Software

Geographic Location: Head Office, New Zealand. Offices in Australia. https://www.xero.com/au/about/offices/
Privacy Policy: https://www.xero.com/au/legal/privacy/
About: Since 2011, we have been using Xero and over time, it has certainly improved and is constantly changing. It is definitely one of the more costly day to day accounts tools out there, but it does assist bookkeepers and accountants in performing their role, be they internal or external to your business. This really is quite valuable, especially with a live data file where data can be updated to reflect its more accurate state in real time. 
How we use it: We use Xero with many of our clients for a variety of purposes from day to day to bookkeeping to year end accounts. On the day to day, we process their accounts payable, sales invoicing, payroll, reconcile bank and credit account transactions, prepare their superannuation contributions. For compliance, we prepare their activity statements, obtain information for payroll tax, prepare their financial statements and utilise data to prepare fringe benefits and income tax returns. For advisory, we use it to assist us in preparing management reports, cash flow reports, budgets and assist us in their financial coaching. It's a great tool for us when performing our Financial Concierge service. For the most part, this is the software in which we prepare (some of) our clients annual financial statements.
Partner Status: Silver

Geographic Location: Head Office, New Zealand. Offices in Australia. https://www.xero.com/au/about/offices/
Privacy Policy: https://www.xero.com/au/legal/privacy/
About: XPM is a practice management tool. It is not perfect, and I do wish it would sync with MS Sharepoint for file management (it kind of does with Dropbox) but there isn't really anything much better out there for Australian professional accountants or bookkeepers, yet. 
How we use it: XPM is our source of client contact data and a piece of the puzzle for our job management system which we use to track our time on client work, administrative tasks and cpe/cpd. We are a business that sells time (and knowledge), whether it is under the guise of fixed fees, minimum fees, or purely by the hour. We no different to lawyers or GP's in this regard. XPM also integrates with a few of our other tools, so the information must always be up to date and each of the SaaS providers must meet strict protocol requirements when transferring data from one system to the other. But it does save quite some time re-keying your details into each tool. XPM is also our tax return preparation system - BAS, IAS, TR, FBT, etc.

Geographic Location: Head Office, New Zealand. Offices in Australia. https://www.xero.com/au/about/offices/
Privacy Policy: Privacy Policy, Terms of Use, Security, Ownership Terms 
About: HubDoc is now owned by Xero and is an accounts payable tool and the idea is to reduce physical data entry with use by AI. It is not perfect and I often fix it up. 
How we use it: Through the use of OCR and AI, HubDoc reads the purchase invoice or receipt (pdf or jpg) and extracts information to assist in completing the necessary information for useful data in your accounts. When it's all correct, it can then be published into Xero minimising the need to enter it in Xero directly. NOW - as I said, we tend to need to fix it up as it can't always pick up the correct information, but also, you can set rules so that if it does pick up the correct information and the invoices from 1 supplier are pretty much always the same, definitely does reduce time for data entry. HubDoc also serves as a second source of keeping copies of your invoices/receipts (which you are required to keep at least 1 copy by law). It can also save copies to Dropbox if you choose to connect them. And depending on the supplier, may also be able to automatically extract copies of invoices/receipt from the supplier on a regular basis. Nonetheless, you can manually upload to HubDoc, or email to HubDoc for processing in there prior to it going to Xero. Now...breathe... 

Geographic Location: QLD, Australia. https://www.annature.com.au/about-us
Privacy Policy: https://www.annature.com.au/privacy-policy and https://support.annature.com.au/subscriber-agreement
About: An electronic signing system which we use for our compliance documents that are suitable for client signature by electronic means. Also an ID verification system which we may implement in the future comply with TPB requirements.
How we use it: Once we have completed our compliance work, we send it to our clients to sign for e-signature via Annature. This is usually sent by email but can also receive an sms with a link to the 'e-sign package'. They can review the package and sign it on their phone, laptop, tablet, computer etc. 

