One home for client work
To keep client work in one place, Shapes moved its practice management to Karbon, giving the team a single view of client workflows alongside their Xero data.
Shaping up with a connected app stack
Find out how accounting firm Shapes is using Vinyl and Karbon with Xero to cut meeting admin and grow turnover by 140% with a similar-sized team.
Meet Shapes
Jim Leeves co-founded UK firm Shapes in 2023 to offer accounting, systems and marketing under one roof. With six people running 15-20 client meetings a week, scaling without losing the personal touch took the right tools. Enter Karbon and Vinyl.
- Industry: Accounting
- Apps: 1-2
Karbon
4.97 out of 5 starsKarbon helps accounting firms maximize productivity and scale with ease. Karbon brings your team, clients, communication, work, proposals, billing, payments, and reporting all together in an AI-powered platform, enabling your firm to reach its full potential.
Hitting the right notes
With client information in Karbon, Jim chose Vinyl, an AI meeting assistant that records, transcribes and summarises meetings straight into Karbon. Shapes turned on recording for every meeting within a week, saving each person about an hour a day.
Vinyl
5 out of 5 starsVinyl is your AI notetaker and meeting assistant for accountants and bookkeepers.
It records, transcribes, and files meeting notes, syncing your client records from XPM—saving time, boosting accuracy, and keeping every client conversation tracked and searchable.
Trusted by 220+ firms.
“That kind of growth doesn't happen easily, but it is possible with the right clients and the right tools that support all of that.”
Jim, co-founder of Shapes, says connecting Karbon and Vinyl with Xero has helped the team grow without adding headcount and save around 30 hours a week on meeting admin.
Shape your own app stack
See all the apps that Shapes use to scale their practice and keep clients at the heart of it.
View all apps
Ignition
4.93 out of 5 stars551Ignition helps accounting and professional services businesses reclaim time, profitability and cash flow. Automate proposals, billing, payment collection and workflows in a single AI-powered platform to transform how your firm engages clients, bills and gets paid.
Penfold
4.33 out of 5 stars12Penfold’s mission is to help everyone save enough for a comfortable retirement by making pension saving easy, accessible and engaging. Our workplace pension app and platform simplify auto enrolment for payroll professionals, employers, and savers helping ensure an easy path to a secure retirement.
RecHound
5 out of 5 stars20Modern balance sheet reconciliations. Support every balance, automate month end, and keep audit-ready workpapers in one secure place.
AppVentory
5 out of 5 stars6Build a high-value advisory service line without adding headcount. AppVentory's advisor agent connects to Xero, finds the software and AI spend opportunities across your client portfolio, and turns them into billable reviews. Set up in under an hour.
Although Xero reviews each app in the Xero App Store, we can’t give any guarantees. It’s up to you to assess the performance, quality and suitability of any app before going ahead.