Anyone here use Xero?

[d000hg]

I'm not sure if many contractors use Xero as I get the impression that while it and FreeAgent are both suitable for small businesses, FA has an edge for 1-man bands? Our non-contracting business uses FA but our accountant wants to switch to Xero and I just wondered what that transition is like, if anyone has switched.

[Lance]

I'm not sure if many contractors use Xero as I get the impression that while it and FreeAgent are both suitable for small businesses, FA has an edge for 1-man bands? Our non-contracting business uses FA but our accountant wants to switch to Xero and I just wondered what that transition is like, if anyone has switched.

I trialed it a few years ago and it was crap for FRS VAT. That's no longer relevant now.
It's a small business accounts package. Too big for a one-man band IMO. Even one that has multiple customers and revenue streams.
If you have a more product based offering I think it's better, but for pure T&M and a contractor it's just a pain in the arse to use.

[Maslins]

Coincidentally I'm in the process of attempting to set up Xero for our own Maslins bookkeeping. I still think FreeAgent's way better for a one person contracting company...but we're not that. Main reason I'm toying with switching is better integrations to help us allocate lots of bank receipts against lots of invoices.

It's extremely early days for us on Xero (we may not even stick with it), but I can confirm the transition isn't slick, unless you're prepared to pay a fair whack for a third party to import data. If you align it with a year end nicely, perhaps less of an issue.

[d000hg]

It's extremely early days for us on Xero (we may not even stick with it), but I can confirm the transition isn't slick, unless you're prepared to pay a fair whack for a third party to import data. If you align it with a year end nicely, perhaps less of an issue.

I more mean the transition between software as a user - I assume the accountant will handle any data migration although that's another question to raise, whether that will happen for historical data.

How do you find it as a tool once it is configured?

[Guy Incognito]

I use it. No experience of Free Agent but I find Xero easy to use.

I can imagine the data migration will be a nightmare though tbh. I would never switch from one to the other, not worth the hassle.

[ladymuck]

I use Xero.

I was previously on Sage One (as it then was) after moving off desktop applications (MYOB then Sage if you really want to know).

There is a 'movemybooks' tool/utility/service that accountants can use to migrate data from some online accounting systems but I took the lazy route and simply entered the previous financial years' trial balance as my opening balances. I exported as CSVs all my Sage data for historical reference.

I am tempted to figure out a way to import all the Sage One data but I'd need to be on the bench for long enough to get that bored.

[ladymuck]

I more mean the transition between software as a user - I assume the accountant will handle any data migration although that's another question to raise, whether that will happen for historical data.

How do you find it as a tool once it is configured?

It's crashed a lot recently. Some aspects are completely non-intuitive. Despite being told otherwise by their sales chap, it doesn't do a year end journal to zero out the P&L when you close your year end. Sage dropped that when they moved from desktop to online as apparently small business owners don't care about that and it seems that Xero feel the same but sales don't know how their product works.

The dashboard is reasonably good once you chuck out all the default stuff and rearrange it. Sadly PAYE and VAT are too difficult to display the status of so I have to flag them as 'tracked accounts' to see them. I fail to understand why they can't show me key dates for PAYE and VAT with any balances due by taking the values from their payroll and VAT modules. It's a common question that has come up on the 'request a feature' area and it would seem that it's in the 'too hard' bucket.

It's took a good six months of regular use to feel comfortable with it so prepare to be frustrated. Even as the admin for my own company, I had to separately enable extra admin functions in order to do basic things like manage fixed assets. That took a good couple of hours of trying to decrypt their help pages.

That said, if I had moved to FA or Quickbooks, I'd still find it a frustrating experience. I trialled loads but it's hard to fully assess in 30 days.

[Bodger]

As a side note, I just had a nosy around their website.

Fees seem a little high to me!

Multiple Currenciews not supported unless you use the premium version at £33 per month, + another £5 for payroll +£2.50 for expenses + £5 to track projects?

They like an add on sale don't they!

[Maslins]

I more mean the transition between software as a user - I assume the accountant will handle any data migration although that's another question to raise, whether that will happen for historical data.

How do you find it as a tool once it is configured?

Your accountant may well help with opening trial balance. That's not the same as importing lots of separate transactions. I'm currently trying to do the latter (I'm obvs not an IT whizz) and it's not easy.

As a user, too early to tell. Inevitably I know my way around FreeAgent very well. Things have different names/are in different places on Xero. I'm sure I'll be able to do most things, will just take longer in the short term.

TBH if the only reason you're considering switching to Xero is your accountant is pushing you (ie you can't see any benefits), I'd fight against it if I were you. Lots of upheaval, learning new things...what's in it for you?

We're doing it due to lack of FreeAgent integration we need, and reality being our situation is v niche for FreeAgent users, hence v low on their developer roadmap to improve.

[d000hg]

TBH if the only reason you're considering switching to Xero is your accountant is pushing you (ie you can't see any benefits), I'd fight against it if I were you. Lots of upheaval, learning new things...what's in it for you?

As we've grown from 2 people to have ~10 people on payroll they basically want to switch us from their "basic Ltd" package which uses FA as standard, to their "small business" package for which they use Xero and includes payroll. Effectively they want to transition us to the 'grown up' package which seems somewhat reasonable we're not the only one using different software. We plan to ask them about how this affects us but in the main, they do nearly everything anyway apart from us reviewing transactions.