Why we use Xero (and how it will help your business)

Learn about the features that make the industry-leading accounting software a sensible choice for small businesses. 

Bookkeeping and accounting have moved on. They’re not the abacus-flicking, Excel-tapping pursuits they used to be. The tools bookkeepers and accountants use to manage and analyse accounts are now much more sophisticated. But few have the capabilities of the industry-leading Xero accounting software. 

Specialised accounting software for small businesses

Xero has been developed specifically for small businesses, providing an easy-to-use platform to track your business finances. It is designed to help you to work efficiently with bookkeepers (like ourselves) to manage cashflow and reporting, or our partner accountants to provide in-depth financial advice.

Simplicity is at the heart of Xero with its intuitive interface. One of its best features is its fast and efficient reconciling system, which allows you to connect your business accounts to automatically record and categorise transactions within the software. All you then need to do is check the category is correct, and approve. If you want to change the category, it can be done at the click of a button.

This makes maintaining your financial records as fast and easy as possible. While Xero is extremely simple, it’s also very powerful. Custom and standard reports are designed to help you track and understand the performance of your business, providing a high level of analysis for bookkeepers and accountants to use. 

Integrated invoicing and automation

Features such as integrated invoicing and payment reminders are designed to turn Xero into a one-stop-shop for small business finance. If payment is received it will show as a transaction, if no payment is received within your specified time, a reminder (using wording you choose) can be automatically sent. This saves time and avoids the need to have those awkward conversations with late payers. 

Secure, centralised and collaborative

Xero is a cloud-based software and updates are applied centrally to all users. With all of the data stored in one place and accessible to whoever you nominate as a partner, it’s easy to track how your business is doing and collaborate with your accountant. All changes are visible instantly by all parties and locations accessing the information, which means no delay while waiting for emails back and forth and no version control issues.

Making Tax Digital

In the near future, all businesses will be obliged to provide their accounts digitally to HMRC. Xero is ‘Making tax digital’ ready, ensuring that you will be compliant with systems and information required by HMRC. 

So Xero does everything – why are we paying you?

While Xero provides an overview of your accounts, software can only do so much without expert input to understand the opportunities and challenges presented. For example, Xero allows you to categorise your expenses, and by viewing reports on these categories, we can easily identify where efficiencies can be made.

Additionally, Xero makes our work faster by streamlining workflows and automating otherwise laborious processes. It saves us time, which saves you money, and frees up our time to focus on the in-depth analysis of your accounts. Equally using our services means that you can get on with what you went into business for.

Xero is constantly upgrading and offering improved experiences and services. If you’d like to know more about how we use Xero here at Seofon, get in touch. 

Xero, of course,  is only one of the systems available and we are more than happy to discuss providing help with any others as well.