Did you know? With Chris McBride

Who are you?
I’m Chris and I’m one of the Customer Support Analysts working in the support team.

What does your role at Clear Books entail?

The focus of my role at Clear Books revolves around responding to customer queries, questions and opinions regarding the company’s software and how it works for them. I have to consider what the individual’s aims are and then advise how to achieve this. I do this by communicating through a range of mediums, including: telephone, email, live chat and Community forum.

What’s the most commonly asked question this month and what is the answer?
HMRC recently made it an obligatory requirement that every unique item on an invoice has its own VAT rate displayed. Customers have been asking why this appeared on their invoices and whether these can be removed. As this is an HMRC requirement they cannot be removed.

In your opinion, what is the best time-saving Clear Books feature?
For me it is definitely the generation of VAT returns and their online VAT submission through Clear Books. Once this has been set up it is just a few clicks to search for your invoices, compose and confirm your return and then submit it directly to HMRC.

What apps and tools can’t you live without and why?
Google Docs are great. Just like cloud software they allow you to look at the same document anywhere and share it between your colleagues so that you can work on it collaboratively. Light Shot is a feature we use in the support team. It’s a Screenshot programme and allows us to easily share stills from the system, complete with annotations, with customers. This is another useful tool in convey exactly what we are trying to get across.Also, TFL’s live updates as travelling to and from work can be quite a challenge.

What is the best advice you have ever received?

To ask questions. Getting the fine details can be really key in understanding others and in resolving their issues. This is particularly true for the support team as different customers use different terminology to describe the same thing, whether they have migrated from a different accounting package or are brand new to cloud accounting software.

What are the positive changes you can see within Clear Books in the upcoming 12 months?
The introduction of the MOSS (Mini One Stop Shop) Scheme which sees digital services to EU business charged at the local tax rate to the customer. This, together with the growth of the Dutch subsidiary, will potentially expand the reach and appeal of our software both at home and abroad.

When you’re not working at Clear Books, what do you enjoy doing?
I am very active and play basketball for a team. During the week, what free time I have is mainly spent reading.