Using Xero for your accounting needs

It is tax season, and for many business owners, a dreaded time of the year, when you have to reconcile all your invoices and expenses and make sure you don’t make a costly mistake. Thankfully, these days there are ways to save time and money while doing your taxes.

Xero for example is an online accounting software that has become increasingly popular in the past few years. Created in 2006, Xero has over 700,000 users and is being used by over 16,000 accounting firms all over the world.

Being online means your data is securely stored and you don’t have to worry about backup or your computer failing. The Xero platform is intuitive and easy to use. No need to install anything, it is all ready online for you to get started.

Unlimited support is offered 24/7.

What can Xero do?

Xero can help you with your day to day cash flow, as you can enter your invoices on Xero’s mobile app wherever you are. Offering PayPal or credit card payment options to your customers will help accelerate the payment process.

You can get an overview of your business and see where you stand in terms of invoices, bills to pay, expenses claims and bank account balances. You can also manage your inventory, and see how your business is doing on the dashboard charts.

By linking your bank account to Xero, you can reconcile your statements and invoices in just a few clicks. Xero also allows you to manage your payroll, and by allowing your accountant to access it, you won’t need to download or forward any data. You can still export to Excel, PDF, etc. but any piece of information your accountant needs, they can find on Xero. Xero allows for unlimited users, so you can share access with any key personnel in your business.

Having all your business’ financial information in one place should save you a ton of time, especially with the mobile platform you can access just about anywhere.

Pricing

Xero offers a free trial for 30 days so you can see what you are getting, and if you use this link, you can also get 30% off Xero for the first six months.

There are three plans you can chose from, and you can change or cancel your plan whenever you want.

• The Starter plan allows you to send 5 invoices and quotes, enter 5 bills, and reconcile 20 bank transactions. It works great if you only have a handful of clients, or your business is just started.
  The Starter plan costs $9 per month, which comes down to $6.30 per month with the initial promotion.
• The Standard plan has unlimited invoices and quotes as well as bills and bank transactions. You can also process payroll for up to 5 people.
  This plan costs $30 per month, and with our promotional link you would pay $21 for the first six months.
• The Premium plan has all the features of the Standard plan, plus you can do payroll for up to 10 people, and handle multi-currency. It costs $70 per month, and $49 per month for the first six month.

These offers are current as of March 2017, and might be different in the future.