Xero Reviews

Pros

It helpd to connects small business owners with their bank and advisors anytime.

Cons

There are no cons as I can think of now

Pros

The balance sheets are great. The way they are presented in the sheet after you decide on the coverage period makes it easier for you to decide where you are with profit and losses.

Cons

They are not doing payroll anymore which means you need to pay a third party to perform that for you. This is very vital for a company that is using an accounting system.

Alternatives Considered

Sage Intacct and FreshBooks

Reasons for Switching to Xero

The options Xero has with the interfaces are more user friendly.

Pros

1. It is very easy to maneuver through the system.2. Cost Effective.3. Clean interface that gives you the visibility of your financial position.4. Live Bank feeds and Bank Reconciliation.5. Preparing Purchase Orders/Quotes, Sales Orders/Quotes etc. is relatively easy.

Cons

1. It has limitation on transactions that can be handled at one given point of time. 2. The system doesn't have payroll functions.3. The reports that are generated are not detailed oriented they are very basic. 4. It is not possible to customise the reports as per the needs. 5. It is very slow when the volume of transactions is increased. 6. Capable of only pulling out limited transactions at one time, which is very annoying when you have thousands of entries to go through.7. Customer support is not very helpful.

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

Ease of implementation, easy to learn, integrations are endless

Cons

The expense function needs reworking. It's hard work and duplicates work

Alternatives Considered

Quickbooks Online

Reasons for Switching to Xero

Cheaper and easier to implement + better integrations

Pros

anyone can pick it up and use it for simple tasks without needing accounts training or knowledge

Cons

Not designed for project-based businesses, and quoting function can sometimes be a distraction causing staff to quote on Xero for small enquiries when it should be done in our dedicated estimating software.

Pros

Xero ease of use plays a key role to its success when using it to meet your accounting needs. It has a very robust and intuitive user interface which gives users an easy time accessing its features and using the features to achieve their needs. It had very outstanding bookkeeping services which allows you to easily collect, assemble and securely store all your financial documents and receipts in an easily accessible location. Xero also provides successful expenses tracking features which allows you to track all your bills, check on your accounts payable as well as having a clear view of your cash flow. Another masterstroke in Xero is the ability to integrate it with other payment gateways like Stripe which makes it possible to accept online payments conveniently. Xero also helps one have a clear understanding of your business by generating accurate financial reports which gives clear insights on the health of your business financially.

Cons

Xero has really worked well for me and my team. I have literally nothing ill to talk about it nor do i have anything to complain about.

Pros

Xero is a fantastic accounting tool that combines all accounting functions into a single platform allowing one to do it all just from a single product. From billing, invoicing, expenses tracking, inventory, bookkeeping, financial reporting and all that from a single product. It provides very powerful analytics functions that helps analyze and have transparency on cash flow, track metrics and understand the financial health of your organization. It provides a fast and easy wat for tracking and paying bills as well as getting a very clear overview of accounts payable. It allows you to connect your account with your bank so as to make transactions faster. It has very effective security functions which keeps all data very safe from any security breaches.

Cons

There is no feature in Xero that i have found difficult to use. I have nothing that i have found in Xero that is not effective.

Pros

Easily manage your business with Xero's user-friendly interface, seamless integration with other business tools, real-time financial tracking, automated billing, flexibility for small and medium-sized businesses, and excellent customer support

Cons

There are limitations in features for large businesses, additional costs to access advanced features, and a user interface that may not be intuitive for some users

Pros

It is very easy to use. It is most effective software to keep bookkeeping properly through their different accounting features. It has better accounting features Like; Payroll, Reconciliation, Payable and receivable so on.

Cons

Report generating is too limited otherwise it is nice to use .

Pros

Xero is a pretty straightforward product that is effectively almost immediately deployable. Xero's dashboard is not bulky or overwhelming like a significant number of other accounting software tends to be. Xero's help manuals and tutorials were also very useful and are great for helping users quickly refamiliarize themselves with the software. Xero worked well for my law firm for IOLTA (Lawyer Trust Account) reconciliation purposes. With the software linked to your desired account, you can easily reconcile all incoming and outgoing payments and expenses on a given account. Once set up, you literally can log in right after making a purchase to reconcile your accounts without having to fumble through old receipts later to try to remember specific actions that were taken on behalf of a client.

