Shorts, Moss Valley and Xero, a winning combination

If you are in Sheffield over the next few weeks, you may recognise some faces on Billboards and Bus Stops that will be popping up throughout the city or video clips on YouTube.  One of our clients Moss Valley Fine Meats and Shorts recently won the opportunity to be featured in the 'Xero Behind Your Business' campaign.  This recognised businesses and their advisors who had embraced technology to allow their business to grow and succeed and their advisors who had helped them through this journey.   Click here to see the video.

Senior Projects Manager Tim Baum-Dixon commented “it is excellent for Moss Valley Fine Meats and Shorts to be recognised in this way.  It was great to work with Stephen and to see what a positive impact the use of Xero has had to his business.”

“It’s important to highlight, to businesses that might be thinking of upgrading their accounts and back office systems, the positive benefits that it can have, particularly with businesses looking at how to deal with Making Tax Digital. With the right partner, this process doesn’t have to be painful and can deliver great results for the whole business.”

Moss Valley Fine Meats is an award-winning local butchery located in the heart of the Moss Valley; just on the outskirts of Sheffield, their latest nomination being for the Food & Drink Awards at Made in Yorkshire 2019.  The Butchery is on-farm and only carefully selected breeds of pigs pass through it. Having an on-farm butchery provides a real ‘farm to fork’ experience with traceability being a major factor.

Understanding where our food comes from and our carbon footprint is a key driver of Moss Valley Fine Meats.  Stephen and his team encourage the public to visit their website and learn more about where their meat comes and often encourage visits to the farm itself. (bio-security allowing).

Speaking about the project, Stephen Thompson of Moss Valley Fine Meats said:

"We have been working with Shorts for some time now, during which time, our business has grown and developed.  Shorts have always been there to support us through this period of change and are proactive in the advice they give us."

"Until relatively recently, we have supplied Shorts with our annual accounting information in a LARGE brown leather suitcase and had our accounts produced at the end of the year.  Earlier last year we finally had a fast broadband connection to the farm and it was around this time that our account contact at Shorts suggested that we discuss moving to online cloud accounting using Xero with their Genus Projects Team who could show us the benefits of using Xero and Auto-Entry. 

Tim came out to the farm to meet us and we discussed the business and our future plans.  Moving our accounting online was going to be a big change for us, but I knew straight away that we were in safe hands.  Tim quickly understood our business and the information that we needed to enable us to operate and to grow.  He was then able to suggest the best systems and processes for us to get this information in the most cost-effective and efficient manner.  He gave us a demonstration of Xero and Auto-Entry and talked us through how they would work for us and the process that the Genus team use to get clients set-up and working on their new systems, as painlessly and quickly as possible.  After understanding the benefits and how we would be supported through this process, my initial worries about moving to a new system were allayed. "

"Once we had decided to proceed with the project, we were introduced to the team and given a personal key contact who would oversee the implementation.  The projects team used our existing records to build our accounts within Xero and built us a simple chart of accounts based on our initial discussions with Tim.   This was all completed behind the scenes and didn’t require much any time from me, bar answering a few simple questions.  Once the system was set up, they came to the farm and sat down with me, explaining how to use Xero and Auto-Entry.  We used actual invoices and live data from my bank account to quickly get an understanding of the system.  After a couple of hours and a few cups of coffee and biscuits, I felt confident to use the system on my own."  

"Knowing that I also had two months support from the Genus Projects Team to hold my hand as I started to use the system has been very reassuring as back-up. The support they have provided, coupled with their expert knowledge and the way Xero is so easy to use, has made the process feel quite straightforward."

"I can honestly say that the move to Xero was one of the best back office decisions we have made, as we can now see how exactly how we are doing and use this in our plans for growing our business."

The Genus Projects Team are a dedicated team of expert accountants and advisers who focus on helping businesses achieve growth and success, using their extensive knowledge of business and business processes, coupled with an in-depth expertise in the latest software and innovations. 

This latest success follows on from the Genus Team success at the Yorkshire Accountancy Awards winning Advisory Team of the Year, Finalist at the British Accountancy Awards for Mid-Size Innovation and Finalist at the Xero Awards for Larger Firm of the Year.