Xero Reviews

Pros

Xero's main benefit to us as a mid tier accounting firm is the ease of importing information. It supports multiple bank feeds on a reliable basis and its open API allows for the support of many add in apps

Cons

Being a non-technical software, it does sometimes give the impression of not being as robust in terms of ease of change of prior information. This can be overcome by locking down periods, one just has to remember to do this though.

Alternatives Considered

Sage 50cloud Accounting

Reasons for Choosing Xero

The capital development expenditure and size of Xero simply mean that it is outpacing other software in terms of speed of development, effectively future-proofing our practice.

Switched From

Sage 50cloud Accounting

Reasons for Switching to Xero

The main factors were cost and engagement with the Xero South Africa team

Pros

If you're not an accountant, Xero is still simple and straightforward to use. Daily operations are based on the straightforward processes of making payments to suppliers and receiving money. It's the best option for a company of that size. It's simple and straightforward to use this accounting software to keep track of your company's money. This program is something I use constantly.

Cons

Xero is designed for small businesses, therefore it has basic restrictions (journal approvals, etc.). As a company's billing operations reach a certain mass, they outgrow a single Xero instance and require the use of many instances running in parallel to process all of the bills.

Pros

Easy to use while giving me all the data I require quickly

Cons

Sometimes the changes take a little bit of time to work out

Alternatives Considered

FreeAgent

Reasons for Switching to Xero

Liked the overall feel of the product and the ability to find things quickly

Pros

I didn't get to really use this program. The trial company was as far as I got.

Cons

They say that they can convert your old Quickbooks file to xero but after starting the process they turn around and say they couldn't do it. Then I had to look at another convert firm to do it. Very expensive.

Alternatives Considered

Zoho CRM

Reasons for Choosing Xero

Not happy with QBO. It does not work without pro help.

Switched From

QuickBooks Online

Reasons for Switching to Xero

Price and good reviews were the only thing going for them. Being headquartered in New Zealand was going to be a challenge.

Pros

Xero is user friendly, easy to navigate things. And they have useful updates quarterly. They make sure they step up their game every now and then.

Cons

Can't think of any right now cause going back to what I just said, they continuously update the software so it will be useful to their users.

Alternatives Considered

QuickBooks Online

Reasons for Switching to Xero

Xero is user friendly, easy to navigate things. And they have useful updates quarterly. They make sure they step up their game every now and then.

Pros

Easy to manage invoices, and track payments and bank account reconciliation. Makes tax time SUPER simple!

Cons

Payroll can be tricky, especially when temporarily offboarding an employee (for parental leave). Very expensive and keeps on getting more expensive.

Alternatives Considered

MYOB Business

Reasons for Switching to Xero

Based on my accountant's recommendation for my small business.

Pros

Great do it yourself interface with supplementary tools that help the lay accountant sort out essential data for financial statements.

Cons

Great features that offer solutions, without a walkthrough or popular academy for free that teaches people where to start, lose their application for new and inexperienced self employed workers without considerable motivation and patience for accounting.

Pros

Very simple and intuitive product. I currently use Xero for education. Its biggest strength is how straightforward and easy it is to use and navigate through the various screen.

Cons

If Xero’s biggest plus point is its simplicity, its downside is also that it is very. Having previously used SAP in the manufacturing environment, Xero doesn’t quite give you the drill down capabilities and cross dimensional analysis. But in my current education setting this isn’t always required.

Pros

Xero streamlines repetitive accounting tasks through workflow automation. Matching receivable, POS and invoices detect discrepancies rapidly before paying vendors.

Cons

I slightly dislike that Xero lack features for global enterprises. However, ai integrate with external CRM and ERP platforms.

Pros

Functionality, we can run multiple bank accounts and work across many countries.

Cons

Nothing really, it is quite intuitive to use

Pros

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.

Cons

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.

