Item: Xero
Rating: 10
Author: Richard Bondy

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Xero is the overall accounting platform for all Corporate activity. The strength is the integration to other required apps. Payroll, expense management, quarterly tax preparation and submission are all easily integrated into the necessary accounts. Other than a part time bookkeeper, there really is no need for further internal staff. Xero is reviewed by an external accounting firm and the effort is minimal to reconcile on a monthly basis. The dashboard layout is simple to customize and use - in short, meets all accounting requirements in one place.

Pros and Cons

Integrate Wagepoint payroll system
Integrate MileIQ mileage expense system
Integrate Dext expense management system
Simple bank account integration - upload bank accounts and reconcile quickly with automated suggestions

Working with historical Chart of Accounts is sometimes tricky, should be able to search by input as opposed to simply a timeline

Return on Investment

Our firm requires less than 30 minutes a month to reconcile 4 bak accounts
We typically have monthly expenses that are direct billed to end customers, this is "no touch" managed properly within the account ledger. Previous system required manual intervention
Works in multiple currency easily

Usability

I do not fret about any accounting process or book keeping. My accounting firm is very pleased with all submissions. Sleep well at night knowing all my corporate tax obligations are easily managed. For a non-accountant is very easy system to use and customize as I need.

Cloud Costs

Always used a cloud service - not applicable question

Ease of Integration

We have 4 different external products integrated very easily. Wagepoint, Dext, MileIQ and HubDoc. One click monthly update with each.

Alternatives Considered

Not applicable - have not evaluated any other accounting product in 7 years.

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

Wagepoint, Dext Prepare (with Receipt Bank), MileIQ

Likelihood to Recommend

We are a small firm, with no internal accounting expertise, Xero is truly an "outsourced like" accounting package. A number of automated tasks make monthly reconciliation very easy. It is simple to use and understand. Search is typically simple, with a few anomalies, when looking for historical data, but that is rarely an issue. I am a very satisfied end user and recommend Xero to all small firms.

Xero for small business review

Overall Satisfaction with Xero