Accounting software company Big Red Cloud has identified Malta and Cyprus as its main new markets to expand into after Brexit.
The Dublin-based business, which turned 25 last week, targets small and medium enterprises with programs that make it easier for them to manage their accounts.
According to the Independent, it has secured €35,000 from Enterprise Ireland to assess the viability of the two countries through a market discovery grant. It is also planning on launching two new automated products.
Chief executive Marc O’Dwyer said that he felt the reaction to foreign-based accountancy services will be “negative” after Britain leaves the European Union. “The two closest countries with the highest English-speaking population are Malta and Cyprus,” he said.
“The accounting rules are also the same, that way we obviously don’t have to do any translation on the software. In saying that, we have a database of accountants and banks in those countries that we’re starting to work on. We won’t be based there initially until we have some traction.”
O’Dwyer said that he is still receiving requests for assistance from accounts in the UK ahead of the digitisation of VAT and tax payments with Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs. He said that it remains unclear whether or not the business will continue to operate in the UK. Around 2pc of the company’s customer base is in the UK.
“We are looking at popping that in to our development road map or not, that’s still up for debate,” O’Dwyer said.
The company, which originally started out as an on-premises accounting service called Big Red Book, now boasts more than 50,000 customers. O’Dwyer also outlined plans to future-proof his company’s software and introduce automation into its services.
“We’re about to launch automated purchase invoicing,” he said. “So a small business would say invoice accounts@x.com and then that invoice would automatically go into Big Red Cloud. We’re doing away with the manual processing of bookkeeping that has been synonymous with bookkeeping until now. A lot of the grunt work that smaller firms don’t like will all be automated.”
O’Dwyer currently operates a separate automated system with point-of-sale service Clover, renowned for its white, iPad-style checkouts that have become very popular in the food and drink sector.
Big Red Cloud is now developing a system to take on Clover in its entirety.
SOURCE: GOLD NEWS
