Let’s face it, accounting and tax are by far the most tedious parts of running a business, costing thousands of business owners hours of their time that they’ll never get back. If that sounds like you and you’re currently deep in a hole of invoices, expenses and bank statements then thankfully there is a solution out there that can make your life a whole lot more simple – Xero.
Xero is online accounting software designed to make life and accounting a little easier, giving users a real-time view of their cash flow, enabling them to manage their accounts on the go and helping them to reconcile in seconds.
As with any new software, Xero can take a little bit of getting used to and it’s always recommended that at least one person on your team undertakes some form of Xero training so that they can become a ‘super-user’. Having a trained ‘super-user’ on your team helps to ensure that you are able to get the most out of your subscription and also means that rather than sitting for hours waiting for customer service to answer their questions your team can resolve any queries they may have internally.
So, to get the ball moving we’ll start with 5 things everyone gets wrong about Xero.
- They think that Xero is either really hard or really easy to use
Let’s get one thing straight, Xero is a tool, and like any tool, it requires a degree of learning. Although the software is intuitive and designed to be used by non-professionals that doesn’t mean it’s a walk in the park and you can’t make mistakes. That being said, on the other end of the spectrum, there are a number of people with the misconception that Xero is too complex for them to use, thinking that because it is to do with accounting it must be filled with numbers, spreadsheets, algorithms and language that they’ll never in a million years be able to understand, and this is misguided too. - They think that Xero allows people to see their financial data
It’s a common myth that by inputting your financial information or connecting our bank to software such as Xero somehow enable people to have access to your data, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. Xero takes data security very seriously, encrypting your business data and replicating it in several secure locations online to ensure that it remains safe, secure and available whenever you need it. In terms of accessibility, only you as the account holder can control who sees your data and Xero’s two-step authentication helps to provide additional security for every user account. - They think that Xero only handles accounts
Although Xero’s marketing tends to focus more on their ability to help businesses with invoices and tax the software can in fact aid with a number of business processes including managing expenses, recording stock and inventory, creating quotes, and facilitating better project management by integrating with over 700 apps. - They think they don’t need a bookkeeper if they have Xero
Although Xero helps to simplify the accounting process it still helps if it is managed by someone with knowledge of accounting legislation. Business owners who try to use Xero themselves without proper training often end up stressed and resenting the book work, costing them time and leaving them open to costly accounting mistakes. If you’re currently in this position and wish you’d never got yourself tangled up in this mess in the first place then you’re in the right place because here at The Bookkeeper hub we offer a Xero Fix It service that can help to change your fortunes for the better. Don’t worry if you’re up against the clock or playing catch up, no problem is too big and catchup jobs are our speciality. - They think that Xero training is expensive
Finally, another common misconception about Xero is that Xero training is going to be too expensive when in fact training can start from as little as $30 with extensive courses still costing no more than $300. Crucially, when considering the cost of Xero training many people fail to consider how much they could actually save as a result of making the investment. Although at the top end of the spectrum a course may cost you $300 this could cost you thousands in clerical errors, hours of your time, and prevent a potential disaster for your business – when you look at it like that does the training really seem all that expensive?