Geographic Location: SA, Australia. https://fyidocs.com/contact-us/
Privacy Policy: Privacy and Security and End User License Agreement
About: FYIDocs is a document management system that integrates with MS OneDrive and MS Exchange. It would be nice if it integrated nicely with XPM and MS SharePoint instead of OneDrive.
How we use it: We utilise this to capture all our client communications - email and documents in and out. It's probably more complex than we need, but it is nice to use especially when trying to ensure email communication is to and from our admin email. 

Geographic Location: Head Office NSW, Australia. https://www.ignitionapp.com/about
Privacy Policy: Privacy and Security and Terms of Use
About: Part of our suite of practice management tools, Ignition is our proposal and engagement management system. Gone are the days of manual engagement letters, fumbling about for a fee list and thinking "uhhh, what else do we do? Sure, accounting and tax, but what specifically in advisory do we do?"...we now have a clear picture of services we provide for clients and are regularly updating it as we realise what else we do!
How we use it: When a new client, or a current one, asks us if we can help them with something, we prepare a proposal which houses the specific service, the associated fees, the timing of when the fee is to be deducted by direct debit from their nominated bank or credit card account and if they are happy with the terms listed, they sign it and that becomes the engagement letter. This use to take us over an hour to do! Now that we have recently updated our services, our fees and our terms, it should be a lot quicker. Ignition uses its own e-sign platform, and after the agreement is signed, it'll send you a copy. Oh - and we can even provide up to 3 options to choose from for the relevant services. We umm'd and aah'd over this tool for years and picked it up in July 2021. It took us until mm May 2022 to get our head (mostly) around it, but we're a lot happier with it now and ready to send out some new proposals.

Geographic Location: VIC, Australia. https://www.bglcorp.com/cas-360/
Privacy Policy: Privacy and Security and Terms of Use
About: CAS360 is a tool to manage Company and Trust information, prepare minutes and resolutions and transmit data to and from the ASIC re Company details and annual review.
How we use it: For Companies we are engaged to represent on behalf of with ASIC, we use this system to receive the annual reviews, prepare the relevant minute and forward on to the client. We also check that their details are correct and ask the client to do the same. When Company details change, we prepare the relevant forms and minutes or resolutions to effect the change and forward on for Director signing, then lodge with ASIC. We also prepare dividend statements with this system as required. For Trusts, we can also prepare your distribution minute. For both dividend statements and distribution minutes in relation to end of year, we require our clients to opt in to our tax planning service so we can confidently prepare the most accurate documents. 

Geographic Location: CA, USA. https://clickup.com/about
Privacy Policy: Privacy and Security and Terms of Use
About: ClickUp is a tool to help people manage their ... life(?). It's a powerful day to day management tool, be it project management, (basic) CRM, time tracking, and more. Think of Monday, Asana, Trello, ToDoist, etc. Add in Miro, mind maps, docs, forms etc. Now - you've got a powerful business management tool which can be used in so many ways. 
How we use it: We use it separately to XPM. This where we house our SOPs, we create templates for the standard work we do, we track our work and their statuses, we manage our OKRs, we even manage our wedding! Don't get me wrong, it can be overwhelming initially, but this is why we assist businesses to figure out their workflow, guide them to develop their SOPs and give them ways on how to manage their day to day work using ClickUp. Psst, you can also manage your Handbook in here and see version history. Beware though, if you download documents from ClickUp, they aren't pretty pdf's. So, perhaps we create it in Word so you always have your Master copy, then update ClickUp for a central copy for all staff to read. PS - we don't tend to keep your personal information here, it is to help us organise ourselves - but we do sometimes forward the emails for the work we need to do into our tasks so we don't forget to do them or what they mean (/me crosses fingers).

