Financial Advisory News & Professional Views

Within the last few weeks, COVID-19 has changed our everyday lives in a way no- one could have ever imagined. Businesses are now having to function in a completely different way to the norm by asking employees to work from home. This includes the business support departments who need to access their accounting packages to allow Directors to make quick, informed decisions.

We have detailed below some of the key features in Xero and supporting apps which could help make these decisions as early and efficiently as possible.

Bank Feeds - reconciling bank transactions

Using the open banking feed connection allows transactions to be imported into Xero automatically.
Bank transactions can be reconciled instantaneously so Profit and Loss reports can show the current position of the business.

Receipt Bank - remove the need for data entry and printing invoices.

Invoices can be uploaded, emailed-in or sent via the mobile app directly to Receipt Bank.
Receipt Bank extracts the data and publishes invoices to Xero, ready for reconciling.
The Balance Sheet position of outstanding creditors is updated automatically.

Cashflow reports - stay on top of your businesses cashflows

Statements of cashflows allow you to quickly report on how your business has received and used cash within a certain timeframe.

Reports can be exported to excel to allow forecasting to be compiled.

Due to the nature of the Xero software, updates and changes are released regularly and many of these improvements can be missed. Below we summarise some of the releases over the last few months and comment on how they may help you. We also flag some existing features that you may be unaware of.

Recent releases:
Credit Limits – Set and view customers limits:

Set credit limits - These can now be set in the customers contact details, with a handy overview available within the contact of credit limit and credit available.
Raising invoices – Customers credit limits will be available to view when raising an invoice by hovering over the contact name.

Credit limits had been an overdue necessity in Xero, and I’m pleased that the feature has now been added. This is an essential tool for avoiding potential exposure to bad debts, whilst also making users who raise invoices aware of customers credit limits and remaining credit available.

Blank reports – Design and build reports based on individual business reporting needs:

Create text-based reports with additional notes and schedules.
Removes the need to export schedules from Xero to produce reports in a third part app.
Save these custom-built reports to be used again in the future.

Mobile friendly – Xero continues to develop its mobile features:

Increased flexibility when raising quotes in the Xero Business App to allow either products or services to be selected, and the ability to see total value of a quote without having to go back to the main quotes screen.
iOS and Android users can now attach files to bank transactions in the app when adding a new spend money transaction.
Bills can be added or edited directly in the app for on-the-go bookkeeping

Quick fire Xero Payroll updates

Employers can now choose between using BACS or Faster Payment File exports to pay employees, with the latter processing payments in 2 days.
Workplace pension - 3 step process for setting up workplace pensions
Unscheduled pay runs are now easier to identify within the Pay Run tab

As one of the leading cloud system advisory services we have access to and will test and gain a better understanding of how these new services could benefit your business. Watch this space.

Useful information for Xero Users

March 2020