Cons

The only con that I personally experienced with Xero was that I routinely was required to relink and subsequently "resync" my banking account with Xero. Admittedly, this may have been a banking issue and not necessarily a Xero issue. However, when the relinking had to happen, this created a significant amount of issues because I was forced to relink the account, reimport expenses and incoming sums and then ensure that all the amounts had actually synced appropriately from my physical bank account to the Xero software.

Alternatives Considered

Peach Software

Reasons for Choosing Xero

We switched from Quickbooks because the software felt really cumbersome and was not very user friendly to someone that isn't an accounting professional.

Switched From

Quickbooks Online

Reasons for Switching to Xero

The price of Xero and the ability to effectively use the software almost immediately made the decision to choose Xero a straightforward one.

Pros

Transaction processing in the bank feed is, as they claim, very well set up. At the time I started using Xero, the company also seemed to provide some needed competition and an alternative to intuit in the small business accounting software space.

Cons

The other accounting software apps I use are QBO and Wave. Both, IMO, are better than Xero.

Back to the bank feed -- Xero is unable to connect with a number of banks. In addition, the bank feed sometimes drops out transactions with no notice to the file owner or bookkeeper. Thanks to the lack of a reconciliation process tied to hard numbers, inaccuracies can pile up in the registers as a result.

In addition, overall access to data in the registers is more awkward to accomplish than in either QBO or Wave. Editing transactions is significantly more complex than in QBO. The system of comparison between the "bank statement lines" and the account register was confusing at times. And there are odd glitches in the reporting (cannot recall all the details now, I only have one client left using this app) that I had to watch out for. Xero is a product that has some really amazing capabilities mixed in with real weaknesses.

Alternatives Considered

Quickbooks Online

Reasons for Choosing Xero

At the time, Xero looked better. Over time, QBO caught up and now surpasses Xero in quality, IMO.

Switched From

Quickbooks Online

Reasons for Switching to Xero

See above.

Pros

With most clients abroads, we find its best to bill them in their local currency. Luckily for us, Xero is there to help sort our books out and keep them in order. It integrates with many bank feeds & popular wallets/fintechs like PayPal, Payoneer & TransferWise so accounts are upto date - always.

Another feature we really use is their tracking fields. Xero allows users to setup 2 tracking fields that can be added to invoices, expenses, bills and assigned to each line. This helps us keep track of project based work and has been our way since before Xero ventured into Project based accounting (that users need to pay additional fee for)

It also integrates with online payment gateways such as PayPal, Stripe, GoCardless, and a few others; thus payments are a breeze for clients.

As a non-accountant, Xero is easy to use even when you get into all the features it provides.

Cons

They have made some changes to their UI esp where invoices and expenses are concerned. Luckily for older users, expenses are still free however, for new users it isnt and each person filing expenses on it needs to pay a small fee. I think it should be free for a small number of users (atleast 2) and then charged.

Alternatives Considered

Quickbooks Online

Reasons for Choosing Xero

Freshbooks didnt give Multi-currency and it was causing problems with reporting

Switched From

FreshBooks

Reasons for Switching to Xero

There was no multi-currency in Quickbooks available. Bank feeds were also not there for some of the banks I wanted. For a similar price point Xero offered better features and a product that was easier to use for a non-accountant.

Pros

What I like most about Xero is its open-platform ethos. It's not one particular feature, it's the whole way that Xero approaches what it does, and it shows up all over the product. One small example is how easy it is to manually import bank transactions via CSV file, and then how easy it is to undo that import if it went wrong. It's less about features (although Cash Coding and Find & Recode are brilliant) and more about design choices.

Cons

I want them to hurry up and integrate Hubdoc into Xero itself. And when that happens, I want there to be a way to generate a report that shows which GL transactions don't have a source document.

Alternatives Considered

Accounting Power and Sage 50cloud Accounting

Reasons for Choosing Xero

Quickbooks treats their ProAdvisors the way Scar treats the hyenas in the Lion King. For Quickbooks, the advisor community will always be a means to an end. Their products are built for consumers, not professionals, and I expect they always will be.

Switched From

Quickbooks Online

Reasons for Switching to Xero

In the end, I decided that the ability to integrate apps was going to be determinative over the long term. Xero and QBO are way out in front when it comes to integration and I expect that as the market matures, they will end up with a Coke-and-Pepsi-level of market dominance. They may already be there. Early on, I tried to get someone to sell me Accounting Power and/or Sage 50, but neither company seemed organized enough to close the sale. I was looking for a software partner that I could build my practice on and Xero were the ones who showed me they wanted to be that and had a plan to make it happen.

