04/29/14 ~ Blog Site of ExactCPA.com, the #1 Online Tax CPA with over 190 5-Star Reviews

Xero the global leader in online accounting software, and H&R Block, Inc. (NYSE: HRB), the world's largest consumer tax services provider, formed a strategic alliance to offer Xero as the core small business online accounting platform in H&R Block's Small Business Program suite of services.

H&R Block selected Xero as its preferred online small business accounting partner after an intensive vetting process. H&R Block has 11,000 branded locations nationwide, and will solely promote Xero as the recommended small business online accounting solution in the locations that sell H&R Block's Small Business Program suite of services.

This partnership is part of H&R Block's services to small businesses to give them a technological edge with the most modern, cloud-based financial management tools. For Xero, partnering with the well-known tax company gives it the opportunity to increase its brand awareness in the U.S. and expand its marketing and sales channel to more small businesses throughout the country.

Xero leads the way in the new wave of cloud-born technology innovators that are re-inventing how small businesses manage their everyday business tasks. Xero offers a modern, design-led customer experience that makes accounting intuitive and even fun for business owners who don't have an accounting background. Ultimately, it gives small businesses a technological edge so they can more effectively compete and grow their businesses.

"Together with H&R Block's well-known brand and established channel, we're able to help improve the financial lives of more small businesses by bringing them the latest cutting-edge financial tools," said Peter Karpas, CEO, Xero North America. "At the same time, we're joining forces to free business owners from the limitations of 1990s-era accounting software that no longer works the way businesses work today in a 24/7, online and mobile world."

Xero Small Business Accounting PlatformXero's small business online accounting platform is easy to use and greatly simplifies once tedious and complicated accounting tasks such as bank reconciliation and invoicing. It gives business owners a real-time, up-to-date view of their cash flow and bank balances so they can make smart business decisions on the spot. Xero is an online platform so users are not chained to their desks or computers as with desktop accounting software. They simply use whichever device they prefer -- their laptop, tablet or smartphone -- to see their real-time cash flow, create and send invoices, as well as share and collaborate on financial reports. To meet the specific needs of different businesses and industries, Xero seamlessly integrates with 300 best-in-class business tools such as Square for taking mobile payments, Harvest for time tracking and Bill.com for streamlining payables, billing and cashflow.

About H&R BlockH&R Block, Inc. (NYSE: HRB) is the world's largest consumer tax services provider. More than 625 million tax returns have been prepared worldwide by and through H&R Block since 1955. In fiscal 2013, H&R Block had annual revenues of $2.9 billion with 24.8 million tax returns prepared worldwide. Tax return preparation services are provided in over 11,000 company-owned and franchise retail tax offices worldwide by professional tax preparers, and through H&R Block digital products. H&R Block Bank provides affordable banking products and services. For more information, visit the H&R Block Newsroom.

About XeroXero is beautiful, easy to use online accounting software for small businesses and their advisors. The company has more than 280,000 paying customers in more than 100 countries around the world. Recently, Xero garnered a "Top Choice" review for Online-Based Business Accounting Apps from PC World. The Xero US team is headquartered in San Francisco. Xero is hosted with Rackspace in Chicago.

Thivaharan Thuraiappah writes: Many business owners swear by the efficiency of Excel and vouch by the fact that they have not had problems with it. There is no doubt that it is a great product to keep complex financial records. But the biggest drawback of Excel is that it is not interactive, which can lead to a host of problems.

Imagine this: an accountant inadvertently moves one decimal point upward in the Excel sheet. Depending on the size of your business, this can snowball into a single account reconciliation that is off by thousands or even millions of dollars. Do you really want to be in such as situation? Why not set aside a few dollars for cloud accounting solution that highlights such errors?

Let’s look at some of the flaws Excel has:

Excel does not provide balance control feature of accounting system as it is only a medium to hold data and not analyze it.
It often creates the problem such as over/understating profits or budget shortfalls. This is mainly because Excel is only as good as the user who is handling it.
There is virtually no way a human error can be checked on Excel as it has no system of notifying error.

Advantages of Cloud Accounting Software

An accounting software employs double-entry accounting method which weed out human errors, giving you more accurate financial records. With the absence of cloud accounting software, accountants are compelled to mail across the newer versions of financial records with every small revision. This proves to be time consuming, tedious and often irritating.

