If you are considering a move to Xero, but are researching the other possibilities, then this post will help you.
These days, the first decision when deciding on bookkeeping software is Cloud vs Desktop.
So let’s start with Desktop
There are many good desktop software products out there that will probably work for your business. However, since the introduction of Cloud Bookkeeping, these products are becoming outdated and present two main, and very important, disadvantages for your business:
- Lack of accessibility
Desktop bookkeeping software is software that sits on the PC of the person that does your books. Maybe your bookkeeper keeps this on their laptop, or maybe it’s on a PC locked away in an office they use on your premises. Either way, you have no access to it.
Your business figures are far more important than for just filing VAT returns. They are the key to understanding your business and if you have no access to them, then you are missing an opportunity.
- Desktop bookkeeping is slow
The process of desktop bookkeeping involves a number of man hours, with much of the work having to be done manually, thus creating a cost to you and your business – whether that be the amount of money you are paying your bookkeeper, or the hours that you are spending doing the work, which could be better spent generating new business or having a well-earned rest!
So why choose Cloud Software?
Cloud bookkeeping has a huge advantage over desktop software……it is accessible to you 24/7. It gives you the ability to log on from wherever you wish, whenever you wish, and to easily share information with your team, your bookkeeper and your accountant.
In addition, we have found that Cloud Bookkeeping can be around 50% faster than desktop bookkeeping, thanks to the simplified and intuitive processes.
But beware, not all cloud software is the same. Most of the cloud bookkeeping software available are just watered down versions of desktop software. This is especially true where the desktop company has released its own online version, probably because they see the cloud as a fad or a threat to their existing profitable business and need to keep up.
In our opinion, there is only one cloud software you should be using and that is Xero. All others pale in comparison.
What’s so good about Xero?
We believe www.xero.com is by far the best software on the market because it has some killer features such as:
With desktop software you have to key in the data manually, line by line. However, Xero links with the bank and this means the bank is uploaded each night. The transactions appear as if by magic.
If you don’t want to link it to the bank, you can import the information just as quickly.
But imagine how much time you can save by not having to input this info into a software package line by line, together with the potential reduction in error when copying it over. Or the amount you could save from not paying a bookkeeper for unnecessary work to be completed!
This also has the added benefit of being able to update your books more frequently – not having to wait until your statement arrives – giving you better access to your financial data.
With desktop software you have to painstakingly, manually match each item against the relevant receipt or invoice and, only then can you reconcile the bank.
Xero does this for you. If you are happy with what it has done you can say yes to the system, otherwise you can adjust it
If you say ‘Yes’ to 80% of the transactions, this has just cut down the work by 80%.
If you frequently go into Costa for a coffee, or to Shell for your fuel, Xero remembers this, automatically posting it to the correct code and claiming VAT. Again, all you have to do is tell it ‘Okay.’
This intelligence speeds up the whole process, whereas your desktop software requires you to input the same information repeatedly.
There are numerous ways in which Xero is smart and saves you time – you can easily correct errors, copy invoices, pre-fill invoices, email invoices directly to clients and send statements.
Without these features your bookkeeping is like death by a thousand cuts. On their own they may only save seconds or minutes, but put together they will save hours.
If you don’t do your own bookkeeping, then these features may have washed over you a little bit. Here are some real life examples to show how these features have saved real business owners time and money.
Real Life Example 1
We recently worked with a property developer who had amassed 84 rental properties. He had a nightmare figuring out who had paid their rent, who was overdue and managing all the costs related to this. He kept a spreadsheet and spent about 30 hours a month reconciling it.
With Xero we automated everything.
Now every month, Xero raises an invoice for each tenant, the due date on the invoice is when the rent is due in, and when the payment comes in it is automatically matched against the invoices.
Now the landlord can get a report to show who hasn’t paid the invoice and chase those debts within days. Plus, he has saved time because reconciling these now takes seconds, rather than the hours it used to take with the spreadsheet.
The result of using Xero is: Better information + Saved Time + Better Control = SAVED MONEY
Real Life Example 2
Our client had a turnover of £1 million. He used to employ a bookkeeper which cost him £800 a month. She kept Sage on her laptop and he had no access to the figures and therefore no idea of how profitable he was.
He outsourced to us and we put him on Xero. He now pays £300 a month, a saving of £5,000 per annum, plus he has the bonus of having access to all his figures wherever he is in the world.
He has a better grasp of his figures now than he would ever have had before.
In addition, we introduced him to the joys of Xero Add-ons which is another cloud software that links into Xero. He has now got a CRM – Customer Relationship Management – database linking into Xero.
Real Life Example 3
A client of ours has over 3,000 receipts a month from the hosting plans which he sells.
The values of each of these receipts range from £20 – £50.
Before Xero and our help, he used to manually post 3,000 transactions.
This, along with his other manual processing, took him and his team about one week per month.
We used Xero and set up rules so that all of these payments are automatically coded to the correct place.
This has saved him 5 1/2 days a month.
Xero plays well with others.
Xero also has an API – Application Programming Interface; which means it can be connected to other software.
How does this help?
Imagine two businesses with online web shops, one uses Xero with its linked API, and the other does not.
In the shop with Xero, every time an item is sold via the shop, an invoice (receipt) is raised and posted in Xero. When the customer pays, the information is posted via the bank or PayPal into Xero. The only thing the user has to do is reconcile, which Xero has made very easy to do.
The other business has to manually raise the invoice in their bookkeeping software, manually key in the bank information, and manually reconcile. This massively increases the chance of error, reduces the ability of the business to scale, and worst of all, takes up unnecessary time.
The time savings that can be made by having a connected business (demonstrated in this example), work for all kinds of businesses – businesses with CRM databases, physical EPOS systems, people who run a business with timesheets, garages, property companies. The list goes on. Xero has a host of Add-on partners that it works with to provide solutions to common problems.
All of this adds up to savings in time and of course, money.
Apart from the reasons above, here are another five reasons why businesses choose Xero:
Here are the popular features that will change your life:
Don’t just take our word for it – here are some of the testimonials from our Xero customers
All so easy to deal with, got us up and running and with the Xero cloud bookkeeping facility at our fingertips, we can see where we are at, anytime from anywhere. Thanks Will & Team.
Xero has helped us to make sure I have the right information at the right time.
This is how software should work.
If you are going to do something, get the best software possible to do it.
So unlimited users, unlimited upgrades and the best, most intuitive, software for your business that will save you thousands – surely it must cost a fortune?
Well, in fact it doesn’t. It costs just £22 a month.
We are Kent’s Xero Experts
We discovered Xero 5 years ago and have made it our business to become Kent’s Xero Experts. We consider ourselves Xero Accountants and Xero Trainers.
We love it because it allows us to manage our client base how they should be managed.
We are now certified Xero Trainers and have trained 100’s of business owners, accountants and bookkeepers on how to get the best out of the software.
To see how we can help you on your Xero journey click here: http://www.accsysltd.co.uk/xero-services/
