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2,070 reviews
Recommended
Karim K.
Finance Controller
Design, 11-50 employees
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Karim: Hi, my name is Karim and I'm the finance controller of a printing and design industry. I would...
Eric H.
GM- Finance
Machinery, 11-50 employees
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Eric: Hello, my name is Eric. I'm the General Manager of Group Finance. For Xero, I'll give it a rating...
Kathryn H.
Verified reviewer
Arts and Crafts, self-employed
Used weekly for 1-2 years
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It's been easier to use Xero than I expected, but I had a nasty surprise at tax time when I realized the default accounts/descriptions for expenses did not correlate 1:1 to IRS categories. (I should have checked this more closely when I set up my accounts because it's a New Zealand company, and the previous product was local.) This means I will need to double-check all my transactions for 2018 and...
Professional double entry software at a very affordable price Accommodates both cash and accrual accounting Links to financial institutions to get transactions Uses standard importer recognized by the financial institutions instead of just trying to log in remotely (and triggering fraud alerts) Can match multiple invoices to a single deposit transaction imported from bank Can keep using Xero as company grows
Pre-existing expense categories/descriptions don't map 1:1 with IRS definitions, so I'm having to go back to all my receipts to make sure expenses are entered in proper accounts because I didn't realize this when I switched More difficult to focus on specific expense categories to check transactions Have not been able to import historic data from previous app (possibly because it's not double entry) so I am still paying the subscription on that software to retain access to my data No integration with Craftybase, so I have to enter supply purchases and customer invoices there independently
Andrew W.
Marketing and Advertising, 11-50 employees
Used daily for 2+ years
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Since starting with Xero over six years ago, we couldn't be happier. We've centralised all our financial activity into one platform, which is great for non-finance people like myself!
Xero makes managing the finances for a business really straightforward. The user interface is intuitive and it centralises all my accounts information. One of my favourite features is the the dashboard, which is clear and customisable, and gives a great summary of the position position at any time. The software also integrates really well to other platforms for things like receipt capture and detailed business analysis.
I'm really happy with how it performs, however, our bookkeeper still does some levels of manual reporting, which he finds easier in Excel, than in Xero. The integration of BA tools does negate this issue.
Amanda M.
Food Production, 1-10 employees
Used daily for 2+ years
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the concept is good the IT is not.
It's easy to learn, very strait forward.
when a bill or invoice is larger then 2 pages, if you save, you will not be able to edit, approve or print. also putting in a ticket for a fix is completely useless the responding staff care and are friendly- but the problem does not get fixed. I've put in several tickets. I've always had to find a work around, no one has ever fixed my problem
Mahnaz A.
Education Management, 51-200 employees
Used daily for 2+ years
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Reconciliations are so much easier, integrating with other products is so much easier, there are so many apps which can easily integrate into Xero.
Xero is very easy to navigate around and is user friendly. Even a non-finance employee is able to use Xero. The product is able to integrate seamlessly with a school management system importing invoices and contacts which are managed in the school management system. The integration is almost automatic and does not require a user to sync. AMAZING PLATFORM!
Nil - Honestly there is nothing I dislike about Xero.
Zsolt S.
Health, Wellness and Fitness, self-employed
Used weekly for 6-12 months
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It is still good, better then Kashflow which is like from 1780. Or at least it feels like it is. It has great feautures that need tweeking. And it is also recognized worldwide which is so good. Collecting feeds from all the cards is good.
What I like most is that it has access to realtime feeds from all the company accounts. This is futuristic stuff in my country of Hungary. But I can look at all my balances and see if I have enough money for a purchase or not.
It doesn't really handle subscriptions well... and you guessed, it, I sell subscriptions. What is the least favorite part is the reconciliation. I sell the same thing, many times (as you do with subscriptions) and there is no way that I found where I do not have to take the so many hours of reconciling everything manually. So there might be automatic invoicing (which I couldn't really use) and manual...
Xy L.
Retail, 1-10 employees
Used weekly for 2+ years
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Our previous accounting software could not be integrated with our e-commerce and inventory management software, so we had to do manual bookkeeping. Xero integrates well so all entries are automatically synced. It's really easy to use and most accountants are familiar with the system. Most importantly the system works well.
