Xero Overview
What is Xero?
Xero is a cloud-based small business accounting software with tools for managing invoicing, bank reconciliation, inventory, purchasing, expenses, bookkeeping and more. Xero is the alternative to QuickBooks. It’s modern, small business accounting software that lives in the cloud. It’s accessible from any computer or mobile device, making for a smarter and easier accounting process.
Beautiful design
The Xero dashboard presents users with a clear and concise overview of their financial situation. It provides small business owners with a greater understanding of their cashflow by highlighting bank balances, outstanding invoices, upcoming bills and expense claims in a visually appealing way.
Connects with 500+ business apps
Xero integrates with a variety of third-party apps commonly used by small businesses. Data flows directly into the Xero ledger, removing the time and effort required for manual data entry.
Simple bank reconciliation
Daily bank and credit card transactions are automatically imported into Xero and matched to their corresponding accounting transaction. Doing bank reconciliation is as easy as confirming the match is corrected and clicking “OK.”
Free unlimited users
Every Xero plan comes with unlimited users. No need to pay for extra licenses. Collaborate with colleagues or invite financial advisor to view data remotely and get valuable real-time advice!
Seamless, automatic updates
New features are added frequently based on feedback from our customers. Automatic updates occur every 3–6 weeks in the cloud, not on desktop.
Unlimited email support
Xero provides unlimited, around-the-clock email support from an experienced and knowledgeable staff.
Convert from QuickBooks and Sage
Xero will convert QuickBooks and Sage data for free when users sign up for a new account.
Xero Overview
Pricing
Pricing options
Starter: $20/month
Standard: $30/month
Premium: $40/month
Xero Features
Screenshots
Xero Reviews
Xero Reviews
Affordable professional level accounting software for small business
It's been easier to use Xero than I expected, but I had a nasty surprise at tax time when I realized the default accounts/descriptions for expenses did not correlate 1:1 to IRS categories. (I should have checked this more closely when I set up my accounts because it's a New Zealand company, and the previous product was local.) This means I will need to double-check all my transactions for 2018 and the IRS has my vastly overestimated tax payment until I can do that and file my return on an extension.
I've had a much better experience importing data from financial institutions because Xero uses a well-known importing service that is trusted by the institutions.
I like being able to match multiple invoices to bank deposits because I usually don't run to the bank for each check. This will be more valuable as my company grows.
I should probably find an accountant to assist me with this, but I haven't found an accountant who understands both craft businesses and Xero.
Accounting Software Design for the Business Owner
Xero give me, an accountant, a tool to provide my clients with that effectively gives them a tool for keeping their daily records in an orderly fashion make my job easier at the end of each month.
Absolutely love Xero
Xero has allowed us to get a real, detailed view on the financial situation within our company from one place. With a comprehensive setup, it can provide real value from day one.
ACCOUNTANT WARNING DO NOT PARTNER - I was 2nd partner in Canada not a smart move heres why!
You are not in business if you do not use Xero
Excellent
A few features I would love to have, but frankly the price and features are excellent. Makes it so easy to start a business.
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Affordable professional level accounting software for small business
Pros
Professional double entry software at a very affordable price
Accommodates both cash and accrual accounting
Links to financial institutions to get transactions
Uses standard importer recognized by the financial institutions instead of just trying to log in remotely (and triggering fraud alerts)
Can match multiple invoices to a single deposit transaction imported from bank
Can keep using Xero as company grows
Cons
Pre-existing expense categories/descriptions don't map 1:1 with IRS definitions, so I'm having to go back to all my receipts to make sure expenses are entered in proper accounts because I didn't realize this when I switched
More difficult to focus on specific expense categories to check transactions
Have not been able to import historic data from previous app (possibly because it's not double entry) so I am still paying the subscription on that software to retain access to my data
No integration with Craftybase, so I have to enter supply purchases and customer invoices there independently
Accounting Software Design for the Business Owner
Xero give me, an accountant, a tool to provide my clients with that effectively gives them a tool for keeping their daily records in an orderly fashion make my job easier at the end of each month.
