The Statutory Sick Pay Rebate Scheme will close on 17 March 2022. You have until 24 March 2022 to submit any new claims for absence periods up to 17 March 2022, or to amend claims you have already submitted. You will no longer be able to claim back Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) for your employees’ coronavirus-related absences or self-isolation that occur after 17 March 2022. From 25 March, we will return to the normal SSP rules, which means you can revert to paying SSP from the fourth qualifying day your employee is off work regardless of the reason for their sickness absence. For more information on SSP rules, search for 'Statutory Sick Pay (SSP): employer guide' on GOV.UK. For more information on eligibility and how to make your final claims, search 'check if you can claim back Statutory Sick Pay' on GOV.UK.
AccountingWEB Software Awards: 2021’s top products
Over the years, AccountingWEB’s annual software awards have become synonymous with customer satisfaction because they are determined by and voted for by the people who use the products in their day-to-day working lives. While lockdowns disrupted the planned announcements in 2021, users continued to vote for their favourites in 10 different categories over the course of the year. More than 7,500 votes have been compiled. Pegasus software were finalists in the Accounting/ERP and Payroll categories. After votes have been counted we are pleased to announce that Pegasus have been awarded runner up position in both these categories. Enterprise Accounting/ERPTop product: iplicit Runners-up: Pegasus, AccountsIQ, Xledger, Greentree, Sage, Oracle NetSuite PayrollTop product: BrightPay Runners-up: FreeAgent Payroll, The Payroll Site, Moneysoft, Pegasus, Sage 50cloud Payroll I can hardly believe that we find ourselves in the last month of 2021, with Christmas looming and uncertainty in the air. For the first time in 5 years o-a-sys had to make the very difficult decision to cancel the Customer Christmas Event for 2021. Dwinling number of attendees and the uncertain climate we find ourselves in has meant that people and businesses are not getting out to events. We will be back in 2022 making this event happen.
In the meantime we have launched our first Christmas competition to ensure everyone can take part in our Christmas festivities. Great Prizes to be won! Who doesn't want a case of wine, ready for the season to be jolly in. As we have done in previous years, we have made a donation to a local charity in lieu of sending Christmas cards. This year we have chosen the Ashford Family Food Bank for the amazing work they do to help families that are experiencing financial hardship. Christmas can be an expensive time for everybody, but for those already on a tight budget, the added expenses of increased winter fuel bills, the extra challenges Covid-19 has created, and the pressure to buy Christmas presents can plunge many people into crisis. The Family Food Bank provides support to families that are unable to buy food or are left with a difficult choice between paying for food or other basic necessities. For more details about the excellent work they do, please take a look at their website. Christmas and New Year Opening Hours We will be open every working day during the Christmas and New Year period, with our telephone support lines open during the following times. Friday 24th December - 09:00 - 12:00 Monday 27th December - Closed Tuesday 28th December - Closed Wednesday 29th December - 10:00 - 15:00 Thursday 30th December - 10:00 - 15:00 Friday 31st December - 10:00 - 15:00 Monday 3rd January - Closed Tuesday 4th January - Normal opening hours resume Support queries can be logged outside of our opening hours by email to support@o-a-sys.co.uk or by completing the Support Request form on our website. The team here at o-a-sys would like to wish you and your family a Merry Christmas and a New Year filled with joy, happiness and success. Thank you to everyone that attended our round table discussion at Business Vision LIVE last week, featuring our very own Bruce Kidd and Linda Garcia from Alluxi Consulting Ltd. We really enjoyed exploring how different businesses view productivity, as well as discussing how finding the right fit in accounting software can dramatically improve productivity in the workplace
We had an amazing time at Business Vision LIVE 2019 catching up with contacts new and old. Big congrats to the organisers Business Vision LIVE for another great event, we really enjoyed presenting and hosting our roundtable seminar on productivity with Alluxi Consulting Ltd. See you all again next time! #BizVisionLive ![]() We are approaching a season of change. The evenings are getting darker, supermarket shelves are clearing of kids’ black trousers and filling with tubs of Heroes and Quality Street. Facebook is prepping for the 8am front door photos as parents get ready for children to start their first day at school. With so many changes happening what changes us when we step into the office? When it comes to making changes within our business it is easy to postpone them to a later date when we feel we may have more time available. Business software is a key example. We know that if we change our software processes we could have more time to complete tasks, yet we postpone change as we don’t have enough time. Over the years business accounting software has changed massively so it is no surprise that we find the project easy to postpone. With so many software solutions being introduced into the market, and so much functionality now available, how do you know what your business really needs and if you are missing out on functionality you didn’t know existed? ![]() The 2017/18 payroll year ends on 5 April which means it’s almost time to process your year end, a busy time for any business running a payroll. Before that, another deadline looms: the de-commission of the Government Gateway, which goes offline on 13 February and has been replaced by the HMRC Multi Digital Tax Platform (MDTP). Every growing business will inevitably face challenges when it comes to choosing the right software. In many cases, investment in solutions that can bring together different areas of the organisation can take a back seat whilst short-term goals are managed. This leaves many businesses running separate systems for various departmental functions such as payroll, CRM, reporting, supply chain and cashflow management. Phrases like “if it works, why change it?” and “it’s too much work to switch” may sound all too familiar, but the truth is your business might not be running as efficiently as it could be. In this blog post we are going to look at some of the benefits of integrating different areas of your business.