Single Ledger

Such wasteful tasks are completely eliminated when you opt an accounting software. Everyone who has access to this software would see the same information across the board, making this a very efficient tool.

Secure data

Your data also remains secure. You are no longer dependent on the health of your hard disk. Businesses can have devastating effects when financial information is lost due to viruses or computer crash-downs. You are insulated against such risks through cloud accounting as all your data is securely stored in remote servers.

The data communication is also done in a secure manner. There is no chance of financial information theft as all access to information is logged giving you an exact idea of who accessed what.

Timely and accurate information

Cloud accounting software converts data into actionable information, which can be used for business decision making. So, your financial records actually become a source of information rather than a mere requirement for tax purposes.

If you are contemplating a move to a proper accounting system in the cloud but are skeptical about it due to fears about technology, security, or any other concern? It's now time to take action.

You can visit the author Thivaharan Thuraiappah @ LinkedIn here.

Comments:

Jonathan Tutor

Continuous Improvement Engineer
I have literally done all of the things you say you can't do in Excel, in Excel. LinkedIn, why can't we flag articles at advertisements?
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1 day ago
Scott Graham

Director at Kinetic Information Systems
MS Excel was never designed to be an accounting system and hence why it is called a spreadsheet. Perhaps if you want to keep a simple track of your personal finances such as income and outgoing expenses but not proper accounting. For an organisation of any size spreadsheets are highly impractical. It is horses for courses as they say and whether it is onsite or cloud based a “proper” accounting or business solution should be used for any organisation with a turnover over say $200,000.
- Like(3)
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1 day ago
Vic Ricasio

Director, Humanitarian Projects and Development
This article makes it sound as if Excel was a substitute for double entry bookkeeping (manual or software driven) which it is not. But if you wanted to do such a thing (which doesn't make sense) the so called flaws of Excel can be remedied, it is just a question of how creative and automated one wants to be with a spreadsheet. That said, the article is still right when it claims all the virtues of automated accounting if placed in a cloud. But that's because of information technology and data models, something which Excel can also interact with. Could have made your point focusing on the virtues (and drawbacks) of cloud accounting without dragging Excel into it.
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1 day ago
Josh Cutts

Franchise Business Development Manager I SaaS/Cloud Accounting Software I Franchise Workflow Improvements – MYOB
When Cloud Accounting can cost less than $1 a day I don't know why you would waste time with spreadsheets . Your data is more secure in the cloud than on your desktop.
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1 day ago
Ewan van Rensburg

Senior Associate at Grant Thornton LLP
Thivaharan Thuraiappah "Statistics suggest that nearly 88% of [spreadsheets] contain errors". I can believe that, and I'm not arguing with the merit of cloud accounting, but I have to ask: Is it Excel's fault that 88% of spreadsheets contain errors? No. It is a user problem. Will giving that same person a cloud-based accounting app solve that problem? Or will accounting done by small business owners contain errors, regardless of platform? I love the idea of intuitive accounting apps, but I don't think the comments made about Excel are fair. I could very effectively manage a small business using Excel. Your quotes website does not relate to small business spreadsheets. These are mistakes made on far more intricate spreadsheets, and could have been avoided if there were appropriate controls built into the spreadsheet, but these are not the kind of things small business owners will deal with. I really like your idea and would be interested in seeing the product and even promoting it to small business if it works well. I just don't agree with your pitch. Best of luck to you, sir.
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1 day ago
Debra L. Stehly

Product Director, Information Architect ,Government Contracting SME, Cloud Evangelist
Excel is a very amazing TOOL, not an accounting application. Enough said?
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5 hours ago
João Curto

Export Manager looking for new oportunities
cloudon let you change and update directly in the cloud
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1 day ago
Brian Sharkey

I personally prefer Excel because it is/seems safer to me.
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1 day ago
Dennis Plunkett

Fuses operations and technology together creating galvanising projects and effective strategies
I agree Scott, however I have come across too many organsiations that use Excel for just a bout every thing and by default it creeps into the GL and soon is the GL, AR and aging tools too along with some interesting invoicing. Fortunately most do use proper accounting tools, and explore the data using Excel
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1 day ago
C. Yusuf Mumtaz

