Top 5 Automation Features that Xero Offers
In the world of accounting, Xero is widely regarded as the gold-standard of cloud software. Not only is it cost-effective and easy-to-use, it also offers a range of automation features to save you time and give you access to all the data you need at your fingertips. Let’s take a look at the five best automation features Xero has to offer.
1) Bank Rules
One of the most useful automation features Xero offers is bank rules. Bank rules allow you to automate the process of categorizing and matching your transactions, so you don’t have to do it manually. You can set up bank rules for all your accounts, or just specific ones, and they can be as simple or complex as you like.
This saves you a lot of time and gives you an accurate insight into where your money is going, empowering you to make better spending decisions. When you know exactly how you’re spending your money, you can save more of it or reallocate funds to ensure a greater return on investment.
2) Digital Invoicing
Another great automation feature in Xero is invoicing. With Xero, you can create and send invoices in just a few clicks, and they’ll be automatically scheduled and sent to your customers. You can also set up recurring invoices, so you don’t have to worry about forgetting to send one.
We also mentioned in our previous blog that Xero will also automatically send out invoice reminders for you, meaning you don’t have to waste time working out who has and hasn’t paid, and chasing up late payments.
Xero’s automatic invoicing features help you to get paid much faster, which in turn is great news for your cash flow. Since cash flow is one of the biggest struggles small business owners face, the importance of automated invoicing really can’t be overstated. When integrated with payment services such as Stripe, PayPal, GoCardless and Crezco, Xero helps to boost your cash flow cycle and gets money into your account quicker and with much less stress.
3) Bank Reconciliation
Xero’s bank reconciliation feature is another great time-saver. With bank reconciliation and bank feed technology, Xero will automatically match your transactions to those in your bank statement. This means you don’t have to waste time manually checking and reconciling your accounts. Take care though as the artificial intelligence within Xero may suggest incorrect matches from time to time, based on transaction values.
4) Find and Recode
A little gem of a feature is Find & Recode…………….and not as well known as it should be. This feature allows you to edit large volumes of transactions in batches without the need to edit every single item.
For example, you might find that bills for a particular supplier have been posted to multiple codes on Xero. Some have been coded as 20% VAT and some as No VAT. Let’s say there are 100 of these bills to fix. You need to move them all to one particular account code and change them alll to 20% VAT.
Using the Find and Recode feature will save you hours in correcting your data, and in this example you’ll save you lots of money on your VAT bill without a hige effort to fix things line-by-line.
5) Integrations
We see this as one of the best things about Xero. There are now literally thousands of other cloud applications that will link to Xero. There are lots of systems within CRM, ecommerce, sales and marketing apps and many more that will share and sync data with Xero. Before deciding on integrating, make sure you are clear on why you are integrating and how the data syncs between Xero and other platforms.
Our favourites are the ones that add value to your finance process, that save you lots of time in not having to re-enter data between different platforms, or that get you paid quicker. Some of our favourites include:
- Dext Prepare
- GoCardless
- Stripe
- Crezco
- IwocaPay
- Soldo
- Telleroo
- Float
It’s important to ensure the integration is properly setup between Xero and others apps, especially where VAT rates are involved. It may seem easy to click your way through the integration channels, but knowing where to point certain things to within the data is crucial to avoid a nasty mess in your accounts.
Final Thoughts
Xero’s automated features do so much more than save you time – they empower you with a sharper financial insight into your business, so that you can make better strategic decisions. There’s a reason so many accountants and family businesses swear by Xero – it simply makes life easier (and more profitable).