- Easy to use - Good integration with our inventory management software (used to be TradeGecko and now Dear) - Integration with bank accounts - Many accountants familiar with the software - Easy to generate reports (Aged receivables, payables, financial reports like P&L, balance sheet, etc.) - Different users can have different levels of access (e.g. access to bills and invoices but no access to bank details) - Not glitchy
- Not able to generate batch payment file for our bank (OCBC) - Slightly more pricey than Quickbooks - No Cashflow Statement - Indirect Method as a report
Anonymous Reviewer
Verified reviewer
Design, self-employed
Used weekly for 2+ years
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I paid a Xero partner to help me get set up and explain to me the basics I needed to know, and from there I have been able to work out the rest fairly easily. It's worth having the fundamentals set up, and there are many partners out there willing to help. I love that it gives me the independence to DIY my accounting, and I just pay my accountant each quarter to look over everything before I lodge my BAS to make sure everything looks right before lodgment. It has also given me the power to understand where my business stands from a financial standpoint - something I have often ignored when using other platforms due to the complexity behind them.
I wish there was a way to set up auto billing for clients.
Stacy S.
Facilities Services, 1-10 employees
Used daily for 1-2 years
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It has been okay-I have expected more from the product.
What was the layout of the dashboard. It makes everything look very simple and plain almost too simple.
I’ve needed a lot of customer support throughout the last year and a half and I don’t get real time answers. I have to wait at least a day for them to get back with me and when they do then I have more questions and have to wait another day for them to get back with me. I did like the feature that could download my bank statements, but they’ve upgraded their platform that talks to my bank and now I have to do it manually
Vanessa B.
Events Services, 1-10 employees
Used daily for 2+ years
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I find Xero pretty easy to use after using it daily for a couple weeks. We use it for all accounts payable and receivable, as well as invoicing customers who we ship products out to.
It's easy to set up items and accounts, apply payments and send invoices. Also, there are a number of reporting options available.
I wish it was harder to have duplicate accounts. For example, sometimes our bookkeeper will make a slight typo when inputting a Contact name for a payment (maybe missing a letter or adding an apostrophe), so a new record will be created and then we'll have 2 Contacts for the same person/org. I wish there was some type of pop-up, like "Are you sure you don't mean this Contact?" before creating a duplicate record.
Anonymous Reviewer
Verified reviewer
Consumer Goods, 1-10 employees
Used daily for 6-12 months
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Nice interface and easy to use with good response times. Good integrations with many other platforms and bank accounts.
I think it is pricey and could be a lot cheaper for smaller companies like mine.
Ayman S.
Design, 1,001-5,000 employees
Used daily for 2+ years
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In particular, my experience with Xero has been beneficial in that it has enabled me to organize and manage all financial affairs of the branch in which I work without the need for a full-time accountant in the branch, as it allows me to prepare financial statements, pay bills, and organize payment dates myself.
I appreciate that Xero is responsive and simple to use for everyone, as it does not necessitate a great deal of prior experience. Once connected to the Internet, the user will be able to connect with all of his bank accounts, both those through which he wishes to make payments and those to which he wishes to transfer money, and monitor and follow them accurately and professionally, as well as track...
there are no noteworthy issues. The issue of dealing with recurring payments does not operate as expected, as you must occasionally complete the procedure manually.
Anonymous Reviewer
Verified reviewer
Law Practice, 1-10 employees
Used monthly for 1-2 years
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Overall, Xero was a truly powerful software that took the dread of dealing with accounting and reconciliation and made it rather straightforward. The accounting process can effectively be handled by any person, which is rather refreshing. As an attorney, I'm not an accountant. So having something else to learn and utilize while already extremely busy would be a major inconvenience. However, Xero took what would have been a terrible experience and made it manageable.
Xero is a pretty straightforward product that is effectively almost immediately deployable. Xero's dashboard is not bulky or overwhelming like a significant number of other accounting software tends to be. Xero's help manuals and tutorials were also very useful and are great for helping users quickly refamiliarize themselves with the software. Xero worked well for my law firm for IOLTA (Lawyer Trust...
The only con that I personally experienced with Xero was that I routinely was required to relink and subsequently "resync" my banking account with Xero. Admittedly, this may have been a banking issue and not necessarily a Xero issue. However, when the relinking had to happen, this created a significant amount of issues because I was forced to relink the account, reimport expenses and incoming sums and then ensure that all the amounts had actually synced appropriately from my physical bank account to the Xero software.
Iain S.
Industrial Automation, 1-10 employees
Used daily for 1-2 years
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We moved from Sage line 50 to Xero, this has mainly been a positive experience. From our day-to-day usage, sending invoices, chasing debt, bank reconciliation it is very easy to use. Our accountant set up Dext to import receipts and expenses which means we spend much less time with data entry now and we are much more paperless than we were. The key driver for us was to work in a cloud based system...
Ease of use from a day-to-day perspective for a non accountant and integration with other cloud software such as Dext and Flowlens
We have had a couple of glitches where bank feeds have stopped working for periods of time, manual import of bank statements can take a few attempts to get right.
Rowena J.
