Anything you enter will be retained when you transfer from a free trial to a subscription. Adam Cozens, co-founder at specialty coffee roasters, Perky Blenders, uses Xero and GoCardless to help run the business. With a Xero account that is “very, very busy”, having the two systems talk to each other reduces the burden of invoicing and chasing customers for payments. Neat’s built-in document management with unlimited monthly storage makes it an incredibly useful tool for businesses that accumulate a lot of expenses and receipts each month. While both platforms offer mobile solutions, Xero’s mobile app is more comprehensive and user-friendly, making it a better choice for business owners who frequently work on the go.
Key features of Xero
But then there’s the additional time and resources spent pursuing those payments – small businesses spend around four hours every week chasing late payments. If the right processes aren’t in place then manual money management can become labour-intensive, draining time, money and morale. Another option is Wave, which is a free accounting software program that includes invoicing, payroll, double-entry and sales tax tracking. Whatever your needs, there’s sure to be an accounting software program that’s a perfect fit. Neither software includes payroll—but you can add it on for a price.
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This helps you see when all your bills are due and schedule batch payments accordingly. Things start out at the Dashboard, which is just that; the area that lets you move into the other sections of the site and from which you can manage the overall way it ticks. The layout is, on the face of it, pretty simple with a user-experience that delivers quick and easy access to core features. These are found via a top menu that houses not only the Dashboard, but Business, Accounting and Contacts options too. Merchant Maverick’s ratings are editorial in nature, and are not aggregated from user reviews. Each staff reviewer at Merchant Maverick is a subject matter expert with experience researching, testing, and evaluating small business software and services.
- The average time to become proficient in Xero varies widely, depending on users’ prior knowledge and experience.
- All you have to do to create a quote is click on the Business menu in the dashboard, select Quotes, then click on New quote.
- Small businesses, accountants and bookkeepers locally and across the world trust Xero with their numbers.
- Cloud-based accounting software is just like traditional accounting software with the exception that all the data is hosted on remote servers instead of the user’s desktop computer.
- Xero does a fine job of mixing an enjoyable and modern-looking user interface with a huge collection of accounting features and functions.
Accounting dashboard
The hard drive on your computer or laptop is no longer the central hub. If you want your business to work smarter and faster, cloud accounting software is a wise investment. However, you do have to sign up for a free trial or pay for a plan in order to contact Xero. While Xero does provide email addresses for media contacts and mailing addresses for its physical offices, it doesn’t have a phone number or email address for potential customers.
Xero partners with Gusto Payroll, and costs start at an additional $40 per month plus $6 per employee per month. Sage has its own proprietary payroll offering, Sage People Payroll, but pricing is customized based on your company’s specific needs. However, Xero is the better choice if you want more advanced features and support for unlimited users, as additional employer liability for unemployment taxes users are only available for a fee if you use FreshBooks. Keep in mind that support is only available via email or one-way call. If you’re a larger company with multiple bank accounts, go for a more robust accounting system like QuickBooks Enterprise. For heavily inventory-based businesses, we suggest an ERP like NetSuite ERP or Sage Intacct.
That includes records of income and expenses, and assets and liabilities. The information is encrypted, much like a bank’s, so only people with the login can view the data. Businesses started using cloud accounting software – also known as online accounting software – in the early 2000s. Most systems come with tools for quoting, invoicing, managing bills and more. These reports help small business owners identify areas for improvement and make evidence-based decisions in real time. Xero doesn’t offer as many pre-built reports compared to Xero alternatives such as QuickBooks.
Katherine Haan is a small business owner with nearly two decades of experience helping other business owners increase their incomes. Xero and QuickBooks have similar pricing, except when it comes to QuickBooks Desktop. The Desktop plan offered by QuickBooks starts at $349.99 per year, goes up to $804 for your first year and renews at $1,340 per year. While the obvious lack of live support might not always be the best part of the overall package there is much to like with this service. If you take time to learn Xero’s ropes you’ll find that it soon starts to reward you by producing a comprehensive and slick picture of your business and its innermost workings. Our unbiased reviews and content are supported in part by affiliate partnerships, and we adhere to strict guidelines to preserve editorial integrity.
