Accounting software has been developed to automate various accounting and bookkeeping functions and to allow reports to be generated without manual calculations.  It is frequently available for use across multiple devices and uses cloud storage.  It usually also integrates into the ability to produce invoices, pay bills, maintain payroll, and other functions, which is a significant positive. 

One of the hot accounting products on the market is produced by a New Zealand company called Xero.  It is currently used in over 180 different countries.

These programs are software as service (SaaS).  That means the software can be accessed at any time or anywhere as long as you have an internet connection and web browser.  It allows personnel to work from remote locations.  Their mobile apps work with iOS and Android and can generate an invoice immediately.  For sales people that means closing the deal on the spot.

For the small business owner especially, this means no investment in hardware like servers or maintaining an IT staff; the vendor takes care of any upgrades and troubleshooting.   

Xero’s significant characteristics include:

• Invoices

• Accounts payable

• Purchase orders

• Automatic bank feeds and reconciliation

• Standard reporting

• Payroll

• Inventory

• Depreciation

Because it is international, it handles tax rates and many currencies. The data is also very secure with encryption and authentication protocols.

It was developed specifically for small business operations and can accommodate integration with other business applications.  It has been priced to appeal to the small business owner.  It was designed to sync with other programs and to be easily learned, although, like most programs, there is a learning curve.  They have a strong support team including a 24-7 service team, blogs, and video library.

It will allow you to expand the number of users and to be specific about the levels of their security and abilities to access data.

Invoices can be customized for the business and it offers the ability to issue recurring invoices.  It is superior when working with bank statements and reconciling the double entry system it offers.  The reports seem to be one of its shining moments.

The developers offer a free trial version for up to 30 days to see if it is suited for your needs.  Then there are three different levels of plans depending upon the size of your company or to accommodate future expansion. 

Nothing is perfect and some of the concerns seem to be the lack of an ability to be notified of payment without first logging into the system.  Similarly it only accepts full payment rather than partial, nor does it accept automatic recurring payments.  It is definitely designed for small businesses and doesn’t work especially well for concerns that deal in larger purchases.

If you are tired of the tedium of bookkeeping tasks or want to avoid hiring someone to do it for you, Xero Accounting is a good product, especially if you deal with multiple currencies.

Contact your Accountants today click on this link —> https://capexcpa.com/contact

- The Capex Team