BLOG Archive

Covid-19 restrictions were lifted on 19th July, and everyone is preparing for returning to work in person, phew! Zahara are back in our brand-new offices in Queen’s Square, Bath and have adopted a h…

Bitcoin - 5 Reasons Why Interest in Bitcoin is at an all-time high right now, as well as the price. A quick search of Bitcoin on Twitter and you will be overwhelmed with arguments for and against t…

Invoice Express Just Got More Expressy. We've just released our latest game changer that puts a smile on our faces here at Zahara. We aim to make processing supplier invoices simple and easy so you c…

Good purchasing software can be hugely beneficial for companies looking to save time, save money and bring visibility to their spending. Using purchase orders within your accounts payable process is a…

Cloud based applications were crucial in 2020. Covid-19 forced business to work remotely if possible, so the demand for cloud based business applications increased massively. Now there is an end in si…

We recently had a couple of users reporting Zahara being slow, after some investigation it turned out that their browser was the issue. A simple fix in this case, but it took time to work out what the…

The truth is in there ...   My lead developer Greg is quite a deep guy. He’s a thinker. He likes purity. Obviously, he’s highly suspicious of Microsoft and interfaces and has just about come to…

First off, what are purchase orders? A Purchase Order is an instruction from you to your supplier, to supply goods or service at a price that you dictate. The supplier then accepts your purchase or…

Controlling Your Expenses   We all know how much events this year have changed our daily lives. One area we have really seen change is business expenses. This can perhaps be one of the firs…

2020 Is a year of change. Businesses are having to adapt to a different style of working, with many needing to be operated remotely. This is where the beauty of cloud based systems really shines t…

What Have We Been Watching? When we aren't making incredible AP software, we are watching Netflix, Amazon, Apple TV and all the other streaming services. Let's be honest, there isn't much else to d…

Is Your Business Ready For The Return Covid-19 has taught us at Zahara many things. First and foremost, we don’t need an office to work at 100% productivity - we learnt this very quickly. I was w…

Our business landscape is changing We are busier than ever with finance teams wanting to work from home more efficiently. We are showcasing our approvals portal and amazing invoice OCR, InvoiceExpr…

Take the hard-work out of your invoice processing It's not often I get excited and start banging the drum, but our new Invoice Express is a game changer. It's so simple, yet so incredibly accurate an…

Working from home for the Zahara team hasn’t been a stretch so far. We are fortunate to use some great software apps that enable us to communicate, share and collaborate quickly and easily. The tea…

Time to go Paperless? With the recent outbreak of Coronavirus, the government has encouraged people to work from home in a bid to limit the spread of the virus. Working from home isn’t a new conc…

A conversation about purchases can help clients avoid costly mistakes, save money, and plan for taxes. Bookkeeping and accounting experts weigh in on having purchasing discussions with their clients a…

Technology is changing before our eyes; every day there is more news about AI, machine learning or automation. In the home, our smart plugs are controlling our lights and we can control our heating fr…

We all know that stress is bad for us, right? My diet app tells me it is, and I know I’m much happier when there is less to worry about, both in my personal and professional life. It seems though…

So, you have decided you need software to improve your purchasing. But there’s a host of things to consider to ensure you select the right product for your organisation. This handy checklist should …

Based in Bath, Shift Active Media are a truly remarkable and award-winning business. They are the agency behind the largest and fastest growing cycling media brand in the world. Shift develop and impl…

How British Airways Holidays reduced the cost, time and errors involved in raising requisitions As part of British Airways, BA Holidays helps customers find and book perfect holidays in locations a…

By Guest Author: Heather Smith Budgeting certainly has its place in the business world, but not all businesses understand how to make a budget work for their needs. I spoke with some colleagues to le…

By Guest Author: Heather Smith Budgeting and cost control can be useful business tools when used properly, but if used arbitrarily, there are practitioners that believe you might be wasting your time…

RIP Purchase Invoices Isn’t it astonishing that the biggest problems in accounts payables occurs before the purchase invoice even arrives with the AP team. But the resultant invoice can tie the tea…

Keeping an eye on Budgets is easier than you think. Running a business is not easy. There's never enough time and often the senior team are more focussed on top line revenues than managing the costs.…

Purchase Invoices - what a waste of time. According to Levvel Research's 2019 Payables Insight Report, 80% of invoices require multiple approvals. In many companies, that means at least 3 people ne…

FROM KEEPING THE BOOKS TO FINANCIAL DATA ANALYST & ADVISOR For many years, ‘keeping the books’ has been a critical function for businesses, however AP professionals, bookkeepers and financial…

How things have changed... Back in the 80’s, when I was a demanding teenager, my dad went to work every day in a suit, and he went to his office. He worked there all day, doing paper work. He had a…

An article written to Accounts Payables Teams by a frustrated supplier. For over 20 years my businesses have been suppliers to larger companies. My first business was a TV and Radio production comp…

By Francois Badenhorst, Business Editor, AccountingWeb According to a new guide from Zahara, there’s a big difference between ‘budgeting’ and ‘budget management’. While budgeting is often…

How are you performing against your half year budget? Reviewing your actual performance against the budget is prudent business practice. As we’re half way through many company’s accounting peri…

In a recent Benchmark report from the Institute of Finance & Management (IOFM), Efficiencies were cited by Accounts Payables as their biggest challenge. Based on a 2 year study of nearly 400 A…

Great to welcome Andrew Van De Beek to Zahara’s Bath office recently. As a speaker at Accountex, Practicing Accountant and a 2018 Accounting Thought Leader of the Year, Andrew has real insights i…

Take a look at Zahara's 5 Step Guide to Managing Budgets and Approvals.   In this simple to use guide, you'll find:   A description of budget management and why its so importan…

With 5.6m users globally QuickBooks can justifiably claim to be a real powerhouse of small business accounting. The massive growth of QuickBooks Online is further proof that business leaders are deman…

If you’re having to check every supplier invoice is ok to pay - your process is broken.   When a supplier submits their invoice, they will typically have fulfilled their part of the contract,…

Many companies recognise the importance of paying suppliers on time. They keep their valued suppliers happy and in return get better service and potentially improved prices. However, research indicate…

The recent events at Patisserie Valerie sent a shock wave through the business community. One minute all is supposedly well, and the next there is a multi-million-pound black hole with investors despe…