Yes for Xero from Yes Accounting
Overall Satisfaction with Xero
We are 100% Xero accountants. Xero is the cornerstone of our small practice. All of our staff are experts in Xero. We have a diverse range of clients, from service, financial, retail, import, public sectors, and manufacturing to name a few.
Xero provides businesses with the the best of class tools combined with add-ons to operate the finances and manage their businesses direction.
Crunchboards, the latest add-on in our portfolio, combines forecasts from scenarios to deliver both historical and projections of business forecast. The forecasts give three way forecasts - profit and loss, cash flow and balance sheet.
Xero provides businesses with the the best of class tools combined with add-ons to operate the finances and manage their businesses direction.
Crunchboards, the latest add-on in our portfolio, combines forecasts from scenarios to deliver both historical and projections of business forecast. The forecasts give three way forecasts - profit and loss, cash flow and balance sheet.
Pros
- Bank feeds reduce data input and reduce errors.
- Expenses can be added on the go via the mobile app.
- Reporting - simple reports, good configurable dashboards keep owners and stakeholders aware of the financial position in seconds. Budgets can easily be created and managed.
- There are over 500 add-ons that streamline seamlessly to Xero. That gives us the confidence we can find the right match of CRM, POS, Time Management or stock control system as necessary.
- Multi Currency is as good as SAP Business 1. That is a real plus for software at this price.
Cons
- Payroll is quick and simple although we are seeing some lag in delivering standard reporting like P11's
- More flexible reporting is being delivered, but this is proving to be a long drawn out process. Currently the new monthly Profit and Loss report cannot deliver totals or YTD figures. The new reporting is more versatile in some cases, but is slower to run. That said, the original reports are still available and are perfectly suitable for most SME's.
- Bank feeds via Yodlee can be problematic. Identifying missing transactions is easy but takes time to identify and import missing transactions. Yodlee is a third party, so this is not strictly Xero's issue.
- Increasingly UK banks offer direct feeds. Most charge a fee of GBP3-3.50 per month for a direct feed. They are more reliable and update automatically. Metro Bank will be a GBP 1.00 per month. Barclays are about to deliver a direct feed. Of course, they will charge at the higher end too. Santander are cheaper but do not support all accounts strangely.
- Xero continues to bring new clients. More and more clients now come to us looking for a Xero implementation. Originally we had to introduce all clients to Xero, so the market place for cloud accounting is certainly gathering pace.
- Our practice works closely with Bills Entryless to streamline paper flow and minimise date input. Clients love this. This delivers great efficiencies with book keeping.
- Our staff creates bank rules and this also creates efficiency.
Four years ago, Xero was the market leader. I had written an article on cloud accounting and compared all of the offerings. I had concerns as Xero was from New Zealand and preferred to use a UK company. However, Xero had more flexibility via its APIs and was, at that time, better than all other products on the market. Our first implementation required a full stock control system. At the time no other web based system had that kind of technology for SMEs.
Xero was designed from the ground up as a web based solution. It has no desktop version that it tries to keep synergies with.
Many new features have been added over the four years. As Silver partners we have what I would call a very good relationship.
Xero has kept pace with the chasing pack.
Xero was designed from the ground up as a web based solution. It has no desktop version that it tries to keep synergies with.
Many new features have been added over the four years. As Silver partners we have what I would call a very good relationship.
Xero has kept pace with the chasing pack.
- 76% to 99% of clients
Xero Feature Ratings
Using Xero
3 - Accounting, book keeping, Payroll, VAT, Year end Accounts, Corporation Tax Returns, Company Secretarial are business functions we perform.
We also create management accounts comprising profit and loss including comparisons to budget, fixed assets and balance sheets.
We supply the management reporting to clients and conduct review meetings monthly or quarterly.
We also create management accounts comprising profit and loss including comparisons to budget, fixed assets and balance sheets.
We supply the management reporting to clients and conduct review meetings monthly or quarterly.
3 - Xero is intuitive. Our staff sit the training for Xero certification. Our staff are good competent book keepers but their familiarity with Xero enables them to have the confidence to provide Xero support for over 90% of the regular questions we receive. They do not need technical know how, simply using the system every day affords them the confidence to provide support.
- Standalone Accounting
- Integration to DEAR Inventory
- Integration to WorkflowMax
- Integration to Vend
- All clients are different in terms of how they wish to receive data. There are a wide range of reporting methods. Reports can be published in Xero or output to Excel or PDF.
- Xero have introduced a basic stock system. We hope we can use this for very simple stock solutions in the future.
Evaluating Xero and Competitors
Yes - Excel, Kashflow, Sage and Quicken
- Price
- Product Features
- Product Usability
- Product Reputation
- Vendor Reputation
- Third-party Reviews
Our first implementation of cloud software needed a strong stock control module. There was an add-in which provided that solution. No other system had this four years ago.
We know we made the right decision four years ago. Xero was the only Cloud Solution with add-ons providing a wide range of flexible options.
Xero Implementation
- Implemented in-house
Change management was minimal
- There were no issues. It was just a question of getting to understand the software which we did get easily.
Xero Support
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Good followup Knowledgeable team Problems get solved Kept well informed No escalation required Immediate help available Support understands my problem Support cares about my success Quick Initial Response | None |
No - We support our clients and feel we have all the knowledge necessary. We sit the Certification Exams and are therefore well placed to support our clients.
Yes - Most recently we picked up a bug in payroll RTI reporting around Director's NI. The response was nearly three weeks although we were informed they were looking into it during that period. The issue, currently remains unresolved and the Alternative Directors NI solution has needed to be applied for the last three months.
That is the only time in four years I have ever had an issue like this ith Xero. Generally, there are no bugs!
That is the only time in four years I have ever had an issue like this ith Xero. Generally, there are no bugs!
When ever I have a serious question that needs an immediate answer my lovely account manager of two years (Sarah Minns) will ensure I get to talk to a specialist in Bank Feeds or Payroll urgently. This is rare however.
Using Xero
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Like to use Relatively simple Easy to use Technical support not required Well integrated Consistent Quick to learn Convenient Familiar | None |
- Drill down of a transaction right down to bank statement line if necessary.
- Payroll really has become less time consuming to process for our clients.
- Bank reconciliations.
- Tracking Codes.
- Configuration.
- Missing bank transactions from Yodlee feeds are the only cumbersome thing. But that is not a software issue. Try and use a direct feed that will be more reliable.
Yes - Very well indeed
Comments
Please log in to join the conversation