Pros
Xero have been designed to be used by non-account business folks. However, once the data has been listed an accountant has a great tool to use to finish the company financial records (Monthly, Quarterly & Annually). It is also priced at a rate that works for most business owners.
Cons
I really do not know of any areas within the software that I can list as "Least" liked. I do not know of any significant problems which I believe need correcting.
Absolutely love Xero
Xero has allowed us to get a real, detailed view on the financial situation within our company from one place. With a comprehensive setup, it can provide real value from day one.
Pros
Xero has transformed our financial management and provides us with all the real time data we could imagine, and where it lacks, integrations take over. While more "accountancy" friendly than some of the more simple products, once you work with your accountants to get this right, you won't regret it. The detail, features and holistic approach to managing company finances means that we are using this every day and with pleasure.
Cons
The interface is being updated, and it is needed as it is a little old fashioned in its design. That said, it is clean and clear and otherwise we love everything about Xero.
ACCOUNTANT WARNING DO NOT PARTNER - I was 2nd partner in Canada not a smart move heres why!
Pros
Not much to say here anymore, they pretty much used to be good and totally lost faith.
Cons
As an accounting firm I would be very cautious with using Xero or recommending it to clients. Outside of Xero billing for things that were supposed to be free, which after complaining they claim they will reconcile but I had to threaten with a lawyer to get that reaction. As an accounting firm it is a very risky move to partner with the Xero software platform. As a firm Your clients will know your using Xero and as a result will likely start to follow Xero using social media. When this happen your clients will receive advertisements about other Accounting firms partnered with Xero. The problem isn’t that you will loose your clients, but this makes you look really bad in front of your clients that you are recommending a software that recommends other accountants outside your firm. This actually happened to me in Canada, and the response of the Canadian Xero team was simply that they didn’t intend on these promotions to be received by the clients of my firm. They didn’t care, they didn’t apologize, they didn’t even acknowledge what they did was wrong, it was evident that they prioritized their growth over their existing partners, at least in Canada. Even The Canadian director of Xero comments where limited to telling me ” I understand that you need to make important decisions in the best interest of your firm”. To me this was a clear message that he doesn’t care. As a small business the software was historically leading, recently, many clients are having issues logging in
You are not in business if you do not use Xero
Excellent
A few features I would love to have, but frankly the price and features are excellent. Makes it so easy to start a business.
Pros
Pretty, easy to use.
Love the bank reconciliation and VAT and PAYE submission.
Love being able to quickly generate P&L and Balance Sheets.
Cons
A few rough edges especially in allocating payments, inherited I think from originally trying to abstract away the accounting functionality.
The UK Payroll feature can get complex, but frankly not sure how they can make it any easier.
Miss an easy way of generating a remittance advice when paying .
