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.
- 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.
- 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.
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.
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.
- 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
- 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
