Xero Review

PROS: I love Xero because it makes accounting fun and easy even for a lay user like me. The app is easy to use and you don’t need to be an accountant to make effective use of it. Test drive the app and I’m sure you will get the hang of it within an hour.

CONS: I have no complaints at all as Xero fulfills all my needs and expectations.

PROS: I love that Xero is intuitive and simple to use. The bank feeds make it easy to reconcile bank accounts. The app offers loads of features including balance sheet, profit and loss, budgeting, management reports, and extra invoicing. Finally, Xero integrates smoothly with popular business apps which means small businesses can save time spent on repeat data entry.

CONS: There are a few drawbacks: The journals could be improved. Second, wages in the UK cannot be used to submit info to HMRC as they require. Finally, the integrations are one-way and imperfect. Xero needs to focus on collaborating with other vendors in this respect.

PROS: balancing bank statement seems good but its not set up to work on a monthly statement like the rest of the world...so you never really know where things are at without more work. the way it brings bank info into the process is pretty good though. Over all...its just an OK product...it gets the job done, but nothing killer here folks.

CONS: if you create an invoice and take a partial payment...there is no way to ever edit that invoice in the future without undoing the payment...recreating the invoice...then recreating the payment and re-reconciling everything. And if that payment was associated with a big deposit...you also have to re reconcile all the other payments on that deposit. This is totally insane and a deal breaker to many users. My accountant seems to dread working with it.

PROS: I love that Xero is intuitive and I didn’t have to refer to the help files even once. Plus, it gives helpful prompts such as asking if you wish to email your invoices and if you want your customers to view their bills online. The app is very practical in this aspect. The user interface is simple and I can customize the dashboard for my individual needs. Finally, you can use the API to integrate Xero with your CRM.

CONS: The only minor glitch is it would be better if you could collapse or combine the dashboard elements. For example, for Bank accounts, you might just need the overall cash position and not the entire list of your accounts. However, it is only a minor issue, and the product overall is excellent.

PROS: I like that it mostly works. But that *mostly* will come back to bite you if you don't know the limitations prior to signing on and trusting all of your data to them.

CONS: Lots of missing features No ability to add late charges to invoices. Feature requests are basically ignored - the product team essentially knows what's best for them, but doesn't know what's best for their customers. Most feature requests are completely ignored. They constantly recommend 3rd party add-ons, at additional cost, to fill gaping holes. their comment sections for feature requests don't show the date of the feature request, so you don't know how long the feature has been missing. in the case of adding late charges, the feature was originally requested Mar 29, 2012, it has 878 votes to implement, and it IS NOT GOING TO BE IMPLEMENTED in 2020. There is a long list of feature requests here: https://community.xero.com/business/topic/23/ and I suggest you really dig into that to ensure that the feature you need is on the radar. But even "on the radar" still can mean a 3 + year development cycle. The ability to automatically bill credit cards on recurring invoices took almost 7 (SEVEN) years to implement. It was requested 11 Apr 2013, and delivered in mid-2019. Adding custom fields to the invoice was requested in 2012, and has the most votes of any feature at 1378 requests. It was moved into "under consideration in 2018, and since then has not received any attention from the Xero team. Almost 18 months with NO RESPONSE!!!

PROS: Convert quotations to invoices Upload your own document templates Create email templates

CONS: They can't be contacted so if you have a problem, you'll have it for a long time (or maybe forever) VAT return period can't be closed. So, someone can amend an invoice or bill or add one in to a previous VAT period, which of course screws everything up You can't set a date for stock to arrive. When you make the order, the system assumest that it's now in stock! You can't save two customers with the same name! They will tell you to add a special character to duplicate names! Unbelievable but true! There are no delivery notes/packing slips. They tout a "workaround" but be warned, it's exactly 10 extra clicks so it's really not an option if you need this feature If you want to send a document after preparing it, first you have to save it, wait for it to save, it takes you out to a main screen, you have to click back into it and then send it (if you send directly, it will send a draft document only) Invoice, quotation, calendar functions are jumpy and extremely diffult to edit. This applies to all browsers, incognito modes, etc., it's just a really bad editor. If you enter a contact's account, system brings open documents to the top even if these are quotes which are no longer needed. Invoices, quotes, payments are then all muddled up together is it's very hard to see what you want. Extremely badly designed in this regard. If you create a Draft invoice, it takes a sequential number. This screws up your sequences.

PROS: I like that Xero is easy to use even for non-accountants. It is simple to do data entry even with coding in Excel. The Yodlee bank feeds are simple to work with and comprehensive. The reporting feature has improved and offers a vast range of custom scenarios and dates.

