Xero

Xero has allowed us to get a real, detailed view on the financial situation within our company from one place. With a comprehensive setup, it can provide real value from day one.

Vorteile

Xero has transformed our financial management and provides us with all the real time data we could imagine, and where it lacks, integrations take over. While more "accountancy" friendly than some of the more simple products, once you work with your accountants to get this right, you won't regret it. The detail, features and holistic approach to managing company finances means that we are using this every day and with pleasure.

Nachteile

The interface is being updated, and it is needed as it is a little old fashioned in its design. That said, it is clean and clear and otherwise we love everything about Xero.

It's been easier to use Xero than I expected, but I had a nasty surprise at tax time when I realized the default accounts/descriptions for expenses did not correlate 1:1 to IRS categories. (I should have checked this more closely when I set up my accounts because it's a New Zealand company, and the previous product was local.) This means I will need to double-check all my transactions for 2018 and the IRS has my vastly overestimated tax payment until I can do that and file my return on an extension.

I've had a much better experience importing data from financial institutions because Xero uses a well-known importing service that is trusted by the institutions.

I like being able to match multiple invoices to bank deposits because I usually don't run to the bank for each check. This will be more valuable as my company grows.

I should probably find an accountant to assist me with this, but I haven't found an accountant who understands both craft businesses and Xero.

Vorteile

Professional double entry software at a very affordable price
Accommodates both cash and accrual accounting
Links to financial institutions to get transactions
Uses standard importer recognized by the financial institutions instead of just trying to log in remotely (and triggering fraud alerts)
Can match multiple invoices to a single deposit transaction imported from bank
Can keep using Xero as company grows

Nachteile

Pre-existing expense categories/descriptions don't map 1:1 with IRS definitions, so I'm having to go back to all my receipts to make sure expenses are entered in proper accounts because I didn't realize this when I switched
More difficult to focus on specific expense categories to check transactions
Have not been able to import historic data from previous app (possibly because it's not double entry) so I am still paying the subscription on that software to retain access to my data
No integration with Craftybase, so I have to enter supply purchases and customer invoices there independently

love it and would recommend to anyone that was looking for an account product.

Vorteile

Easy of use, setup myself (with a little help for a bookkeeper), support has always been superb.

Nachteile

Bank feeds not always sync, which is also a problem I have at the moment.

We've been using Xero for about two years now. There have been a few hiccups along the way but for the most part things have been ok. Recently however, we've had a problem with our bank feed uploading into Xero in order to reconcile transactions. We first encountered this issue on 2/10/18. We informed Xero and they said they would look into the issue. A couple of weeks went by without hearing anything about the feed working as it should. We contacted them again and they said they were still working on the issue but that we could manually download the transactions ourselves in the meantime. Today is 4/10/18 (2 months later) and they still have not fixed the issue. We are still having to manually download these transactions ourselves in order to reconcile our bank accounts within the Xero software.

I spoke with Xero this morning and they still do not have a timeline for when this will be fixed. They said they use an outside company to perform the importing of bank feeds functions and that they are not responsible for it not working. They said when we signed up for the Xero service we were informed about the possibility of the feed possibly cutting out at some point in the fine print (terms & conditions). They refuse to issue any sort of refund for their monthly service during this time of inconvenience because they say the bank feed import function is a free service offered by a third party.

The problem we have is that Xero is marketing this service as part of their overall monthly service package which you assume is really included in your monthly service fee you pay to them. When it doesn't work they take no accountability for it not working. We think it's very deceptive for them to market a service (bank import functionality) to prospective buyers, which you assume is included with your monthly service fee, but then take no responsibility for it not working when things breakdown. We believe they do this to gain a competitive advantage over other companies like Quickbooks. Instead of just charging for the bank import service which would increase their monthly service fee and make them less competitive on a price basis with their competition they artfully setup their service to be able to offer a more competitive price but not assume any of the responsibility when the service doesn't work as expected. The general consumer doesn't think to put this deceptive tactic together when they sign up for the service and Xero assumes once they have you onboard you'll deal with the issue until they can get it fixed because switching accounting software companies at a later date is extremely inconvenient.

Vorteile

The service accomplishes most of what it was intended to do albiet at a bit of a learning curve for the new user.

Nachteile

There is no customer service support number to call. Bank feeds do not work properly. IOS app is mising some functionaility

Xero give me, an accountant, a tool to provide my clients with that effectively gives them a tool for keeping their daily records in an orderly fashion make my job easier at the end of each month.

Vorteile

Xero have been designed to be used by non-account business folks. However, once the data has been listed an accountant has a great tool to use to finish the company financial records (Monthly, Quarterly & Annually). It is also priced at a rate that works for most business owners.

Nachteile

I really do not know of any areas within the software that I can list as "Least" liked. I do not know of any significant problems which I believe need correcting.