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

As an accountant and bookkeeping business owner I have been using accounting software for well over 10 years. I have to say when Xero entered the market I was definitely curious as to what it could bring to the market. I believe Xero have captured a very nice niche of the industry with it's very business orientated user interface and simplisitic feel. It makes accounting somewhat fun for the business owner. The way that they have revolutionized the way the bank reconciliation is performed makes it easier for buiness owner and accountant/bookkeeper to work together. I love the comments functionality and the rules that can be set to repeating transactions. The AI in the bank reconciliation also has a very nice balance to it. It will allocate your transactions when you need it to, but not too aggressively - meaning you don't have to undo all the automatic allocations (unlike some other software like MYOB).

They also have a lot of resources to help business owners and financial professionals. In addition they make continual updates to their software to adapt to the times.

Cons

I think the biggest con of the software is the price tag. Many of my clients have found this to be a stumbling block, saying that the monthly subscription fee is too high for their business.

Other than the price, the only other con is the support is only via email (this is the last time I had an issue which was a few months ago). They do not have a support contact phone line (in Australia at least) - so response has to be via email (which may lead onto a call later if it cannot be resolved by email). Which takes longer to resolve the issues.

Alternatives Considered

QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise

Reasons for Choosing Xero

Functionality was much better and robust in Xero than in MYOB.

Switched From

MYOB Business

Reasons for Switching to Xero

As mentioned above, I prefer the functionality.

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

- Affordable and cost less for startups and small businesses
- Includes fixed assets and inventory management in all of its plans
- Very user-friendly especially during migration or conversion of data
- Allows unlimited users
- Friendly 24/7 customer support

Cons

- Some countries lack a built-in payroll option.
- Customized reporting options are still limited. I wish Xero can allow you to create your own report.
- The contact list of customers and suppliers is mixed together and needs to set-up manually to organize.

Alternatives Considered

Quickbooks Online

Reasons for Choosing Xero

Excel and spreadsheets for bookkeeping and accounting become very hard to maintain over time and can be time-consuming. Additionally, it is also prone to errors and data corruption. Therefore, it is not sustainable especially if you are growing your business.

Switched From

Microsoft Excel

Reasons for Switching to Xero

Xero is more commonly used by my target market: New Zealand, Australia and Malaysia.

Pros

Nothing, nothing at all. The software is nothing more than a glorified analysed cashbook. Support is poor and some of the replies from Support demonstrate the advisor doesn't understand accounts, the accounts structure or the damage that can be done by the advice they are giving.

Cons

All purchases whether a supplier, or a bottle of milk from Tesco's is a contact. A bottle of milk for the office should be coded directly to the nominal code, not a new supplier "Tesco's" created.

Cash in an out of bank should be the same as the bank statement on a live bank feed, but it excludes transfers from savings to current account so not a true reflection of cash in and out.

Xero doesn't reconcile customer receipts, even through the name on the receipt in the bank is the same as the customer account exactly.

Xero dump a lot of support on to the accountant who provides the service.

Xero creates accounts for customers and suppliers on it's own if it doesn't recognise a payment or receipt in the bank account. Software should never be allowed to decide if it wants to create something automatically.

Xero isn't as automated as Sage Accounts, for instance when bulk invoicing over several days, you can't set the date at software level, you have to keep changing the date.

When importing from Sage into Xero for the first time, if Xero doesn't understand an item on the invoice, it simply creates a new line on the invoice whether you want it to or not and there is no way apparently to undo this once done.

Xero works with receipt bank and you can spend hours trying to tell it an expense is not to be coded to a customer.

I could go on.

Pros

Although may not feature the type of reporting that would set it apart from competitors, it has good integration with other apps that can generally to the job.

For accountants, the customer support is good enough. There is a large community so you can usually find the answer you need if you run into an issue

Cons

Not every useful report is available. And may never get them if they arent on the roadmap. Only really found one strange issue around perpetual revaluing of forex that has not been resolved, and likely wont ever be. Its not critical, but would be useful.