Alternatives Considered

QuickBooks Enterprise

Reasons for Choosing Xero

I found Xero to be better designed for the average business owner at a lower rate.

Switched From

QuickBooks Enterprise

Reasons for Switching to Xero

Because of its design for the business owner.

Pros

Easy reconciliation but this is a feature of most brands now.

Cons

Reports are impossible to configure and source the data I need. The layout is poor and not user friendly. The technical terms used are common to accountants but make no sense to small business operators. The online help is useless and takes forever to get a response. Feature requests are ignored and not even responded to. There are other brands that offer a much easier user interface and at a fraction of the cost. I was forced into XERO as it was the only brand my accountant would support. I have to ring the accountants for help all the time who change a fortune for simple advice. Every feature I need is an extra add on charge. The remember me at login does not work and I have to waste time with 2 step login every time I leave the computer for 5 minutes. XERO does not work well on the tablet. The bank feeds do not deliver all the transaction data detail and its very difficult to identify some businesses. Memorizing transactions and splitting purchases is a real time-waster.

Alternatives Considered

MYOB Business, QuickBooks Enterprise and Reckon One

Reasons for Switching to Xero

I was forced to use it by my accountant who would not support the other brands.

Pros

I loved the usability of this software. It was super easy to set up relatively sophisticated accounting with no accounting background. I thought the bank reconciliation was dynamite, and while they still had it, I loved the payroll. When I would eventually get triaged to tech support, the person was so patient, and so helpful it was really great, and they never seemed to mind spending a long time helping to fix some oddball problems that I'd made. Oh yes, loved it that they did the quarterly tax filings for me, but that also went away with the payroll

Cons

One thing about this accounting software - when you have a question their first response is to tell you to have your accountant look at it. I was using this software as a replacement for an accountant, in order to save money, so that advice didn't help much. When you do a google for help, you run into a problem: Xero seems to be doing accounting software for all the english speaking countries,e.g. new zealand, australia, UK, USA and canada. each of these countries has different business formations/corporations, different taxation rules, etc, as well as meaningfully different accounting vernacular. I would end up mnost of the time getting somewhere only to realize I'd pulled up the UK instructions to solve a problem.

Alternatives Considered

QuickBooks Enterprise

Reasons for Switching to Xero

good recommendation from another provider who had a similar size busness. Was SUPER easy to set up, and the account reconciliation was a godsend.

Pros

Customisable dashboard is a time saver and ability to customise templates helps with consistency for our company branding. Customisation of user permissions means the bonus of staff being able to enter their own expenses which is a further time saver. Being able to work across multiple currencies now is a plus, albeit I wish we could manually adjust exchange rates being used.

Cons

Many advanced features that are standard for longer established accounting software solutions are available, but as "bolt on" packages, so costs can escalate quickly if you need full "bells and whistles".
Customer service response can be very slow compared to other cloud software providers we use - in the beginning they were responsive for engagement but over time they're clearly pushing all customers towards getting answers from their user community and/or through the Q&A section. I appreciate that customer service probably don't want to be wasting time with queries better addressed by professional book-keepers or accountants, but in our instance, as "advanced users", our customer service queries tend to be related to technical challenges with the product. It would be great of Xero could analyse the types of queries coming from their customers and perhaps have a priority helpline on offer for "low maintenance" subscribers.

Alternatives Considered

Quicken, Sage Accounting, QuickBooks Online Advanced and FreshBooks

Reasons for Switching to Xero

Felt more user friendly, especially for team members who, at the time, had limited or zero accounting knowledge

Pros

Ease of use from a day-to-day perspective for a non accountant and integration with other cloud software such as Dext and Flowlens

Cons

We have had a couple of glitches where bank feeds have stopped working for periods of time, manual import of bank statements can take a few attempts to get right.