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Xero Pricing
Xero Pricing
Starter: $20/month
Standard: $30/month
Premium: $40/month
Starter: $20/month
Standard: $30/month
Premium: $40/month
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Xero Features
Xero Features
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Categories
Categories
Videos and Tutorials
Videos and Tutorials
Additional information for Xero
Additional information for Xero
Key features of Xero
- Access control
- Ad hoc reporting
- Assignment management
- Auto-matching
- Automated scheduling
- Automatic backup
- Automatic updates
- Balance sheet
- Bank reconciliation - auto import & code transactions
- Billing & invoicing
- Budgeting
- Bulk imports
- Business analysis
- Business asset tracking
- Business performance analysis
- Cash coding
- Cash flow management
- Cashflow forecasts
- Charting
- Check printing
- Contact history
- Contact management
- Convert from QuickBooks
- Credit card processing
- Currency conversion
- Customer & supplier tracking
- Customer database
- Customer history
- Customizable branding
- Customizable reporting
- Customizable templates
- Dashboard - see bank balances, sales & bills
- Data import
- Data import/export
- Data security
- Depreciation & disposal
- Depreciation calculation
- Depreciation tracking
- Document approval
- Document management
- Document storage
- Document templates
- Drag & drop interface
- Electronic payments
- Email integration
- Email templates
- Expense claims
- Expense tracking
- File & transaction storage
- Files attachments
- Financial management
- Financial reporting
- Fixed asset management
- Free, unlimited email support
- General ledger
- Goal setting / tracking
- Inter-company funds transfers
- Inventory management
- Inventory tracking
- Invoice management
- Invoice processing
- Invoicing - create and send invoices automatically
- Keyboard shortcuts
- Manual journals
- Mobile apps (iPhone, iPad, Android)
- Mobile integration
- Monitoring
- Multi-currency
- Order confirmation
- Order management
- Order tracking
- Pay bills
- PayPal & Stripe payments
- Payment processing
- Payroll management
- Permission management
- Price management
- Profit / loss statement
- Progress tracking
- Purchase order management
- Quick & easy 1099s
- Quote management
- Real time data
- Real time reporting
- Receipt management
- Receive bills electronically
- Recurring billing
- Reimbursement management
- Repeating journals
- Retail inventory management
- Sales & spending monitoring
- Sales tax management
- Search functionality
- Smart lists
- Status tracking
- Stock management
- Template management
- Third party integration
- Transaction history
- Watch list
Benefits
GetApp Analysis
GetApp Analysis
Xero is an online accounting software suite that utilizes a modern cloud network to fully accommodate the complete range of accounting needs. The app allows you to coordinate and manage all financial processes within an easy to use platform, accessible from all internet-enabled devices.
The software is geared towards small to medium-sized businesses looking to increase their accounting efficiency while at the same time adding a little fun to the process. The app also serves as a remote collaboration and advisory platform for accounting professionals, eliminating the need for client visits and unnecessary paperwork.
The user-friendly dashboard transforms the resource draining and time-consuming tasks of transaction monitoring, bill paying, invoice issuing, purchase order creation and expenses management - to name a few - into enjoyable activities that support accountants in their daily tasks and free-up business owners to get more out of their limited time. Xero also provides payroll management for users, customers or businesses in the US and Australia.
What is Xero?
Xero’s main purpose is to transform the accounting processes into a more efficient and enjoyable experience for small business owners and their accountants. The app succeeds in doing this by allowing all team members concerned in financial operations to connect to the company’s financial database via their desktop computers, laptops and mobile devices. This enables all stakeholders and the company accountant to track, collaborate on, and complete accounting tasks from home or on the go.
The benefits of using Xero to manage your accounting activity are evident in the enhanced accessibility of financial data, the collaboration opportunities, the transparent pricing and processes, and the unburdening of time and human resources.
Using Xero, small businesses who previously relied on spreadsheets, messy paperwork and dispersed files to manage their balance sheets, can rest in the knowledge that their financial data is more accurate and up-to-date than ever.
Xero Main Features
Bank Reconciliation
All financial transactions are automatically imported into the Xero database and linked to the corresponding accounting transactions. All the user has to do in order to confirm that the match is correct, is to press the “OK” button and the transaction will be reconciled in the system. Users who need to import feeds from more bank accounts, credit cards and PayPal accounts, will be happy to know that Xero can do this in a few minutes.
Xero also lets you reconcile more complex transactions, such as split payments, by defining your own custom rules. Furthermore, this feature includes fast cash coding, providing the ability to import and automatically reconcile pre-coded bank statements. This is the perfect tool for reconciling large numbers of transactions and for importing data from other systems.
Dashboard
The Xero dashboard is where business owners can get a complete picture of their key accounts, income and expense reports, upcoming bills and pending invoices. This feature provides a valuable overview that gives users a clear understand of all their company’s financial activities in a glance. Moreover, certain accounts can be watch-listed and monitored in greater detail by enabling notifications.