Geographic Location: VIC, Australia. https://www.myob.com/au/careers/locations 
Privacy Policy: Privacy Policy and Security
About: MYOB has had a few different owners over the past 20+ years and bought a few tools to add to their arsenal too. With the change from desktop to online services, they have been behind the 8-ball, but, they are picking up now with many improvements to their AccountRight range. Click the blue MYOB to go to our page that details some of the features and see if they'll be useful for you.
How we use it: When we started in this world, most clients used MYOB and very few used Quicken/Quickbooks. The world has changed A LOT and while they were finding their feet in the digital world, MYOB lost a few loyal fans. Now that their fees are pretty much on par with each other, some are coming back and for MYOB, this is good. The product is so much better, is much pretty but is still logical in its menu layout for easy use. Depending on which product, you can also go between desktop and cloud mode for a slightly different way to work without locking out others from using the data. Oh yeah, we do have some clients using MYOB still, so we haven't forgotten how it works.

Geographic Location: NSW, Australia (Intuit Australia Pty Ltd), USA, and others
Privacy Policy: Privacy and Security and Terms
About: Quickbooks used to be part of Reckon, and since 2012 has been part of Intuit. At least, I'm pretty sure that's the history. Anyway, Quickbooks is a powerful day to day accounts tool which includes management of inventory, project management, time tracking, multi-currency etc. It's most definitely better than it used to be.
How we use it: We actually really enjoying doing data clean up in Quickbooks files. I even go so far as to say it's  easier than Xero *gasp*. We don't have a lot of clients using Quickbooks, and we don't really know why. The pricing is good, it's got a logical side menu, and works with many add-ons. I don't like doing the BAS in it as we have our own processes, but other than that, it might be good for your business. 
Partner Status: Quickbooks Online Certified

Geographic Location: NSW, Australia. https://www.reckon.com/au/contact-us/
Privacy Policy: Privacy, Security, Other Policies, Terms of Use
About: Reckon/ReckonOne is completely new from its predecessor. It's basic, and the pricing reflects that. But, it works. It does what it needs to do to assist you in managing your finances, job management and payroll. They even have a couple of separate businesses that might be helpful to managing your business: BetterHQ which can be used for scheduling appointments, point of sale, CRM and more, and Better Clinics useful for allied health services.
How we use it: We don't use it a lot, but we do have some clients on its sister brand (IPABooks+) which is essentially the same product. 

Geographic Location: Australia
Privacy Policy: See Reckon's Privacy Policy and Terms
About: IPABooks+ is co-branded with Reckon. It does the same stuff as ReckonOne. It's basic but it works. 
How we use it: We do have clients using this service and we part of the partner program. It's good for those businesses that aren't data heavy. It does sales invoicing, accounts payable, bank reconciliations, BAS, etc just like all the others but it's cheaper than some of the other options out there and that is good for some folk. We're not complaining, we use it for one of our businesses.
Partner Status: We are one. No commissions earned yet.

Geographic Location: VIC, Australia. https://rounded.com.au/
Privacy Policy: Privacy and Terms of Use
About: Rounded is for freelancers and sole traders that don't really care about a balance sheet that aren't operating a full blown business in so much as loans, many assets, inventory, stock, etc. It only focuses on the profit and loss accounts (sales and expenses). You can track time against projects and invoice them. You can even prepare your BAS. Look, we do not hate it - we do have clients using it who we showed it to! But if you want to sell your business one day, or you have loans you need to track, amortisation, depreciation etc, this tool is not for you. 
How we use it: Well, we review our client's data, we extract it, we prepare our own reports and prepare their BAS and tax returns. Hopefully, clients using this system only have a bank account, otherwise, we'll need to do some more data manipulation to get the figures accurate.

Geographic Location: NSW, Australia
Privacy Policy: Privacy and Security, Terms of Service 
About: Yeah look, Saasu is not pretty. It wasn't made to be pretty. It was made to functional, and it is. Heck, you can even add notes and reminders to transactions which is pretty cool. The payroll is a bit different to all the others out there, but it works. 
How we use it: We've had clients come and go over the years with Saasu and in all that time, one thing has remained the same - Saasu. It is consistent in its presentation of reports, and honestly, nothing has really changed about how to enter data or reconcile it. It's not expensive but not cheap. It might even be more powerful than you realise.