If you need payroll, you can add Gusto’s cloud-based payroll software to any of the plans. If you purchase either the Growing or Established plan, you can add Xero’s inventory management system for an additional $39/month. Xero’s simple invoicing tool (Figure A) makes it easy to upload your logo and choose from several branding themes, but I’d love to see more extensive customization options. Xero does offer an invoice template to help get you started, and you can choose to create and save your own templates. Once customers receive the invoice, they can pay you directly from it by clicking the “pay now” button and using a credit card, debit card or direct debit. You can also accept payments from popular services such as Stripe and GoCardless.
The basic plan allows users to send unlimited invoices and estimates and track unlimited expenses up to 5 clients, so if you have more clients than that, you’ll need to upgrade. Finally, businesses can use payment tools that can be accessed online and on the go. Small business owners needn’t be limited by having to be in a set place to manage their money. Using providers that offer digital- and cloud-based solutions, gives the added peace of mind of 24/7 accessibility. If businesses need a payroll component, they can add Payroll at a reasonable $40 per month plus $6 per active employee. QuickBooks is a popular accounting software used by small businesses, solopreneurs and freelancers.
Sales tax is automatically calculated and included in each invoice. The Organization menu option enables users to access settings and files or non-operating income add new organizations. Once you’ve set up things like bank feeds and invoices, the dashboard charts and graphs will show that information.
It brings together Customer Relationship Management (CRM), accounting, operations, and more under one digital roo. This unified approach makes NetSuite a powerhouse for businesses with complex needs and ambitious growth plans. If the customer support was better, we’d probably be talking five stars. I’m giving an overall rating of two stars because after being a customer for seven years, never having a problem with my bank feed, it’s stopped working in June.
If you need some extra assistance in finding features or understanding the software, Xero also offers a help center. We also have a comprehensive and free How To Set Up Your Xero Account guide that teaches you how to use and optimize your Xero account. Xero no longer offers built-in payroll, but it does integrate with Gusto Payroll. They keep the language simple which is great for users who don’t know accounting terminology. Instead, you can integrate a payroll add-on called Gusto, recommended for up to 100 employees.
There are handy built-in options that can get you around any minor issues you might encounter during setup. This is most notably handy thanks to the question mark up in the right-hand corner of the interface, which delivers and express-lane dialog box for solving many common queries. We spend hours researching and evaluating each accounting software system we review at Merchant Maverick, placing special emphasis on key characteristics to generate our ratings.
We compared the two options in terms of their key features, pricing and customer service to help you decide which is right for your business. Xero is a great option for large teams and small- to medium-sized businesses that need high-level accounting systems. It’s also a good fit if you want to integrate Gusto Payroll to your accounting platform. You can import data from another accounting system in bulk via CSV files once you’ve done the initial set up in Xero. For a smooth transition and best results, we recommend working with an accountant or bookkeeper, preferably one with Xero experience, when you make the move to double declining balance software.
Online accounting needs to be easy to use, otherwise it loses its time-saving appeal. One of the biggest benefits of Xero’s accounting software is its simplicity. Small businesses can save time and money by automating their accounting processes and consolidating resources for easy access. Xero has plenty of features that small business owners love, including an accounting dashboard, invoicing, quotes, bill payment, analytics, and data capture and storage.
With a regularly updated appearance, and new features being added all the time even during the coronavirus pandemic, Xero continues to expand its popular appeal and now enjoys a healthy following. If you’ve got a business that’s going places, needs dynamic accounting capacity and the ability to add in multiple users then the newest version of Xero requires further investigation. There is limited tax support, limited invoice templates, no built-in payroll, and a steep learning curve. Multiple pricing increases over the years have driven up the cost of the software, and customer support isn’t the best.
With this plan businesses can pay and get paid in multiple currencies, track projects, claim expenses, and access customized analytics and predictions. As with the Growing plan, businesses on the Established plan get unlimited invoices, purchase orders, and bills. All plans include invoicing, bill pay, data capture and storage, short-term cash flow tracking, tax form management, and auto sales tax. If you’re on a tight budget, then check out Wave Accounting, which offers a forever free Starter plan — yes, you read that correctly!