CEO, FDS Pvt. Ltd. / Director, Apothecare Pvt. Ltd.
This would not be applicable to all companies. This would be dependent on the quality of the internet connectivity that you have (bandwidth, average download speed, uptime performance, etc.).
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1 day ago
Behzod Sabirov

Project Manager/Business Consultant
The focus of the article shouldn't be just about advantages of CLOUD accounting systems. It is either Excel or an Accounting software. For small companies the "cloud" feature may not be the key one, as some accounting systems can be deployed on laptops or desktops, not necessarily on expensive servers. I'd prefer an accouting system (cloud or not) of course. I dont want to waste my many man-hours on creating my own book-keeping program, while there are affordable specialized software in the market
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1 day ago
Sajid Ali

Quotation dept at Pro Marketing Services
his would not be applicable to all companies. This would be dependent on the quality of the internet connectivity that you have (bandwidth, average download speed, uptime performance, etc.).... "The focus of the article shouldn't be just about advantages of CLOUD accounting systems. It is either Excel or an Accounting software. For small companies the "cloud" feature may not be the key one, as some accounting systems can be deployed on"
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1 day ago
Kamran Iqbal

Office Manager at AIMeX
Accounting softwares have reduced the jobs for accountants. Small businesses recruit data entry operators enter sales and expense vouchers and software does the rest. For report generation, he goes to Income Statement, applies date filters and finds the report. On the other hand, someone working in Excel begins from the scratch. He knows the right way to prepare a report. He knows where to start with and where to end up. In short, Excel sharpens the skills of its users and demands expertise. But yes, data analysis in financial decision making is easier in accounting software. For small businesses, who close their books on monthly basis, Excel is fine enough.
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1 day ago
Charlton Chutckhan

Aspiring Chartered Accountant in Development
A system is as good as its users. Yes problems with excel will be at a minimum - if not eliminated, but challenges will arise in the clouds. From an accounting perspective I would think that that a perceive loss would be "preferred" than on in the clouds. . . .poof! Not that I am against it, just saying what about the average user, will they see it the way you do?
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1 day ago
Fimi Fafowora

Helping companies automate their account reconciliations
Excel is a great tool, however it is very prone to human errors. Due to the lack of visibility in excel, errors usually go unnoticed until it is too late. A cloud accounting software, like BlackLine Systems gives real-time visibility to your accounting process. It does not eliminate the need for accountants, however it works with accountants to create a more efficient and seamless close. I am very familiar with accounting software, and would love to answer questions to anyone who has some. Please feel free to contact me, or check out my LinkedIn profile.
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1 day ago
Archimedes Trajano

IT Consultant
Depends on the needs. I used wave accounting for my accounting initially until it turned out to be inflexible to my needs. In the end I just used Excel (well OpenOffice) to do my accounting needs.
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22 hours ago
Kathleen Brown

Bookkeeper-Office Assistant
All good comments. It depends on the size of the business. Cloud accounting software will provide the most detailed analysis of a business' financial strength. Accountants prefer information from an accounting software program.
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22 hours ago
Shane Johnson

Regulatory Compliance Auditor at Ohio Casino Control Commission
The "human element" is a very important factor in the profession. However, mitigating costly mistakes and the time consumption required w/ manual systems can be advantageous. Cloud systems are not going to be perfect, but let's not forget about the importance of efficient and effective business processes and software integration. To the point of software taking the roll of the expert and minimizing the amount of skill required in the position. I would argue that it's more economical to take advantage of such a situation. If you're a business owner, why would you want higher costs for data entry? Alternatively, you could focus the experts time and energy in other areas of need!
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1 day ago
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Thinh Hoang Nhu

Financial Analyst at IFRC Viet Nam
I often use Microsoft FoxPro to calculate, analyze ... instead of using Excel. Just use Excel to do something like create Report templates or calculate simple things.
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14 hours ago
Ruud van der Zwet FC

Widely experienced Finance Director. Driven business partner, professionality based on commitment and empathy
Excel is a great tool, the reliability of models you create with it depend on the user. Only in the event that you want to use a model numerous times you might want to consider creating a standard report in whatever accounting system you use.
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7 hours ago