Accounting, 1-10 employees
Used daily for 2+ years
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When I first began using Xero, I had heard a lot about it and was skeptical. Surely, no software could be so "all that"! I was introduced to it by a colleague who has converted the whole of her mid-size accountancy practice to it, and literally within a day and a half (which did include watching some of the short but very clear tutorial videos) I was not only up and running, but felt confident using it, finding my way around it, locating and fixing errors etc. It's literally that simple and straightforward. It's also incredibly stable - I think in 3 years it's only been offline (to my knowledge) 3 times, each for a very short period. I've also not found ANY bugs so far - almost unheard of! - and the support is fantastic, even though it's online.
Provided it's set up properly, Xero is probably the most friendly accounting software - to non-accountants that is - of any I've ever come across. Back in the 90's, MYOB revolutionised accounting software for small business, but Xero takes it to a whole new level, by removing so much of the data entry work that takes time, leaves room for errors and is in general a pain, when you'd rather be - you know, running your business. With Xero, it's up to the individual operator how much they want to automate their accounting transactions; if you want to, you can use the really powerful, but still simple tools to do a lot of the legwork for you. If you prefer to do it more manually, that's OK too - it's still simple and very quick and easy to use.
Xero is constantly adding and refining its software. Inventory control is an area I'd like to see strengthened, but that's already way ahead of where it was a couple of years ago. Similarly processing payments in advance. But these are relatively small niggles which for the majority of small businesses don't present any issue.
Andrew C.
Verified reviewer
Accounting, 1-10 employees
Used weekly for 1-2 years
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I am very satisfied to be building my practice on Xero. They have a good product with a good company behind it. They seem to really care about their advisors and see them as key to their business model. They have a great community and great support.
What I like most about Xero is its open-platform ethos. It's not one particular feature, it's the whole way that Xero approaches what it does, and it shows up all over the product. One small example is how easy it is to manually import bank transactions via CSV file, and then how easy it is to undo that import if it went wrong. It's less about features (although Cash Coding and Find & Recode are brilliant) and more about design choices.
I want them to hurry up and integrate Hubdoc into Xero itself. And when that happens, I want there to be a way to generate a report that shows which GL transactions don't have a source document.
Farhad D.
Marketing and Advertising, 11-50 employees
Used daily for 2+ years
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Xero changed the face of accounting for our business. It has made accounting work far less painful than it used to be. And the true cloud-based setup makes it so much easier to access from anywhere.
Ease of use - seriously. Nothing comes close. And trust me, I've tried a number of accounting software and they're all a nightmare to use unless you're an accountant.
Customer support could be quicker, and phone support would help.
Leanne M.
Staffing and Recruiting, 1-10 employees
Used daily for 2+ years
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Solid and simple cloud accounting solution that is easy to navigate and customise. Great that our external accountants and legal support can access online as they need. Seems to be continuously evolving and its reassuring to see ongoing development of the product.
Customisable dashboard is a time saver and ability to customise templates helps with consistency for our company branding. Customisation of user permissions means the bonus of staff being able to enter their own expenses which is a further time saver. Being able to work across multiple currencies now is a plus, albeit I wish we could manually adjust exchange rates being used.
Many advanced features that are standard for longer established accounting software solutions are available, but as "bolt on" packages, so costs can escalate quickly if you need full "bells and whistles". Customer service response can be very slow compared to other cloud software providers we use - in the beginning they were responsive for engagement but over time they're clearly pushing all customers...
Jenny B.
Retail, self-employed
Used weekly for 6-12 months
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I was reluctant to pay the extra costs to move to Xero from my previous cheaper package but I am more than happy that I finally made the switch. It is a fraction of the cost of having a book-keeper to pay and I feel so much more confident that my accounts are working correctly. The option of additional plugins aid the automation for syncing with software such as woocommerce and amazon, ebay etc. It is a shame that they are additional costs but I would prefer that I had the option to integrate than not, and they are great time savers, which is the biggest help for small business owners.
Xero has a lot of automated features that make the process of accounts preparation easy and reliable. The bank feeds work smoothly and it is easy to set up rules to make the process automated on regular transactions - just a click to confirm entry. I have been able to integrate woocommerce, amazon and ebay transactions to ensure I am correctly treating VAT and International orders and purchases correctly.
As with any new accountancy software, there is a bit of technical detail to get your head around but that is probably to be expected. There are good help articles that are useful for the set up phase.
Monika V.
Accounting, 1-10 employees
Used daily for 2+ years
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I am happy, can be connected with my clients all the time, can prepare reports anywhere, anytime. I think the price for South Africa is a bit high
I like the product is easy to use, no need high knowledge of accounting, the person who never was doing accounting can easily manage this product
there is still missing a few things as inventory shall be a bit changed as people with two inventories in different places can not have two storages, there are few things that missing and can make it easier to work with
Quratulain H.
