The difference is night-and-day.” That’s Stephen Watson’s verdict after making the jump to Capium. Watson, who is based in Northumberland, runs his own 12 client bookkeeping practice.
Watson’s move to Capium comes after years of disappointment with previous software providers. “I used Sage for a lot of years, but eventually I couldn’t justify the cost. So I searched online for some alternatives.”
His first stop was another software provider. Although it passed the eye test, the user experience was confusing. “I had all these modules, but I wasn’t using them. I just ended up submitting my returns manually,” Watson explains.
So the hunt for a new software continued. “I looked at Xero, but with Xero, you’re paying per client. You give clients a login, they add in info, and you just check the accuracy. My clients wouldn’t be happy that and they’d certainly dislike it if I passed a subscription cost onto them.”
His needs were simple: “I wanted one subscription, and I do all the work.” Capium offered the simple price structure Watson needed. “I did a demo online and liked the look of it, followed by a two-week trial.”
Watson hasn’t looked back. “I’ve set up payroll myself, I’ve done SA returns myself. You can do everything for yourself. With Capium I’ve done it straight away, a couple clicks of a button, and it’s done,” he says. “It all adds up. Capium is more efficient for me, and I’m using it to its full potential.”
And, Watson says, it’s not only him that’s pleased with Capium. His clients are happy, too. “My clients are more satisfied because the reports look better. You can see the thought that’s gone into the small details like not using brackets for minuses and showing debits and credits instead, my clients like that a lot.
“The client-facing element of Capium is more professional and modern.”
Now with MTD on the horizon, Watson’s is primed to snap up new clients with his fully MTD-ready Capium software. “Hopefully next year, once MTD gets extended to Self-Assessment and corporation tax, people will need to buy MTD compatible software,” he says.
“Onboarding new clients with Capium is so easy. It’s literally ten minutes. And the good thing with Capium Payroll is, you can sync it, so the figures are automatically pulled through to the self-assessment module. It’s all joined up and automated.”
Overall, Watson says he hasn’t looked back since making a move to Capium. When he became a bookkeeper a decade ago, his goal was to have a career where he worked on his own terms. Now, with Capium, that goal has been achieved. “It’s been a huge change,” Watson says. “I’m saving money, I’m happier, my clients are happier. That’s all I can ask for.”
