Working at Xero for a while, I had the opportunity to attend the first round of Xero Roadshows in Canada during the spring of 2018. This is when I decided I wanted to officially join the Xero Canada team and move to Vancouver. While this was the most stressful time in my professional life (anyone who says moving to a new country is not stressful is lying!), after seeing the outpouring of support from the Canadian accounting and bookkeeping communities, I knew I had made the right choice for me and was excited to take part in something special.

Fast forward two years, and I can say that I truly made the right decision. Sure there were some highs and lows, but thankfully I had the support of some locals to help me understand Interac, learn how to tell the temperature in Celsius, and explain to me why Tim Hortons is a national treasure. I was also able to quickly connect with some of the best accountants and bookkeepers across Canada who patiently taught me the ways of Canadian tax. While I was able to draw on the 15 years of experience I had from working with US accountants and bookkeepers, I relied a lot on this new community to help educate me, many of which I met at events like the Xero Roadshows.

No matter what you face, crossing unfamiliar borders or taking steps into the unknown, it’s great when you’ve got the support and some extra tools to help you along the way. The Xero Roadshow is where you can connect with other accounting professionals, get the tools and resources to prepare you and your practice whatever comes next (especially important now), and take the next step on your journey with confidence.

We’re bringing Xero to all of Canada

Whether this is your first introduction to Xero or you’ve been working or following us for a while, we invite you to join us for the Xero Remote Roadshow. We will dive into Xero’s Commitment to Canada and how we can best support the community.

This year we’re offering two sessions. One for those who are just seeing Xero for the first time, and one for our partners who are looking to deepen their understanding of our platform. As someone who is passionate about helping practices move into the cloud, the “Getting Started” sessions on October 6 are the perfect place to:

• Find out what’s next for Xero in Canada. You can also see what new tools we’re introducing to support the Canadian accounting industry as part of our Commitment to Canada.
• Hear from Allison Hawkins, National Xero Ambassador and Partner at Hawkins & Co. Accounting about building a Practice with Purpose using cloud tools.
• Connect with your peers to find out how they’re navigating their cloud journeys, and share tips and tricks.
• Learn more about Xero’s Partner Program, and how this is built to support your practice’s move to the cloud.

The power of the partner community

In my experience, the Xero partner community has been the foundation for our continued growth in Canada. It has been the reason for Xero’s continued focus on investment and building new tools to support this market. But more importantly, when you connect to our growing network of accountants and bookkeepers, you get to experience the power and support this network has to offer.

The community has been especially critical as we’ve adjusted to the ever-changing conditions brought on by COVID-19. It has provided great insights into how we can best support small businesses, develop best practices while working remotely, and how to stay connected as an industry.