Xero is an accounting software solution designed to provide reliable data, extra security measures and a smart online accounting platform. It’s catered for a wide array of business types but most importantly, it assists small businesses in controlling their numbers and finances.
Examples of businesses that benefit from this solution are as follows: retail, high-tech, cafes, start-ups, eCommerce, healthcare, farming and more.
This solution comes with a variety of powerful features—all catered to lessen the burden for small businesses when it comes to managing their numbers. With Xero, they can expect their bookkeeping practices to be done faster, to be more confident in their data and to add more integrations to your software.
Not only does it provide them with a feature-rich interface but it provides a stable and reliable connection with their trusted advisers. This gives them optimized visibility and insightful data when it comes to their financial position.
Most accounting solutions are created with specifications but Xero works for small businesses regardless of their industry. It offers a user-friendly and intuitive platform to understand complex financial concepts and seamlessly integrate with more than 800 smart business applications.
Businesses can now work with platforms that provide time tracking, CRM and inventory options.
Xero Features
Xero offers users multiple features in its interface, including:
Invoicing
With this feature, you can create and send professional and recurring invoices. Once a customer has received their invoices, they can immediately pay you for your services. With personalized and professional invoices, you can customize the overall feel and look of your templates to match with item listings.
Additionally, you can expect extra security measures with online invoices. It’s not the same as PDF files attached to emails. What you’ll have is an invoice where editing is limited. Each invoice you send out is recorded, lessening the chances of scams and frauds. You can even have a two-step authentication process to defend against unauthorised access.
Inventory
Since you’ll be providing services and products, it’s best to keep a close eye on your inventory items. Xero provides inventory management features, making it easier to track your supplies, identify which products are most profitable and save more time with bulk imports. Xero’s inventory management tools help manage stocks and keep tabs on the quantity and value of your stock levels.
Dashboard
The dashboard is one of the features you’ll be using every day. It provides a quick breakdown of your numbers and finances. The most important information is highlighted in a simple and easy-to-navigate cloud-based dashboard. With this feature, you can stay on top of your cash flow, view information about bank accounts and credit card information, follow up on the invoices you’ve sent and monitor your overall spending.
Reporting
When it comes to small businesses, critical business decisions must be made every day. To ensure you’re always making the right one, you can make use of Xero’s financial reporting tools.
This feature allows you to view and share interactive reports with your team, tailor these reports according to the type of industry you have and keep track of your growing progress. Details about your performance, bank transactions and budget plans can be exported into PDFs or spreadsheets.
Xero Benefits
Xero offers its users many benefits, including:
Mobile application
Since Xero has a mobile application, you can do business anytime and anywhere. As long as you have internet connection, you can have easy access to your data and consistently check them. You can also create and send invoices from your phone. This keeps you updated regarding bank transactions and the cash workflow of your business.
Financial advising
If you’re in need of financial advisors such as accountants and bookkeepers, then you can rely on Xero to discover them for you. Depending on your industry, you can ask for assistance from different fields, such as professional services, marketing, retail, manufacturing and real-estate. The advisors listed in Xero have been trained and have at least eight clients. They have the necessary experience and knowledge to provide valuable business insights.
Time-saving software solution
With online invoicing, you get paid faster by your customers and clients. You’ll be notified once they’ve received them, making it more efficient than simply waiting for them to pay you. This isn’t just limited to online invoices, as all bank transactions are imported and coded automatically by the system. This helps you stay on top of your bills and gives you visibility over your financial position.
Additionally, since Xero provides smart reconciliation, what you’ve entered the system will instantly reflect in your bank accounts. This lessens the burden and time spent in ensuring each transaction is accurate. You can also minimize the probability of financial fraud, since details involving a list of performed actions, manual notes, dates and users are filled as well.
Xero Pricing
Xero has three pricing packages made available for its users. These packages cover the essentials and includes payments, invoicing, bank feeds, reporting and budgeting. If you’re not satisfied with your current clan, you’re more than welcome to channel or switch subscriptions within a month’s notice. All the plans have a 30-day free trial.
Starter
Priced at $20.00 per month, the Starter plan helps you get started in your small business. If you have issues and problems in handling your finances and managing invoices, then you can use this plan. It lets you send a maximum of five invoices and quotations per month. You can also enter bills, making it easier to keep track of the bills, schedule bill payments and conduct batch payments to your suppliers.
Additionally, this plan allows for a maximum of 20 per month of reconciliation in bank transactions. This helps you keep track of your transactions more. You can also add Xero projects, which helps you track the time and money you’ve spent on your jobs.
The starting month is priced at $7.00 per user. If you want to add more users or months, then you’re charged $5.00.
You can also add Xero Expenses, which lets you use insights and tools in tracking, assigning and managing expense claims. This is priced at $4.00 per user.
Standard
Considered as the most popular plan, Standard is priced at $30.00 per month. No monthly limitations are applied to your features, as compared to the previous plan. You can now send invoices and quotations to ensure a healthy cash flow between you and your customers. This solution also lets you enter bills, ensuring better tracking and scheduling. Lastly, Xero Projects and Xero Expenses are priced the same with the previous package.
Premium
The last plan charges users for $40.00 per month. It has all the features found in the last two subscription plans. Your invoicing and bank transactions are no longer limited by month.
You can still add Xero Projects and Xero Expenses as well. However, what makes this plan different from the previous ones is its ability to handle multiple currencies. This helps you automatically track invoices, gains and losses. You can also accept payments from different currencies.
Conclusion
At the end of the day, if you’re looking for an accounting software to not only provide powerful tools in online invoicing and inventory management but also provide valuable insight in your business, then consider Xero as a viable option. Its setup is easy to navigate, taking away the burden of managing hundreds of records and simplifying the reconciliation process. It offers a dashboard where you can view and monitor the company’s billing. This comes with interactive charts and graphs to effectively understand the data.