Alternatives Considered

Quickbooks Online

Reasons for Choosing Xero

Sage 50 wasnt cloud at the time, its the only way you can work these days. Sage cloud service wasn't up to scratch back then

Switched From

Sage 50cloud Accounting

Reasons for Switching to Xero

Most advanced at the time

Pros

Xero has a lot of automated features that make the process of accounts preparation easy and reliable. The bank feeds work smoothly and it is easy to set up rules to make the process automated on regular transactions - just a click to confirm entry. I have been able to integrate woocommerce, amazon and ebay transactions to ensure I am correctly treating VAT and International orders and purchases correctly.

Cons

As with any new accountancy software, there is a bit of technical detail to get your head around but that is probably to be expected. There are good help articles that are useful for the set up phase.

Alternatives Considered

Sage 50cloud Accounting and QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise

Reasons for Choosing Xero

I wanted a greater degree of confidence that my accounts were correct when dealing with complex transactions such as International sales etc. This was especially important due to changes with Brexit etc. I was also keen to be able to automate where possible to save time.

Reasons for Switching to Xero

I felt it had been fully designed within the digital age in mind from the outset.

Pros

Xero is very easy to navigate around and is user friendly. Even a non-finance employee is able to use Xero. The product is able to integrate seamlessly with a school management system importing invoices and contacts which are managed in the school management system. The integration is almost automatic and does not require a user to sync. AMAZING PLATFORM!

Cons

Nil - Honestly there is nothing I dislike about Xero.

Alternatives Considered

MYOB Business

Reasons for Choosing Xero

MYOB was not able to integrate with a school management system.

Switched From

MYOB Business

Reasons for Switching to Xero

Integration, Ease of use, ease of navigation, reporting

Pros

- Easy to use
- Good integration with our inventory management software (used to be TradeGecko and now Dear)
- Integration with bank accounts
- Many accountants familiar with the software
- Easy to generate reports (Aged receivables, payables, financial reports like P&L, balance sheet, etc.)
- Different users can have different levels of access (e.g. access to bills and invoices but no access to bank details)
- Not glitchy

Cons

- Not able to generate batch payment file for our bank (OCBC)
- Slightly more pricey than Quickbooks
- No Cashflow Statement - Indirect Method as a report

Alternatives Considered

Quickbooks Online

Reasons for Choosing Xero

Integration with e-commerce and inventory management software

Switched From

MoneyWorks

Pros

The reconciliation functionality is very useful. It's not perfect and it does need a lot of massaging to get it right, but ultimately it's a big time saver. Xero also has very good APIs and integrations in to other products.

Cons

The interface is not perfect. Some tasks are a lot more cumbersome than they should be. The connectors to external services are useful but fall over on occasions. Under these circumstances, Xero's somewhat nonchalant support (akin to "turn it off and turn it on again") is not that inspiring often leading to them blaming the provider and the provider blaming them.

Alternatives Considered

FreshBooks and Quickbooks Online

Reasons for Switching to Xero

Xero is more widely supported by accountants and the HMRC. We have also undertaken software development projects where we've integrated with Xero and their APIs are very well defined and work well.

Pros

I have been using Xero for a good number of years now and can only recommend it! The usability is fantastic, the ability to see really clearly how the accounts work is groundbreaking in its field. I love the bank reconciliation and the bank feeds. The automation of data is actually fun and linking it into the add-ons can make life a lot easier and save time and money. It is a great way to keep things simple and clear. I love the advisor features, that you can't break it (although you can make a real mess if not careful). For me the biggest benefit is the clarity of the data and the ability to drill down into virtually anything.

Don't use Xero in super complex scenarios and I would recommend that you employ a proper XERO accountant - who actually knows how to use Xero and uses the data when using it though or you will end up paying twice - once for entering the data to xero - and again when the accountant pulls it out into their own software. Overall I would absolutely recommend Xero for people who are more serious than working in spreadsheets but who are turning over £50k-£3m+ with a fairly simple process.

Cons

We have found that Xero does not work well in all scenarios but there are work arounds - the bigger the business and the more complex the processes the less it suits but then if you are bigger/more complex you should arguably be using something else!
Support is not awesome! It can take time and you are often met with unhelpful suggestions. There has been an increased number of 'blips' in the software in more recent months and the support has been almost useless in those cases and I have had to find workarounds. Conversation/instant message support should surely be on the cards?
Another thing that I don't like is the highly evangelical nature of the conferences! It borders on the cultish and if you are not 'in' then you are definitely 'out'! I have not found there to be any benefit to being on the 'directory' for that same reason.