1. Greater productivity No matter how motivated your employees are, if they’re bogged down using several different systems and out-of-date processes, everyday tasks are likely to take twice as long as they need to, as is the case when employees have to spend hours inputting data from one system to another manually. With a fully integrated solution, data could simply be pulled across spreadsheets electronically, saving time and reducing the risk of errors. 2. Better visibility When information is stored across overlapping systems it can become difficult and time-consuming to extract it which can lead to delayed decision-making or, even worse, guesswork. With a unified system you can access real-time information from any area of the organisation at the click of a button, to help make timely, pro-active decisions – today, not tomorrow. 3. Fuel for growth A tangle of standalone, mismatched systems that don’t speak to each other will almost certainly hinder your business growth. To drive growth, it is essential that your business has a system that works with the business, not against it. 4. Flexible working Most integrated solutions are compatible with cloud technology, giving you the freedom and flexibility to manage your business from anywhere, at any time, 24/7. 5. IT savings Your IT department no longer has to install and maintain several disparate systems; they now only have one key system to manage. 6. Adaptable to change The last thing a growing business needs is to be hindered by rigid software. A good integrated solution will grow with your business by giving you the option of adding applications and users as and when you need. More and more businesses are transforming the way they operate by moving to a unified approach, but many are still hindering growth and productivity by using separate departmental systems. You’d be surprised how quick and easy it is to integrate your business functions using one solution. Take a look at how Opera 3 could work for you, and get in touch to speak to one of our accredited Business Partners who would be with you every step of the way At this year’s customer Christmas event, the team at o-a-sys were excited to make an official announcement regarding the new partnership agreement signed with Exact software, a market-leading full-suite ERP vendor from the Netherlands.
‘Exact represent a valuable addition to the portfolio of business software solutions o-a-sys is able to offer its customers. A mature business that has led the SMB field in the Benelux for most of the last 30 years, they represent a real success story in the European business software space. That success has been built not only on their robust, flexible products that add real value to their users, but on their commitment to building sustainable, effective relationships with their partners. We’re now excited to be part of that ecosystem’. During the launch the o-a-sys team explained more about the specifics of the Exact solutions they’ll be making available to their customers: ‘Globe is a robust back office finance and ERP package with excellent possibilities for businesses looking to expand, particularly overseas. The solution offers 40 local language and legislations out of the box and comes with fully integrated tools for consolidation, budgeting, forecasting and business data analytics. However, the really exciting proposition is Synergy. Exact’s process management platform offers the ability to drive collaboration to new levels in a business. By leveraging workflows, document management, workspaces, social tools and reporting, it’s easy to create bespoke solutions for HRM, CRM, BPM, finance processes or all of the above. Add in the mobile apps and portal functionality, and you’ve got a tool with real possibilities for almost any company. We’re excited about the difference we think it can make and are looking forward to showing some of the details at our customer day in January. A day not to be missed!’. For more details about Exact Software and the o-a-sys event please visit www.o-a-sys.co.uk/exact-for-o-a-sys-customers Operational Accounting Systems Limited (o-a-sys) will be launching a series of vlogs about our upcoming events, software news and more to keep you up to date and help you get the most out of your software |