compliance with IFRS and drive greater practice efficiencies.

IRIS Interactive Reports has also been updated to allow on-screen editing of the CT600, as well as the ability to preview and generate output final accounts as either a PDF or Microsoft Word document and instantly upload to IRIS OpenSpace for electronic approval. Workflow has been significantly enhanced with the latest release of IRIS Docs (v6.9) which enables accountants to collaborate and communicate more effectively with their colleagues, instantly notifying other users when a document is filed or saved.

Finally, underlining a strategy of end-to-end integration, a significant investment has been made in EARNIE Payroll that allows business owners to link employment records within IRIS Personal Tax to help streamline tax return completion.

IRIS Group CEO Phill Robinson says, “The Spring Release of the IRIS Cloud Suite clearly demonstrates two of the elements that make me most proud of our company – being first movers in providing technology to support legislative changes, and inventing better ways to connect accountants, businesses and their employees.  We are enabling our accountant customers to take an even more strategic role in support of their clients, helping them to plan for the future while reducing the burden that new legislation can bring.”