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Not the cheapest but a good feature-set
March 11, 2022

Not the cheapest but a good feature-set

Garreth Collard | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Reseller

Overall Satisfaction with Xero

We use Xero.com accounting software for multiple tasks including bank account reconciliation, coding the general ledger and trial balance, producing end-of-financial-year financial statements, for GST returns, business analysis, etc. We don’t use any of the practice management elements.
  • Bank reconciliation.
  • GST returns.
  • Automatic bank feeds.
  • Financial statements.
  • Support is only through email.
  • Outage advisement is poor.
  • Reduced time.
  • Better transparency of data.
Xero was much more user-friendly than the MYOB products. It was also totally online which suited each of our multinational workforces. Later MYOB developed a totally online product but by that time we had moved. To be honest there’s not a lot else in that space in New Zealand. Your next step up is accounting software written for accounting firms e.g. CCH iFirm.
Use of AI to speed up bank reconciliations, good selection of training and YouTube videos, large user base in NZ and Australia, many practitioners are qualified /certified in Xero and using it.
I don’t know if it has saved a lot of money compared to an on-site installation; the costs are probably similar e.g. by the time you pay $3-$5/month per ledger, you can end up paying thousands per month.
It has a good range of third-party integrations - which are not free - but there is no native integration from within Xero with things like Microsoft 365 or Dropbox, etc.

Do you think Xero delivers good value for the price?

Not sure

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

This software as a service is specially designed for the end-user who does not have a lot of accounting experience. It is far more user-friendly and intuitive than other comparable accounting packages. Gradually over time, Xero has built up the backend so that it is more suitable for accounting firms as well.

Xero Feature Ratings

6.8
Accounts payable
10
Accounts receivable
10
Cash management
10
Bank reconciliation
9
Expense management
7
Time tracking
Not Rated
Fixed asset management
10
Multi-currency support
7
Multi-division support
Not Rated
Regulations compliance
4
Electronic tax filing
Not Rated
Self-service portal
3
Global Financial Support
Not Rated
Primary and Secondary Ledgers
Not Rated
Intercompany Accounting
1
Localizations
6
Journals and Reconciliations
8
Enterprise Accounting
Not Rated
Configurable Accounting
4
Centralized Rules Framework
Not Rated
Standardized Processes
Not Rated
Not Rated
Inventory tracking
Not Rated
Automatic reordering
Not Rated
Location management
Not Rated
Manufacturing module
Not Rated
Not Rated
Pricing
Not Rated
Order entry
Not Rated
Credit card processing
Not Rated
Cost of goods sold
Not Rated
Order Orchestration
Not Rated
End-to-end order visibility
Not Rated
Order exception Resolution
Not Rated
7.0
Pay calculation
8
Benefit plan administration
Not Rated
Direct deposit files
7
Salary revision and increment management
Not Rated
Reimbursement management
6
8.0
Dashboards
9
Standard reports
5
Custom reports
10
9.0
API for custom integration
Not Rated
Plug-ins
9
7.0
Role-based user permissions
7
Single sign-on capability
Not Rated

Using Xero

18 - Accounting functions only.
5 - Good IT skills are required but in the online space - for user access issues. To solve Xero's issues, we either used one of our chartered accountants or our certified Xero staff.
  • EOFY financial statements.
  • GST returns.
  • Reporting and projections.
Many clients use this so we need to continue supporting that.

Xero Training

  • in-person training
The format was great; someone was there to ask questions or help if you were stuck.

Xero Support

Support is only available thru the central Xero.com website. There is no way to escalate this and no one you can speak to. That can be frustrating.
ProsCons
None
None
That is not an option.
Yes - They usually tell you to check their status page - which I already had done - and you’ll get no thanks for telling them their software is not working. Sorry does not also seem to be in the vocabulary of support staff.
No. I would love to have a happy little story for this page, but I’ve drawn a blank.

Integrating Xero

  • Eway
  • Gocardless
  • Paypal
  • Zip
Eway: required a manual process. Zip: ditto. Neither were hard but required thinking and carefully following instructions. PayPal and gocardless: easy
If integrations existed we would use them. Microsoft 365 allows contact sync but that’s it
  • File import/export
Research available apps vs competitors during your trial