Xero Review – Intuitive Accounting Software

Business2Community writes: Simple accounting errors can be costly to a small business owner, with late penalties and overdraft fees eating away at a company’s bottom line. Xero is an online accounting platform that aims to help businesses reduce those types of critical mistakes, making it easier for merchants to keep their financial houses in order.

In this Xero review, I will take a close look at the cloud-based service and test many of the platform’s most popular features. I will see how easy the system is to deploy, and compare the benefits of a web-based platform to those of a traditional desktop system. Based on my personal experience using Xero, I will offer my opinion as to whether this is an accounting system that small businesses should use.

About Xero

Entrepreneurs can’t make sound business decisions without reviewing accurate financial data, which is where Xero comes into play. The online accounting platform frees its users from the confines of traditional desktop-based systems, and gives businesses all the tools they need to stay up-to-date on all their latest transactions. Xero connects to a user’s banks, credit cards, and PayPal accounts. It automates as much of the accounting process as possible by importing credit card statements, reconciling bank transactions, sending invoices, and making scheduled payments on a company’s behalf.

Xero integrates with many of the apps that businesses already use, importing and exporting data from CRM, inventory management, and invoicing applications like Vend, PayPal, Highrise, Salesforce, and Capsule CRM. Even private accountants and bookkeepers can take advantage of Xero, collaborating with clients in an online setting while still keeping security and compliance requirements in mind.

Main Functionality of Xero

Xero is a soup to nuts accounting system that allows teams of individuals to work together to manage business finances. By connecting their bank accounts to Xero, businesses can automatically import statements and categorize individual purchases. Meanwhile, cash coding allows users to seamlessly reconcile cash transactions with multiple tax rates.

Financial information from multiple institutions and business applications is combined on the Xero dashboard page, where users can find an overview of bank balances, invoices, bills, and expenses. Zooming in allows users to monitor specific accounts in real-time, and curated graphs show all the money coming in and going out of a business over the course of a day, a month, or even a year.

The deeper a business gets inside of Xero, the more useful the platform’s financial reporting tools become. Inventory management features can be used to import and export price lists, track sales, and expedite the invoicing process. Basic payroll needs — like printing payslips, making bulk payments, and creating detailed wage expense reports — can be met using Xero’s built-in system. Users with more advanced payroll needs can integrate Xero into top payroll systems like ADP and Monchilla.

Benefits of Using Xero

Business owners should be able to focus on growing their companies without worrying about basic accounting and payroll issues. Xero makes that possible, encouraging entrepreneurs to handle their own business finances without worrying about their accounting system. The web-application handles all of the most common financial issues that businesses face — including budgets, payroll, expense claims, and financial reporting — and integrates seamlessly with many business apps. This integration allows for the automatic importing and exporting of financial data on a business owner’s behalf.

Xero also offers a number of collaboration features that business owners can use to share the workload with their partners and employees. By relying on a cloud-based system, rather than a desktop software suite, users can log-in to their accounting system from anywhere — Xero works on Mac, Windows, iPhone, and Android devices — at any time, day or night.

When they use Xero, small business owners get all the financial reporting features that their larger competitors enjoy, with none of the headache or financial burden that comes with employing an in-house accountant or bookkeeper.

The Basics: What Does the Interface Look Like?

Follow the directions in Xero’s step-by-step setup guide to get started using the platform. Input basic information like your organization name, contact details, social media links, and financial details like your tax basis and ID number.

To begin reconciling your bank account information, you’ll need to start by connecting your account to the Xero system. Type in the name of your bank, the account name, account number, currency, and choose a unique code/number for the account.

Create a sales invoice from scratch by entering the necessary information. To streamline the process, you can set up your invoices to auto-populate with information as you type. For example, type in “Acm” and Xero will auto-populate the remainder of the line as “Acme Plumbing” if that’s a vendor you’ve worked with in the past.

Review your overall financial picture by clicking on the “Budget Manager” tab. You’ll find a month-by-month report showing income (interest, revenue, and sales), costs of goods sold, and gross profits, among other figures.

Support Information

Inside Xero’s Help Center, users can get detailed answers to hundreds of frequently asked queries. Support articles can be browsed by topic (like banking, sales tax, or expense claims), or searched by keyword. Xero also provides a number of tutorials and informational videos that guide new users through the process of getting their accounts set up and linked to outside apps and banking institutions. To get immediate answers to questions not found in Xero’s Help Center, visit the platform’s Business Community. Users in the Business Community are encouraged to ask questions and learn from the experiences of their peers.

Pricing Information

Xero offers three pricing plans for businesses, ranging from $19 per month to $39 per month. All plans come with a free trial, and require no setup fees, upgrade fees, or contracts. Businesses that use Xero can add an unlimited number of users to their accounts. Xero runs automatic backups for accounts at every pricing level.

The Bottom Line

If independent contractors and small business owners want to compete with larger businesses, they need the right tools. Xero’s design may look simple and sleek, but the system’s tools are hearty and robust. The system offers dozens of vertical small business solutions thanks to its integration with more than 200 popular apps. Businesses that use Xero can feel confident that their financial information is secure, and that important data sets are being backed up regularly in the cloud.

Ratings: ease of use 5/5, features 5/5, value 5/5 and ease of deployment 4/5