Cloud 360 Accounting crowned Best Small Firm of the Year at the UK & EMEA 2021 Xero Awards ceremony

• Accounting, bookkeeping and app industries celebrated for supporting businesses through toughest year

Derry-based company Cloud 360 Accounting won Best Small Firm of the Year at Xero’s prestigious annual awards. Hosted by Gary Turner, Xero UK & EMEA Managing Director and comedian Henry Pake in an online ceremony, the awards showcased the achievements of those supporting businesses through one of the toughest years.

Accountants, bookkeepers and the app industry have played a huge role in guiding their small business clients through the pandemic and supporting the wider economy. Xero research shows 43% of small business owners said that their accountant has been crucial to their pandemic survival, while 58% named them as their most trusted business advisor.

Cloud 360 Accounting was Northern Ireland’s first Xero-certified advisors and since then the company has gone from strength to strength.  CEO Kieran Phelan has grown the business to a team of seven over the past eleven years.  The judges commented on the company’s handling of COVID-19 and client relations which saw the company individually call each client to check how they were coping.  Kieran provided further support with his weekly, free Facebook Live, ‘Coffee with Cloud 360’ which provided business advice on the latest developments from the government.  They were also impressed with the Cloud 360 onboarding process and ability to harness technology into their services.

Glen Foster, UK Director of Accounting Partners at Xero commented: “It’s never been more important to celebrate the amazing work of our accounting and app partners who have been supporting businesses through the toughest 12 months on record. They’re the unsung heroes of the pandemic – stepping up to help small businesses through everything from managing cash flow, to digitising and finding new ways of working. They will be at the forefront in the next phase of small business recovery.”

Kieran Phelan, CEO from Cloud 360 Accounting said: “In what has been such a difficult year, we are thrilled to have won this award, it reflects the hard work and dedication from the whole team at Cloud 360.  We are delighted to have been recognised on the UK stage for our work here in the North West.  We plan to continue to grow as a company and as such have a strategic vision that will include recruitment to our team and expansion of services which we will implement over the coming years. We see the ‘Help To Grow Digital’ scheme announced by the government as a huge enabler for businesses to build their financial systems online this year and we will be at the forefront of helping businesses to achieve this. A huge well done to all finalists involved.”

Find more information on all the UK, Irish and South African accounting and bookkeeping and app partner winners and why they are being recognised at this year’s awards here.