The layout of the dashboard makes it easy to use and navigate, while the intuitive graphs provide a visual understanding of key data that helps users compare account activity in a more tangible way. The dashboard not only displays data, it also allows you to perform tasks such as adding accounts, bills and issuing invoices by clicking on the corresponding buttons.
Invoicing
Xero’s invoicing system forms an important part of the accounting suite letting you generate and customize professionally branded invoices. The customization options include the addition of your company’s logo, foreign currency conversion, and the ability to save different templates to be used for separate clients.
The online invoicing system can issue invoices for payments that come from PayPal accounts, bank transfers or credit cards, with no country-related exceptions. One of the key features of Xero’s invoicing tool is the notification system that alerts you when your invoice has been opened by the recipient, eliminating any confusion over “lost invoices”.
If the payee is based in a foreign country and using a different currency, Xero will undertake the task of automatically converting the invoice into the currency used by the client. This means that you never have to worry about calculating exchange rates. Xero covers over 160 currencies and automatically updates exchange rates every hour.
Add-On Marketplace
There are many activities related to running a small business outside of bookkeeping and accounting, however most of these activities are interlinked in some way. Many small businesses already use a number of other systems such as CRMs, inventory management tools, time trackers, receipt scanners and so forth. Importing all this data from multiple apps to Xero can seem like a daunting task, however this is made hassle-free through the some 500 plus add-ons offered on the Xero Marketplace.
The marketplace provides easy navigation and search options that let users find what they are looking for fast. Add-ons are listed across 15 horizontal categories and 11 industry verticals. The Xero Marketplace is your one-stop source for all integration needs, with seamless integration offered between Xero and any app you sign-up for on the marketplace.
Automatic Updates
For a system that holds strictly private information in the cloud, it is of the utmost importance to remain secure and impenetrable by hackers and other malevolent attackers. Xero developers are perfectly aware of this potential security threat and for this reason provide a dedicated security team whose job it is to keep your data safe on a daily basis.
As users go about their daily business, the Xero team are busy providing constant improvements to their service, adding small adjustments and new features on a constant basis. New features are added every 3-6 weeks to ensure that the efficiency of the app and your user experience are always at the most optimal level.
Xero Integrations
Integrations is an area that Xero has covered one hundred percent. As a business owner running multiple apps, having the ability to have your apps speak to each other is fundamental. For this reason, the Xero Marketplace is a stroke of genius.
The Marketplace offers an ever growing list of more than 500 add-ons categorized by the business needs they serve. Some of the most popular of these add-ons include: Bill.com, Constant Contact, Square, Squarespace, Zen Payroll, Stitch Labs, Kabbage, and BodeTree.
Further popular add-ons include: Harvest, Batchbook CRM, Vend, Evernote, PayPal, Xpenditure, Expensify, Unleashed, WorkflowMax, Spotlight, Magento, Podio, Eventbrite, Infusionsoft, and Receipt Bank.
Xero Pricing
Xero’s pricing plans differ according to region. Prospective users should consult the official pricing page of the corresponding Xero website for their location. In general, Xero is offered through 3 different plans. The most basic is the “Starter” plan that costs $9 per month and is limited to five invoices, five bills and 20 bank transactions.
The next plan is the “Standard” package that costs $30 per month and offers an unlimited number of invoices, bills and transactions.The “Premium” plan, costing $70 per month in total, supports multi-currency transactions and is thereby aimed at businesses that have multi-national clients and collaborators. A 30-day free trial of the “Starter” pack is available.
Xero Bottom Line
- Carry out and collaborate on all accounting and bookkeeping tasks from any internet-enabled device
- Integrate with your existing applications through the Xero Marketplace - offering over 500 add-ons.
- Generate insightful financial reports and view all financial activity through a KPI dashboard
- Easy to use, intuitive interface with clear navigation
- Mobile application for accounting and collaboration on the go
Xero FAQs
Xero FAQs
Below are some frequently asked questions for Xero.
