Xero - The World’s Easiest Accounting System
After outsourcing my books last year, I wanted to bring them back in-house this year so that I could be a little closer to the numbers and pull up reports anytime I wanted to. When I started checking out the different accounting packages available in Canada, I soon realized that any program that I purchased would need to be run in Fusion to get it to work. Bookkeeping is painful enough by itself, and I figured that if I was going to have to launch Windows XP every time I needed to send out an invoice or reconcile my books, I would be doubly prone to putting it off. Exactly what I wanted to stay away from.
Here’s the video that convinced me to give Xero a try:
Somehow the team at Xero has actually made accounting enjoyable… even borderline addictive. Check out some more videos here.
Comments
I took a quick look at FreeAgent too… but I don’t think it worked in Canada. Looks good too though!
Xero was part of the Application Design Annual group in 2008. It was really interesting to read about some of their design processes and designs when it came to interface and interaction development. As the report metnions, Xero’s reconciliation feature is especially cool – it’s more like a matchmaking game than a standard accounting tool.
The Universal version of FreeAgent absolutely works in Canada – even supports the various flavours of GST/PST…
A new design for the app is being launched right now (so site is down for a rare 5 mins!) – be interested in your feedback.
Xero is – of course – beautiful and very capable. But not as good for freelancers and service microbusinesses that need to track time…
Nice find, I heard about Xero about a year ago – but back then it was not available here in Canada.
Exciting piece of accounting software, will have to have a look at the trial…
Hey Ed,
Sorry… I must have missed that feature on your site. That’s great news.
I also found that less accounting supports dual taxes, but only on their “more accounting” package. They also support auto imports from banks as well. Overall less accounting seems to have a whole lot more features than Xero right now, but Xero has that fun-factor that I haven’t seen anywhere else.
Looks pretty sweet Jesse. Do you use the invoicing feature of this system? Or do you use it solely for accounting purposes?
Glad to find another Canadian using Xero! I absolutely love it. Bye bye Accountedge (too bad, I absolutely loved that software, but it was too outdated). I started using Xero even before the global version was launch, and then I switch. The NZ version wasn’t adapted to our sales tax puzzle.
As for time billing, it can be use for that too. I enter my time, as I go, often times on location (since I can access MY Xero anywhere), I enter it line by line, in the invoices in draft mode. When comes time to issue my bill, it is ready, and the customers always appreciate to have a such detailed account of the time billed.
Pretty cool company – thinking of changing to this myself – not bad for Kiwis
Are there any good time tracking applications that work with xero?
Or even better, does freshbooks integrate with xero?
Not that I’m aware of Paul. I’d just email them though… they’re quite responsive.
Check out http://minutedock.com – a time tracker that works with Xero!
Xero has an API for freshbooks now.
http://blog.xero.com/2008/12/freshbooks-integration/
I’d be interested to see how you set up your tax rates for Canada (GST/PST) for xero and to hear your experience on filing GST returns. While the tax rates are flexible, and they have good examples for New Zealand GST, I’m wondering if there’s anything special you had to do to get it to work for Canada.
I have to file my first GST return this month, so I’ll find out out soon enough :)
Help Wanted
Looks nice. I’ve had FreeAgent open in a tab for the last few days, waiting for a chance to set up a free trial and try it out – looks similar to Xero, although possibly without the shiny Flash graphs.
Matthew Pennell - February 12, 2009