Xero is an easy to use, web based, award winning accounting application designed for small businesses and their advisers. Access is available to your accounts anywhere and at anytime. Your data is secure even if your computer is lost or stolen. It’s an online accounting app for small business that is becoming a household name. The company which started out in New Zealand in 2006 by co-founders, Rod Drury and Hamish Edwards is spreading globally rapidly. It is now poised to infiltrate the US small business marketplace, with the goal of replacing Intuit’s QuickBooks as the leader in this space.

We came across Xero a few years ago and have followed the company’s progress since evaluating the app. It definitely stands out as an online app that deserves to be in our “Best in Breed” category because of some of its outstanding features and capabilities.

So why Xero?

Here are a few of the highlights:

• The dashboard gives you a real-time view of your business at a glance, including bank balances and money coming in and going out.
• With automatic bank statement feeds (where available) into your accounting application each day, there’s no more data entry or downloads.
• Reconciliation is a breeze and you’ll have much greater visibility of your cashflow.
• Your accountant and advisers can access the data so they can offer better and more timely advice.
• Unlimited users all for one monthly price.
• See at a glance who owes you money.
• Customize, create, send and receive invoices.
• Generate and view interactive reports with ease.
• Unlimited support, around the clock email support and detailed online help centre.

Real Time: Obtain real time information about your business finances and cashflow, create real time reports as well as integrated invoicing for staying updated about your business. Xero also allows you to import you bank transactions. You can authorize anyone into your accounts to collaborate on your financial numbers.

Mobile: You can use Xero even on your mobile and get an overview of the accounts for every organization you manage. Be informed about your bank balances, recent transactions and who owes you money on the go. With a single tab you can call any contact with your iPhone, Windows Mobile or Blackberry.

Features:

• Online – See your cashflow in real-time. Login from anywhere
• Banking – Automatically import and code your transactions
• Invoicing – Create and send invoices automatically
• Add-ons – Pick from a wide range of powerful add-ons
• Dashboard – Instantly see your bank balances, sales & bills
• Free Online Support
• Multi-currency
• Financial Reporting
• Fixed Asset Depreciation
• Employee expense management and reporting
• Payroll and much more….

Benefits:

• Keep your accounting data safe & secure
• Access your accounts online anytime from anywhere, even on the go using your mobile
• Get better visibility of your cash flow with real-time data
• Greatly reduce the time you have to spend to keep your accounts up to date
• Beautiful design makes it fun and easy to use
• Software updates are free and available when you log in
• Collaborate with your team and your accountant. You decide what each person can see.

For me, the big plus (+) with Xero is its integration with “add-on” apps that compliment and extend its capabilities. More to come about that as the series of articles progress.

For now, here’s a quick take on the integration we’ll be Xero-ing on next. It’s Xero + WorkflowMax. So stay tuned…

P.S. – In case you’re curious about the StoryTelling BeanCounter