Alternatives Considered

Dynamics 365 Business Central

Reasons for Choosing Xero

Compatibility with CRM/ERP, Cloud system

Switched From

Sage 50cloud Accounting

Reasons for Switching to Xero

Ease of use, Established brand, Integrated Payroll, migration support, ongoing cost

Pros

Xero makes managing the finances for a business really straightforward. The user interface is intuitive and it centralises all my accounts information.

One of my favourite features is the the dashboard, which is clear and customisable, and gives a great summary of the position position at any time.

The software also integrates really well to other platforms for things like receipt capture and detailed business analysis.

Cons

I'm really happy with how it performs, however, our bookkeeper still does some levels of manual reporting, which he finds easier in Excel, than in Xero. The integration of BA tools does negate this issue.

Alternatives Considered

QuickBooks Online

Reasons for Choosing Xero

It wasn't SaaS at the time and was only able to be understood and used by our bookkeeper.

Switched From

MYOB Business

Reasons for Switching to Xero

At the time the product looked to have better features and functionality, and the user experience was excellent.

Pros

“It’s so clean to apply, even for non-financial human beings”

My financial institution transactions are robotically connect to Xero so I don’t have to manually input them myself.

I get my Financial statements the first week after the year end

Another charming issue of this software is that it is a great idea if a corporation is unfolded across a couple of places with personnel operating in various locations. The accountants from every location can get admission to the financial data of all branches at any moment irrespective of their vicinity or time.

As a world main provider of online accounting software program, Xero utilizes world-elegance cloud safety. Your data is appropriately saved in the cloud, and guarded from both Cyber criminals and perils like fire or flood.

Cons

The expenses tracking can be formatted to allow multiply currencies to be easily uploaded in batches or real time.

No integrated ‘Debtor Chasing’ function so companies will have to manually follow up on their unpaid invoices.

Pros

Xero has everything for startup companies and small businesses. Their software is 10 out 10 on user interface. It was born in the cloud and continues to exceed Quickbooks by a long shot. Most everything Quickbooks has added to its software in the past 10 years, is because Xero did it first.

Cons

The software does not have a tax add-on when compared to Quickbooks (Intuit). They are plenty of integrations to solve this issue but it would be nice to have. Integrating bill payment is more difficult compared to Quickbooks as well.

Alternatives Considered

QuickBooks Desktop, QuickBooks Enterprise and QuickBooks Online

Reasons for Switching to Xero

Xero has better pricing, pricing options, features (fixed assets module), reporting, integrations, reconciling than its competitors. For example, if you import 500 transactions into Quicks incorrectly, you have to delete them all one by one. You can batch delete data in Xero. Quickbooks also does not have cash vs accrual basis accounting. You literally cannot make accrual journals in Quickbooks.

Pros

Xero is first and foremost easy to use and benefits from clever AI functionality. Keeping an eye on the business is much easier via Xero as it shows a snapshot of key data on the dashboard. With the available integrations there are very little limitations to its use and it is well priced for the majority of our clients

Cons

The Payroll module is quite clunky and better options are out there in our opinion. An enhanced cash flow and adding a forecasting element within the software would help. Making it easier to post customer payments on account would also improve an already good product

Alternatives Considered

QuickBooks Online

Reasons for Choosing Xero

Functionality and cost

Switched From

Sage 50cloud Accounting

Reasons for Switching to Xero

Impressed by account manager and future roadmap presented

Pros

There is a constant improvement of the Xero Blue platform with new integrations coming all the time (like the Karbon integration for contact sync just announced) The Dashboard is highly intuitive and gives an up to date snapshot of the business when you loginThe ability to create reports is highly useful, especially the new update that gives a modern interface with features like budgets for P & L Statements. The ingratiations (an constantly expanding selection)

Cons

Features like HubDoc that come with Xero have not been updated in years. When compared to their competitors like DEXT they are severely lacking in features and usability. Xero invoicing is very basic, no ability for direct debit payments, no engagement letter etc. Document management software like Suitfiles needs to be used, there is currently no direct integration for document management like Karbon has. Integrations into Xero Green (XPM) basic, XPM has not been updated in many years and to an overhaul to compete. Pricing when compared to software like software assistant is more premium.