CONS: The only drawback is the payroll feature which is not fully developed and lags behind dedicated payroll systems. Once Xero offers full paperless payroll capability and extends the feature to all 50 states, it will go far ahead of its competitors.

PROS: According to my experience in the accounting industry (working as Sr. Executive in Cogneesol), I have concluded that Xero has actually built for the startups who have inferior accounting knowledge and budget. Even people with the non-accounting background can easily access and understand the entire process Xero follows to do accounting.

CONS: Not very useful for the larger enterprises.

PROS: Relatively good web interface that works most of the time

CONS: Reconciling. Invoices could get paid automatically

PROS: I like that Xero is cloud-based which enables me to use it for my international clients. The package looks attractive and the app is easy to learn and use. It was simple to create identifying rules and Xero is good at recognizing transactions.

CONS: Xero focuses on automating accounting tasks. But some of my clients are old-fashioned and still use Excel spreadsheets. However, Xero does not integrate with Excel. Second, you have to do manual data entry one at time which is time-consuming, I wish the app offered a general ledger type of entry. I feel Xero is a good system only if you and your clients are ready for full automation. Finally, Xero makes it hard for clients to give direct access to their accountants. This is yet another drawback.

PROS: Cloud based and easy to navigate, good search capabilities and contacts are not siloed so you can have a vendor and customer as the same contact record.

CONS: Xero developers seem to be tone deaf. There are some big surprises in lack of functionality. One can not print 1099's from the system, and external paid service is needed. Also, there is NO ABILITY to check one's work. There is no way to look at all transactions in a given bank account and see where the transactions were posted without opening EACH transaction.

PROS: I like Xero for the following benefits it offers: The app is easy to understand and use even for non-accountants. It seamlessly integrates with popular platforms. It’s web-based, so I don’t have to worry about tape backups, server crashes, etc. You get useful templates for all documentation and you can send emails to your clients smoothly. For all the above reasons I have been a happy user of Xero for the past five years.

CONS: The mobile app could offer more features. However, as a developer I feel the mobile app space will be transferred to the cloud in the future.

PROS: I love Xero as it is easy to use and the pricing packages are very affordable. We have been using Xero for more than five years before they became known in the US. I use the app for my four companies and we will utilize their payroll program in Colorado which is included in their base pricing. I appreciate the product’s simplicity of use, uptime, and continuous upgrades. Xero is a New Zealand-based company with an impressive growth rate and number of customers and I am looking to invest in this company.

CONS: I have no complaints as the vendor is very responsive, there is no downtime, and the bank feeds help to save time spent on reconciliation.

PROS: I love Xero’s user interface and the dashboard offers an excellent overview of my accounts. It’s easy to sync bank accounts with credit cards and reconcile transactions. It is great that I can use Word docs for invoice and quote templates rather than the built-in template editor. Plus, the app integrates smoothly with several partner systems. For example, it syncs easily with bill.com which I also use. Finally, their mobile app helps me easily track and manage my accounts in the field.

CONS: A couple of areas could be improved. Currently only invoices are synced and I wish I could pay expenses through the bill.com integration. Second, the mobile app should allow users to view outstanding quotes.

PROS: I love that Xero is web-based which means I can give access to all those who need to view our accounts. Plus, I can control access with permissions depending on user role. I can integrate Xero with my CRM though I have to pay extra. I use the app to maintain all invoices and bills online which reduces office paperwork. It is great if your suppliers and clients also use Xero, as you can easily transfer the invoices internally to their systems, which eliminates errors. Finally, I can set up rules in the system to automatically match and reconcile bank accounts, and also directly import my bank statements from various banks.

CONS: Xero is not intuitive and you need training from an experienced user to learn to use it. I recommend using the services of a qualified accountant who can set up the system and do the testing for you.

PROS: I love the feel of it. The bank connections are amazing for real timeinformation and I love having the app on my phone to get things done (invoicing / bank rec) on the go.

CONS: The yodlee feeds in Canada need improvement however i think this is more a archaic bank problen than a Xero issue. They work well but need to be refreshed once a month somtimes more.

PROS: I was a QuickBooks user, but the app is no good for Mac. So, I switched over to Xero. It helps to convert from QB, so there are no hassles. Xero’s interface is elegant and easy, and the app is accessible on mobile devices. Another pro is it is not packed with needless features. It also integrates with Quotient which is great for my company. I also love the online version of the app.

CONS: I can’t find any fault with Xero. My accountant thought QB was more robust, but Xero is definitely a workable app.