Verified reviewer
Information Technology and Services, 1-10 employees
Used weekly for 2+ years
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Xero was the best choice back in 2015 (when no one gave multi-currency) and still is in 2021 (when there are some who do). I have now added another company to Xero and cannot imagine shifting to another platform....ever.
With most clients abroads, we find its best to bill them in their local currency. Luckily for us, Xero is there to help sort our books out and keep them in order. It integrates with many bank feeds & popular wallets/fintechs like PayPal, Payoneer & TransferWise so accounts are upto date - always. Another feature we really use is their tracking fields. Xero allows users to setup 2 tracking fields...
They have made some changes to their UI esp where invoices and expenses are concerned. Luckily for older users, expenses are still free however, for new users it isnt and each person filing expenses on it needs to pay a small fee. I think it should be free for a small number of users (atleast 2) and then charged.
Judah K.
Accounting, self-employed
Used daily for 2+ years
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So far, it has been amazing. I have little to no complaints. Everyone that I have moved to Xero have told me thank you.
Xero is an accounting software that just works. I have used so many different platforms, and Xero has been the easiest and most reliable software I have found.
1099 reports are too limited. Tracking categories are too limited. Support can phone it in when you first reach out to them, but if you set up a time to chat with someone they are extremely helpful.
Anonymous Reviewer
Verified reviewer
Accounting, self-employed
Used daily for 1-2 years
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Xero is an awesome bookkeeping and accounting software solution for startups and small business owners. It is indeed a good match for business owners who know nothing about accounting in order to keep their books and to properly manage their finances. From my own experience, I found that Xero is very user-friendly and its accounting interface is streamlined, almost seamless, and uncluttered. The...
- Affordable and cost less for startups and small businesses - Includes fixed assets and inventory management in all of its plans - Very user-friendly especially during migration or conversion of data - Allows unlimited users - Friendly 24/7 customer support
- Some countries lack a built-in payroll option. - Customized reporting options are still limited. I wish Xero can allow you to create your own report. - The contact list of customers and suppliers is mixed together and needs to set-up manually to organize.
Craig D.
Marketing and Advertising, 1-10 employees
Used daily for 1-2 years
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It's a lot of money to get setup with a certified consultant. Very few consultants available in Canada. When we did find one she was great but she bills you for every second she works. As in not any free advice. My lawyer is easier to work with.
As a former quickbooks user of about 20 years, it was a big deal to switch platforms. At first glance it looked like it would do everything we wanted. I loved the price point, the interface and relative ease of use. The multi currency was great as was the ability to integrate with Stripe. You make a lot of compromises to save on the huge monthly cost of quickbooks but there are workarounds.
There are so many things that are just common/must have's for any business. Things like progressive billing, job costing and even the ability to make your own journal entries are missing. We had to hire a consultant and spend around $800 just to get it to add purchases easier to the mix with HubDoc. You see job costing catagories at the invoice level but not software or 3rd party app to back it...
Sherm S.
Verified reviewer
Marketing and Advertising, 1-10 employees
Used daily for 2+ years
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Overall, it's a decent program, with all the bells and whistles you'd expect from a cloud based accounting program. Unfortunately working without being able to reconcile monthly made life too difficult. And not many accountants work with it, so that made it difficult to have professional eyes on my accounting.
I loved how easy it was to integrate XERO with my bank accounts and Paypal. XERO seamlessly connected and kept my balances up to date. I also liked how easy it was to invoice clients and connect invoices to Paypal or Stripe.
Unfortunately, the reconciliation process in XERO is a no-go for me. Rather than the Quickbooks and standard approach, where you do a monthly reconciliation against a bank statement, XERO had no such function. Once an item was matched up to a bank transaction, it was considered "reconciled." No option to close out a month and double-check transactions. I went back to QBO to get that feature.
Chris C.
Accounting, 1-10 employees
Used daily for 2+ years
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A beautiful piece of software that turns a once tedious chore, into an easy and intuitive process. I always recommend my clients to use Xero (if they can afford to) as I believe it makes the workflow much smoother and simpler for everyone involved.
As an accountant and bookkeeping business owner I have been using accounting software for well over 10 years. I have to say when Xero entered the market I was definitely curious as to what it could bring to the market. I believe Xero have captured a very nice niche of the industry with it's very business orientated user interface and simplisitic feel. It makes accounting somewhat fun for the business...
I think the biggest con of the software is the price tag. Many of my clients have found this to be a stumbling block, saying that the monthly subscription fee is too high for their business. Other than the price, the only other con is the support is only via email (this is the last time I had an issue which was a few months ago). They do not have a support contact phone line (in Australia at least) - so response has to be via email (which may lead onto a call later if it cannot be resolved by email). Which takes longer to resolve the issues.