Shivajini Seelan, Managing Director of JS Partners (fourth from left), took up the challenge of setting up her accounting firm after 20 years of experience within the industry.
JS Partners helps businesses thrive with Xero
In 2009, while at her desk, Shivajini Seelan had the thought of opening her own business. “I’ve always been a risk taker, but I didn’t know if I was ready to take the plunge,” says Shivajini. “But one day, it hit me – this is what I want to do.”
Armed with over 20 years of experience in the accounting industry, she founded JS Partners, a one-stop solution for SMEs providing secretarial services, accounting, outsourcing, payroll and taxation services.
Thankfully, Shivajini has always had a strong footing in accounting. “My father was my inspiration,” Shivajini says. “I used to see him work hard every day, and it was an inspiration for me also to have my own success story”.
Born and bred accountant
Shivajini has a strong foundation in accounting. Her father was an accountant by trade, whose success Shivajini says inspired her early on. “I’ve always had a natural affinity for numbers, and with many accountants in my family, it seemed that being an accountant ran in my blood.”
“My journey started with a desk, a chair, and big hopes for the future!” says Shivajini, Managing Director of JS Partners. The mother of three (and a furkid!) shares that her eldest son came into the world right after she started the business. “Though joyous, motherhood also tested my abilities to balance work and life at home. I realised then the importance of working smart, and making the most effective use of my time.”
The business has grown tremendously since its inception and now employs a team of ten, sitting in Mutiara Damansara. “We now provide a range of complex advisory services, from budgeting to analysing client’s performance and valuation.” Shivajini explains.
Over 13 years, JS Partners has extended its footprint beyond Malaysia, including Indonesia, Singapore, New Zealand, Australia and Hong Kong.
Growing strength to strength with Xero
With the business thriving and growing from strength to strength, JS Partners needed an accounting solution to help grow their client and continue this momentum.
“It was important to adopt a platform to make life easier for us and the businesses we serve, as well as automate time-consuming processes,” says Shivajini.
After trying out several products, they decided that cloud accounting platform Xero suited them best. “Xero is an excellent platform as the system and functions are very user-friendly. Since we migrated to Xero and saw how seamless and effortless it was, we’ve never looked back. Onboarding new clients to learn about Xero has been a breeze with its easy-to-use interface. With a multitude of resources and training conducted by the Xero team, we can teach our clients how to streamline bank statements, receipts, invoices and more.”
The team at JS Partners are big fans of the platform, with direct bank feeds, easy bank reconciliation, integrated OCR tool Hubdoc, and expense claims because these make their work much easier, and it takes them half the time to get things done.
Once clients start using Xero, the product really sells itself, she shares. “People get to experience how much they can benefit from it.”
Shivajini is particularly fond of Hubdoc, an OCR integrated tool within Xero. "Hubdoc reduces the time we spend on many tedious administrative tasks by half. The feature of taking a photo of a receipt with your phone and immediately uploading it to the cloud for the rest of the team to view and post is amazing! I am no longer worried about receipts going missing,” says Shivajini.
The ability to automate document collection and data entry has massively increased JS Partners’s efficiency. “With digital solutions automating processes, we’ve probably achieved between 20 to 30 per cent savings overall.. As an accountant, we can provide better service if we are less occupied with admin. If the client can do less admin, they can spend more time focusing on their business. It’s a win-win solution!”.
Continued success to come
“An unexpected advantage of the pandemic,” Shivajini shares “is that we saw many clients transitioning to the cloud.” The need to work remotely and collaborate in real-time pushed startups and SMEs who were previously resistant to change, to see the benefits of implementing systems like Xero.
Shivajini shares that some businesses, however, remain hesitant to adopt cloud accounting, particularly those from the medical industry. JS Partners has taken on the challenge, and continues to educate and demonstrate how digital tools can benefit their business, like many other businesses they’ve helped over the years.Shivajini says that thanks to Xero and the time saved, JS Partners has elevated their level of service and contribution to clients and potential clients. “Clients want communication and a connection with their accountants, not just once a year but regularly. We believe in forging close relationships with our clients based on mutual trust and desire to grow together, and with Xero, we are confident in their continued successes to come.”
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