Q. What type of pricing plans does Xero offer?
Xero offers the following pricing plans:
Starting from: $20.00/month
Pricing model: Subscription
Free Trial: Available
Starter: $20/month Standard: $30/month Premium: $40/month
Q. What are the main features of Xero?
Xero offers the following features:
- Access control
- Ad hoc reporting
- Assignment management
- Auto-matching
- Automated scheduling
- Automatic backup
- Automatic updates
- Balance sheet
- Bank reconciliation - auto import & code transactions
- Billing & invoicing
- Budgeting
- Bulk imports
- Business analysis
- Business asset tracking
- Business performance analysis
- Cash coding
- Cash flow management
- Cashflow forecasts
- Charting
- Check printing
- Contact history
- Contact management
- Convert from QuickBooks
- Credit card processing
- Currency conversion
- Customer & supplier tracking
- Customer database
- Customer history
- Customizable branding
- Customizable reporting
- Customizable templates
- Dashboard - see bank balances, sales & bills
- Data import
- Data import/export
- Data security
- Depreciation & disposal
- Depreciation calculation
- Depreciation tracking
- Document approval
- Document management
- Document storage
- Document templates
- Drag & drop interface
- Electronic payments
- Email integration
- Email templates
- Expense claims
- Expense tracking
- File & transaction storage
- Files attachments
- Financial management
- Financial reporting
- Fixed asset management
- Free, unlimited email support
- General ledger
- Goal setting / tracking
- Inter-company funds transfers
- Inventory management
- Inventory tracking
- Invoice management
- Invoice processing
- Invoicing - create and send invoices automatically
- Keyboard shortcuts
- Manual journals
- Mobile apps (iPhone, iPad, Android)
- Mobile integration
- Monitoring
- Multi-currency
- Order confirmation
- Order management
- Order tracking
- Pay bills
- PayPal & Stripe payments
- Payment processing
- Payroll management
- Permission management
- Price management
- Profit / loss statement
- Progress tracking
- Purchase order management
- Quick & easy 1099s
- Quote management
- Real time data
- Real time reporting
- Receipt management
- Receive bills electronically
- Recurring billing
- Reimbursement management
- Repeating journals
- Retail inventory management
- Sales & spending monitoring
- Sales tax management
- Search functionality
- Smart lists
- Status tracking
- Stock management
- Template management
- Third party integration
- Transaction history
- Watch list
Q. Who are the typical users of Xero?
Xero has the following typical customers:
Freelancers, Non Profit, Small Business
Q. What languages does Xero support?
Xero supports the following languages:
English
Q. What type of pricing plans does Xero offer?
Xero has the following pricing plans:
Subscription
Q. Does Xero support mobile devices?
Xero supports the following devices:
Android, iPhone, iPad
Q. What other apps does Xero integrate with?
Xero integrates with the following applications:
Capsule, Entryless, FIVE CRM, Loc8, Payment Evolution, ProWorkflow, Receipt Bank, TriggerApp, Vend, WORKetc
Q. What level of support does Xero offer?
Xero offers the following support options:
Forum, Knowledge Base, Online Support, Video Tutorials
It's been easier to use Xero than I expected, but I had a nasty surprise at tax time when I realized the default accounts/descriptions for expenses did not correlate 1:1 to IRS categories. (I should have checked this more closely when I set up my accounts because it's a New Zealand company, and the previous product was local.) This means I will need to double-check all my transactions for 2018 and the IRS has my vastly overestimated tax payment until I can do that and file my return on an extension.
I've had a much better experience importing data from financial institutions because Xero uses a well-known importing service that is trusted by the institutions.
I like being able to match multiple invoices to bank deposits because I usually don't run to the bank for each check. This will be more valuable as my company grows.
I should probably find an accountant to assist me with this, but I haven't found an accountant who understands both craft businesses and Xero.