Xero is a small software company operating in Australia and New Zealand. The company offers a SaaS accounting service similar to Russian Deal 24 or Elba solutions. There is a truth, and an exception Xero is focused on accounting companies. Even the minimum tariff plan requires simultaneous maintenance of 5 accounts. Currently, the company has 2,200 accounting companies in New Zealand and Australia. The company offers three services:
- online accounting;
- billing;
- online banking management (the company offers connections to 1,500 banks worldwide).
Summing up the results of the first year of operation of Xero accounting in the Australian market, the company reported an increase in revenue of accounting solutions from 223 thousand US dollars
to 1.2 million (530% growth). At the same time, the company’s total revenue was $ 7.4 million. (300% growth since 2010). Interestingly, the company’s Australian office has grown from 8 to 14 people over the past year. Chris Ridd, who heads Xero’s office in Australia, comments on the results of the year: “Our success shows that the SaaS model is working and its importance for financial services is growing. After the local sales network was launched in Australia, the business reacted quickly.” Xero’s next target is the US market. One of the founders of PayPal has already invested $ 4 million in this project. The company has moved several key specialists to the US and is recruiting staff for our office. To push out existing players in the American accounting SOFTWARE market is no less ambitious than the fight against 1C in the Russian market. Moreover, the leading players in the US, such as Intuit, have a particularly strong position in the small business-the segment that is most promising for small businesses. However, SaaS services around the world are successfully crowding traditional on-premise solutions.
Xero features and benefits
Xero is an unwritten standard for accountants, a modern and universal solution for automating the accounting system. The product is used by the vast majority of organizations, and this fact speaks for itself. Advantages of the program:
- simple interface;
- flexible settings – you can customize the display of data for yourself in the desired sequence;
- the ability to make changes to the program code and modify the program for the needs of a particular enterprise;
- support for all tax systems;
- web client for working without linking to an office, etc.
Xero Pricing Overview
The program is available in three versions: “Basic,” “Prof,” and “Corp.” Advanced versions support the operation of geographically distributed information databases, allow you to keep records in separate divisions, keep records for several organizations in a single information database, and so on. The program has no restrictions on the scale of the enterprise, type of activity, and complexity of accounting. It can be adapted to any organization. Xero pricing: Basic version is free, a standard version — 30 dollars a month.
Users reviews
Accounting is just one of many configurations based on the platform. There are other solutions, such as:
- salary and personnel management;
- trade management;
- document management;
- holding management;
- consolidation;
- CRM.
The possibilities of the program with Xero support are almost limitless, but due to the lack of knowledge and experience, many organizations use the program at a primitive level. The program works with standard solutions of enterprise accounting. Still if there are non-standard tasks, the programmers expand the capabilities of accounting programs for the needs of the client and configure any analytics. The program has a great interface. Advantages:
- excellent color scheme;
- convenient menu;
- convenient structure within sections;
- availability of information.
You can create a money receipt from the main page. Go to the calculation section and click on the employee’s last name to see all the information about them. According to Xero reviews, Xero online accounting service offers its clients a desktop with a clear menu: my organization, contractors, cash, purchases, sales, inventory, fixed assets, VAT, personnel, accounting operations, accounting reports, reporting, administration. The advantage is that by clicking on any of the sections, you will see what is included in it without leaving the main page. On the main page, you can see a calendar of upcoming events. It is convenient to fill in the information. No problems were finding the right sections. The program Xero accounting software may not be clear from the first minutes of operation, but it is very well thought out. On the main page, you will see the following sections: manager, bank and cashier, sales, purchases, warehouse, production, operations, reports, directories, and administration. By clicking on any of the sections, you will see detailed sections. For example, the manager section consists of cash flow analysis, payments to customers, payments to suppliers, general indicators, and warehouse. Most users like working with the program, but it takes a little getting used to. If necessary, you can use Xero help. Online services for the owners of Xero login are also good for small businesses and mainly in special tax regimes, where accounting is easier. The disadvantage of online services is that it is not possible to modify the standard functionality for yourself. But we must understand that the program Xero online is only a tool in the hands of an accountant and not a magic pill. No matter how good a tool is, it all depends on how it is used. Using even the best accounting software does not insure against errors, human factors, incompetence, dishonesty, and laziness. Therefore, it is not so important what to keep records of, and then – who will keep it.