Xero Accounting Review Cloud-Based Books Updated 2023

Another page dedicated to short-term cash flow charts out how future bills and invoices can affect your bank balance over the next week or month. With Xero, you can add an unlimited number of users to your account at each subscription level. This is a notable feature for accounting software; often, lower-tier plans allow fewer users while only higher-tier plans allow unlimited users. After you start a free 30-day trial of Xero, you’ll activate the account and provide details about your business. Then, you can connect your bank accounts to Xero and decide if you’ll accept electronic payments for online invoices. Xero is cloud-based accounting software that packs a real punch when it comes to features and functionality.

• To create a new bill from the “bills” page, you can press the “new bill” button.
• Xero’s report settings are useful and have more customization than QuickBooks Online and FreshBooks.
• The other appeal of the software was that each plan came with unlimited users, access to every Xero feature, and payroll.
• Unlimited users and advanced features make this cloud accounting software platform a good fit for many small businesses.
• We like the side-by-side layout when reconciling transactions because it’s easy to match transactions and spot bank statement items that haven’t yet been recorded.

There are more than a hundred apps available in the Xero App Store. From accountant tools to CRM solutions, it’s easy to integrate Xero with your existing software services. Accounts payable (A/P) management is one of Xero’s strongest features in our evaluation. From vendor creation to recording of payments, Xero can help in keeping your billing system organized. It also has an outstanding PO system to convert POs into bills, track unpaid bills, record e-payments, and apply vendor credits.

Accounting Method

You can also export reports and other data using a CSV file format or through Excel. Xero does not offer payroll in any of its plans, but it does integrate with Gusto for those who need to pay employees. If you’ve xero accounting review built up your contacts and item/service records, creating transactions in Xero is simple. Each template contains the standard fields you’d expect, including quantity, price, discounts, and sales tax status.

For free invoicing platforms, consider Zoho Invoice, Square Invoices or PayPal Invoicing, although these platforms provide fewer capabilities. FreshBooks charges $17 per month and QuickBooks charges $30 per month). However, the best option and price point will depend on the specific capabilities and features you are looking for. Zoho Books’ paid plans all come with free live chat and phone support. Instead, customers can visit the Xero Central support site or raise a case online.

I contacted Xero with a PAYE issue…

Xero accounting software also creates financial reports that you can customize for your needs and style. Xero offers a step-by-step guide to developing and saving reports, which we found helpful for new users. These highly approachable guides reflect Xero’s goal of using everyday language in place of accounting jargon when possible, adding to the platform’s usability. You can also customize your invoices, adding your company logo so outgoing documents match your brand. You can turn on Sales Tax Lookup in the Advanced Settings menu, and the application pulls in the correct rate based on the physical location of the customer. In most other small business accounting software, you have to find the rates yourself and enter them, making Xero much more convenient in this area.

But if you intend to hire external bookkeepers and certified public accountants (CPAs) to handle your business’ accounting, QuickBooks Online is more popular for US accountants and bookkeepers. Xero’s pricing is reasonable compared to accounting software that is designed for much more advanced features, such as Oracle NetSuite, which is a comprehensive ERP platform. Additional bank reconciliation tools that we liked include bulk reconciling and quick bank rule creation. Both of these features give you the power to further streamline your reconciliation.

Xero Review

Xero began its life in New Zealand, but it has grown rapidly since it entered the US market several years ago. Its usability, features, integration options, and network of advisors make it one of the best small-business accounting applications available today. The company has emphasized incorporating machine learning in several areas, making it smarter every year, too. The company has brought in more features since the last time I reviewed the apps, including quotes, purchase orders, and bank reconciliation. Xero Established provides record templates for your company’s products and services with fields for information (price, account, description, and so on) about products you buy and sell. Click the box in front of the Track inventory item field and Xero asks you to choose your Inventory Asset Account.

• Click on Awaiting Payment under Invoices, and a new window opens displaying a table of matching transactions.
• Plans are affordable, starting at $13 per month, but no free plan.
• This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks.
• The support form you have to fill out consists of the subject and topic, your email and the details of your problem.
• Built for the web from the ground up, its double-entry accounting framework supports sales, purchases, bills and expenses, inventory, and payroll.

You can also set whether you’d like to include the tax in the subtotal of your invoice or not. If you have a customer who doesn’t want to be constantly reminded, you have no choice but to turn off the reminder for all of your customers. This is another downside to Xero’s invoicing feature, especially if you have multiple customers with different invoicing policies.

Speaking of profitability, we were especially impressed with Xero’s project profitability tracking tool. You can easily view your project’s profit, cost and invoice amounts, with clear graphics and numbers to simplify your understanding. You’ll also see the value of your time, tasks and expenses, https://bookkeeping-reviews.com/ as well as your time recorded and your profit margin. Plus, when it’s time to shell out the cash for these costs, Xero makes bill pay easier than any other software we reviewed. When you’re paying bills, all it takes is one click and filling out a few fields of payment information.

Xero also grants you access to automatic bank feeds to make sure you have sufficient funds to cover payments. Xero’s excellent project management tools allow you to track the progress of a project while also managing related expenses. Xero also offers basic inventory management so you can track your inventory levels.