Item: Xero
Rating: 10
Author: Kelvin Leong

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I have a number of businesses that use Xero. For NonCam.com, we handle loads of multi-currency sales and payments to suppliers from different payment gateways. Accounting with other software used to be a huge hassle in terms of transaction reconciliation, but Xero makes this a breeze. Tasks that used to take hours now take minutes, and it is significantly much easier. The automated transaction matching, bank feeds, invoicing, the bill payments feature are among the most used features for my team.

Pros and Cons

Bank feeds from banks are consistent and reliable.
"Smart" transaction matching is a huge time-saver.
Turns anyone capable enough to do basic accounting data-entry/processing.
Very easy flow and terminologies, yet remaining true to accounting core.
Multiple modes for users of varying levels.

Raw API integration is largely difficult to work with, but will probably only affect a small group of power users.
More integration points in terms of task automation could be good.
Price point is good for larger businesses but a little painful for smaller businesses.

Return on Investment

Reduce errors with data entry with multiple checks.
Ability to onboard inexperienced staff into accounting.
Better picture of overall business financials.

Alternatives Considered

Kashflow, Wave Accounting and QuickBooks Online

The ease of use and feature sets are miles apart from the competition. The alternatives that I have compared Xero with are just years away from dozens of features which makes a user's life much easier. The competition's localizations are still very far apart, and the terminologies vary very much from local accounting practices, too.

Usability

Perfect accounting software. Couldn't ask for more, and couldn't be better. Well thought out from onboarding to day-to-day usage in close to every aspect of business needs. I use it for one-man businesses all the way to companies that have close to a hundred employees with thousands of transactions and it works perfectly.

Cloud Costs

Immediate deployment with zero setup experience is required by the user. Flexibility to change packages and addon features depending on the use-case of each company as it grows along the way. Deployment and maintenance is no longer a worrying point, unlike other on-premise systems which are much more clunky to operate.

Ease of Integration

Most of the integrations with third parties are rather common already and either available from the third party or via the marketplace. There are just thousands and thousands of other SaaS which are integrated into Xero and the ecosystem as a whole makes it a breeze to manage, whatever the scale of your business is.

Key Insights

Do you think Xero delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Xero's feature set?

Yes

Did Xero live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Xero go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Xero again?

Yes

Other Software Used

Kashflow, Wave Accounting, QuickBooks Online

Likelihood to Recommend

High transaction volumes e-commerce retailers who want to keep track of their transactions with integrations to other platforms such as WooCommerce, Shopify, etc. You don't need a whole accounting team anymore, this takes the bulk of the pain with accounting away. Definitely recommended at the top of my own list.

Best Accounting Software for Businesses of All Sizes

Overall Satisfaction with Xero