Alternatives Considered

MYOB Business

Reasons for Choosing Xero

Xero is an online platform that is ahead of the competition in every regard. They are constantly improving and allow the ability to login in from any browser and get to work. Although the price paid per client is significantly higher than this software, the ability to to have everything securely backed up in the cloud and ready to go makes Xero a no brainer for our practice. Features like simple to use reports, dashboard, integration like (DEXT, Ignition, Karbon, XPM, Mailchimp)

Reasons for Switching to Xero

MYOB falls short in every area when it comes to Xero, from the user interface to the easy usability of Xero to the far reaching integration into many platforms. Xero also offers many subscriptions at different price points to it doesn't break the bank.

Pros

Online means that we can share information across the team as we do not work from a central office.

Cons

I did need an expert to help me set up Xero and make sure all the data was imported correctly. We bought in around 10 hours of expert help to get us started.

Alternatives Considered

Sage 50cloud Accounting

Reasons for Choosing Xero

We needed an online option... we were using Sage Line50 but that is not an option for me to choose here.

Switched From

Sage 50cloud Accounting

Reasons for Switching to Xero

Pretty sure it was recommendation from accountants. The costs were pretty comparable.

Pros

I loved how easy it was to integrate XERO with my bank accounts and Paypal. XERO seamlessly connected and kept my balances up to date. I also liked how easy it was to invoice clients and connect invoices to Paypal or Stripe.

Cons

Unfortunately, the reconciliation process in XERO is a no-go for me. Rather than the Quickbooks and standard approach, where you do a monthly reconciliation against a bank statement, XERO had no such function. Once an item was matched up to a bank transaction, it was considered "reconciled." No option to close out a month and double-check transactions. I went back to QBO to get that feature.

Alternatives Considered

QuickBooks Online

Reasons for Choosing Xero

I wanted better connection with online banks. At the time, XERO performed that better than QB.

Reasons for Switching to Xero

I wanted better connection with online banks. At the time, XERO performed that better than QB. I have since switched to Quickbooks Online.

Pros

I like the ease of reconciling because once you get set up and code a few items it remembers them for next time for a faster job (you still have to check them to see if they are correct first).
I find it fun and satisfying to reconcile in Xero as it is quite visual, you see several lines waiting to be reconciled and then as you work through the transactions, coding them and clicking on the middle button, they disappear. Setting up bank rules is also a huge benefit, as they get coded automatically, ready for you to just hit the green 'ok' button. You can use this for your usual bills for example, electricity bill, local cafe, cell phone bill, internet charges. Although it does take time to set bank rules up to make sure all details are accurate, it saves time in the long run.
I like the fact that customers can upload documents into the files section of Xero and their accountant can see these documents immediately to work on them or code them.
I also like the search function as you can search for a particular number, or the first few letters of a name or business to find relevant transactions.
Being able to generate invoices and email them direct from Xero is great as it saves time.

Cons

It is not the software's fault exactly, but because reconciling is so easy there is a temptation to accept what Xero suggests for a transaction and reconcile to this account, instead of pausing and really checking if the code is the best one.
Xero is first and foremost a business accounting software, so the reports it can generate may not be exactly what other users of the software need, like schools for example, who may need a Xero add-on to get what they most need in regards to reports.

Pros

It’s very simple to use. It has all the features that our business requires from an accounting softwares. You can do payroll and VAT all in one place and submit from Xero with one click. It is extremely convenient. It is like another helpful staff in our company.

Cons

Nothing really. Everything about Xero is really good. We are absolutely satisfied.

Alternatives Considered

Sage 50cloud Accounting and QuickBooks Online

Reasons for Choosing Xero

Xero is more suitable for a small business.

Switched From

Sage 50cloud Accounting

Pros

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

Cons

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